I don’t follow K-pop much beyond having a playlist and whenever idols decide to also act, but some news is worth sharing broadly to bring more positive attention to it. SM Entertainment‘s second gen idol group SHINee has been through ups and downs and has such a positive and strong image even a non K-pop follower like me feels warm and fuzzy towards them. Member Taemin has been in the army for the last 7 months serving out his mandatory enlistment, assigned to the band unit to make use of his musical talents. But this week the military confirmed that Taemin has been transferred to public service, basically desk duty, due to his worsening depression and anxiety. I am so happy to hear he’s getting the right assignment to help his mental condition though sad to hear he’s suffering. For once K-netz are not ragging on him for “taking it easy” and are in full support for his transfer and wishing him well.
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Depression is a serious illness, he must have had it really bad and I hope he’s able to heal and get better once he’s in the public service (it’s sad he went into active service at all if he was suffering so much).
I primarily am into k-dramas but I dabble in k-pop and SHINee is my cup of tea musically and Taemin is my favorite solo artist. He was pretty obviously struggling as he was promoting almost until enlistment. I thought he was so emotional because it is generally assumed your music career will never improve post enlistment and he’s not in the business for variety, CFs and acting. The idol business is actually worse for people who want long term music careers. Anyway, I knew things were at a whole different level bad when there was a last minute cancellation of a fan meet and then nothing for days. I’m glad he was able to get through the time he did, and some k-netz say he got hated on for a while but it turned pretty quickly. Oh, and I’m in the “old enough to be his mother” category so good for k-pop for breaking some of those boundaries of the 13 year old girl fans. (c’mon America, start putting out some decent music…a person can’t live on Bruno Mars alone.)
When was this fan cancellation happened? Was it his solo or Shinee’s?
it was for his solo activity
I’m glad to hear knetz are being supportive. The same thing happened to Lee Joon when he served, and I remember reading a lot of ugly comments.