SHINee(샤이니) - The Story of Light Mini Album Thoughts(Kpop)

  I've been supporting this group of guys since day one. I didn't come in the middle of their career or toward the end of Jonghyun's life. My support has been given to SHINee since they dropped their first song called Replay. It feels like so many years ago now but who would have thought at the time that they would go on to be such a huge group in Korea and Japan? Jonghyun's death was the equivalent of a thousand needles hitting me in the heart. A person never wants to see someone leave this world so young. Especially when you seen them in the spotlight at a young age. SHINee somehow still manage to get their heads on straight enough to release new music after the tragedy. We as listeners are also trying to put the pieces back together again. The Story of Light is said to be the first half of SHINee's 6th album which will be released in different parts.

Track List:
01. All Day All Night
02. 데리러 가 (Good Evening)
03. Undercover
04. JUMP
05. 안녕 (You & I)

   The biggest goal for The Story of Light(at least for me) was to see how the remaining boys were going to deal with Jonghyun's absence. He was SHINee's biggest voice in my opinion so you look to hear a big space where his vocals should be. All Day All Night opens the album in a med tempo that's a bit too bouncy for it's own good. The track would ultimately be classified as RnB and The boy's don't miss a beat filling in their vocals. That beat keeps the tempo of the instrumental while also dropping it's sound down hard and rapidly. Listeners could get the party started when this track comes through the speakers. I just feel like Ive heard this song before. EXO could have sang this track because it sounds like a song that they would've put on an album. Instead the track went to SHINee though. Good Evening puts SHINee in the mainstream pop trend that's very rapid in today's Kpop industry. I listened to this song two times in order to catch the dual meaning of the song. One meaning has to do with yearning for a girl but I believe the deeper meaning has to do with the lyrics stating that the boys will always have Jonghyun along side them even if his physical body is no longer here. Those Metallophone's playing in the background at the chorus made the beat in the instrumental feel even more sugary pop. SHINee did what most other kpop boybands don't do during this kind of song too. They sang more lyrics instead of letting the beat play for a whole section of the chorus. I wouldn't have liked this song had they not done that. Undercover sounds alright after you let it play for about two choruses. The chorus does feel a bit messy and disorganized at times until you figure out where the track is trying to go. Whoever was playing that flute in the background had me receiving life from the artsy style of everything. Jump was probably written for another artist originally until SM bought the rights(I might be wrong.). I say this because the English lyrics are a tad bit sexual without flowing together to what is being said in Korean. These lyrics are the catchiest part of the song too. You & I is good lyrically and a nice closing song. I'm probably not going to remember this track months from now, however.

  Taemin stepped up to the plate big time during the recording of this EP. I forgot how strong his voice was. That probably being because he was always a step behind Jonghyun. Now, this guy has filled in the role of the member responsible for hitting those big notes. Key and Onew have moments to shine bright too as all of them are needed for those group harmonies. Was it just me or did Minho not really rap? He must not have had any bars prepared.

   The Story of Light was the first Kpop release in a LONG time that didn't make me want to skip half of what I was hearing. That's a pretty impressive feat to me. Let's see what else SHINee has in stored for us.