That analogy about a broken bird is one of the best and most brilliant things I have ever heard anyone say about Taemin’s dancing. And it fits PERFECTLY with the themes that Taemin loves to explore. The quote that INSPIRED and DEFINED Guilty was “Der Vogel kämpft sich aus dem Ei”: the bird must break free from the egg. (Followed by the line, “The egg is the world”, from Demian by Hermann Hesse) The duality between desire and destruction, rebirth and transcendence is what he comes back to over snd over artistically. So, so absolutely spot on.
Taemin executes his moves so easily and with such fluidity that I often forget how difficult these maneuvers actually are. He just exudes such a spellbounding energy that always captivates you and leaves you longing for more.
Yeah, that is exactly how I feel about his dancing too. Taemin doesn’t dance to the music, he embodies the music like it flows through him naturally. Such an incredible dancer.
people who react to the Rizzness always laugh at the beginning because of the name of the title lol, and all agree with the fact that Taemin got the Rizness at the end of the reactions😂 btw you made my day!🥹 what a brilliant reaction describing Taemin like a broken bird falling from the sky but trying to get back again🤯 I love it. he alway looks fragile somehow but so beautiful and elegant💜
Great take! "Broken bird, a CAGED fallen bird, post-apocalyptic, survival"... Trust trained eyes to pick up these specifics in GUILTY MV. Indeed, Taemin is always specific with his creative intent, not just dance but also cinematic vision, lyrical narrative, stylistic direction. I made an deep-dive explainer that exposed profound subversive layers obscured by mistranslated lyrics for true Taemin appreciators like you. Cheers!
I love how he's not immediately like "omg, that's so hot", but instead goes into the more artistic direction with his reaction. Very refreshing, thank you
I love the comparison you made between taemin and a broken/caged bird I think it describes him perfectly! This might be kind of blunt but you should check out his back to you vcr from the concert T1001101 (the vcr itself is on youtube) maybe on your own time if you want because it has a slightly similar concept though there isn’t much dancing there is plenty of elegance. Thank you for the wonderful video ♥️♥️
Love this! That was my reaction to the Rizzness too. Taemin manages to pull off that song so well with out it being cringe. Thanks for the reaction. Always look forward to ur Taemin reaction vids
@thespianoge said on 11/5/23 Some initial bullet points: I definitely think The Rizzness is a diss track to the industry. My interpretation of Blue is that it’s about/for Shawols. The pearl-aqua ocean of fan lights. Taemin’s variety is huge and I highly recommend going through his discography. He’s a stunning, creative, chameleon like soloist and I love his soft, soothing voice that can grow to an impressive belt. It could be interesting to go though his discography in order to see his growth, but ultimately I’d recommend Never Gonna Dance Again Act I and II (both have some of my very favorite songs and I honestly can’t pick between the two…) I’m not the hugest fan of his debut Ace based mainly on my personal taste. He’s incredibly involved in picking the songs, though isn’t a songwriter himself as a rule. Taemin has specifically said that this is the beginning of his “Act II” in his career and basically life in general from what he’s said. And now…you wanted to read a think piece on the MV. Boy, do I have one for you. Pardon the RIDICULOUSLY long essay. I have been meticulously and obsessively dissecting this video since it came out. cracks knuckles I have three main theories. I’ll talk about this later, but he experienced a traumatic military service and it could be speaking to that. It could also speak to being taken advantage of by the industry as a child, especially. And as a queer person who kind of finds queerness in everything, I felt gay conversion camp vibes from the time I saw the first trailer. There's also the book Erotism by Georges Bataille that the director recommend he read in preparation for this comeback. It’s about the intersections of sexuality, religion, death, the sacred and the profane and taboo. (Which has ironically basically been his brand from the beginning, more or less.) There’s also the quote by Herman Hesse that he's mentioned in interviews even before enlistment from the book Demian. "The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas." People think that the feather crown is a nod to Abraxys, which is supposed to be a heretic god, both God and Satan, without a binary. I found the lyrics somewhat at odds with the MV, but maybe to condense the most basic thesis is wrestling within oneself with their guilt, warranted or not, until one finds their way to set themselves free. They evolve like the bird fights out of the egg to destroy their prior world to find their inner god, both good and bad, the radiant and the taboo, but it’s on their own terms, like in Demian. For the queer theory: At the beginning he's wearing Homme Girls boxers (he's actually worn them before and they're HEAVILY featured in his album photo book) from the beginning. It could mean some sort of secret queerness kept under wraps. Then he graduates to a denim skirt