Here’s How Taemin Continues To Maintain His Position As Top Male Solo Artist

Taemin recently released the last part of his Never Gonna Dance Again album series, bringing an end to his third solo album promotions. Although all of his solo works are special, he especially put in a lot of time and effort into this album series as it reveals the process of how he found his identity.

In terms of the process for his “Criminal” and “IDEA” music videos, he revealed that a lot more of his thoughts and ideas were included into the making of the videos.

Usually the company recommends a director for the artist, but because I had a firm image of what I wanted my video to look like, I found my own music video director and requested to work with him.

— Taemin

He expressed that he took part in every little detail for his videos from the concept, color, design, etc. “We discussed about the concept, direction, color of the music video until the sun came up and requested to the company how I wanted my music video direction to go. I think that’s why I am more attached to these videos because I spent so much time and effort into the whole process of making the music video.”

Taemin’s third album can be seen as a connecting story line starting with 2 KIDS, ACT 1 (Criminal) and ACT 2 (IDEA). His ideas and thoughts were so clear that he chose to work with VM Project Architecture, a director he has worked together with in the past.

Aside from his clear and firm ideas about his music and concepts, he also shows passion and professionalism in his works.

The music video director for “MOVE” wondered if any other artists would go the lengths that Taemin did for the video. “In the last part of the music video there is a scene of him dancing in the rain. He was probably suffering a lot but he kept saying that he was fine. This was my first major music video that I directed and my outline involved having the artist dance in the rain for almost 18 hours. Thinking about it now, I could never do that again. But Taemin was able to pull it off so well and I wonder if any other artists would be willing to go such lengths for a video.”

Music critic Kim Young Dae revealed that Taemin is one of the most unique and exemplary solo artists in the Korean popular music scene.

Listening and and watching Taemin’s music and performances is like looking at a piece of contemporary art. Although he can easily be categorized under popular music and K-Pop, Taemin’s music is much different from regular idols, who create easy to follow songs for their fandoms. Actually, you could say that the properties are completely different. Taemin’s music is a mix of cutting-edge sound and retro aesthetics, and his movements are on a different level, even in the eyes of someone who is not skilled in dance. But these little details can only be seen by those who know the difference, those who are ready to appreciate a higher level of artistry. This by no means is an evaluation that is only for the idol scene. He is one of the most unique and exemplary solo artists in the entire Korean popular music scene.

— Kim Young Dae

All in all, he just wants to be remembered as Taemin, an artist that took risks through music and ultimately found his identity.