SHINee's Minho May Have Referenced Multiple Jonghyun Lyrics In Touching New Song "Area"

While SHINee‘s latest title track “Atlantis” has been attracting tons of attention from Shawols and non-fans alike, the repackage album’s B-side songs are just as impressive. One song in particular is also very touching. Co-written by SHINee’s Minho (who revealed he edited the song’s lyrics 15 times before he was happy with them), new track “Area” includes several possible lyrical references to fellow member Jonghyun.

In “Before Our Spring”, Jonghyun’s self-written song from his 2018 album Poet | Artist, there’s a memorable lyric that translates to, “Just looking at you smiling.” In “Area”, Taemin sings a line that translates to, “Just look at me and smile.”

“Area” also appears to reference another Jonghyun solo song, “Just Chill“, from his 2017 album Story Op.2. In Korean, the title of the song roughly translates to “In a Daze”—just like Taemin’s line in “Area”, “Move your body that was standing in a daze.”

Another SHINee song title found in the lyrics to “Area” is “Honesty” from their 2012 album Sherlock. With lyrics written by Jonghyun, the song is known as “Always in That Place” in Korean. In “Area”, one of the chorus lines reads, “Always in the same place” in English. Plus, the Korean title for “Area” also translates to “Same Place”.

Even one of the lines Jonghyun sings in a past track can be found repeated in the “Area” lyrics. In “Area”, Taemin sings “I can’t grasp you with my hands.” In the 2013 The Misconceptions of You song “Dream Girl”, Jonghyun sings, “Seems like I can grasp you with my hands, but I can’t.”

Finally, there’s also a possible reference to The Story of Light‘s 2018 song “Our Page”, which was co-written by the SHINee members with Jonghyun in mind. One of Minho’s lines in the song translates to, “The void you left in my heart won’t fill tonight.” In “Area”, there’s also a lyric that translates as, “The void you left won’t fill.”

While the lyrical tributes to Jonghyun are some of the most touching in “Area”, the new B-side track also seems to reference a few other SHINee songs. For example, the line which translates to “Even if I close my eyes, same yeah,” is similar to a line in The SHINee World‘s 2008 song “Four Seasons”—”Even when I close my eyes, you’re by my side.”

Likewise, “Sleepless Night” from the 2013 album The Misconceptions of Me is called “I Can’t Leave” in Korean. This translation is exactly the same as a Key line in “Area”: “I can’t leave [the void you left].”