SHINee’s Taemin Debuted Without Ever Participating In One Key Training Lesson

SHINee‘s Taemin recently had his long-awaited solo comeback with his fourth mini-album Guilty and made a special appearance on soloist Lee Mujin‘s musical talk show Leemujin Service.

The SHINee maknae began his episode by stating it was the first time he appeared on a program to showcase his singing instead of his dancing, and he had wanted to appear on the show for a long time.

Before he became a trainee, Taemin loved to dance and noted that for his open audition for SM Entertainment, he had only prepared to dance; singing wasn’t on his mind.

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Taemin thought he was doomed after the singing part of the audition, but SM Entertainment didn’t feel that way. He passed the audition and officially became a trainee after impressing the company with his talent and confidence.

Lee Mujin asked Taemin if it was true he hadn’t received vocal training before his debut with SHINee, and he confirmed it was true, but clarified a few things.

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Taemin shared that his voice was changing at the time, so he just “sat in” on the voice lessons. He added that he “debuted without really making any sound,” and while he’s able to discuss it lightheartedly now, he struggled with the fact that he didn’t properly receive voice lessons at the time.

He shared for the first time that his lack of confidence in his singing as a trainee led him to tell his parents and company trainer that he didn’t want to debut. At the time, he was already in SHINee’s pre-debut line-up.

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Taemin felt that he couldn’t be proud of himself unless he debuted when he was truly ready.

Through the help of his family and company trainers, Taemin was persuaded to debut. He dedicated himself tirelessly to vocal training, often staying until sunrise in the SM Entertainment practice room after schedules, in order to no longer feel like a “burden” to his fellow group members.

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The SHINee member went from singing only a few lines in the group’s earlier songs to being the first member to make his solo debut, showing just how hard he worked to become a top star.

In his recent Suchwita episode, Taemin shared more about his struggles that helped him accept himself as he is. Check out more on that in the article below!

SHINee’s Taemin Was “At His Limits” Before His Solo Debut