Away From The K-Pop Machine, ONEW Is His Own Maestro
The singer begins his first North American tour on April 24th, and over the past year, has released the most freewheeling music of his career.
Griffin Entertainment
Perhaps the most revealing aspect of Onew’s new music is just how much fun he’s having.
Across two EPs released over the past year, titled “FLOW” and “CONNECTION” respectively, Onew has created the most versatile music of his career. On the high energy 2024 comeback single “Beat Drum”, off of “FLOW”, he even breaks into a short rap. “Play it loud!” he commands and, if you’re a good listener, you’ll turn it up.
The EPs mark an exciting turn for the singer. After nearly two decades with the K-Pop giant SM Entertainment, where he led the legendary group SHINee, Onew chose to terminate his contract in 2024 and sign with a newly established label, Griffin Entertainment. Almost immediately he began releasing music and charting out an ambitious plan to reintroduce himself to audiences.
The rapid release of “FLOW” and “CONNECTION” come with an end goal for the singer. The new music is propelling Onew into his first North American solo tour, “The Live: CONNECTION”, which kicks off April 24th in New York. The tour will bring Onew to eight cities across the U.S., including Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas and San Francisco. Three days before opening night, he will release his first English language track “MAD”, something that I never expected to hear from the singer. All of this reflects an ambition and energy far greater than we’ve ever seen from Onew as a soloist.
Longtime SHINee fans might recall the group performing in the U.S. throughout the early and mid-2010s, but Onew’s tour has been long overdue. He is a singular talent and a force on stage. His skills as a performer are more sly than SHINee teammate Taemin, who owns the stage with almost brute force – but Onew is still wildly compelling. Watch, for example, one of my favorite SHINee performances of “Why So Serious?” from 2017 and you’ll see how he captures the song’s camp energy with giddiness.
But what I’ve found most exciting about the music Onew has released under Griffin Entertainment is just how freewheeling it sounds.
You can sense Onew’s freedom most clearly in his lyrics, which have never been this sharp or expressive. Throughout “FLOW”, Onew emphasizes that he has no master plan and no idea where his feet will land. He emphasizes spontaneity and pleasure: “When I suddenly think of it, I call to say hello,” he sings on “Hola!”.
When he’s at his most compelling, though, Onew is drawing distinctions between his current life and the past twenty years. “Maestro”, one of my favorite b-sides from “FLOW”, compares the constrictions of his past to being in a glass cage. Now, free to explore an endless ocean (SHINee’s color, it should be noted, is blue), Onew sings, “I wanna play without sheet music/ I can do whatever I want.”
Griffin Entertainment
On “Boy”, a b-side from “CONNECTION”, Onew’s lyrics turn playful and nostalgic:
“I don’t mind eating anything/ Well, except for cucumbers/ When I grow up, I’ll probably get sick of it/ Stocking up on snacks like a rebel/ Still the same boy/ Writing in my journal before bed.”
Squint and you could likely see these qualities in Onew’s music when he was signed to SM Entertainment. But in retrospect, Onew was never given the creative freedom to be as daring as he is now. This was likely because of the role SM slotted Onew in as leader of a massive K-Pop group. Maturity and level-headedness came with the image. When his solo debut eventually came around in 2018, Onew was still grieving the death of SHINee member Jonghyun who passed away one year prior. “VOICE”, his first mini-album, was released just a few weeks shy of Onew’s mandatory military service. The EP’s mood was, understandably, somber.
But perhaps what SM got wrong about Onew as a soloist is that he is actually a brilliant pop star. His voice can fit almost any genre but he’s most compelling when he’s having fun. Take “FLOW” b-side “Focus”, for example, which begins as a standard alt-rock track before ripping open midway through to an explosion of synths. As Onew leaps into a string of falsettos, he sounds as joyful as I’ve ever heard him.
Where Onew is most exacting is when he analyzes his own life. “Yay”, the funky closer to “CONNECTION”, is full of biting lyrics about isolation and his fears. He calls himself a “reclusive loner” and insists, “I can stay by myself all day long.”
But bubbling underneath the surface is a longing to challenge himself and to try something different. “I want to keep going this way/ So I can change,” he sings and adds, “I want to try anything.”
As I listened to “Yay”, and watched the single’s terrifically zany video, I thought of Onew’s career. As a shy, humble teenager, he was chosen to lead a boy group that eventually became one of the most popular groups in K-Pop. Before he reached thirty, he buried a best friend and served in the military. Six months after the death of Jonghyun, SHINee returned with “The Story of Light” and a series of concerts that felt too soon and too raw. When he returned from the military, he seemed quieter and fragile. In messages on bubble, an app that lets idols communicate with fans, he would talk about how introverted he felt.
But by the end of “Yay”, Onew seems to have made peace with his past. At 35, it’s never too late to start again. So he shouts with a wild joy, “I’m happy!” And for the first time, I believe him.
