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Shinee HARD Album Review! (Patreon)

Published:
2023-06-27 00:05:53
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FINALLY, a NEW Shinee album.

I will say in an effort to remain current and fresh, some of the tracks were absolutely not for me but in the moments that felt true to Shinee's signature sound, I was hooked.

Overall the production value still blew me away and this didn't feel like a rushed last minute project, rather well fleshed out and extremely well polished.

What are your favourite tracks?

*Forgot to add that yes, I'm now aware Dem Jointz produced Juice instead which was imo worse than Hard so my point still stands regarding his production choices. *

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Comments

rbygee

SHINEEEEEEE KINGS OF MY HEART. 15 years in and they're hitting career highs - literally who else can even compare. I've seen so much discourse around how this (and DCM when it was released) sounded more like a 127 song than SHINee and I'm just like - this is the same group that released Ring Ding Dong and Lucifer, and those were also their most viral songs in Korea and internationally respectively. This is definitely in their wheelhouse. Their titles never stuck to one genre or sound Btw - Hard is a Kenzie prod, Juice was DemJointz

Kym

Finally a Shinee album yes! And disclaimer, I'm at work so just putting in my two cents before I'm seeing your, video review. I'll go back for sure because I love your insight. Anyway for the most part the songs were not my vibe. They were well done for sure, great production as mentioned and I can appreciate it musically but overall not me. I will say my absolute favorite song that I've had on repeat since I've heard this album is Insomnia. That song is everything for me. Gravity is also up there for me. I also didn't mind Like It and Satellite. One of the many things that irks me about SM is identity. Super Junior - I know some folks are not into their music - but they have a distinct sound in my opinion. New and old music, I know it's Super Junior. Shinee's title track, in my opinion, sounds like a NCT track (which NCT? All of them lol) . Maybe it's the music. I know vocally that it's Shinee - I spot those vocals anywhere, but the music is not distinct. The Feeling felt very distinctly Shinee in my opinion and I appreciated that. Just disappointed that the actual title track didn't feel like them to me, and also that the title isn't my vibe.

Koko3op
>>111591946

Heyyy! Yeah SM is definitely having this issue especially with Dem Jointz's influence and even Kenzie. They need fresh inspiration and production teams to really invest in specific sounds for groups and not overlap cos literally it's all NCT at this point lol.

Koko3op
>>111591573

Yeahh I definitely hear that, there's just been a nice string of title tracks that were much easier on the ears. Also the 2nd gen era was of course EDM heavy but really both those songs are nowhere near as overly random as Hard is which hardly has solid footing melody wise and has way too many changes which feel more forced and NCT-esque in terms of being more extreme than fun. I wasn't a big fan of DCM either initially but looking back it was WAY more cohesive sonically than Hard which atm stands as my least favourite Shinee TT overall. On the PLUS side, most of the album is great so I hope Hard is a hit with the general public so at least they can have it both ways lool

Kym

Didn't Dem Jointz produce Obsession? I believe he worked on Exo's title as well. Fingers crossed their sound stays intact. I mean if he did it before, he can do it again. But yes, SM definitely needs something fresh.

rbygee
>>111591573

I get it - I understand that when ppl think of SHINee they don't think of songs like Hard, but I can attest that when Lucifer dropped ppl were also similarly shocked, even though it sounds like a tame song now thanks to NCT lol. More than trying to keep up with trends, it was mentioned in a recent variety show appearance they did that this is more to show that SHINee's 15 yrs into their career but they can still shock/surprise you, which I think is very SHINee core.

Dory G

Member picks: Taemin - Satellite Key - Identity Minho - Insomnia

Dory G

SM signed the trademarks for Jonghyun to his mother before they ran out to ensure his family keeps them, so SM can't legally use his name in that format. Since SHINee produced the video though the 'shadowy figure' is meant for him, the 'and...' is meant for him, he's also referenced in various scenery. When they run and sit in the room they leave a spot for Jonghyun. There's a lot of solo symbology since they've completed the plagiarism set - Key has Face closeups, Taemin starts b/c he's Ace, Onew w/ mic for Voice, Minho has the map to find them via Chase. The sky shot is indeed for Jonghyun - he is their Base...

Dory G

The painful reminder you don't look at lyrics. lol Gravity is written by a Shawol who said on Instagram the references are intentional - the lyrics include several Jonghyun song titles including End of a Day and You & I. It's such a beautiful touch.

Kaori asene

Hard is definitely a song to hook baby shawol. My 4 years old daughter likes hard and Minho since she saw him in the beyond live concert 😂. I keep on pointing her to Taemin but no luck. I have been told Minho looks like a superhero.

Kaori asene

my favourite tracks are gravity of course, like it, identity 10x and sweet misery

Koko3op
>>111602105

I would've picked a lyric version if the lyric video was available.

