SHINee‘s Key recently opened up about his initial reaction to the passing of his bandmate Jonghyun during his appearance on Yoo Quiz On The Block.
The K-pop idol and his mother appeared on the Korean variety series as the most recent episode’s guests, where Key spoke at length about the difficulty he faced upon Jonghyun’s passing in 2018. “I was really shaken at the time and wondered what the point of life was. I even considered quitting everything,” he said, per translations by Koreaboo.
Despite having “many breakdowns”, Key recalled a switch in his mindset as the group geared up for a concert at the Tokyo Dome at the time. “We had the mindset of ‘let’s get through this together.’ It would be hard if there were no place to honour him together. We wanted to send him off like that. His brilliant and short youth,” he shared.
Although it has been nearly seven years since Jonghyun’s untimely passing, Key admitted that he still misses him often. “Every year, when his birthday or anniversary comes around, I miss him. Whenever we receive new songs to record, I always think, ‘he would’ve done so well.’ He appeared a lot in my dreams while I was practicing,” the singer added.
“It’s not like he says anything, but when we have a concert meeting, he sits there. When we practice, he sits there. We’re always together. We will always be five.”
Completed by Taemin, Minho and Onew, SHINee last released music as a full group in 2023 with their eighth studio album ‘Hard’. The 10-track record featured a title track of the same name and received a three-star review from NME. “‘Hard’ is perfectly pleasant; not a bad album in the slightest, but also not one that reaches the dizzying heights SHINee are capable of,” NME’s Rhian Daly wrote.
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