Pop Off: The Ultimate Music Showdown…this episode’s players are SHINee and their debut solo singles. Chris and Chantel Nicole discuss the songs, music videos, and choreography and choose the ultimate winner. What wins this Pop Off for you?

Contestants:

• Taemin - "Danger"
• Jonghyun - "Crazy (Guilty Pleasure)" feat. Iron
• Key - "Forever Yours" feat. Soyou
• Onew - "Blue"
• Minho - "Chase"

References:

• Taemin - “Danger” MV    • TAEMIN 태민 '괴도 (Da...  
• Taemin - “Danger” Live at M! Countdown    • [STAR ZOOM IN] TA...  
• Jonghyun - “Crazy (Guilty Pleasure)” MV    • JongHyun - Juliet...  
• Jonghyun - “Crazy (Guilty Pleasure)” Live at Inkigayo    • [종현(JONGHYUN)] Cr...  
• Jonghyun - “Crazy (Guilty Pleasure)” Live at Yu Huiyeol’s Sketchbook    • JongHyun - Juliet...  
• SM The Ballad - “Hot Times” MV    • S.M. THE BALLAD 에...  
• Key - “Forever Yours” MV    • KEY 키 'Forever Yo...  
• Key - “Forever Yours” Live at Music Core    • [Hot Debut] Key(f...  
• Onew - “Blue” MV    • ONEW 온유 'Blue' MV  
• Onew - “Blue” Acapella    • 220910 ONEW - Blue  
• Minho - “Chase” Teaser    • MINHO 〈CHASE〉 Int...  
• Minho - “Chase” MV    • MINHO 민호 '놓아줘 (Ch...  
• Minho - “Chase” Live at Inkigayo    • MINHO(민호) - CHASE...  

TRANSCRIPT:

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that's Chan that's Chris and this is CCTV the non-stop pop show and we're heading into Shinee World for another edition of pop off the ultimate music Showdown [Music] if you're wondering who we are Shannon and I have a huge range of experience in the music industry from performing on stage two working at record labels so we have a lot of insight into the crazy music industry and you could come hang out with us on patreon at patreon.com CCTV pops and shout out to our amazing crew members Lisette Lily Emily Kevin and Juliet so if your New Year pop off is a segment here on CCTV where we take some tracks compare the songs the videos and performances and pick our favorites in each category then we choose the ultimate winner but this is meant for Pure fun so please don't take it too seriously but before we get started make sure to hit that follow or subscribe button for more fun content from us yes so today we are taking a look at the solo debut title tracks released by the members of Shinee who we are both huge huge fans of and if you haven't checked it out we do have our shiny Pop 101 episode where we did go through their whole career and talked about the business and the music alright so definitely check that out while they're on Hiatus because they're waiting for Taemin to come back right we thought we'd go back because Minho has finally released right finally so anyway shiny as a group has had major success and are one of the highest selling K-pop acts of all time but the group members individually have also had huge success not just in music but as presenters radio DJs and actors and everything in between this is very true and minnow is the final number to release a solo project and as he has noted is the final piece of the puzzle which I think is so cute the group members have all named your album similarly with Taemin starting with Ace johnyon with bass he with face and onu with lace and finally Minho win Chase yeah you tried it with with voice he did say I guess maybe in Korean maybe they say Vegas boys

so sorry y'all like in Congress it is Boise uh yeah that makes more sense because otherwise it just is the only one that doesn't rhyme but you know what the CE is there yes or the S or that that's sound together we can so speaking of video together let's get ready round one first in the ring we have 10 min with Dave oh sorry I just love this song Danger the danger we couldn't tell what I would just think player one um and it is the lead single from the ace EP I think album EP EP um and it was released in August 2014 and was composed by Thomas trollson whose previous Works include history by Exo and Love Like Oxygen by shiny so let's talk about the song what day is it this song is definitely one of the more interesting ones I think listening to Chinese music this song is really simple in the sense of like how it starts and even how it sounds but it has a lot of added texture like a sliding base and like there's risers and there's addition of harmonies that make it sound really full um it has an overall good build I think like one of my favorite Parts is in the percussion because it's really a percussion the bridge because of all the percussion and then there's like some 80s kind of top line going on fun it's really cool and I think the kick drum really drives this song I'm like is it kick drum right the bass drum yes yeah yeah look at see because of him but yeah I think this song is really impressive in the sense of like first 20 seconds and you're hearing that's all right earworm you know and then the chorus comes in it's like full he's singing really low which is weird for shining yeah you know got him and him exactly so it's just like interesting very very interesting and almost unexpected because he was shiny is very bright they're very colorful Juliet with the pants all the other stuff for him to sit there and just go model Chrome black and white maybe some red and then sing like this yeah yeah yeah I will say so this was around everybody era for shining right after that um and Taemin was really he started to stand out a lot during that era like he was really feeling himself he was really coming into his own he was such a star in that performance yeah um so I think everyone was really excited for him to cut out solo anyway and he had always listed MJ yeah as his biggest inspiration so this was pretty much what I expected you can totally hear it um it's super slick it's very dance heavy and yeah as you mentioned the low vocals in those verses is quite shocking I think he has quite a light tone and in shiny he sings the higher Parts usually um so to have him do that where it's all just kind of like emotionless and low like that was kind of nice to hear that from him um I love the chorus

um super memorable and I love the harmonies in it the way it's layered it's it's really cool and makes it stand out for the rest of the song Yes um and just the whole build is just so good you know you got robotic verses yeah when you four choruses it's just so good yeah like the whispering Whispering baby he held it down um and I love the lyrics like I honestly up until today I've never like looked at the lyrics because the song is like melodically sonically I liked it I was like who needs lyrics what is danger instead right so I think they're quite smexy um really he wants to dig his thorns and approaches something like a flower and steal her or whoever whomever whomever but he wants to steal this person The Thorn thing got me you know like the danger I wonder what he's like tonight tonight tonight

