SHINee fans have been wondering about Taemin’s noticeable absence from the group’s activities. Now his agency has finally addressed the issue in a statement released today (January 15).
Fans were concerned when he did not perform with SHINee members at SMTOWN Live 2025, celebrating the label’s 30th anniversary.
Key and Minho, who chose to stay with SM Entertainment, were the only SHINee members to perform at the ‘SMTOWN LIVE 2025’ Seoul concert at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on January 11-12. Taemin and Onew opted out of the key event, celebrating 30 years of the label’s legacy.
His agency Big Planet Made (BPM) posted a statement on their official channel, saying “We are aware that there are concerns about Taemin’s SHINee activities.”
BPM stated, “All content recently posted on SNS contains obvious false information, and we will take a strong stance against these falsehoods.”
“We consistently support and encourage Taemin’s activities with SHINee, a group he deeply cares about. At the same time, we will do our best to provide full support so that our artist can receive fair treatment and perform without hindrance”, the label added.
They continued, “We will continue to actively support Taemin as a solo artist and as a member of SHINee, so that he can continue to shine. We will also work hard to protect our artist, so that he can grow into an even greater artist. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the fans who always show Taemin great love and interest.”
Onew’s agency sparked controversy with a social media post that seemed to address the canceled SHINee group stage. His manager called out SM Entertainment stating, “Winter single, digital release, SMTOWN stage, mini&concert. Even this is a bold statement. Are we a standby team? Everything is being canceled for the same reason. How much longer do we have to wait? Is there a problem? If not, just stay quiet and live peacefully. Let’s have some conscience. I’m tired of getting notifications about cancellations. Let’s cooperate. A bold statement? Let’s at least cooperate. If not, just end this.”
On another note, Taemin is set to perform in Mexico City (Jan 28), São Paulo (Feb 1), Santiago (Feb 3), New York (Feb 13), and other cities as part of his world tour “Ephemeral Gaze”.
