Shinee

Shinee is a contemporary R&B South Korean boy band. Formed by SM Entertainment in 2008, they made their debut on May 25, 2008 on SBS's Inkigayo with their promotional single, "Noona Neomu Yeppeo (Replay)", lit. "Older Girl, You're So Pretty (Replay)"). The group consists of Onew, Jonghyun, Key, Minho and Taemin. Since their debut, Shinee has released two full-length albums, three mini-albums, and various singles. They have also won many awards, held a concert tour and starred in their own reality shows. Shinee is considered to be a fashion icon having started the "Shinee Trend". They are set to make their Japanese debut in March 2011. On May 23, 2008, the group's first mini-album, Replay was released from Label company, SM Entertainment. The mini-album debuted at #10 on the Korean music charts and peaked at #8, selling 17,957 copies in the first half of 2008. On June 7, 2008, Shinee participated in the Dream Concert in the Seoul Olympic Stadium along with other South Korean singers and groups. The group won their first award, "Rookie of the Month", at the Cyworld Digital Music Awards on June 22, 2008. Shinee took part in SMTown Live '08, which was held on August 18, 2008 at Seoul Olympic Stadium. On August 23, 2008, they attended MNet's 20's Choice Awards 2008, where they won the "Hot New Star" award.

Shinee released their first full-length album, The Shinee World, on August 28, 2008. The album debuted on the charts at #3, selling 30,000 copies. The first single released from the album was "Sanso Gateun Neo" (Love Like Oxygen), lit. You Are Like Oxygen), a cover of "Show the World" by Martin Hoberg Hedegaard, originally written by the Danish songwriting and production team of Thomas Troelsen, Remee and Lucas Secon. On September 18, 2008, Shinee's "Sanso Gateun Neo (Love Like Oxygen)" was the No. 1 song on M! Countdown. A few days later, Shinee received the "Mutizen" award for the same single on SBS's Popular Songs. Shinee participated in the 5th Asia Song Festival, where they received the "Best New Artist" award with Japanese girl group, Berryz Kobo. The group attended the 2008 Style Icon Awards on October 30, 2008, where they won the "Best Style Icon Award". On the same day, a repackage album of "The SHINee World" titled "A.Mi.Go." was released. The re-packaged album contained three new songs: "Forever or Never", a remix of "Sa. Gye. Han (Love Should Go On)" and the promotional single "A.Mi.Go". "A.Mi.Go" is a shortened version of the Korean phrase "Areumdaun Minyeorueljoahamyeon Gosaenghanda". Heart Aches When You Fall In Love With a Beauty). On November 15, 2008, Shinee won the "Best Male Rookie" award at the 10th annual MNet's KM Music Festival, beating fellow newcomers U-KISS, 2PM, 2AM and Mighty Mouth. At the 23rd Annual Golden Disk Awards, they performed a medley of their songs, "Noona Neomu Yeppeo (Replay)", "Sanso Gateun Neo (Love Like Oxygen)" and "A.Mi.Go (Amigo)" and won the award for "YEPP Newcomer Album".

Shinee in their video clip "Lucifer "

Shinee in their video clip "Hello"

In early February, 2009, Shinee won "Best Newcomer" award along with Davichi and Mighty Mouth at the 18th Seoul Music Awards. Later, SM Entertainment announced that Shinee would make their comeback with their second mini album Romeo on May 21, 2009. On May 18, "Juliette", the first single was released, an instrumental remake of Corbin Bleu's "Deal with It". It was later announced that their comeback was going to be delayed due to Onew damaging his teeth and the release of the mini-album was pushed back to May 25, 2009. Shinee eventually had their return performance on June 5, 2009, on KBS's Music Bank, where they received the award for first place. The group released their third mini-album, 2009, Year Of Us, on October 19, 2009, five months after the release of Romeo. SM Entertainment stated that this EP would showcase the group's vocals and demonstrate their unique qualities. The lead single, "Ring Ding Dong", was released digitally on October 14; the group had their comeback stage on October 16, on KBS's Music Bank. In early December, 2009, Shinee won the "Popularity" award along with fellow labelmate group, Super Junior, at the 24th Golden Disk Awards. In February, 2010, the group won the main "BonSang" award at the 19th Seoul Music Awards.

The second full length studio album, entitled Lucifer, was released on July 19, 2010 in South Korea. The music video promoting the lead single, also named "Lucifer", was released on the same day. Within hours of the release, the album topped various physical and digital sales charts in South Korea. The songs on the album "were more carefully selected than ever", and the album is said to "listeners a great chance to experience the diverse musical characters and more mature vocal skills of the members." The group made their comeback on July 23, 2010 at KBS Music Bank. Choreography of the Lucifer was released on the same YouTube channel on August 3, 2010. The studio album was re-released a repackaged version, entitled Hello, on October 1, 2010. The music video of the promotional single, also named "Hello", was released on October 4, 2010. The re-released version included three new tracks. Amidst their promotional activities for the second studio album, the group also participated in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour alongside their label-mates on August 21, 2010 at Seoul Jamsil Olympic Stadium. They also performed at the concerts in Shanghai and Los Angeles on later dates.