Taemin, the Boy Who Finally Made It Big: K-Pop Star from Shinee and Superm Is a Model of Perseverance
By Alexander Ross
Here’s a look at Taemin’s life.
His early life
Born Lee Tae-min in 1993 in Seoul’s Dobong district, Taemin began his K-pop career after making a bargain with his mother. As a 13-year-old junior school student, he enjoyed dancing but loathed the hagwon, or cram school. He told a South Korean radio talk show that his mother let him audition with SM Entertainment and if he passed, he could drop out of his hagwon. He passed the audition.
As a teenager, Taemin juggled the demands of idol training and his school work. His high school accommodated his often strenuous training, he said, but he regrets not spending time with friends in school. After high school, he transferred to an arts school and, after graduating, he went on to study at Myongji University, majoring in music and film.
Taemin spent three years as a trainee and was known for his dancing skills. At SM Entertainment, he trained with Kai, another trainee who would eventually join K-pop boy group Exo, and helped Kai improve his dancing.
Taemin has said his vocal skills improved after intensive practice in the recording studio, but he apparently suffered daily nosebleeds due to insufficient sleep.
His role in SuperM
Taemin made his debut as a member of SuperM in 2019 alongside members of SM Entertainment’s most successful outfits. In the group, he has continued to showcase his dancing skills and appeared in many of the videos promoting the outfit’s debut.
His image
In an interview with Billboard, Taemin said he tried to reinvent himself to reach new heights. “I personally want to create different characters within myself. This is how I feel, just as different people have their own personalities,” he said.
His solo work
Taemin released his first solo studio album, Press It, in 2016. Taemin hand-picked every track on the album and the release won a major prize at the 2017 Golden Disk Awards. He followed up with his second album Move in 2018 and then the self-titled Taemin last year.
In his own words
“What I wanted a long time ago was to grow older. I wanted to hurry up and become an adult. I wanted to grow and become cooler and more manly,” Taemin told iHeart Radio last year when answering a fan’s question on how what he wanted has changed since making his debut 11 years ago. “But now I want to go back to being a boy.”
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