but with a cross necklace, perhaps still trying to convince himself that he could return to the comfort of conformity, and finally, a skintight floral "feminine" look. Coming into his own personal expression, claiming it after the flaming arrow hits the target. To go further down the rabbit hole, my queer headcanon saw the brief scene featuring two young people in an intimate moment in a room off the hallway, walking in on something forbidden, which he quickly left at 21 seconds. The person on the left is the person in the long sleeves featured at the 36 second mark. Some people read it as young Taemin, with old Taemin looking at himself as a child, which totally makes sense. Except when I first saw it, I read it as an androgynous girl and was kind of confused about her significance. So I could be completely wrong but I read some queerness into that brief scene as well. Or it’s just Taemin looking in on his younger self in early sexual experimentation. In the original trailer, there were a bunch of kids playing in the creek. Some were male and some female, but they were indistinguishable from each other. I even didn't clock it until someone else mentioned it. But once they were in their uniforms, there was a clear delineation where the girls were now wearing skirts, enforcing the gender roles they were previously unconcerned about. I'll also mention a content warning for racy talk. There's also a brief moment in the scene in the bunks with someone holds the head of someone with a baseball cap in front of their fully clothed groin. In the split second moment at 1:45, Taemin’s hand is seen lifting up the chin of someone. They have an Adam’s apple. Finally, the most obvious line that people have latched onto is “loving is a crime.” With the military theory, he ended up having to leave the military proper and go into the public service sector for the rest of the time due to extreme anxiety and depression. There's been documentation of idols (G-Dragon is a good example) being treated extremely badly by other members, even as much as trying to take photos of them in the shower and such. It's entirely possible he had a traumatizing time in there on top of his preexisting mental health conditions. Especially as someone who has been sexualized by being beautiful and feminine since he was literally a child in the industry, this may have made him an even bigger target than just being an idol. So one interpretation of this MV is referencing the invasive nature of an institutional (military) setting. Medical examinations, forcing violence, having a hand help him him hold up the gun to shoot it as seen in the trailer, bunks, etc. With this theory, he would have to walk a fine line because it would be criticizing the South Korean military. Then there’s the theory of being an idol from basically childhood and the ways he has been taken advantage of. He began training at the age of 12 and debuted at the age of 14. There is literally a RUclips video entitled “The Sexualization and feminization of Lee Taemin” chronicling the way adults have been creepy and inappropriate to him since the beginning. The bunks are like like trainee dorms, and he looks back on his old self with sadness and pity. The clinging to the leg of a captor because there’s no other choice. The early loss of innocence, but ultimately coming out empowered by the end. Throughout the MV, he danced in an especially tortured way after depicting memories of invasive manhandling which tracks along any interpretation. There’s clearly a story about someone vulnerable and their journey to self discovery and purging themselves into their empowered "final form.” His hand-under-the-shirt move may have something to do with a secret desire or feeling that keeps trying to get out, perhaps like the temptation of the biblical serpent. Or, as per the title, secret guilt choking him. With the skirt look, there are many keys around his waist. Perhaps this could signify that he already has the keys that he needs to “unlock” himself and they’re all ready for when he’s ready to use them. It could be a reference to his song Advice when he says “you’ll never get the keys to my lock. Like he is the only one who holds the keys to unlock himself, kept safe on his person. In the scene outside in the uniforms near the end, there is the building of extreme anxiety with the inhaler and the gripping and scratching of his legs to try to cope and gather the strength to “burn it all down”/be his true self. The self knowledge that it must be done but he’s scared shitless. One last clinging to authority/the system with they leg, and finally the full acknowledgment that he needs to do it anyway with determination in his eyes. The I think that the lyrics aren’t projecting outwards towards another person, but rather a back and forth with himself, with his conscience vs his base desires. And the lyric “I can walk like that, talk like that, play like that" could apply to all three readings, be it “passing” as queer/cis, appearing to mentally and emotionally healthy, or the training and indoctrination trainees receive to behave perfectly as idols. In livestreams before the comeback, he spoke about how he was going to “walk the tightrope to see how far he can go.” He’s definitely toeing the line with any one of these topics. He and his team are BRILLIANT.
