SHINee: Vocal Ranking 

You know Shinee is legendary vocal group, when Taemin is second from the end😂

Key's voice tone is so unusual, he always added this sharp metallic sound to the group

I wish kpop would open up to lower sounding songs to let all those beautiful baritones explore their potentials

minho: is placed last also minho: a fantastic vocalist lol love my multi talented boy

I love it about SM the most - they TEACH how to sing, not just produce idols

Funfact, just around debut Taemin was criticized for being “tone deaf” and he debuted before he got any real good vocal training (he was cast because of his dance skills which have always been great) and there are very few clips of him singing alone between 2008-2009 and I believe most are lip synced. He wasn’t confident and he was poorly trained and it wasn’t great. But after 2011 he started getting more likes and was really improved from debut. Taemin has one of, if not the best, vocal improvement journey in kpop. It’s obvious how hard he worked and how much he’s improved and it’s honestly amazing. Shinee IMHO is one of the best male groups in Korea in terms of vocals, up there with people like BTOB and Ace. I’d recommend you check Ace out too!

Yeah, Jonghyun’s death definitely took a toll on the group and Kpop as a whole. Thank you for including him, they’re still such amazing and iconic group

jonghyun is honestly one of my fave vocalists in general, like you said he can do anything with it and he knows it's limitless - i still get chills when i listen to his parts in y si fuerra ella and tell me what to do.

in the early days of shinee, key was actually treated as a lead vocalist backing up jonghyun and onew who would do a lot of the heavy work. his voice is underrated since taemins improvement as a tenor (ish) meant he got more lines thanks to shinee songs being generally high. his solo work is a great example of his voice's potential!

I personally like Onew's take on opera the most

I never realised how good of a voice Key had, until I listened to his solo work (which is undeniably some of the best music I’ve ever heard). Highly recommend his solo songs too, he’s so consistent with his style!

I just want to Onew, D.O. and Heachan singing together!!!!

Jonghyun's grandmother is actually one of Korea's "mermaids". They are the Jeju grandmas who went underwater for long periods of time to fish for shellfish. His lungs were genetically superior to hold tons of air!!!! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Thank you for this video. You really described each of the member's voices well. You really honoured Jonghyun and his vocal legacy well, too. Thank you. Jonghyun is my favourite vocalist, so I'm happy that you were also able to see what I loved about his voice.

When Jjong died, A little part of me did too. He had been a part of my life for such a long time with his music. Seeing people, who weren't fans of him when he was alive, appreciating his vocal legacy makes me so proud.

The best thing about SHINee is how beautiful all their unique voices blend together. This comes from being in the same group for 12 years. They are really just perfectly suited for each other.

And I believe Onew is the purest kpop singer ever. There is nothing wrong, he sings with nothing added, nothing crazy, it’s just purely him, and that’s all. And then Jonghyun has probably the most powerful Kpop voices his belts are matched by no other, and when it comes to straight up just giving you a powerful performance, Jonghyun isn’t matched, not even by Onew. Rip

have you seen onew’s 40 second note 😂😭

Onew and Jonghyun are undoubtedly the best vocalists in SHINee, or even in the industry. They are very gifted vocalists. Both their vocal colors are so attractive. I can say their difference is on the amount of techniques they do with their voice and the stylings. Onew’s voice is very distinct, and its tone doesn’t change much compared to Jonghyun’s but they both know really well how to use their voices to have the style and sound they want to produce, esp. Jonghyun along with the emotions with it.

Also it's really surprising for me how key is on the 3rd place...In my opinion he don't get enough appreciation and attention for his voice. Some even say he can't sing. But it's so difficult to make a sorting in shinee because they all are so talented

They have yet to produce a vocalist like Jonghyun. I can't find a single idol who has this limitless vocal potential.

Key’s voice is super underrated - really glad to see you praise him so much because he deserves it. His solo album was absolutely fantastic and showed his voice off really well. Great video, thanks for covering SHINee 💙

Am i the only one who would find a superm vocal ranking/analysis to be the funniest thing ever? Since he basically analysis most of the members and eventually will do the same for Ten and Lucas.

You know a group is talented when the second to the last place on this list currently has a Main Vocalist role in a different group 😂

Replay will forever be iconic! Even though it was released almost ten years before I got into kpop it really will have a permanent spot on my playlist. When Jonghyun passed away, I just got into kpop so I didn't realise what was going on. But I agree with everyone, kpop will never be the same.

