SHINee’s Taemin leaves SM Entertainment

Taemin, also known as Lee Tae-min, will be leaving SM Entertainment to focus more on his solo project, reports Korea JoongAng Daily. Here's his story and what led up to the decision.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Taemin was born on 18 July 1993 in Seoul, South Korea and had a passion for dancing at an early age.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

According to South China Morning Post, Taemin made a bet with his mother at 13: if he were to pass the auditions for SM Entertainment, his mother would have to let him drop out of cram school.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

From Allkpop, Taemin took a big risk during his audition for SM Entertainment by disregarding instructions and stepping over a floor marker, which he and other K-pop hopefuls were not supposed to cross. Instead of being disqualified, Taemin’s actions instead impressed judges, who then awarded him a pass.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Three years after the audition, Taemin was chosen to debut with four other SM Entertainment trainees to form SHINee. SHINee officially debuted in May 2008 with the release of ‘Replay’.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

SHINee is a K-pop boy band managed by SM Entertainment. The boy band started out as a five-member band and consists of members Onew, Key, Minho, Taemin, and the now-deceased Jonghyun.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Some of SHINee’s biggest hits include ‘Replay’, ‘Juliette’, ‘Ring Ding Dong’, and ‘Sherlock’.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Initially, during the early years of SHINee, Taemin was relegated to the group’s dancer and rapper, and rarely had a vocal presence in SHINee’s songs. From South China Morning Post, Taemin did not receive vocal training at the start as his voice was breaking due to puberty -- making voice training not ideal for the K-pop star.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

It was only after the release of ‘Sherlock’ that Taemin started to receive voice training. Taemin went on to release his first solo EP, ‘Ace’, in 2014. The EP was a huge hit and peaked the music charts in South Korea.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Later in 2016, Taemin then released his first full album, ‘Press It’. This helped to establish Taemin as a fully-fledged solo artist in his own right, outside of SHINee -- a sharp contrast to his early performing years as just a rapper and dancer, with little vocal presence in ‘Replay’!

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Some of Taemin’s biggest solo hits include ‘Danger’, ‘Press Your Number’, ‘Move’, and ‘Want’.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

With Taemin’s shining talent and rising popularity as a solo artist, it is no surprise that he was picked in 2019 to be part of SM Entertainment’s supergroup, Super M. According to South China Morning Post, the group is outfitted with SM Entertainment’s best talents, which include Ten, Baekhyun, Lucas, Taeyong, Kai and Mark.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

As every other South Korean male, the members of SHINee had to serve a mandatory 18-month military service term. Currently, all the members of SHINee except for Taemin have finished their term.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

As a ‘last hurrah’ before enlisting into military service this May 31st, Taemin released his third EP, ‘Advice’, on 18 May 2021. The EP features 5 songs, with ‘Advice’ as its lead single.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Less than a month into its release, ‘Advice’ has already topped the Korean music charts by hitting the number 2 spot of the 2021 Gaon Album Chart, and being in the top 50 of Billboard’s US World Album Chart.

What an amazing feat!

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Taemin turned many heads in his music video for ‘Advice’ for his artistic vision and bold fashion choice. From South China Morning Post, many netizens applauded Taemin for defying gender stereotypes by donning a sports bra with a crop top, sporting long hair, and wearing fishnet stockings.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Not only were netizens impressed with ‘Advice’ for its artistry in song and visuals in the music video, Lee Dong-soo, a vocal trainer for YG Entertainment artists (SM Entertainment’s rival company), even praised Taemin for his vocals on the ‘Advice’ EP on social media for being “revolutionary in music, performance, [and] visuals”.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

It will be a long wait of 18 months before fans can get to see Taemin perform again as the star is currently enlisted in the army and fans are looking forward to his return!

(Image: SM Entertainment)

However, much has transpired since. From The Straits Times, SM Entertainment released an official statement on 14 January 2022 with worrying details -- that the star's mental health has worsened since entering the army.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Following from the same report, Taemin's fellow military servicemen have also come forth with accounts that note the star's deteriorating mental health. Some have noted that Taemin would consistently suffer from nightmares and had to rely on pills.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Soompi reports the Korean Army made a swift decision to quickly transfer Taemin from direct military involvement to a more civilian (and lighter) role by placing him in public service.

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Taemin finished up his military service after being discharged on April 4, 2023, reports Naver. Since his discharge from the military, he has been back on the music scene and has released a new EP, 'Guilty', and held a concert.

Image: SM Entertainment

In an update on 2024, Korea JoongAng Daily reports that Taemin has decided to leave SM Entertainment after working with them for 16 years.

Image: SM Entertainment

The same report from Korea JoongAng Daily states that Taemin's departure from SM Entertainment was also a decision shared with other SHINee members, Onew and Key.

Image: SM Entertainment

Koreaboo reports that all members of SHINee, however, will still be performing as a group under SM Entertainment, despite the individual departures of some of the members from the agency.

Image: SM Entertainment

However, Koreaboo reports that fans are worried that Taemin's departure from SHINee might mean the disbandment of the boy group 'SuperM', which Taemin is also a part of under SM Entertainment.

Image: SM Entertainment

Nothing has been confirmed regarding the fate of SuperM yet, which leaves fans of Taemin and SuperM anxious.

Image: SM Entertainment