it doesn't sound like the danger yeah it doesn't sound good in English but in Korean he couldn't tell me nothing I was like come take me sir um but honestly I feel like this whole thing was very smooth criminal of him like without them yes oh how content of actual song um but it's very smooth criminal like I'm gonna come get you wheel made danger you know yeah um and honestly like I said the lyrics didn't know anything about and the video doesn't actually convey what the lyrics are talking about we'll get into the video later let's talk about the songs first up next player do dong young with crazy guilty pleasure featuring iron sorry I don't like that man player two it's Elise Salem from the bass album it was released on January 2015 and it was produced by jungyeon way frog crog the feeder set Sean volvoir and Judith Wick and Robin Jensen and Martin Mulholland I do apologize for the name uh it was very shocked I think that was good okay yeah sorry sir um Anne and Robin are actually part of the production team that worked on the seraphins two most recent singles fearless and anti-fragile so you know he has some nice hands on the pot for a minute uh it's interesting seeing these names as we've been doing the show you know yeah also this sound nothing like those oh not it false gross um what do you think about that speaking of which like yeah okay so junky on as I've said in our previous episodes he's for sure my favorite member of shiny so I was very excited for him to go solo he was already writing songs for the group and stuff but I have to say I was expecting him to also kind to go the MJ route kind of like the more r b kind of but a little brighter than Taemin but that's actually what I thought he would kind of go for and he didn't really he did go like a darker r b kind of thing um but then this song while it has that element it's also like an emo Rock top kind of thing an influence at least um so that's interesting I will have to say I remember the first time I heard it I much preferred the other songs on the on the projects but through the years the song has grown on me yeah um and hearing it live and stuff has helped as well yes um yeah I think for I think what hurts it for me is while I like the melody and he sounds amazing I'll get more into the locals but I wish the production was rockier I think I said this for other songs before if you're gonna go the rock route go for it yeah I want real drums I want guitars yeah I like how hard the keyboard hits you know yeah um I want it all more intense vocally he's very intense um and melodically it's quite tense as well like he he moats so well you can hear you can feel the yearning in it um and and yeah I think of the mix that he uses especially when he goes in like with the during the verse Oh my God it's so beautiful race is just oh yeah I miss that you know yeah yeah wow you're right there's not really a vocalist like that in any group currently it doesn't mean that the guys the fortune can't sing it's just they can't sing like that that does a huge difference even in SM there's no one that sounds like him yeah really it's the emotion yeah he is so emotive like every single word has intention too yeah you're like who he sings um but yeah you know what uh Zion T was uh actually kind of like production-wise in this song if I'm not mistaken so like I hear him and like the chorus a little bit like even in the harm he's like okay he would stack it like that because I bought his first album and I can hear certain like notes of this and I could hear r b like maybe like that weird amalgamation of like classical and Hip-Hop that was hot in the early 2000s like that for no reason but it was just hot yeah I think Step Up Louise if you have no clue I'm talking about um but yeah I mean the strings and the harmonies are like kind of r b and Hip Hop with that boom Bop kind of sound and The Rock does come in I guess with the band kind of in the Run you're right if there was more guitars I would have been like yeah so it has more of a Gothic maybe like hip-hop Evanescence kind of feel to me I don't know that's way off but it's an amalgamation of a lot of the hands that were in this um but it's like a weird little genre bending thing I think the strings definitely create drama I was like woo suspense and such felt like a soap opera you know and added a lot of tension for me uh and the rapper feature in the song before all of his the kitchen business uh happened uh Moon he's alone but uh he actually added to the song which is interesting because you know he's like an actual rapper he was really popular at the time before all the craziness happened um he was really popular so for Jung Yun to have him on the album and recognize someone else's talent and bring him on and kind of do those like really nice ads where he's hitting falsettos he's doing these really nice very western-ish ad lips I liked it I definitely liked it he has a lot of vocal texture in his voice for sure you know like the falsettos the chest the mix and the again the ad Lobster the rap Mama Liked yes wait give me the tea though I don't know anything about iron oh what did he do this just said if you have no clue who ironed is he was a rapper that was trying to show me the money and he was like whoa he's so cool everyone they mama had him on their songs don't you know this man was crazy so he was quite abusive sorry for YouTube they might strike that but he was kind of very physical and during you know fun time with his girlfriend would hit her and fashioned her face and pulled a baseball bat on his roommate and eventually he did like what got brought to trial cops were called things like that but eventually he did actually you know he he self-deleted I see yeah so he's he wasn't he wasn't well rest assault uh but yeah okay yeah all right well let's move on to player three we have key with Forever Yours featuring soyo soyo so you so you so you so you filming player three and this is the lead single from the face project released in November 2018 and it was produced by a London noise decom Diego Holland and as we mentioned feature soyu who is a member of Sistar yeah um and I will note yes there was another single released from this album called one of those nights but but forever yours was first so we're counting that as kind of the day here yes um so I remember key mentioning in some interviews I forget it was during the time or if it was actually later that he played it quite safe with the first solo project I think partly just you know he was like I'm gonna play it safe with my first time but also I'm sure SM so had a hand in that like you can't do anything too crazy for your debut um so it's interesting going back because even in these past couple of years he's developed quite a lot as a solo artist like he has a sound now he's willing to take risks visually and sonically and everything so I will say this song feels very safe um it's not a bad song it's just a little faceless a little generic kind of dance pop song um could have been a shiny B-side you know yeah yeah um I do love soyu though so having her kind of husky breathy voice it's very iconic her voice um so it does add some needed Dynamic and again I'm sure it was also a directive from SM that's like you need a feature in order to get any interest in your solo career um I can see that because when I was hot at the time yes so she I think around that time she had that I gotta double check yes so uh hopefully they're friends and it wasn't slowly just force and you got to choose right but anyway the song um I think London noise is great producer it always feels super super full um lot of different sounds that come in throughout and it keeps a roller coaster going through the song really Dynamic so I appreciate that I like how heavy the drums and bass are the little synth Melody is nice um and yeah The Melodies are nice you know nice is probably the word I would use yes yeah um yeah I mean I think he sounds fine um again nice because he's actually a good singer yeah um and he can emote really well he has a great tone has a lot of power and different textures he doesn't really show that in the song he shows in the rest of the project

