SHINee's Taemin free from SM Entertainment: album ETERNAL a success

SHINee's Taemin is marching strong in his solo career as he starts on a new path outside of SM Entertainment. His new album 'ETERNAL' came out on the 19th of August and swept iTunes charts around the world.

Taemin, also known as Lee Tae-min, made the decision to leave SM Entertainment to focus more on his solo projects, reported Korea JoongAng Daily back in March 2024.

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 the 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

Allkpop notes that Taemin took a big risk during his audition for SM Entertainment. He disregarded instructions and stepped over a floor marker that 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. According to the 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 on 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.

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’ already topped the Korean music charts by hitting the number 2 spot on the 2021 Gaon Album Chart and being in the top 50 of Billboard’s US World Album Chart.

Image: SM Entertainment

Taemin turned many heads in his music video for ‘Advice’ for his artistic vision and bold fashion choice. From the 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, but 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

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.

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

(Image: SM Entertainment)

Soompi reported that 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 his military service after being discharged on April 4, 2023, reports Naver. After his discharge from the military, he released an EP, 'Guilty', and held a concert.

Image: SM Entertainment

In  2024, Korea JoongAng Daily reported that Taemin 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 a decision shared with other SHINee members, Onew and Key.

Image: SM Entertainment

Koreaboo reports that all members of SHINee will still be performing as a group under SM Entertainment, however. The individual departures of some of the members from the agency don't change that fact.

Image: SM Entertainment

Yet, 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

Meanwhile, Taemin is going strong in his solo career. His album 'ETERNAL' jumped to the top of the iTunes charts in 38 regions worldwide, K-Pop France reports.

This news is a very welcome one for Taemin fans, as the star has also been touring the world since August 31. This marks his first world tour as a soloist. Allkpop reports that only Asian venues have been confirmed, with the rest still pending.