TAEMIN is currently an artist who can combine it all: dancing, charisma, performing and singing at the highest level at the same time. 1/ Some idols can sing better than TAEMIN but I'm sure they can't reach his dancing level 2/ Some others may have a dancing level close to TAEMIN's level, but they certainly can't sing as well as him Especially, no one can do what TAEMIN does. He is the different level forever. THE KING of kings
Hi, i am back. Good rection(The Rizzness ), ty. It's not bad. The rhythm is ok. Like his singing more. Glad to see him exploring rap more. He good. He is still growing. He should be confident. He got so many looking up to him. King! HE IS ART. After Advice i hoped he would explore rap more. I am glad he did. Shinee has rap songs. So they all know how to rap. But this is his own version. It's different and i really like it in Guilty. Borahae. -NY USA 2019 Army💟
@thespianoge said on 11/5/23 Aaannnnd a specific reading based on childhood trauma in the industry: In the beginning, there are children’s drawings on the walls. There are old discarded clothes from the past. He stumbles through the halls of his memory with difficulty and trepidation. He spies something that may have been important or shameful to him (the two children in the room.) He remembers a fun time in the dorms with pillow fights and perhaps a younger him. He looks on with sadness and pity and regret. These memories creep onto him like the hands that caress his neck. An intimate violation. These memories are too much for him and send him spiraling. Cue tortured dancing. They can’t be contained underneath anymore and they escape through his shirt and reach towards his neck, attempting to suffocate him. Then there’s the manhandling in the medical-esque scene, molding and forcing him and invading his personal space. Wrapping him up tightly and restrained in the hoodie. Taking away his autonomy, as he looks on, dead faced. That was his childhood as an idol. The next look with the skirt, he graduates to his solo career. Was he made to wear the skirt, keys around it but no lock? He experiments more with his sensuality in his performance and perhaps in life in general. He begins to become a more dominant figure. Perhaps the crown symbolizes his rise to stardom. He stands in the middle of circles that seem to be almost worshiping him. But still, that old trauma snakes up once again and attempts to choke him. People pile on the bed. I know this is dark, but maybe it’s people the industry ruined in one way or another. People dance around him in slow motion. He looks around in a daze, seeing the people but not really in the world anymore. Completely dissociated from his life, realizing from the outside what the reality truly is. He’s in a car with an inhaler in a schoolboy’s uniform, trying to calm himself from what he knows he must do. He clings to an authority figure, the stability and manager of his whole life, for one last time. He claws at his leg, attempting to be an outlet to keep the pain inside. He raises his gaze and, with a look of determination, sets fire to his old home. Reframing the story of being a child, finally claiming his agency. He emerges beautiful and free from the flames wearing a costume completely different from the others, of his own choosing. He still wears the jean skirt sometimes, but because he chooses to. His dancing is much more free and loose.
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I love that everyone has the same reaction to the hearing the song name "The Rizzness" and by the end are like "you know what, i'll allow it" 😂
That analogy about a broken bird is one of the best and most brilliant things I have ever heard anyone say about Taemin’s dancing. And it fits PERFECTLY with the themes that Taemin loves to explore. The quote that INSPIRED and DEFINED Guilty was “Der Vogel kämpft sich aus dem Ei”: the bird must break free from the egg. (Followed by the line, “The egg is the world”, from Demian by Hermann Hesse) The duality between desire and destruction, rebirth and transcendence is what he comes back to over snd over artistically. So, so absolutely spot on.