I cry at Jonghyung's singing just like I cry at Celine's singing. He wasn't just an idol, he was a true singer(((

Jonghyun was the main reason I got into kpop 10 years ago. He will forever be one of the best vocalists ever in kpop. RIP Jonghyun.

Most groups have that one iconic singer that's well known for being a top singer in kpop, and if they have more than one, it's usually a bigger group (like 9+ members). Then there's SHINee, who at debut had two members (Jonghyun and Jinki) shoot to the tops of many "best singers in kpop" lists, their first album consisted of mostly strong ballads which isn't very common for rookie groups since their singing just isn't strong enough yet, had Kibum on their vocal line who gets painfully overlooked as another best singer in kpop, and then their other two members that started off weaker grew incredibly to the point that Taemin is an accomplished soloist and also considered one of the stronger voices in kpop and Minho, while definitely the weakest in the group, could absolutely be a vocalist in another group that didn't have the powerhouse talent that SHINee has.

I started crying when you were talking about Jonghyun, I'm really more of a casual SHINee fan but I have so much love and respect for them, thank you for making this video and always putting out quality content

I feel bad because of Minho, people use to say he doesn't sing well but he works hard and has improved a lot. Baritones are so underrated, even in classic music they doesn't have main characters in opera or enough repertory. Talking about kpop they just get the rap that's kinda unfair 8(

Onew's voice is just so sweet and unique, he could be singing the ingredients off a bottle of shampoo and I'd still be amazed.

shinee’s vocals are god tier * chefs kiss * it’s so hard to rank the five of them when each one of them literally invented singing. i sorta agree for the most part with nearly everything said in the video. i always struggled with 1 and 2 but especially with 4 and 5. key fits pretty well in number 3 tbh. he has such a strong, powerful, distinct voice, but something about it just makes it ever so slightly less prominent than the top 2. taemin and minho have come a LOOONG way from the early days but to me i feel taemin has the most noticeable development. since minho was the rapper, he didn’t sing much to begin with, so we didn’t really get a taste until he was given more lines to sing rather than rap later on in their career. we didn’t really get to hear as much development as we did with taemin. so i think that’s why most people would rank taemin on top of minho. but both have gorgeous voices regardless. jonghyun and onew on the other hand, i could go on and on for ages about their voices and how each one belongs in the number one spot, so i’m not even gonna bother going into that lol this comment is long enough already. but anyway i’m slightly biased tho, since onew IS my bias; in my eyes he’s number 1 in everything lol but comparing the two vocals ALONE is soooo freaking difficult. i agree with jonghyun being first and onew being second, but tbh at the same time, i would also agree if it were the other way around.

If I remember correctly, Jonghyung was a band leader before joining SM. So he loved music all his life and composed a lot of songs by himself. It was such a shock to learn about his death😭. Thank you again for including him in this video💗

Infact Jonghyun (for me) has the best voice in kpop and for all the people i heard singing so far. His voice was so powerful, and it could go however Jonghyun wanted to make it go. He also put a lot of emotions while singing, he's the only one that can make me cry a lot.

Minho is last. But seriously, name me a bad singer in SM. I’ll wait. For real though, part of why people say Minho “can’t” sing is because of his baritone range, and the glorification of high notes in K-Pop. All the other members can hit really high notes (for example in “Everybody”), and I think some people forget to appreciation Minho’s lower range

Would love to see a f(x) vocal ranking (including sulli) and a snsd one (including jessica) when you're on the SM roll. SM girl groups have always had the best vocals. Or NCT Dream!!! 💞

I vote Super Junior. Their main vocalists are among the best in kpop

Im going to be honest and say that I haven’t heard anyone in the Kpop industry who can match Jonghyun’s vocal abilities.

Taemin: Is ranked 4th as a vocalist Also Taemin: Is a main vocalist in SuperM Shinee really is a one of a kind group. Legendary vocals, innovative sounds/concepts/styles, ridiculous performances. This group is made up of 5 main vocalists, 5 main dancers, and 5 main visuals. I'm honestly so proud to be a shawol.