um you know I'm not gonna lie to you uh it was feeling a little like hey uh Jack where's that uh a demo for 2017. this is giving that you know like it wasn't it wasn't like oh shoot we're thinking this bespoke Tiki uh was this around like the odd era would we say no a little bit out like way after right way after way after okay yeah I mean I guess London was at that time had established a relationship with with SM which is fine but it's not something like they've done better oh you know what I'm saying that's why it feels a little bit like where's that song from y'all know how I feel about Chop House or anything that kind of sounds like anything that sounds like that like a little bit like under the sea from The Little Mermaid I've already kind of like um this wasn't bad but like you said I just feel like I wanted to go shopping at forever 21. um yeah not even trying to be like funny at this point it just sounded very just like background you know um even that other single he had that you mentioned I just felt it was more him you know so it's just and I did in the beginning they were like this sound it reminded me of Shanice is like I thought that was Mario

we both heard something but we liked it it was like oh I just heard Mario from you I didn't hear anything just just now you did that little Melody but yes um I heard that okay that's what caught my attention to the beginning of the song no no again but yeah so you as a nice voice I agree with you um I think people slept on her because she's not here in but home could be holding it down I think some brought her more to the Forefront but that's what she's been doing yeah it's a mystery yes um but Sistar has reunited if you'd like us to Pop 101 about Sistar let us know because I would love to yes star yeah all right so let's move on to Playa four we have onu with blue player four which was released prior to his military enlistment in December 2018 and it was done by SM veteran Kenzie and also production duo Rocco Berry um so this is the only ballad yeah on the list yeah um he's since released kind of more upbeat stuff I think that whole project was yeah all ballads it was yeah um and it sounds like he was kind of going through some stuff um but yeah what'd you think of blue not gonna lie to you before we started this I thought oh yeah all new aside from Dice I had not heard blue um but I had a feeling with the title that it wasn't going to be happy the melancholic in nature and I thought oh man against all the other guys how has he gone know you know man yeah this song Do we have to do okay um the strings and the keys are simple and really understated and I think that's what made it special so it sounds like a ballad yeah but also it feels a little bit not generic like it so you know you can hear like the OST value like that's for a soundtrack this doesn't feel like that and that's why I think I liked it um it builds so nicely there is slight Reverb on his voice which gives it uh depth but also makes it almost kind of feel like he's isolated just surrounded by whatever musics in his mind or it was on the track or whatever but it just feels even more isolating because it's so the vocals aren't dry you know um I'm gonna show this right type turn don't clock me uh but yeah there's a lot of strength and then that first snow he comes in very strong and they huh chills and lay back and I'm like oh my God it'll hurt you um but yeah I think the chorus is probably where he's definitely shines it's a it's not high for him per se but I can see how some singing that over and over again your voice would be shot um that breath control no vibrato really yes he wanted it there like that's really impressive uh and The Melody of the song is interesting to me and I honestly after watching and listening like for the first time I was super captivated so I think it was definitely effective in what it was trying to do for sure what about you because yes I have yeah yeah it's such a beautiful song you know I yeah I read another review where they mentioned it's kind of musical theater which I actually don't fully agree with either Pinterest I see that more it's definitely not an OST but I think it there's something more I don't know more personal about it in the drama like it's not drama to be drama which I think a lot of musical theater ballads are yeah um I think the build was quite like authentic and genuine to I don't know yeah I get what they were trying to say but I know what you do because it is a dramatic song it is it's not theatrical I don't think but um yeah um I think the song is so beautiful it's so haunting um and yeah definitely I think I didn't know what he was singing about but all like you could definitely feel there's some inner turmoil going on yeah and yeah I think his voice is just oh if he's up there too as a K-pop vocalist and he slept on too yeah where are the vocalists these days I guess NCT but like even they don't even utilize like a tail or like I mean they could I would I think if they would if they could

Justice for tail and do young oh my God yes um because I bet

voice though it's so thick and it really just fills the space like the way it resonates it's just so beautiful um like can you imagine hearing this like sung live yeah and then you like oh man like his voice is just so beautiful and he also just emotes so well which is why him and jung-hyun whatever they sing together it was all it's just so perfect because they emote very differently but that fits so well yeah um yeah I think I I appreciate the production in it the strings are so pretty um and again very haunting and the way it builds throughout the song as well there's so much tension in it and it like really swells and it kind of collapses and as well and like he mentions the ocean and the lyrics and you can kind of feel that yeah you know a few Body Waves yeah like think about something yeah but like yeah I think you know he mentions anything it's called Blue simply thinking of the ocean you think of the sky and like clouds and like you feel that in the song it has that kind of in and out of like waves yeah um so yeah I think it's awesome and yeah this song I I listened to it not as often as I should yeah but I should have known existed I apologize sincerely the last player is minnow with Chase player five minnow was the final to remember to debut as a solo artist and release Chase in December 2022 and it was written by Kimberly Cadence Chris shook known for her work on songs such as thank you next and seven rings by Ariana Grande and uh I'm laying Gemini yes of an interesting name for different producer yes all right so Minho finally he's released a solo project yes he did release heartbreak we know but we're not counting that as his debut title track because that was just like an SM station situation um so this we count as the true debut true um but yeah I'm gonna be honest I never thought Minho would actually do a proper solo artist moment because I didn't think music was his number one passion like he he's an actor which I actually need to watch he just has a new Netflix show then he'd watch oh really um and he does you know he's like hosting and like variety shows and I don't know that's what I thought is bad luck at singer yes yeah yeah and like he's let me be real he folds it down in shiny yeah I know he does he's improved a lot but I just never thought of him as a solo act no um but I liked heartbreak and so him kind of sticking to this kind of like Lo-Fi like melancholy like r b thing makes sense you know his vocal tone and range are a little Limited um not the most dynamic in terms of texture or anything um so you know keeping it this kind of like laid back thing makes sense right um but the song doesn't really do it for me no it does not actually yeah um unfortunately um I think first off the auto-tune used throughout really annoys me you know what I feel it's because he doesn't have melisma in his ways with the runs and stuff that would fill up those gaps uh okay okay that's just my that's my okay yeah I don't know but like luckily it's not present throughout the whole song but like it's there it's really a lot of it and I love the bridge um but the auto-tune is back yeah when he goes into like the falsetto and like there's a slight mix and there's some Dynamic there but then it gets roomed and turned emotionless by the auto-tune which I'm unhappy that right um and then his belts in the chorus is like a little forced as well yeah um so yeah it's just it's it's it's not the best um but melodically I think the song is okay I think the pre-choruses are probably my favorite part I think it's just the most interesting melodically the

