My eyes on youuuuuuu

May 18, 2015, Shinee released their 4th studio album, Odd, containing 11 songs. This is my favorite SHINee era partly because it was my first SHINee comeback (I’m a sentimental girl, what can I say .), and partly because of how well this roll out was.

There were so much content and iconic moments. I remember being on Tumblr and all the new Kpoppies and the vets being excited and having a good time. 2015 still stands out to me for how much excellent music was released this year. All the new groups, it was just good times (overall). And SM in particular didn’t miss. Nothing but hits from all their groups. I gotta talk about 4 Walls on here, omggg. Okay, I’m getting off track.

Back to SHINee. This was my honeymoon era. Jonghyun had released his first solo project BASE in January 2015, with Taemin’s first solo album (ACE, another one I gotta cover on here), still fresh and on replay despite being released back in August 2014. For context, this was about two months before I really got into Kpop so just as Taemin was wrapping up promotions, I was just learning more about who he and SHINee really were. So for me, the timing of Odd as a baby Shawol couldn’t be better. My first ot5 comeback, and just getting to experience what it was like to be a part of everything despite being an international fan. I was hype. My internet friends were hype. It was gonna be a party. Summer was gonna be lit. And it was.

I always forget that the repackage album that was released later in August 2015, is Married To The Music, which has of course has, “Married To The Music” the title track and my favorite of the repackaged tracks, “Chocolate” my second favorite song from this repackage, “Savior”, and “Hold You”. I really only listen to “Married To The Music” and “Chocolate” out of this group. I don’t remember if I knew Jonghyun helped write “Chocolate”. I think I forgot about that fact. I bring this up now because I don’t see myself making a separate article, covering MTTM. I do highly recommend checking out the music video if you haven’t watched it yet. Especially if you love Halloween, this is for you.

One of the most exciting parts of Odd era was the members, especially Jonghyun in particular, having more writing credits and input on the group’s music. He wrote and arranged “View” which I’m gonna get out of the way now, this is my favorite SHINee song. PERIOD. This is my comfort song. I still listen to it frequently. I rarely skip it. I’m not saying it’s their best song objectively, definitely top 10, but I just really fookin love it.

Key and Jonghyun worked on “Odd Eye” and other banger song. Which makes sense in hindsight because “Odd Eye” is very much Key’s song. I always think of him (in that eye patch) when I hear or think of this song. Minho has song credits on “Romance” for the rap section. Key has rap credits for “Odd Eye” but idk if it’s for both his and Minho’s part or not. Wiki didn’t specify, lol.

Minho also has rap credits on “Farewell My Love” which might be my favorite midtempo SHINee ballad next to “Who Waits For Love”. I listen to “Farewell My Love” the next most when it comes to songs from Odd. I almost never skip it. Going back to Key, he also has a second song credit for “Alive”.

I don’t really listen to “Alive” much but now that I know he was the only member to have credits on this one, it makes sense, similar to Minho’s credits on “Farewell My Love”. When you listen to “I’m Home” or “Bad At Love”, I hear “Alive” and “Farewell My Love”. It’s like a signature, something so unique to their taste that you can point it out once you’re aware of it. Like a fashion designer’s use of certain colors and fabrics over another designer’s preferences. So now that I got song credits out of the way, let’s get on with the proper review!

Odd Eye

We’ve already gone over the creation “Odd Eye”. Idk how I forgot this is the opening song on the album. I can’t talk about this song without mentioning one of my favorite SHINee videos ever, their June 21st performance on Inkigayo. I couldn’t get the embed function to work with this link. So you’ll have to click on the Inigayo hyperlink -_-.

There’s just sooo much going on in this three minute and 15-second video. I most fondly remember Key’s eyepatch, Taemin’s dance during his solo, and Jonghyun’s silvery hair. Minho and Onew look amazing in this performance and were on point during this entire performance. I remember Shawols going crazy over this performance when it dropped. It was a cultural reset.

“Odd Eye” as a song is so engaging and entertaining. The vocals and harmonies are so perfect. Expected from SHINee and just a recurring theme with them. Oh! How can I not mention the “my eyes on you” sounding like Onew, and SHINee joking about Jonghyun writing a song about Onew, and Taemin (I think, it might have been Minho) saying he wanted a song about him next. I always love when SHINee promote together because their group dynamic is so funny. They play off each other so well. They just get closer as time goes by.

Love Sick

So “Love Sick” is a follow-up to “Replay”. And I love the call back. I’m going to run out of words for how good these songs are, lol. But I’ll try to mix it up. “Love Sick” doesn’t have the R&B elements to it like “Replay” has. “Love Sick” sounds much more like the rest of Odd’s experimental sound. Really Odd dabbles in that tropical house sound that was trendy during this time. It’s basically KARD’s entire discography. I like it, but I like that SHINee made one album that sounded like that.

View

I’ve already gushed about this song, so now I want to talk about the visuals in the music video and the teasers. Let’s start with the music video first. So the plot of “View” is so wild. They get kidnapped by some girls in Thailand while working a schedule, and just decide to hang out and party with them while taking a bit of a break from celebrity life.

