Shinee – What Asia is up to these days

Heading over to Korea for Lunch today. Shinee, recorded on the second night of their 2026 world tour – May 30, 2026.

In America at least, we mostly know about Korea and Korean Popular Culture by way of KDramas (Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Squid Games, Wonderfools), but not very much about Kpop. It’s not like that with the rest of the world, who have embraced Kpop with an energy and passion that rivals even the most devout fans of the genre on their home turf.

Maybe it’s America’s desire to compartmentalize, to pigeonhole aspects of culture in general. Anyone who watches more than 10 minutes of Kdrama knows slapstick comedy and grisly horror cross hands almost repeatedly – the element of surprise is almost second nature and the mashup comes with its own sense of logic.

The same holds true for much of Kpop. Kpop is an homage to many genres of music; taking cues from 80s UK Electro-Pop, American Hip-hop, Trip-hop, Afro-Beat, Desert Blues, Arabic House – Ethnic House – the list goes on and on. All tossed together with the Wasabi and Kimchi of Asian culture and it comes out as truly an International Popular music – coupled with the theatrical aspects; dance, choreography, visual presentation – blended with Traditional Asian dance, contemporary American dance (street and Experimental). It’s a veritable feast and one which shows what is possible when curiosity goes exploring and keeps an open mind.

Shinee is one of the prime examples of what works with this infinite mashup. It’s everything while at the same time it’s undeniably Korean.

And then you’ve got the work ethic. This concert is almost three hours long – it’s non-stop – it runs the gamut. It’s astonishing that Shinee, whose members are wandering in the direction of 30, can give 110% to each performance, as they did with this tour which I understand has concluded.

There are misconceptions about Kpop. True, they are probably more closely aligned with Mainstream Pop music than say, Indie – but again, they defy pigeonholes and stereotypes. I am not sure how you would get around choreography and just have four singers on stage – although listening to this concert without the distractions of stage effects and theatrics, the music comes across saying a lot more and the backup band is in a class by themselves.

Together it makes for a complete experience and it’s understandable why fans go hoarse, screaming for three hours.

Asian audiences in America already know and the concerts in the U.S. are primarily Asian and sold out. But the object here is to do what is happening in the rest of the world (incidentally, they are HUGE with Spanish speaking audiences); become something that can appeal to the world in general. Lofty and monetarily rewarding for both band and management, but the object is to make music, all music, accessible and appreciated for its creative soul and its universal message. I think we would all be better off for it – America needs to get its curiosity back – it needs to rediscover exploring – it needs to embrace the free-exchange of ideas that it so admirably used to.

So – grab a little time, have a listen and keep an open mind. It’s the future we’re talking about here. And the future is Shinee.