Hibz

i'm sorry HARD and Juice are trash (imo) they looked like they were shoehorned in last minute to fit the trends of 4th gen today. Ppl may say shinee have songs like this in the past but idc it doesn't even fit the flow of the album. I hate songs that have chanting or bland choruses so this title track isnt for me. I'm kinda shocked kenzie pretty much wrote and produced HARD like ??? dem jointz did juice so i knew i would hate that one lol Also, on first listen nothing on the album really moved me. Like there wasn't a song that I thought "omg this is on par with anything on odd or story of light albums". So far, the feeling and sweet misery are the songs I'm re-listening often, but who knows, the rest might grow on me. I've followed shinee since sherlock days so going from misconceptions to odd to 1 of 1 to story of light and even don't call me, I'm disappointed this time and idk how to act lmao lol rant over. I enjoyed your reaction though, i do agree the production is great.

Koko3op
>>111611916

I hear you completely!! Yeah the chorus is very uninspired. People are missing that you can experiment and have experimented in the past but still do a good cohesive song lol.

Hibz
>>111611916

Facts! Cohesion is what is missing, I don't mind experimental songs I stan f(x) for that reason but this was boring and it just doesn't suit shinee. Let's hope we get a repackage with a better title track. I'm praying they don't fuck up exo's title track now.

Apple

Satellite, HARD and Identity are definitely my fave in the album with Satellite being the top. I liked the fact that they are trying different things because everybody has to survive and give something close to what the new gen kpop is playing now. Oh well. I still prefer their old style but with all the SM bs happening, I think this was quite for what it is.

Dory G

I thought I would share this with you because it's really cool to see different perspectives. I was reading reviews because the Boom Bap in Hard doesn't quite sound American but all the English reviews attribute it to the 4th gen retro trend. So I looked into Korean reviews and it seems it's attributed to Seo Taiji. This is in contrast to NCT being attributed to HOT. HOT had more American influence while Seo Taiji intentionally fused American HipHop with Korean sounds and scales. So out of curiosity I listened to Hard section by section to check the scales - the only exception is the choral note. Hard is technically an outlier.

rbygee
>>111611916

My issue with this "trying to fit 4th gen" narrative is that if you're following the lore behind shinee's title tracks (as a group and as solos) you'd get a grasp of how in control and vocal they are with their releases at this point in their career. SM will still try to dictate it but the boys (men) will literally fight tooth and nail if they don't agree - that's how a lot of their titles became the titles in the first place, and they've been pretty transparent when this happens. If there was any other song that they wanted to be the title, then it would have been that song, and sorry, but shinee isn't out there trying to conform to 4th gen - in very shinee fashion they're doing this because they want to. Whether you like it or not it a different story though, but trust that at the very least they're not being shoehorned to release songs they don't like. This is very obviously sometimes the case for the younger SM groups but definitely not for shinee at their 15th year.

Hibz
>>111611916

At what point did i say they were shoehorned to release something they dont like? Im aware that the guys chose those songs just like im aware minho picked dont call me. Im saying these songs dont match the vibe of the album and i just dont like those tracks. Imo it doesnt suit them and it sounds like something SM would give to nct. I already know they have creative freedom and I've always loved that about them but these songs are not my vibe. Thats it.

Duna
>>111611916

Well I mean , watching Shinee 15m show, Taemin said that they really worked hard on Hard and changed its arrangement, melody multiple times. They suspect some fans might not like it but still very adore the song as they’ve fought for it for a long time. It’s not my cup of tea either but I don’t think it’s a last minute fit the trend kinda song. As of for Juice, the live performance had so much more impact. It kinda started to grow on me.

Christine Nguyen

Juice is definitely more of a performance piece. I didn’t love the song on it’s own but I was surprised how much I liked it in the context of a performance. I watched both performances of Hard and Juice on their 15m Roadtrip Comeback Show. I wished they had picked Juice over Hard to promote on music shows as the TT. I’m starting to wonder if Juice was initially the TT because the choreography/performance value/impact the members brought is a lot stronger than Hard imo. Like they had more time to practice it. Idk how to describe it but Juice’s choreography felt like TT choreography. Hard’s choreography for some reason feels like the choreographer was under time constraints or the members needed choreography they could master in less time.

Duna
>>111762428

Yasss, watching the performance completely changed the song for me. Listening to it for the first time was like whaaat is thisss🥲, but after the performance I CANNOT stop singing to it

Koko3op
>>111762428

Ooooooo ok I get what you mean without even having seen Juice's choreo. Hard's chorus choreo is VERY laid back.

Stella

I have come back 7 months to say that this whole album bangs. Like every song except maybe one and it wasn't even that bad, is so freaking good.