If you asked any SHINee fans if any of the members seemed to have faded after 17 years in the business, you’d be met with a certain negative. Yes, the singers are all still as shiny as pearl aqua: a glow clearly seen from the group’s leader and main vocalist ONEW at his solo show in London the other week. His longevity in good spirit is the same as his career-wise; the LIVE : PERCENT (%) world tour has been selling out venues in America and Europe. Fans have quite literally grown up with the group, and simply won’t leave their side.
A sentiment that the singer echoed in one of his breaks for heartfelt conversation with the crowd during the show. His happiness gauge was at 100% for its entirety; his performance of funky number “Caffeine” even awarded the audience a cheeky little spin. Only few can fill out a stage without a band — and mostly ballads might we add, so there was no choreography for him to fall back on. ONEW was simply very present: an exemplar for what a true performer should aspire to be like.
The sea of mint-coloured lightsticks swayed as the singer gifted numbers like “Winner” and “All Day”. Groovefest “Conversation” had ONEW singing to the audience with such vigour it looked like he was telling them a story.
The London crowd went particularly nuts for “Silky”, a fan-favourite that takes inspiration from neo-soul. Only ONEW’s got the power for it; the singer boasted live falsetto goodness every time he climbed into lines like ‘You got me feeling so high’. We’re pretty sure singing is just as easy as breathing for him.
Pop-rock show closer “ANIMALS” had the audience up and dancing, especially during its rousing chorus: ‘No regrets / Go wild like we’re psycho / No need for words, just your eyes / With just a glance, we know, animals / We turn into animals.’ Though such lyrics were mostly in Korean, it was pleasantly surprising to see how well the crowd recited them back to the singer. It became clear that ONEW’s fans are as sincere to him as the musician is in his career; no one present was merely going through the motions.
The encore brought chipper tunes like “Oreo Cake” and “Yay”. Though the latter is more of a sarcastic use of the word, we can’t help but chuckle at its overly relatable lyrics like ‘I don’t want to take the scary call’. Same, ONEW, same. Ballad “Happy Birthday” wrapped up a fantastic setlist, and we must say his version is much better than the universally-known original. From start to finish, the show was a pure display of top-notch musicality dressed in the singer’s infectious spunk. It seems that ONEW is, completely and without a doubt, married to the music.
ONEW is on Instagram. Tickets for his THE LIVE : PERCENT (%) World Tour can be found here.