Odd (Shinee album)

Odd

Shinee worked alongside director Min Hee Jin who has been with them since their debut and is known for his visually impactful teasers. The style of clothing for the albums concept sport a comfortable and refreshing vibe, displaying the merits of loose T-shirts and denim shorts most likely to match the R&B vibe. Breaking away from their powerful and precise choreography, the choreography of "View", which was choreographed by Ian Eastwood, brings about a groove style, and they showcase the teamwork and inner strength of an experienced 7-year-old group.

Shinee's fourth full-length album was digitally and physically released on May 18, 2015 and is the group's first Korean release after a two-year hiatus. On May 21, the group began their promotions for the title song "View" on music shows, starting with Mnet's M! Countdown and followed by KBS's Music Bank, MBC's Show! Music Core and SBS's Inkigayo. As part of the promotion, the group members also guested on several variety shows including Hello Counselor, Saturday Night Live Korea and Non-Summit They also appeared on fellow member Jonghyun's radio show, Blue Night. "Odd" also marks the 7th anniversary of Shinee's debut therefore making it more meaningful for the group. Member Onew stated:

Odd contains a total of 11 songs, with the album including songs produced by international producer teams The Stereotypes and the Underdogs, British composing group LDN (pron. London) Noise, G'harah "PK" Degeddingseze, composer Kenzie, and Steven Lee. The title track "View" is an upbeat song of the deep house genre, produced by English team LDN Noise. It has been described as having a "refined and sensual" sound, expressing love's beauty as a "mixture of diverse senses". Shinee member Jonghyun wrote the lyrics to the song. Member Minho stated that he was worried about the new concept since it's different to what the group has done before:

After its release, Odd debuted at No. 9 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart and No. 1 on Billboard's World Albums chart and sold 2,000 copies in the US. The album also stayed in the top 10 of the Billboard World Albums chart for three consecutive weeks after its release on May 18. The music video for "View" was filmed in different locations in Thailand and was the most watched K-Pop music video in the world for the month of May. Following the success of the album, Shinee were also chosen to become the new models of Shilla Duty Free for one year. As of June 2015, the album has sold over 165,000 albums on Gaon Charts, ranking first for that month.

Married to the Music

On July 29, the repackaged album Married to the Music was announced to be released on August 3, with four additional songs: "Married to the Music," "Savior," "Hold You" and "Chocolate." "Married to the Music" is described as funky disco and is the work of LDN Noise, Kenzie, Stereotypes and Deez. "Savior" by Kenzie is characterized by trendy and sensual lyrics. "Hold You" is a R&B song which was produced by Stereotypes and Deez. "Chocolate" is a medium-tempo R&B track and was written by group member Jonghyun and Yankie. It's described as a charming love story that is sweet like chocolate. The choreography of the title song, "Married to the Music," is the work of Greg S. Hwang and Tony Testa. The music video was released on the same day as the album.

Jeff Benjamin of Billboard describes the title track as "a journey of different genres, opening with what initially sounds like a beatbox-heavy, hip-hop sound before flipping to a sexy, bouncy electronic beat on the verses until we get to a funk-inspired chorus that mixes in horn blasts, groovy guitar strums and classic boy-band harmonies".

He also explains the reason behind the concept for the album stating that international fans might be confused with a Halloween-like concept for a summer release but the group "is actually embracing South Korean's tradition to flock to horror films in the heat of summer. It's common knowledge in the country that one's body temperature cools while watching the genre, so to cope with sweltering temperatures South Korea's ideal time for a scary movie is the summer. The quintet embrace the tradition with their own take on a murder mystery, but add a touch of Odd-ness to coincide".

Critical reception

Melon's pop music critics chose Shinee's "Odd" as one of 2015 first half's best albums, praising the vocal skills of the members and stating: "Shinee made an exemplary display of both "pleasure of listening and joy of watching" once again."

"Odd" was also selected as one of MTV IGGY's "25 Best Album of 2015", praising the "experimenting and playing with old and new sounds, resulting in a fresh and evolved album". The title song "View" got positive response, describing it as a great, laid back summer jam even though "the song fools us into thinking it's an uptempo ballad before reaching its techno peak at the chorus."

Jeff Benjamin of Billboard praised the title song, stating "Despite boasting completely different vibes, "View" isn't that different from "Everybody" in that both have the same repetitive chorus structures, but the latter throws piles of electronica into the chorus while "View" keeps its instrumentation very simple. By going against what's expected, SHINee actually ends up taking more of a risk by doing less and it pays off handsomely." Odd Eye also gets praise, which is written and composed by member Jonghyun, Benjamin states the group "return to the R&B side of SHINee with feathery vocals, tight harmonies and member Onew's falsetto howls acting a centerpiece to this grooving opener." But he also criticized some of the songs of the album like An Ode to You, saying the "unnecessary electric guitar riffs are added to the mix that soils the pure production." Black Hole is also criticized stating "it's not only the shortest song of the album, but also one of the most forgettable." Overall he gives the album 3.5 stars out of 5. The title song, "View", was also included in Billboard's "Top 20 Best K-Pop Songs of 2015".

"Odd" was also nominated as one of the "albums of glory" by Arena Homme+ magazine. Shinee was the only idol group on this list. Kim Yunha, a music critic of Arena Homme+ writes: "K-pop, captivating the pop genre for years, may seem like it’s on its journey to find the "real pop" in the music industry that have been defined as either ballads or dance music at a glance. If you agree on this idea, Shinee is definitely a front-runner that leads this movement. Every time, without any fears, they’ve been opening doors for entirely new levels and after having reached the limit of being a human with "Everybody" what they have arrived to is a very Shinee-ish stateless world of pop. They are still dancing and singing in a place where nobody dares to covet."

Track listings

Credits adapted from the official homepage.