This hair and clothes, this era, chef’s kiss. While researching for this article, I ran across this post from OneHallyu talking about SHINee’s impact on Kpop during this period and how influential it was. Another cool thing about this era was group fashionista Key having input on the groups outfits this era. It was his suggestion to go with the 80s and 90s old school look with current designers. Their stylist originally wanted them to do uniforms.

Key’s long wavy bangs and multicolor highlights were such an iconic look. That’s his best hair, fight me. Taemin’s bleach blonde hair with purple on the tips was so cute, and we don’t really see that look that often. I like the version of this hair where he has more purple than the bleached parts too.

Wonho had a similar look, but it was like a white and blue tips. Then Yeonjun’s hair during “Puma”. Actually, I.N from Stray Kids had the closest hair to Taemin’s here during “Circus”. You just don’t see blonde and purple like that, that often. It’s usually all one color, half-and-half like Cruella Devil, or like the front bangs. Not just the tips or bangs and tips. I’m over explaining this, lol.

Onew’s pink peachy hair was cute and different from his usual dark brown hair. Jonghyun’s bleached silvery as I mentioned earlier was another fave hair he had. Then Minho keeping it boring but sexy with his black short hair occasionally pushed up this era.

There’s something uniquely preppy yet alternative to the styling this era clothing wise. Other than the sports jerseys and headbands. The deep v neck sweaters worn during live stages, baseball caps, stripes, red, white, and blue for colors, different washes of jeans, this kinda screams Ralph Lauren and Abercrombie and Fitch to me.

I like watching the choreography version of “View” as well. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, I love when groups known for having complex choreographies, just do what they do best, dance. I also enjoy the styling here too with the cut-off sleeves. This basement/hangout that they’re in also showcases the grimy vibe of the situation. This place looks dirty and abandoned. You almost forget they’ve been kidnapped until they show this room again in the regular music video. I think the severity of the situation is larger here when you just see them dancing here.

I also just enjoy the juxtaposition. You have this upbeat song and a Stockholm syndrome thing going on for visuals. Red Velvet’s “Peakaboo” is the same way. I love that in music videos.

Romance

“Romance” is another upbeat song I listen to so much from Odd. It’s so bubbly and fun. I love Key’s “uh listen” and “I want you girl” and all the other background vocals. One of the best part of the songs is about 20 seconds before the song ends and there’s a pause like it’s over, but then the harmonies pick back up. Then the remainder of the song is the “shooby doo” and “aaahs”. Love it.

Trigger

I never listen to this song anymore. But it’s good. It’s very Jonghyun. Looking at the lyrics, it’s another one of those wanting the relationship to end and wanting the other person to end it. The vocal arrangement and performance for this song is so dramatic and intense. It’s quite the ride.

Farewell My Love

Perfect placement album wise. We love a good breakup song. As I mentioned earlier this is one of my favorite midtempo SHINee ballads. And Minho has rap credits on this track. Like “Trigger” this song is super dramatic. I loovveee Jonghyun’s voice on this song. He said I know this is a group project, but we’re being graded individually, so good luck everyone else, lmao. You just don’t get music like this anymore.

An Ode To You

I don’t think I’ve heard this song in years prior to working on this article. I tend to avoid slow songs like this one. Even though they’re literally what SHINee do best. Well, they can do it all. We love the duality of them.

Alive

Ah yes, Key’s other song. I don’t listen to this one much. I’m not sure why. I guess it just falls through the cracks for me. Like if this was dodgeball, and I’m picking songs to be on my team, I’d take “Alive” but it’s not my first or even third pick, lol. I do enjoy Key and Minho’s rap towards the end of the song.

Woof Woof

Now you’d think a girl who loves “Wolfgang” and “Cat and Dog”, this would be right up my alley. But I don’t. There’s just a bit too much going on. I think if I saw this song performed live I’d be good with it, but “Woof Woof” is not the song I’m hunting down to listen to again, lol.

While looking for a version of “Woof Woof” to embed in this article, I found this. This is the nonsense I stan SHINee for, lmao.

Black Hole

I’m not sure why I didn’t have this one save on Spotify anymore. I think it was one of those weird glitches Spotify has sometimes. I have songs disappearing all the time with them * eye roll * “Black Hole” feels like a follow-up to “Romance”. That cheerful vibe about falling in love. I feel like they were made around the same time as each other. I don’t have any evidence to back that up, just a feeling, lol.

An Encore

I love this song for the harmonies. SHINee blatantly showcasing those amazing vocals again. But I hate that we just had a super upbeat song before. The transition is off. I wish they either put this closer to “An Ode To You” and “Farewell My Love”. Either clump all those together at the end, or put the upbeat songs at the end and have the slow ones as a break/slow down period. I don’t think the interweaving of vibes really work when you’re listening to this album from start to finish.

It’s funny how Odd starts off so strong for me and then slowly wears off. 1 of 1 is my favorite SHINee album from start to finish. I do love the styling of that era, but Odd was a bit more unique to me. 1 of 1 is a parody/cosplay of the 90s boy groups. Which is fine. But not my favorite. I’ll talk about that more in its own article, lol. I hope y’all enjoyed this article. It took a little more time than I expected, but I think it was worth it.

Take Care!

Ash