it's okay so I forgot what I have to say no see you see you he's giving you a lot more than I'm about to give you because I just couldn't I couldn't remember it so you're saying it just now oh I said I love that man I love that man when I pulled him for my first like shiny purchase recently I felt supported by their albums before like I pulled him I was so happy oh it's a photo card yeah for the Atlantis album go cop that I got on it oh yeah I would have been happy with any of them honestly true yeah yeah but you know when you're attracted someone you can get their photos like I don't have to pay for this you know I'll just technically pay for it but I didn't have to like trade for it yep if you trade photo cards you know what it's like okay um but yeah I agree with you I wasn't thinking solo guy I wasn't thinking like this break heartbreak right a heartbreaker yeah heartbreak I liked a little bit more from it was like that Neo Noir like pseudo weekend kind of sounds but he gives me suit and tight because he's so handsome he doesn't give me swaggy r b like like this arm-based trap Soul Direction I don't know if I was expecting it or if it like he just wanted to try I don't know you know especially with a lot of producers they kind of just shop out music and it was just sitting there people pick it but I'm not sure if it's something that he was like oh we gotta make a whole album with this um again he doesn't come across as swagging I think maybe because he lacks a vocal technique that is usually expected from like his Western contemporaries in this genre I just feel like if he would have had a little bit more like that looks Soul if you will or melisma it would have been maybe a little bit better than the vocal filter that they used you know like the little Quiet Moments and but production wise I did like how Bassy it was but seeing who worked on it like with the seven rings and thank you next I can hear that now and I'm like oh yeah yeah I like it oh I'm not mad at it at all yeah uh but yeah again I just feel like heartbreak was better for his aesthetic and even the way he moves is better um but yeah there are Harmons on the song I heard but it's either done with another vocalist like a female one because it kind of sound a little high or some plugins but they just don't feel like him it just didn't feel like fully fleshed out yeah in terms of vocals for me Fair yeah all right well that wraps up the song section so what wins for you oh shoot okay you know I thought I was gonna uh be like oh yeah right but then I heard blue so for what it was blue did what it had to do I respect it it's such a good song and I was like this is a damn good song but I think artistically speaking sonically speaking overall danger has it for me for sure yeah yes I have to give it to Danger too it's so tough like yeah I agree these are all very different actually um and so so yeah but I think as a song the one I go back to the most the one that I think is the most like interesting creatively is dangerous oh dangers okay so crazy yeah I I love crazy but like I think Jung is better River yeah yeah I agree round two so for the video portion we're going right back to Taemin and danger music video uh listen this video when it came out I was there front and center watching it so I was I remember um because honestly I can hon I can say like Tama I never looked at I was like oh my God my favorite member yeah he I watched it was between donghyun and key constantly constantly because I was like once vocally but I like one super cute but tayman he could just dance well when this song came out and I saw this video everybody helped as well but when I saw this and I was like oh yeah okay so you can definitely see MJ for sure

I mean you can totally see it though that's why I feel like oh look you just found oh yeah you have found gold here um yeah you can see MJ for sure but I think what makes it more interpretive as opposed to derivative is like the androgynous approach the like the rock star kind of imagery like Mike was a little bit more like he's I'm Fosse inspired I'm Wesley you know Jerome Robbins there's a moment to this Jazz him he was like hip-hop learning people who learn who love Michael uh who who appreciated maybe like a little bit of that visual K Japanese aesthetic eye shadow the hair the lipstick the lipstick the concealed lips like that was very visual K and he put that in there so he kind of combines them and like the video just keeps going like he moves or you do like this one hot thing before the death the first one and it the the next scene was him dancing like it's just really nice it's very kinetic it's it's just keeps going it feels almost dangerous like if you stop at any point in time the the bus is going to blow up like speed um I think what's interesting is how he's portrayed in the video as well because he's standing in the garage staring the camera down staring at some other opponents is not there again not conveying romantic interest at all and even with the choreography he looks like he's Shadow Boxing at some point that he's going like this he's going like this like he's doing he's like it's just very like badass for lack of a better word and it's powerful and it feels very like Fearless you know especially after the um the the bridge there's like the sepia kind of colored scene where he has like a man bun going on he's like dancing toward the camera it looks like he's beating the camera down like fighting or something so I think that's what sets it apart and made it like whole snap a guy with the tight skinny jeans is wow you know what yeah I think it's fun because he was the young one right like he was the cute young one um and especially when after they debuted in Japan even more so right he would push to the middle in the front and he was like the cute one that all the Japanese people loved I guess right um so for have him come out and do something super dark like this is awesome and I think he probably wanted to like go against the grain yeah I wanted to rebel against that image of him as well if he had like Pretty Boy on it too oh my gosh yeah like he was he was rebelling in this moment I think um but this video showcases him so perfectly we get all these awesome sides of him we get him both blonde and with black hair yes and um I also was reading something else that mentioned that you seem to be playing with gender Norms here and kind of just like that type of thing with the fashion he was using with the with the makeup he was using um and he does that throughout his whole solo career so it's kind of awesome he's been doing that kind of since the very beginning um and yeah it just all feels so effortless like he is just such a natural performer like there's never a scene close up dance wise anything in there where he's straining right anyway right it's all just natural um so for the it just really shows how great he is yeah and this is a solo debut yeah it's pretty crazy um that's crazy yeah I liked that he didn't do too much either like all the scenes had moments to breathe it wasn't because you know some of the K-Pop videos now it's like you see one scene for like 10 seconds and you never see it again it's like oh my God but that costume was cool or like there was none of that like it was kind of like you get like kind of the five or six different things and then that was it yeah um and each one had a really distinct look to it right came back around yeah yeah um and then we'll talk about the dance stuff later but like that I mean obviously this is a very dance heavy video you feel the MJ influence for sure yeah um so yeah great video yeah I can go on but I won't yeah all right so let's move on to player two again with jonghyun with crazy guilty pleasure um so what do you think of this video

