SHINee's lead vocal Kim Jonghyun showered 2015 with his uncovered artistry by emerging as a solo act releasing two extended plays in a year "Base" and "Story Op.1," a book "Skeleton Flower: Things That Have Been Released And Set Free," and even got the first taste of "The AGIT" concert series.
The 25 year-old singer-songwriter has never been this active as a solo artist in all his life as an idol. However, after his fellow group member Taemin commenced the solo acts in SHINee by releasing his first album "Ace" last 2014, Jonghyun broke loose and followed through with "Base" on January 12 opening this year for SM Entertainment.
The first mini album "Base" consists of seven songs that he wrote which features his collaborations with other artists such as the rapper Iron for the title track "Crazy: Guilty Pleasure," the hip-hop singer Zion T for "Deja-Boo," and the rock singer-songwriter Younha for "Love Belt."
Jonghyun officially becomes the first SM Entertainment artist to have participated the most in the writing, organizing, and composing for an album from the company which was notorious in the K-Pop industry for limiting the creative freedom and involvement of its artists in the production of their own albums.
The success of the first mini album, collecting eight trophies from various weekly Korean music shows and even rose to the top spot for Billboard's World Albums Chart, must have gained the agency's confidence and let Jonghyun release his second mini album "Story Op.1" with the music video of the heart-wrenching ballad title track "The End of the Day" uploaded on September 16.
The tracks contained in the second EP were mainly songs that were already played on the radio "Blue Night" to which the star also handles as a DJ every midnight in Korea. The DJ's daily interactions with the listeners and the stories he heard were said to have inspired the second mini album.
On October 2, Jonghyun surprised the fans with the release of his first book entitled "Skeleton Flower: Things That Have Been Released and Set Free." The lyric novel talks about how the songs he wrote came to life.
The said book not only reads about his songs, but says much of the depth of emotion that Jonghyun attaches to every work he does, the appreciation to the people around him, and the unusual splurge of creativity contained in a single person.
The said book was supposedly sold in time for the kick-off of his first solo concert series "The AGIT: The Story of Jonghyun" but was officially released in other stores due to popular demand.
The said concert then was a new brand by SM Entertainment which features solo artists from the company. Jonghyun was chosen as the first in the lineup followed by Taeyeon and Kyuhyun, respectively.
To date, Jonghyun holds the most numbers of shows in "The AGIT" and the only one with the epilogue concerts added. The live band accompaniment and his outstanding performance of the tracks he personally chose for each show made the series livelier and more intimate.
Jonghyun's walk of 2015 has truly been a new experience and invaluable in the K-Pop music industry, getting to know him on a deeper level to learn how genuine he is a person and a creative individual starting with his first mini album "Base," a collection of the stories by the fans he internalized "The Story Op.1," a book of his inspirations "Skeleton Flower: Things That Have Been Released And Set Free," and lastly, a closer way to connect with the fans through "The AGIT" concert series and epilogue.
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