❤️🔥
ㄹㅇ 진짜 듣고 의도했던 거랑 똑같아서 소름 돋음
I need to read demian
This comment is excellent and I agree wholeheartedly
agree
Taemin executes his moves so easily and with such fluidity that I often forget how difficult these maneuvers actually are. He just exudes such a spellbounding energy that always captivates you and leaves you longing for more.
Yeah, that is exactly how I feel about his dancing too. Taemin doesn’t dance to the music, he embodies the music like it flows through him naturally. Such an incredible dancer.
Taemin performed rizzness in his most recent concert upside down like a bat. Thank you so much for a great reaction.
True & it was freaking AWESOME!!! He SLAYED it ,even upside down!😄
people who react to the Rizzness always laugh at the beginning because of the name of the title lol, and all agree with the fact that Taemin got the Rizness at the end of the reactions😂 btw you made my day!🥹 what a brilliant reaction describing Taemin like a broken bird falling from the sky but trying to get back again🤯 I love it. he alway looks fragile somehow but so beautiful and elegant💜
Great take! "Broken bird, a CAGED fallen bird, post-apocalyptic, survival"... Trust trained eyes to pick up these specifics in GUILTY MV. Indeed, Taemin is always specific with his creative intent, not just dance but also cinematic vision, lyrical narrative, stylistic direction. I made an deep-dive explainer that exposed profound subversive layers obscured by mistranslated lyrics for true Taemin appreciators like you. Cheers!
I love how he's not immediately like "omg, that's so hot", but instead goes into the more artistic direction with his reaction. Very refreshing, thank you
taemin's talent is just over the roof, always outdoing himself
I love the comparison you made between taemin and a broken/caged bird I think it describes him perfectly! This might be kind of blunt but you should check out his back to you vcr from the concert T1001101 (the vcr itself is on youtube) maybe on your own time if you want because it has a slightly similar concept though there isn’t much dancing there is plenty of elegance. Thank you for the wonderful video ♥️♥️
Taemin is great artist ❤❤
Love this! That was my reaction to the Rizzness too. Taemin manages to pull off that song so well with out it being cringe.
Thanks for the reaction. Always look forward to ur Taemin reaction vids
@thespianoge said on 11/5/23
Some initial bullet points:
I definitely think The Rizzness is a diss track to the industry.
My interpretation of Blue is that it’s about/for Shawols. The pearl-aqua ocean of fan lights.
Taemin’s variety is huge and I highly recommend going through his discography. He’s a stunning, creative, chameleon like soloist and I love his soft, soothing voice that can grow to an impressive belt. It could be interesting to go though his discography in order to see his growth, but ultimately I’d recommend Never Gonna Dance Again Act I and II (both have some of my very favorite songs and I honestly can’t pick between the two…) I’m not the hugest fan of his debut Ace based mainly on my personal taste.
He’s incredibly involved in picking the songs, though isn’t a songwriter himself as a rule.
Taemin has specifically said that this is the beginning of his “Act II” in his career and basically life in general from what he’s said.
And now…you wanted to read a think piece on the MV. Boy, do I have one for you.
Pardon the RIDICULOUSLY long essay. I have been meticulously and obsessively dissecting this video since it came out. cracks knuckles
I have three main theories. I’ll talk about this later, but he experienced a traumatic military service and it could be speaking to that. It could also speak to being taken advantage of by the industry as a child, especially. And as a queer person who kind of finds queerness in everything, I felt gay conversion camp vibes from the time I saw the first trailer.
There's also the book Erotism by Georges Bataille that the director recommend he read in preparation for this comeback. It’s about the intersections of sexuality, religion, death, the sacred and the profane and taboo. (Which has ironically basically been his brand from the beginning, more or less.)
There’s also the quote by Herman Hesse that he's mentioned in interviews even before enlistment from the book Demian. "The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas." People think that the feather crown is a nod to Abraxys, which is supposed to be a heretic god, both God and Satan, without a binary.
I found the lyrics somewhat at odds with the MV, but maybe to condense the most basic thesis is wrestling within oneself with their guilt, warranted or not, until one finds their way to set themselves free.
They evolve like the bird fights out of the egg to destroy their prior world to find their inner god, both good and bad, the radiant and the taboo, but it’s on their own terms, like in Demian.