you know he's one of those you look at him or listen to him or whatever and not think that his brain works the way it did hmm you know it is a very dark video but like I think that was acceptable at the time if I'm not mistaken like that was whole dark kind of thing the eyeliner was already like happening back then but like him underlining and then like oh and then like the eye shadow it looked almost like sleep deprived like obsessive craziness and I don't have to use that c word but like it's just like I want this person so badly and it looks like that yeah so again I would have not thought that way with this song like the song sounds desperate in a certain way but it feels angsty and he had it everything everything's in black and white with maybe like a Red Wing show like I think my favorite scene is like the spotted Gobo where it's like on his face like this oh yeah yeah because it makes him look mysterious and Moody but also really dangerous which is interesting because he's talking about how dangerous the woman is to him yeah so it's like you know who's to pray and who's the Predator um and I think the overlay in the background with the woman's face with the Penrose staircases just continuously going just creates that that feeling of like never being able to escape someone like the obsessive nature it just very very interesting to have behind him um the band scenes were cool but I think again it's really interesting to see all of that I think SM at the time was just killing it in some of these videos even though they always had people in the freaking box but you could make a story out of it for sure um I think seeing the physical woman like manifested was also really creepy because like she was you can never really see her faith and when you did like this weird blue Avatar thing and it was like what the hell yeah but aside from that I think the video was cool um him being strung up was interesting I mean the spider oh yeah yeah how was it yeah and spider was a little odd um yeah well you mentioned the box but I think in this case it makes sense it's supposed to feel claustrophobic it's supposed to feel tormented right so um it really made sense in that and you can he's a very good actor in that way he has a very emotive expressive face yeah um and so he embodied that very well where you could tell he was almost in pain that he was in these uncomfortable situations he was tied up he was had a gas mask on like all like he's in these situations that are not the most comfortable right um and so I appreciated all that imagery I thought it was effective um and yeah I liked the black and white and all the colors and stuff as well um yeah I don't need the band section really I don't think that was necessary I think him alone with the mic stand would have been would have been awesome but yeah I think it matched the song which is what you what's what you want out of a music video wasn't anything crazy no no it was not yeah um but it was intense and it was Moody and it matched the song so I appreciate it for what it was um and he looked beautiful he does oh man I think that's a man yeah yeah all right all right so let's move on what's next oh next is a key with Forever Yours featuring so you not so me yeah but unfortunately soyuz not in the video yeah so that beginning I remember when I first turned it on because I haven't seen it in a few years now I was like oh did I click the wrong I was like oh did a visualizer or did I put the wrong thing yeah yeah but no she's just not in it so nothing really happens in the beginning but yeah so this video is fun um the CGI is terrible in parts of it it gets better throughout the video but that initial part where the card like leaves the garage it was like oh um yeah um that wasn't great but I enjoyed like the scenes of him like driving through space and dancing through space and I thought the final part with like the different platforms and things was fun um different costumes and stuff um this one did need a dance moment though I think you know we didn't say jonghyun didn't have a dance mom but it didn't call to that um but this one it did need that because it got a little old him just kind of in the car um yes yeah oh my God I was like literally in my notes I was like I wish there was dancing because he's so damn good um I do like the fashion though in the video yes I mean he never fails in that department but that was it she was you know also Cheetos all I see is Cheetos Cheetos in his agency Cheeto hair you know I mean like what an era okay flying into space with that lemon he was like what the outer space the phone's like what I guess it was like kind of like a Back to the Future kind of thing like you know fixed a car in the garage go into outer space yeah and you mentioned lyrically as well like yeah about the universe he does yes um he does talk about like the lyrics says our ends are different from others and they'll find it he'll said he would find the girl at any other Universe if you were to collapse and die or whatever but yeah I guess that would explain the uh room room with the lemon into the face yeah um but yeah boy oh boy again Hot Cheetos and um I think overall again like you said it was safe even the video was super safe like he just looks stylish like he was just not the right personality in it no and it's so crazy because he has all of the personality yes you know yeah so again it's just interesting to see like in a group how much like creative fashion control they would give him how much like in control of the image instead of like hey guys maybe we should try this or this will really cute our hairs like this yeah but like as an artist as Sim didn't let him it's interesting for sure yes I'm glad you know since then he's been able to have a lot more creative control um because yeah this last album was amazing yes um all right so let's move on to onu with blue um to match this very haunting song we have a very interesting video yeah um we so the lyrics in this song talk about loneliness um and you can really feel that and it's a very eerie video got chills um yeah again it really matches the song at least you know yeah I appreciate that with all of these songs but all that we're talking about today but you could really feel the loneliness throughout um you know it kind of passes through these different items he sees different kind of entity the people I don't really yeah I'm sure have special meaning to him in some way um and um yeah you could really it really felt like we were in his mind um and yeah I thought it was a beautiful video yeah yeah honestly again I did not know what this was until he saw it and I thought damn this video is good I thought even I mean I guess in terms of the timeline with the green screen and the visual effects being a little bit more advanced or like you know Advanced for all intents and purposes uh the Blues the mutedness of everything ah the holes in the bodies yeah that was again it's weird um I think it's interesting uh the way they portray certain items like there was a little like diamond Roth thing that some people theorize to be shiny yeah it is a color it's Chinese color exactly yeah you know um the dilapidated house I feel like when he brought Chinese like little artifact back into the house it kind of made him feel fulfilled again because it was glowing and the video ended on that as well um maybe he's felt broken yeah that was around the time he had facing allegations and such and you know a lot of other things were happening and then he went into the army and was just like yeah you know so maybe that was just his kind of way of saying like I'm going to go back retreating to myself you know remember where I started like Chinese my you know my safe place the showers or my safe place um because even in that video those people became like Titans and like stared at him and he was so afraid yeah I was like oh my God what's so bad um but yeah I mean uh what makes a video even more interesting was that that piano solo that we heard yes there is an extended middle section after bridge and the bridge already is so intense with the build but yeah in the video version we get an extended piano break yeah um and it's absolutely beautiful and now yeah I miss it I miss it in the recorded version yes because it was very like as you say it was poignant and I feel like it made the ending even more just like cathartic uh so yeah and it Crescendo really nicely so again the video is is good yeah it's good I wasn't expecting it to be and I hate to say that about him but when you hear ballads you really ask him just goes instead of the piano yeah it's at the cafe exactly you know so this one was intense for sure and there's so much to analyze in it and like like I said it seems very personal as well so I feel like no one will ever really know what some of that stuff meant but that kind of makes it even better in some ways um so yeah really really beautiful for sure all right what's our last one the last one is minhao with Chasse so Minho does actually have a bachelor's degree in film which I do I only learned that kind of recently did you know that no no yeah so anyway he did direct this music video which is awesome that's really really cool it is but it's funny that you say he actually I was like wait what oh no who didn't think I'm dying apparently got it in like 2015 oh no shawls help us out yeah surprise let us know about his his education yes so first off I have to say I love that the name of the bar is the last piece of the puzzle very very cute um and he did also post a video a picture on Instagram of like the five of their albums stacked on top of each other like I love that they support each other in their solo career so much yes anyway fanboying aside okay this video I like it more after a few times watching it all right first time I watched it I was a little confused and also I misinterpreted the ending and thought it was a little more morbid than it is and so I didn't love it but after watching it a few times right I Now understand the story and and I appreciate how cinematic it all is and now I kind of get what he was going for like he's both being chased by the ghost of this woman but also he's wanting to chase the memory right while he's like hunting for her yes through the bar and everything and seeing her everywhere um so I love that kind of juxtaposition I love that then everything is just kind of out of sequence so you're kind of feeling that confusion that he's disoriented so I love that now but that took me a couple watches to understand that but yeah it did make me appreciate the song a little more yeah for sure um because it just adds to the drama of it totally because I think just listening to it you don't feel that as much just from The Way It produced and the way it sung so yeah the video definitely helps in that case yeah um so yeah what did you think I agree with you I feel like all the symbolism is interesting for sure like the inescapable memories inside um yeah I was confused because he was getting his bow whooped and I'm like why yeah I didn't understand that also there's a glorification in K-pop of like injured faces too because he performed or we'll talk about performance later but like he also

