Taemin, the boy who finally made it big: K-pop star from Shinee and SuperM is a model of perseverance

Signed to SM Entertainment as a teen, Taemin did three years’ training before joining Shinee; his vocals weren’t as good as his dancing, but practice paid off
In 2016 he released the first of three solo albums, and last year joined K-pop super group SuperM

K-pop, Mandopop and other Asian pop

Jack Lau

Published: 10:00pm, 19 Jan 2020

Why you can trust SCMP

To “pull a Taemin” is to work hard towards a goal over a long period and eventually find success. The phrase refers to K-pop star Taemin, who joined South Korean entertainment firm SM Entertainment at a young age after impressing judges with his dancing skills.

While his singing was unimpressive and voice unstable in the beginning, Taemin made great strides after making his debut as the maknae, or the youngest member, of K-pop boy group Shinee in 2008.

After several members of the four-member group enlisted in the military in 2019, Taemin made his debut last year as a member of SuperM, a K-pop “super group” SM Entertainment CEO Lee Soo-man has described as the “Avengers of K-pop”.

Here’s a look at Taemin’s life.

Taemin was born in Dobong district, Seoul in 1993.

His early life

Born Lee Tae-min in 1993 in Seoul’s Dobong district, Taemin began his K-pop career after making a bargain with his mother. As a 13-year-old junior school student, he enjoyed dancing but loathed the hagwon, or cram school. He told a South Korean radio talk show that his mother let him audition with SM Entertainment and if he passed, he could drop out of his hagwon. He passed the audition.

As a teenager, Taemin juggled the demands of idol training and his school work. His high school accommodated his often strenuous training, he said, but he regrets not spending time with friends in school. After high school, he transferred to an arts school and, after graduating, he went on to study at Myongji University, majoring in music and film.

Taemin spent three years as a trainee and was known for his dancing skills. At SM Entertainment, he trained with Kai, another trainee who would eventually join K-pop boy group Exo, and helped Kai improve his dancing.

Taemin has performed in Shinee and Super M.

Taemin made his debut in Shinee as their dancer. He received little vocal training as an SM trainee as his voice was breaking during puberty. His vocals were not featured on Shinee’s debut song, You Are Too Pretty, and he was told his range was not wide enough to sing on Sherlock, the title track of their fourth EP.

Taemin has said his vocal skills improved after intensive practice in the recording studio, but he apparently suffered daily nosebleeds due to insufficient sleep.

His role in SuperM

Taemin made his debut as a member of SuperM in 2019 alongside members of SM Entertainment’s most successful outfits. In the group, he has continued to showcase his dancing skills and appeared in many of the videos promoting the outfit’s debut.

Taemin is the most experienced member of the group, having released three full-length solo albums and many more with Shinee. Other members of SuperM come from younger groups such as NCT 127 and WayV, and have cited Shinee as the group that introduced them to K-pop.

He was initially nominated as the leader of the super group, but shut down the idea. Taemin wanted Baekhyun from Exo to take the leadership role and said he relied on him during the group’s initial practice sessions.

Taemin has a different image on and offstage according to Super M’s Taeyong.

His image

Fellow SuperM member Taeyong, who’s also in NCT 127, said Taemin had a different image on and off the stage. He said Taemin was gentle when not performing, but turned charismatic and seductive on stage – to the point that he almost became “immoral”.

In an interview with Billboard, Taemin said he tried to reinvent himself to reach new heights. “I personally want to create different characters within myself. This is how I feel, just as different people have their own personalities,” he said.

His solo work

Taemin released his first solo studio album, Press It, in 2016. Taemin hand-picked every track on the album and the release won a major prize at the 2017 Golden Disk Awards. He followed up with his second album Move in 2018 and then the self-titled Taemin last year.

In his own words

“What I wanted a long time ago was to grow older. I wanted to hurry up and become an adult. I wanted to grow and become cooler and more manly,” Taemin told iHeart Radio last year when answering a fan’s question on how what he wanted has changed since making his debut 11 years ago. “But now I want to go back to being a boy.”

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