For the queer theory: At the beginning he's wearing Homme Girls boxers (he's actually worn them before and they're HEAVILY featured in his album photo book) from the beginning. It could mean some sort of secret queerness kept under wraps.
Then he graduates to a denim skirt but with a cross necklace, perhaps still trying to convince himself that he could return to the comfort of conformity, and finally, a skintight floral
"feminine" look. Coming into his own personal expression, claiming it after the flaming arrow hits the target.
To go further down the rabbit hole, my queer headcanon saw the brief scene featuring two young people in an intimate moment in a room off the hallway, walking in on something forbidden, which he quickly left at 21 seconds. The person on the left is the person in the long sleeves featured at the 36 second mark.
Some people read it as young Taemin, with old Taemin looking at himself as a child, which totally makes sense. Except when I first saw it, I read it as an androgynous girl and was kind of confused about her significance. So I could be completely wrong but I read some queerness into that brief scene as well. Or it’s just Taemin looking in on his younger self in early sexual experimentation.
In the original trailer, there were a bunch of kids playing in the creek. Some were male and some female, but they were indistinguishable from each other. I even didn't clock it until someone else mentioned it.
But once they were in their uniforms, there was a clear delineation where the girls were now wearing skirts, enforcing the gender roles they were previously unconcerned about.
I'll also mention a content warning for racy talk. There's also a brief moment in the scene in the bunks with someone holds the head of someone with a baseball cap in front of their fully clothed groin. In the split second moment at 1:45, Taemin’s hand is seen lifting up the chin of someone. They have an Adam’s apple.
Finally, the most obvious line that people have latched onto is “loving is a crime.”
With the military theory, he ended up having to leave the military proper and go into the public service sector for the rest of the time due to extreme anxiety and depression. There's been documentation of idols (G-Dragon is a good example) being treated extremely badly by other members, even as much as trying to take photos of them in the shower and such. It's entirely possible he had a traumatizing time in there on top of his preexisting mental health conditions.
Especially as someone who has been sexualized by being beautiful and feminine since he was literally a child in the industry, this may have made him an even bigger target than just being an idol. So one interpretation of this MV is referencing the invasive nature of an institutional (military) setting. Medical examinations, forcing violence, having a hand help him him hold up the gun to shoot it as seen in the trailer, bunks, etc. With this theory, he would have to walk a fine line because it would be criticizing the South Korean military.
Then there’s the theory of being an idol from basically childhood and the ways he has been taken advantage of. He began training at the age of 12 and debuted at the age of 14. There is literally a RUclips video entitled “The Sexualization and feminization of Lee Taemin” chronicling the way adults have been creepy and inappropriate to him since the beginning. The bunks are like like trainee dorms, and he looks back on his old self with sadness and pity. The clinging to the leg of a captor because there’s no other choice. The early loss of innocence, but ultimately coming out empowered by the end.
Throughout the MV, he danced in an especially tortured way after depicting memories of invasive manhandling which tracks along any interpretation. There’s clearly a story about someone vulnerable and their journey to self discovery and purging themselves into their empowered "final form.” His hand-under-the-shirt move may have something to do with a secret desire or feeling that keeps trying to get out, perhaps like the temptation of the biblical serpent. Or, as per the title, secret guilt choking him.
With the skirt look, there are many keys around his waist. Perhaps this could signify that he already has the keys that he needs to “unlock” himself and they’re all ready for when he’s ready to use them. It could be a reference to his song Advice when he says “you’ll never get the keys to my lock. Like he is the only one who holds the keys to unlock himself, kept safe on his person.
In the scene outside in the uniforms near the end, there is the building of extreme anxiety with the inhaler and the gripping and scratching of his legs to try to cope and gather the strength to “burn it all down”/be his true self.
The self knowledge that it must be done but he’s scared shitless. One last clinging to authority/the system with they leg, and finally the full acknowledgment that he needs to do it anyway with determination in his eyes.