like I don't like that and yeah I blame the weekend no seriously when he introduced that character that got into an arc accident after the hills and then like you know like the recent album with the red suit yeah remember at the Super Bowl his whole face was wrapped up it was a continuation of a story that we we weren't Kino well actually to be fair though at least his concept was like fully fully fleshed out right like sometimes with the K-pop stuff not min-ho's case because at least it connected back to the video but sometimes they're just injured like you know injured in quotes yeah for no reason they're just like performing with scratches on their face like blackpink had that wasn't that kill this love or someone of the songs were like um you kill this love they had started on their face everyone's like they're women and they're like basically naked and they have bruises on their face no no so yeah um I will say this video hang on had nothing to do with the teaser remember the teaser was awesome it was yeah it was great the whole like you know five thing yeah born identity you know that was cool you know the Minho identity thing going on it was cool but then you get to this song and it was just nothing to do with anything because I guess I've learned I've learned not to really think anything of the SM teasers they're usually like absurd yeah I was not absurd it's obscure excuse me wrong word suck but sometimes they're absurd but I concur but yeah I do I do enjoy into going back to what you're saying about the ending um just get get us back on track he did actually pull out a weapon that made both of us actually uncomfortable upon first viewing um but upon several other viewings we came to the conclusion that he wanted to free himself for the memory of This Woman's image and she would always appear in the mirror so therefore he shot the mirror and was freed from her come on

yes all right so that's done with the videos okay so I have to still give it to Taemin I do I do because I will watch that video over and over again and not be bored with it we definitely did though because I know in general like throughout these last you know in like what eight years right yeah yeah like and we got to see him perform it when he came for um yeah yeah yeah I'm gonna say this first blue he's coming up in the rear yeah but again yeah I think taemon is the one because of just tayman's video for what he was trying to do for the understandability of it even the parts I didn't understand it was able to pick it up he just want to be a badass like I get that uh blue close second for sure close yeah that's fair yeah wasn't there blue it's tough taymin really set the bar very high shoot yeah yeah he was the first one um and unfortunately you set the hyper choreography too

and the performances and stuff final round tayman is known as one of the best dancers in all of K-pop and still is he is even though he's you know second-gen and we're now in on basically 5th gen we're entering 5th gen the choreography is so good in danger um major props the choreographers I love Batman I was 10. you're not that young my bad okay but um I love Ian Eastwood as well he was also coming up like during the prime of my kind of dance career as well and like the reason I actually gotten a K-pop was because all the choreographers are choreographed choreography for it so that's why I started looking into it um oh man this is so so good it's so first off it's very MJ mm-hmm inspired so it fits Taemin perfectly yeah um you especially get it with the you know the shoulders and it's just it's so intricate I never learned this one but I did learn Drip Drop oh which is also ene swed oh my gosh it looks so hard there's so many little subtle movement and like really fast sharp moments but then also you need to be like it's weird it's like your hand needs to feel loose but your elbow needs to be sharp and then it's like your hip needs to do a slow roll but your like arm is like a superstar it was crazy and this choreo is like that too it's a really cool balance of the power plus softness and delicateness yeah it balances that the whole time yeah um and the hands really stand out me too like watching him perform it because he's very tame man especially he's very deliberate with his hand like sometimes he's putting energy throughout the whole thing sometimes it's loose sometimes one finger is out like it's so specific and planned but he makes it look easy so he's just such a good person you're wrong it's just insane um and also that whole last chorus is freestyle oh it's for him to stay sing yeah I love that yes we do yeah

