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SHINee’s Key ropes in Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon for Hate That album’s pre-release

SHINee's Key is set to release his first solo music after completing his mandatory military enlistment

Shawols couldn’t keep calm when SHINee’s Key dropped news of his upcoming track ‘Hate That’ in a social media post last night that involves Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon. SHINee, the legendary second-gen K-pop group got back together in 2021 after three of the members completed their mandatory military enlistment. They came back with ‘Don’t Call Me’ which happens to be their first album since 2018. The super hit album got a repackaged treatment titled ‘Atlantis’ two months later. 

Fans suspected that the boys were trying to make up for lost time and to make the most before the last member, Taemin enlisted for his mandatory military service. Taemin himself released his third Korean mini-album ‘Advice’ two weeks before enlisting on May 31. While SHINee has been active on social media, fans wondered what the boys would do next. Onew finished his musical and is now a regular on the variety show ‘Sea of Hope’. Minho landed a K-drama gig with ‘Yumi’s Cell’ and is a special mentor on the survival show ‘Extreme Debut: Wild Idol’.

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Key to collab with Taeyeon

Key has been doing pretty well himself. It was revealed that he designed the outfits for ‘Don’t Call Me’ since he wanted to pack an extra punch for the group’s return to the K-pop scene after so many years. He also appeared in several variety shows like ‘I Can See Your Voice’ and ‘Quiz Alarm’. Additionally, he is also a regular cast member on the variety show ‘Amazing Saturday’. He is also working on his upcoming album which features none other than Girls’ Generation’s leader, Taeyeon.

The two previously worked together on ‘Amazing Saturday’ and several other music projects. They’re long-time friends and it was revealed that they also hung out when Key was in the military. He also hyped Taeyeon up when she released the single ‘Weekend’ this summer. And now it’s her turn to support him. It looks like she will be featured in Key’s pre-release single ‘Hate That’ that will be released on August 30 at 6 pm KST (5 am ET). The song is part of his upcoming album which is set to be released in late September. 

'The King is back'

Fans are excited since this is his first musical project since his repackaged EP ‘I Wanna Be’ in 2019. They trended #KEY_HateThat on Twitter with posts like, “He's so...ethereal... What do you hate boy?” and “We’re gonna see performer kibum on stage again VERY SOON omg!” Another noticed the parallels with his previous EP, “The first line of “I Wanna Be” starts with “Now look forward to it. I’m standing upside down” and when Shawols flipped the image of “Hate that...” One excited fan tweeted, “Kibum doesn't follow concepts, he IS the concept.” Another said, “THE KING IS BACK! CAN'T WAIT.”