‘SM 30th Anniversary’ SHINee Full Group Photo… Onew is there, Taemin is not [Comprehensive]

Amidst the conflict between Onew and Taemin‘s agencies over the group SHINee’s full group promotions, a SHINee photo commemorating SM‘s 30th anniversary has been revealed.

On the 17th, SHINee’s official SNS posted a group photo of SHINee for SM‘s 30th anniversary album ‘2025 SMTOWN: THE CULTURE, THE FUTURE’. SHINee members Key, Minho, and Onew were together in the photo. Unfortunately, member Taemin was not there.


The members also reflected on what SHINee means to them individually. Key described them as “my belonging” and Onew expressed his affection by saying, “The one and only who is always there.” Minho passionately wrote, “Life, living, everything. Happiness! Thrill! Joy.”

This album contains a total of 17 tracks, including the title track and SM’s new group song, “Thank You,” as well as SM‘s legendary hit songs that left their mark on K-pop history, remade by each group’s senior and junior artists to fit the individuality and musical style of each group.

H.O.T.‘s Kangta, virtual artist Navis, and classical and jazz label SM Classics participated in the album, but SHINee did not. Instead, you can hear remakes of SHINee’s songs. BoA remade SHINee‘s Jonghyun’s ‘End Of A Day’, and WayV remade SHINee‘s ‘Juliette’. The SM Classics version of SHINee’s ‘View’ was also included. The album will be released on February 14th, the 30th anniversary of the group‘s founding, and is currently available for pre-order at online and offline stores.


Meanwhile, Onew and Taemin, who left SM Entertainment and each went their own way, have been in conflict recently, virtually sniping at each other over the failure to hold a full SHINee stage.

At SM’s 30th anniversary concert ‘SMTOWN LIVE 2025 [THE CULTURE, THE FUTURE] in SEOUL’, held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 11th and 12th, artists from SM and former SM artists gathered together for a performance that lasted for 7 hours. From HOT to TVXQ, Super Junior, aespa, and RISE, SHINee did not perform as a full group, but only showed solo stages by Key and Minho, both of whom are affiliated with SM Entertainment. In particular, it was belatedly revealed that Key finished the stage with a professional spirit despite being in the worst condition due to a cold on the 12th.

As complaints grew louder, Taemin carefully brought up the issue on the 13th through a fan communication platform, saying, “I‘m wondering if there are fans who are worried about SHINee. I’m sorry I couldn‘t show you SHINee during SM Town. I wanted to finish talking about my company quickly and show you SHINee, but the back and forth took some time.”

He said, “We’re having a good conversation and things will be sorted out soon,” and added, “I also have a lot of stories I want to tell in the future about protecting SHINee with the members. My intention is, I hope that those who are worried, ‘Maybe they don‘t want to do SHINee?’, or ‘Will we be able to see SHINee in the future?’, don’t worry about that. I hope my words don‘t become arrows to anyone. Once again, all the members love SHINee and have the same thoughts, so we are in the process of carefully organizing and preparing to start SHINee off well, so let’s meet again with smiles soon.”

The representative of Onew‘s agency stepped forward on Onew’s behalf. The representative of Griffin Entertainment defended Onew through his personal account, saying that they had received a cancellation notice (of SHINee activities) for a number of reasons and that it was not his fault. He then emphasized, “SM is doing a good job.” It was an indirect attack on Taemin, saying that it was his problem.

As the arrows of criticism were pointed at Taemin, Taemin‘s agency Big Planet Made stated on the 15th, “We are aware that there are concerns due to posts on some communities and SNS regarding Taemin’s SHINee activities. They stated, “All the content recently posted on SNS is clearly false.” They said, “We have always supported and cheered on SHINee’s activities, which Taemin has great affection for. At the same time, we do our best to provide full support so that artists can be treated fairly and can continue their activities,” and “We will continue to actively support Taemin so that he can continue to shine as a solo artist and as a member of SHINee.”

Failure to hold a full group stage, failure to participate in the album, and passing the buck. As the conflict between Onew and Taemin deepens, the innocent Shawol (SHINee World fandom) is only burning inside.

Jeong Hee-yeon, Donga.com reporter shine2562@donga.com