shade shots shots fired but you're right honestly when you're speaking like effortlessly as such uh you guys get a chance re-watch the video or if you remember just watch it this face the whole time

the only thing I ever see him like oh God I need to get myself together is when he has to hit the notes because he's like I have to hit these notes like I you know it's my Showtime here he's just dancing whatever yeah but everything else his face is just he could be having a picnic for all intents and purposes I'm just sitting here hitting his weird ass finger tutting it's impressive um and I think it's it's a testament to how well trained he is because again like a lot of the people that they work with are definitely MJ inspired like SM was like Hey look at five little Michael Jackson minis Reno nakasone is very much like I love MJ he she would be him during their like Skeleton Crew dancing or uh Tony Testo with dream girl and uh oh yeah you know what I'm saying and everybody like it's there but I think shiny has always embodied MJ with their own like unique color you know K-pop fans y'all know what that color that's the only word on it it's in the script too y'all that's the only word I could think of you know um but yeah you know uh like you said Ian Eastwood was popping at the time I don't blame him for reaching out um but I think that what I like even more about these lyrics is that they're not on the nose like way back when I don't know if they're like English demos floating around for the choreographers to dance to this is giving I don't know Korean but I know how this sounds I like the way it sounds and I like the way it sounds let me choreographed because danger there's only about that he's saying tonight he looks like he's loading a gun it's not you know like stay yeah okay good that's fine but he didn't go stay he was just moving his body yeah and nothing is choreography it's all just I heard this sound I like this sound maybe there's a gun because there's a gun sound but nothing about it was like I know Korean I think that's what made it even more impressive to me because the credit if he's good I still want to learn it I understand certain things like Ian understood the assignment yeah you know so I mean even now like nowadays you can see like really not corny choreography but you you know like there's a song

and she's jumping and pretending to a limbo maybe I don't feel that song by Nature yeah that's not

but the choreography is not it yeah you know that's what I'm saying choreography it was great I like that we're gonna move on to the next one which was crazy by jung-hyun and so there's actually no choreography to this one um Mike San dancing he was doing it okay that was not a choreography it's a little toe dip thing he he does the pose at the end but that's I wouldn't count that as choreography but anyway um this is all about the vocals yeah it's junkyard yes um and you know this song he needed to emote like I said every single word so he needed to concentrate on that and he was also going for the band thing right yeah so there yeah I always it's always interesting right like on the regular music shows yeah if you can't hook up the instruments obviously so it's just seeing blue AOA fft Island I just hated that but yeah music's still good yeah um but there were there were versions with the live fan like he did do it on some of the shiny tours on me also um did it on Sketchbook which we watched yeah um so first up and just say the live band version is what I want the guitars in there the real drums yeah yeah really brings it up to where I want it to be um but for him as a performance kills it I mean I mean he has a great stage presence his vocals are up there obviously and they're absolutely amazing and he really puts his all into singing this song yeah um so I thoroughly enjoyed watching him perform it yeah I agree I think he um again going back to what I said earlier there's no other things like him doesn't mean these kids can't say they just no one can sing like him at the end of the day he's a vocalist who was taught to dance and did both well but I mean also just kind of going back to like him singing he said that he didn't want to make an album full of battle because he actually said he didn't really like doing them as much so he was trying to avoid that with this album yeah like I mean it's not like he didn't do it but it was he's like I don't want that to be yeah like yeah I can belt but I'm not going to um but yeah again he can he commands the stage for sure for someone who wasn't belting was just hitting a bunch of falsettos and just well watch Sketchbook he did a Juliet cover not even a cover a Juliet rendition yeah whatever he did it he did that uh and then he did the um crazy and it sounded so good and again like he'll throw his whole body into singing and the notes will still come out clean then this was before like the over editing yes so and extreme heavy backing track as well oh yeah because there is some backing track but it's not it doesn't on top of it like uh-huh yeah side note remember SM The Ballad we had like a couple songs coming like hot was it hot stuff not hot stuff that's Donna Summer no people you remember as some of the ballad I know it's not on streaming services but shiny fans and like I think some super junior members were in it too why are they so familiar like 2011 2012. yeah you guys know remind me there's a song that starts with hot I'm gonna look at about for this and make her listen to it okay um okay let's move on to player three which was key Forever Yours oh yeah and so you did show up for the performance is so what did you think of the performances of this oh say oh she showed up I'm going to show you all how she showed up I'm here I'm here and then the rest of the song was and then the rest of the song was just key by himself she came in and out I don't appreciate that she didn't learn a choreography and there were some choreography moments but she were wearing heel and skirt but the choreography was like involved I swear

you know what it's uh I'm okay with that you know what she is busy too Sistar was at their Peak at this point weren't they no 2018 y'all no

there's me lying right there uh I was just I was imagining like alone and stepping oh we're like this is not that era at all this is much later yeah um okay well you know what she was busy and didn't have time to rehearse all that um and she was probably like I'm not doing that right and then she saw the choreography but the choreography is hairy full out yeah um I will say key is a very underrated performer I think it's hard right when you're with people like Taemin and jonghyun um yeah but he can hold his own too he's a great performer he's very charismatic awesome dancer great vocalist um but this performance like the song doesn't really do him Justice he's very clean with the execution of it um like the arms and stuff are very clean it's a lot of kind of basic grooves all put together very in a high energetic way so he executes it very very well he does mute it down when so you show us up to match her energy which is what you do in a group right so you know that's that group training right there um and uh yeah I thought it was it was fun to watch but will I watch other performances no no and their Dynamic was cute yeah and you know with him and soyuz I do hope they are friends and it wasn't just a force duet right you know I I actually liken their interaction between like what would happen if me and Chris performed together honestly it's like he'd be doing all the choreography really cleanly and I just step off stage and pop back on that is very not true it wouldn't be true but if I had to choose a song to sing for us to kind of be like hey we're this one