The I think that the lyrics aren’t projecting outwards towards another person, but rather a back and forth with himself, with his conscience vs his base desires. And the lyric “I can walk like that, talk like that, play like that" could apply to all three readings, be it “passing” as queer/cis, appearing to mentally and emotionally healthy, or the training and indoctrination trainees receive to behave perfectly as idols.
In livestreams before the comeback, he spoke about how he was going to “walk the tightrope to see how far he can go.” He’s definitely toeing the line with any one of these topics. He and his team are BRILLIANT.
i also love the connectedness in his dancing! so rounded
Always love reactions of Taemin
Taemin = superstar👑👑👑👑
Gracias por tu reacción a TAEMIN. Siempre las espero son realmente educativas maravillosas .Cada regreso de TAEMIN es una maravillosa sorpresa .😊
i don't think he can even dance off-beat even if he tried 😂😂
True!!
Glad he's so appreciative 🩵🩵🩵
TAEMIN is currently an artist who can combine it all: dancing, charisma, performing and singing at the highest level at the same time.
1/ Some idols can sing better than TAEMIN but I'm sure they can't reach his dancing level
2/ Some others may have a dancing level close to TAEMIN's level, but they certainly can't sing as well as him
Especially, no one can do what TAEMIN does. He is the different level forever. THE KING of kings
Taemin talks about dark stuff a lot but he is a devoted catholic funny enough
Me encanta cuando apareces y reaccionas a Taemin!!!!❤
Just yes ❤
Taemin💯💯💯
finally!!!🎉🥰
Hi, i am back. Good rection(The Rizzness ), ty. It's not bad. The rhythm is ok. Like his singing more. Glad to see him exploring rap more. He good. He is still growing. He should be confident. He got so many looking up to him. King! HE IS ART. After Advice i hoped he would explore rap more. I am glad he did. Shinee has rap songs. So they all know how to rap. But this is his own version. It's different and i really like it in Guilty. Borahae. -NY USA 2019 Army💟
Taemin 👑
Rizz, short for Charisma
@thespianoge said on 11/5/23
Aaannnnd a specific reading based on childhood trauma in the industry: In the beginning, there are children’s drawings on the walls. There are old discarded clothes from the past. He stumbles through the halls of his memory with difficulty and trepidation. He spies something that may have been important or shameful to him (the two children in the room.)
He remembers a fun time in the dorms with pillow fights and perhaps a younger him. He looks on with sadness and pity and regret.
These memories creep onto him like the hands that caress his neck. An intimate violation.
These memories are too much for him and send him spiraling. Cue tortured dancing.
They can’t be contained underneath anymore and they escape through his shirt and reach towards his neck, attempting to suffocate him.
Then there’s the manhandling in the medical-esque scene, molding and forcing him and invading his personal space. Wrapping him up tightly and restrained in the hoodie. Taking away his autonomy, as he looks on, dead faced.
That was his childhood as an idol.
The next look with the skirt, he graduates to his solo career. Was he made to wear the skirt, keys around it but no lock? He experiments more with his sensuality in his performance and perhaps in life in general. He begins to become a more dominant figure.
Perhaps the crown symbolizes his rise to stardom. He stands in the middle of circles that seem to be almost worshiping him.
But still, that old trauma snakes up once again and attempts to choke him.
People pile on the bed. I know this is dark, but maybe it’s people the industry ruined in one way or another.
People dance around him in slow motion. He looks around in a daze, seeing the people but not really in the world anymore. Completely dissociated from his life, realizing from the outside what the reality truly is.
He’s in a car with an inhaler in a schoolboy’s uniform, trying to calm himself from what he knows he must do.
He clings to an authority figure, the stability and manager of his whole life, for one last time. He claws at his leg, attempting to be an outlet to keep the pain inside.
He raises his gaze and, with a look of determination, sets fire to his old home. Reframing the story of being a child, finally claiming his agency.
He emerges beautiful and free from the flames wearing a costume completely different from the others, of his own choosing. He still wears the jean skirt sometimes, but because he chooses to. His dancing is much more free and loose.
Please react to Minho 'Stay for a night' MV, dance practice and Suit dance performance😍
Olaaaaaaa!!!