SHINee have spent the last week celebrating their anniversary with the streaming of multiple concerts. This all builds up to a new single, written by (and featuring vocals from) their late member Jonghyun. Though Poet | Artist won’t be promoted beyond a music video, it still feels more notable than a typical fan song. After all, this is one of the most celebrated acts in K-pop and they don’t return with new music often. They also happen to be one of my favorite groups. Ever.
Because of this, it seems almost unfair to critique Poet | Artist as a song. Like other well-loved second-gen groups, it will be enough for most fans that SHINee have released new music at all. But me being me, I can’t help but wish these seasoned acts would return with work that either pushes them forward or recaptures the best of their past output. Poet | Artist doesn’t do either of these things, though I doubt it is meant to. It was originally written for Jonghyun’s second album of the same name during a period in pop music where trends didn’t often align with my personal taste. So, I’m not surprised that the song fails to knock me out. Between its lurching mid-tempo energy to its truncated melodies, the track is simply operating in a space I don’t tend to flock back to often.
Given that this is SHINee, their incredible talent and vocal prowess elevates the material. No matter the song, it’s lovely to hear their tones layered on top of each other, creating that mighty wall of sound that has always made them a force to be reckoned with. They perform Poet | Artist admirably, with flair and emotion to spare. However, I find the song rhythmically repetitive with little melody to grab hold of. If you were to isolate any twenty-second stretch of the song, you’d have heard pretty much everything it has to offer. In this way, Poet | Artist spins its wheels without much development. I have a feeling the stuttering hook will grow more addictive with time and it’s so nice to hear them back together, but on the grand scale of SHINee classics (of which their are many), Poet | Artist is more of a pleasant footnote than a towering standout.
Hooks
7
Production
8
Longevity
8
Bias
9
RATING
8