low impact on the knees you know I'm just oh it's a lot of jumping yeah I forgot to say I wouldn't want to come out and need to do that either I wanted to stay with my back to you and just like they were doing you know but again I I agree with you in a sense like the duet was cute but like nothing to write home about but it brings us to our next contestant who doesn't have a performance per se as much as like an impromptu like acapella moment yeah which is unfortunate oh you didn't promote this project because he when I went straight into the military kind of right after it came out or right before it came out I forget what the timing exactly was but yeah he didn't promote it on the regular music shows yeah um and he apparently didn't perform at his Japanese show it's either because we only found this kind of acapella clip of him kind of not taking it fully seriously and kind of belting this chorus it still sounded good it was again it takes a lot of breath control so he he was like laughing throughout it so yeah um you know hopefully he performs it in full one day I'm sure he could sound found it beautiful yes the older he gets gonna sound so good yeah dark chocolate or Rich um but yeah I guess that brings us to our last contestant Minho with Chasse um yes so this one was interesting I think okay so we were we were watching these together right when we were prepping for this episode and we were both discussing like Minho is such a great group remember he holds it down in shiny he he's an important part of shiny yeah um both visually and sonically and everything like performance wise he does bring something different from the other four yes um but this performance kind of exposed um some of his um Achilles heel if you will sure yeah yeah yeah um some of the points of improvement um areas because yeah areas of improvement um I think as we know he has a great body right yes um but I think he's a bit stiff yes oh yes yeah like he hasn't been stretching enough because

um yeah this choreo was very smooth it had some smooth moments and really needed your core to be loose and you're back to be loosen your neck to be loose and all of it felt a little tight um so it was a little clunky

um and on top of that so yeah a little awkward but on top of that and this goes along because it's a newer song and I've been saying a lot a lot of K-Pop song a lot of K-pop choreo is more difficult than it needs to be and this was kind of that case because this has like moments of like this jumping footwork and like like it's like whoa chill yay like at least run in run in run it was just that like body roll thing so I yeah I didn't mind that oh you weren't a huge fan of that right because he wasn't okay he wants to hinge at the waist and you kind of do like like almost like a door he wasn't bending oh I know but I mean in terms of like a choice of like the hook that was better I mean I would have had a little bit you know something I don't know I'm gliding I'm glad a Glide running or back of running something that travels it's not not just like a body roll who could not execute yeah yeah so yeah I thought it was interesting that um he couldn't execute this as well as I maybe thought he would have been able to yeah um but my favorite moments within the Korean were actually just the more Dynamic ones um with the dancers like during the bridge with him on the ground and the dancers just kind of creating pictures around him

um but yeah I'm not I don't love this here I know no it's okay yeah I feel like again his choreography and heartbreak was better yeah guy in a suit is better but him coming around like he's at the bounds that he bounced around he didn't like bounce nicely when he came around and rotation it's just a little tight yeah yeah I'm Gonna Keep shading him but yeah I think I think heartbreak was more of his speed because this requires a lot of Swag and he's not a swaggy person he's more Debonair he's more like you know the guy who buys you a Negroni in the like whatever that Meme is but yeah he's more of like a very handsome kind of suit and tie dancer and not so much swaggy I think he's on a smooth yeah like I I yeah I'm not sure what it is like it's his it's his hip she doesn't move him yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you say it's the Cora says the hips I think it's both because he gets connected the whole trunk yeah it's just not moving yeah the whole trunk but yeah I agree with you I think the uh the the thing with the dancers making the pictures yeah without touching it like I touched Chris yeah but yeah I think they made really nice pictures that helped yes and the moon was nice and things but yes about it um but yeah that being said he's the last one yeah performance live presentation yeah who this is really tough because we have like vocalists versus like dancers it's not the most Fair um here's the thing I have to give it to tame it and I I'm sorry that I'm only choosing one person for the whole thing but it's tough to match again you set the bar so high like I could watch him perform danger like every I could watch every single combat performance and totally be happy to watch them again me too me too he knows my the first time we ever did a pop-off we did like Kai got seven in hybrid and Kai swept the board spoiler alert yeah but to be fair though I could also listen to jung-hyun sing that song that's what I'm saying over again as well but individually like as a whole performance it's really hard not to give it Taemin for me yeah I mean taemon's also sung it before too the mic was on an m-net countdown okay oh yeah it was on it all those shows and shoot back in the day when people actually used to think about the mic being turned on you know making sure the mic pack was hot you know whatever I mean SM used to already be the ones that would make I moved up a lip sync more yeah some of the others like I feel like the first week would come back they would always lip sync right and then they would eventually sing live after that but now it's just all lip sync yeah if you are an XO fan back in the day and they had to sing all those hard songs like Mama they sounded terrible at least you know the mic yeah I'd rather them sound terrible right yeah um but yeah I think for me I will give it to Damon I was trying to be nice to think about it you know but hey man 10 minutes I'm attainment what can I say yeah he wanted he artistically speaking I think as of as a whole artistically speaking him and jungian always kind of were like bumping heads for me because I was like one is like lyrically melodically amazing but one artistically speaking visually he's like wow and then you know John has his last sense left us but now Keith's up there with me with with Taemin and now he's making songs that are like hitting and like songs like idea or like other songs are a little bit more abstract aren't hitting for people the key songs are so it's interesting to see how far they've come and honestly I mean if you guys want us to do like another part where we do like most like latest song or like a different song we got to figure it out because I feel like everyone needs a different shape yeah a fair Shake If you will yes for sure um okay but in terms of an overall winner I think it's very obvious right for both of us yeah it's danger yeah uh yeah it kind of swept that one but I will say we are both huge shiny fans like we will continue to support all five of them with whatever they released yes um like I love some of the minto's pizza then the title track to be honest um so yeah those are called what you just said yeah excited for what's next from them and also as a group because yeah when you came in to get out but he he's coming not poor baby um all right so we want to know what you all think detainment sweep it for you or would you give it to one of the other members let us know who wins the pop-off for you you can let us know in the comments below or message us at CCTV pop on all social media you can also join us on patreon so please give us a like subscribe to our Channel and hit that notification Bell and for our listeners please give us a rating and review on your podcast platform of choice until next time that's Shan that's great and we are CCTV [Music]