Everybody (EP)

Background and release

On October 4, 2013 S.M. Entertainment released a lyric video of a new song, "Symptoms", which was written by Kim Jonghyun himself. Also, the music was composed by The Underdogs, who previously worked on Shinee's songs "Juliette," "Spoiler," and "Selene 6.23". Shinee released Everybody digitally and physically on October 14. The group began their promotions for the title song "Everybody" on October 10 starting with Mnet's M! Countdown and ended their promotions on November 17, 2013 on Inkigayo. After the release, the album charted high in Taiwan and entered at #1 of the Gaon Music Chart. Shinee performed the title track "Everybody" for the first time during the 2013 Gangnam Hallyu Festival.

Everybody contains a total of seven songs, including the title song "Everybody" and "Symptoms". The outfits for the album cover and the "Everybody" music video were from American designer Thom Browne's 2014 S/S Collection. For the album, many hit makers participated such as Thomas Troelsen, The Underdogs, Kenzie, and Jinbo. The title song "Everybody" is classified under the "Complextro" genre and was choreographed by Tony Testa, who previously worked with Shinee on their past hit title tracks "Sherlock" and "Dream Girl". SM Entertainment performance director Hwang Sanghoon (also known as Greg) also participated in planning the choreography. The music video for "Everybody" was released on October 10. On December 20, Shinee released a music video for "Colorful" to thank their fans for their long continuous support. It includes video clips of the members’ 2013 promotional activities. As of 2014, the EP has sold more than 140,000 copies.

Critical reception

Jakob Dorof of Tiny Mix Tapes gave the EP a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. He writes that "Everybody will never be anybody’s Pet Sounds, I'm Still In Love With You, Discovery, Meets Rockers Uptown, A Love Supreme, or even FutureSex/LoveSounds — but we’re getting closer. The recent Pink Tape album by f(x) — a group engineered by S.M. Entertainment to be the female derivative of SHINee, one of their most successful boy bands — marked a big step forward, and now f(x)’s brother-progenitors have taken things even further. A seven-song mini-album (Korea’s format of choice), Everybody makes for a leaner listen than the full-length Pink Tape and by some criteria may rank less impressive. But if we are searching for singular listens — ones devoid of filler, focus groupthink, or ill-fitting raps — then Everybody is K-Pop’s most sustained statement to date." Dorof remarked that "Close the Door" highlights the experimental and versatile nature of Shinee's music which frequently charts into unfamiliar territories.

Jeff Benjamin of Billboard praised the title track, "Everybody", stating, "Shinee crams in loads of dubstep alongside bleeps, bloops, build-ups and breakdowns. The electronic overload is topped off with sweet boy band harmonies, resulting in an easy-to-digest electro-pop track". The choreography of the song however was the highlight for the columnist stating it's "the most impressive point of Shinee's comeback".

Track list

Credits adapted from the official homepage.

Promotional singles