Didn’t know this would become this big of an issue. But
1. Taemin has been spoiling and saying he will have more “solo” activities in Korea since February 2019 - obviously those activities were delayed and everyone just waited for SuperM’s promos to end (I definitely enjoyed
SuperM’s promos, and was excited what would come after it because SM themselves said that SuperM was a group that would become a base for the members to push their solo careers).
2. Finally, Taem’s new solo con was announced, which always meant new album. Taemin was again
Dropping spoilers of new songs that he wrote in his new album, about his new concept, etc. Yes, I understand pandemic happened and what not but 3 SM artists came back during this pandemic and another one has been announced. So obviously releasing album during this period is not
a big issue.
4. Obviously no one knows what is happening behind the scenes, but after all these rumors, spoilers from Taemin, from Taemin’s freaking back dancers, the magazine photoshoot and recently the cancelled radio appearance - SM should have communicated well about the
delay.
5. SM did waste Taemin’s 1 year of solo career. SM has always done that to SHINee, now the same is happening to Taemin. Hiatus time between Korean albums is too long, too concentrated on Japan (now he can’t even promote there). SHINee and Taemin could survive only
because the fandom is stable, while the public interest has been long on a low. Korea takes interest only when the celebrities start actively promoting on Korean Tv and shows. And that can be seen from Kibum’s popularity soaring right before his enlistment while he was constantly
on TVN.
SM could have dropped the vague schedule of the comeback as an “insider” so at least fans can know that it has been definitely delayed, instead of making it seem like an album was going to be released and then just silence for two months.
Japanese albums and japanese promos and mostly exclusively for Japan and Japanese audiences. It brings hell ton of a money but when it comes to hype and getting known your name - not so much.
Lastly, Taemin is turning 27 this year. Enlistment is coming, at latest probably
next summer. He has 1 year left. Move was released before SHINee members got enlisted and it is still his biggest hit. Don’t you think he could have done even better than that before enlistment?
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