Key Admits SHINee “Pushed” Their Team To Make “HARD” A Title Track And Reveals What Was Originally Selected

SHINee recently interviewed with Clash Music magazine, a UK-based website and publication, and opened up about their recent promotions, their 15th anniversary, and their experience headlining KPOP LUX Madrid.

(From left:) SHINee’s Taemin, Minho, and Key performing at “KPOP LUX Madrid.” (Onew is currently taking a break from promotions to focus on his health) | @SHINee/Twitter

On June 26, 2023, SHINee made their first group comeback in two years, following Taemin‘s discharge from the military.

Despite being 15 years into their career, the veteran group thrilled fans and netizens by continuing to push themselves musically and came back with “HARD,” which the group describes as “a new hip hop genre [for SHINee] as it’s a hybrid of different sounds and genres, including 90s hip-hop.”

(From left:) SHINee’s Taemin, Minho, Onew, and Key | @SHINee/Twitter

In their interview with Clash Magazine, conducted with Key, Minho, and Taemin, the members revealed that “HARD” was not their team’s first choice for their title track.

SHINee took control of the creative direction of their 8th album, HARD, wanting to show fans a new side of themselves. They admittedly “pushed back” on their team to switch their title track, which was originally “Juice.”

‘Juice’ felt familiar but we ended up choosing ‘HARD’ because we decided that song would bring us a new experience.

— SHINee’s Key

| @SHINee/Twitter

Minho included that the group wanted a “catchier track,” and Taemin added,

To be honest, [because] hip-hop felt a bit distant from SHINee and we wanted to surprise the audience with something unexpected. And I felt that this would spark something inside me as well.

— SHINee’s Taemin

| @SHINee/Twitter

Key revealed that he worked hard to convince their composer to change their title track, wanting to challenge themselves with “HARD.”

This was a challenging track in many ways so I’d say that it falls under the category of ‘challenge’ because we also had to convince our composer to choose ‘Hard’ as our title track.

— SHINee’s Taemin

Their long-awaited album earned the group the largest first-day and week sales of their career, proving SHINee’s capability at the creative helm.

Check out more of their impressive accomplishments with their “HARD” promotions in the article below!

The Only K-Pop Group To Win #1 On KBS’ Music Bank In Each Of The Last 3 Decades