TAEMIN 태민 ‘Criminal’ MV Reaction #TAEMIN #태민 #テミン

4 comments

1. Absolutely captivating voice, choreography and MV. Taemin makes it impossible to take your eyes off him
   NEXT
   Danger
   MOVE

2. He is sooo much versatile artist!!!

3. Taemin extraordinario .

4. "Criminal" is the second part of Taemin's Never Gonna Dance Again album that came out in 2021. It's part of a trilogy, which started with his prologue "2 Kids," and continued with "Criminal," which is part of Act 1 of the album. And it was followed up by "Idea," which is part of Act 2 of the album and it brings the whole concept full circle. And now his follow up release, "Advice," has become the epilogue to the story.

   Taemin said in an interview: "The two acts put together tell a story. '2 Kids’ is about growing pains and depicts the story prior to the story in the album. You can think of '2 Kids' as a teaser before the movie called 'Never Gonna Dance Again.' Act 1 shows a new side of me. I think it’ll be something you’ve never seen in K-pop before. And Act 2 is the end-all-be-all. It’s the ultimate level of intensity. Never Gonna Dance Again’ was originally the name of the concept. Because it doesn’t make sense for me to stop dancing. But I wanted to give a sense of rebellion with the irony of the title.”

   Just so you know, the Taemin you see is not necessarily the criminal in the song. I see him as the victim who is being held captive by the criminal. The criminal is his lover (i.e. the other side of him) that he is singing about, which is a metaphor for the pressure he feels under as a Kpop idol. The song is about living in a toxic relationship and being brainwashed by a lover. He has now fallen in love with the person (or thing — i.e. his career) who is inflicting all the pain and suffering on him, so now he accepts the abuse as a normal part of the relationship. Even though he is being abused by that person — possibly a metaphor for the pressure he is creating for himself with the need to always be the best in everything he does — he can't help but love them and allow them to continue to hurt him, etc.

   All the abuse is happening to him, he is not hurting anyone else or doing anything criminal himself. Therefore, the story isn't about Taemin being a criminal. Notice, the S.W.A.T. team isn't arresting him. They pretty much walk right past Taemin and ignore him as they search for the criminal.

   The "boss" vibe is a facade he puts on to make people believe he is in control, but as we see in the choreography, he is being manipulated by all the outside forces around him. For example, we see him lying across the backup dancers backs and they pick him up and manipulate him to do what they want him to do at that moment. A lot of his dance moves are designed to make him look like a marionette puppet that is being pulled around by strings and being told what to do. Which is what you see when he is crouched down and he creates that wiggly, wave movement in the dance, etc.

   As part of the story, he has been held captive for so long that, as it says in the lyrics of the song, he is now suffering from Stockholm syndrome, so he is no longer fighting the abuse and that is why you see him throw his bindings away. The criminal — which is a metaphor for the pressure he has felt in his career — no longer has to tie him up to keep him there. (Because he has fallen in love with the pain and suffering he inflicts on himself as an artist, etc.) The backup dancers represent the forces he is struggling against as he fights with his mind over whether to stay or go, etc.

   Fun fact: It was Taemin's idea to include the police blotter/news clips in that part of the song. If you notice, the sound bites are from all over the world and they are speaking multiple languages.

   This album's whole concept is a metaphor for his life and career. With every release from this album, the concept was designed to be darker then the last. In "2 Kids" he was emotionally and physically beating himself up with regrets. In "Criminal" he was living in a toxic relationship. In "Idea" he takes the theme one step further, and says that even though it was my idea and my plan to live this life, nothing comes without a price, and because of that need for perfection, any chance of being average or living a regular life is pretty much dead. Taemin has sacrificed everything to become the magnificent and unique performer and person that we know him as today.

   But there really is no one that pushes him or holds him to a higher standard then himself. Taemin has said that he really has never taken a true vacation since he was a trainee — he started with SM Entertainment when he was around 11 years old — and he doesn't know what to do if he isn't constantly working and training. As he has said, there has never been anything that has come easy to him and he has only gotten to where he is today because he has worked hard to accomplish everything. He is constantly pushing himself to become the best of the best in everything he does.

   All of Taemin's dances tell a story. As he has said, he specifically designs his choreography to be a part of the story within the song and MV. So, "Criminal" is supposed to be slightly creepy, as well as sexy. He is literally being abused and asking you to please "destroy me more."

   As a member of SHINee, Taemin has trained his entire career to be able to pull off this type of intense and intricate dancing while singing live and always sounding flawless the whole time. (SHINee debuted in 2008 when Taemin was only 14 years old.) That is what SHINee are known for. So not only is Taemin an amazing dancer, but he is also one of the best singers in the industry, and the 5 members of SHINee make up one of the top groups, that everyone looks up to and dreams of even coming close to being as good as.

   If you are impressed with Taemin's dancing, not only should you see his dance practice video for "Criminal," but just wait until you see a live performance. You will be even more blown away. And if you want to see Taemin explain the concept behind his dance moves, watch a tutorial video he did where he explains the dance to Jeno and Mark from NCT.