For anyone who wants to see Key hitting some dang high notes out of nowhere and one of the most iconic SHINee clips ever, I recommend this live performance of SHINee's "Like A Fire" (2:55 to the end of the vid is where the main magic happens!) Enjoy

I like a lot your analysis and rankings, shinee is a group blessed with good vocals. I would like to see you reacting to VIXX, Ace and infinite, they're all groups with strong vocals. Thanks for your ranking.

When Minho complain about SHINee's song being to high I can totally relate. 😅😂

It's interesting how you said key has a musical feel to his voice, 'cause he's indeed starred in several musicals as the main actor most of the time! He can really stabilize his voice while dancing. I also want to highlight how all members have constantly improved, their vocal ranking hasn't changed since the beginning years of their careers. 5 of them are what makes SHINee, SHINee. Thank you for analyzing them, as a Shawol, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

thank you for addressing Jonghyun so respectfully. I see a lot of non-fans kinda miss the mark and dwell too long on what took him from us than his amazing musical legacy so it felt good to see someone do it right

Jonghyun: the COLOR the COLOR the COLOR. That’s what I loved most about his voice❤️❤️

Jonghyun is for me the best vocalist of all time in kpop

i’d like to see nct dream and wayv! also thank you for these videos...i’ve looked for people who explain the vocal rankings and you’re the first i’ve found that actually does so using technical terms!

I've noticed the same thing about Jonghyun's tone sometimes and that is definitely one of the reasons he is number one on my list. It's exactly like you said, CHOICES. On his story Op2 album he chose to sing with a softer, beautiful tone as he does on ballads. He does this on Smtowns Dear My family as well so much so that it's easy to forget how much power he has. Depending on the song and genre he literally adjusts his tone. I've heard people say his tone is harsh and I'm like no, it's harsh on that specific song because that's what he chose stylistically. I love that he could give angelic sweet vocals when he wanted to then turn around and give these powerful vocals as well. His voice had a lot of character. He really understood his instrument

I'm glad you checked out Shinee, and included Jonghyun in the ranking. They really are some of the best vocalists in the industry :) The new camera set up looks good by the way!

It makes me happy to hear you praise Minho for his singing! His voice is very pleasant to listen to and when you observe the development of his career, he has definitely improved vocally without having received any significant amount of vocal training compared to the other members. I'm seeing a lot of potential in him😁💎

Yeah, our "dibididib, my name is Minho" improved a lot☺️

Wow, I love your description as Jonghyun’s voice as limitless 😭 I don’t really know how to explain it either it’s just everything

The thing with Jonghyun is that he has all the technique, emotion, versatilety, everything you would want from an amazing singer, but he also has this little something that makes you want to listen to it all day. Obviously there are so many talented singers in kpop but no one captivated me like Jjong's voice does

Jonghyun's voice ia versatile. He can go for glam rock or even death metal and he'll sound very good.

I'm really glad you mentioned Taemin's improvement. He used to be called the weak vocal of the group in the early days but now nobody can deny his abilities. Also I had to pause when Jonghyun's part came. He made me so emotional, especially the "Let me out" and "Y si fuera ella" stages. He will forever be my favourite artist along with Bang Yongguk. It's such a shame we can never see his talent develop even more. But what he has left behind is more than enough. Thank you for including him. He will never be forgotten.

As a multi stan I really acknowledge SM artist's vocals as the most well developed and most polished and the best vocals. I miss Jonghyun.

Thank you so much for doing this video. I have been a fan of SHINee for a while and had a good idea of the general rank but I wanted to hear your opinions. They are all amazing vocalists with varying levels of ability to me. Thank you again for the video and insight provided.

Thanks for the output on SHINee, indeed Jonghyun's musicianship was beautiful its something we are very proud of and his music will always live through. You should do SNSD next since you're already on the roll with SM artists lol.

Teared up multiple times. Jonghyun is my favorite vocalist in kpop by far and will forever be a legend in our community.

I’ve been following Kpop less than a year. Started with BTS, but really like the SM boy groups. Each group seems to be made up of excellent singers/dancers. I love Shinee and also get emotional about Jonghyun. Such a talent. So sad. 💔

Minho’s voice is so pleasant, husky cold, deep and smooth. Last time he performed a thai song during his solo fanmeet and twas 👌. I love his smooth singing voice, esp. when he’s comfortable w/ the range. It’s super nice and pleasant. Coz he’s the “rapper” he didn’t have much vocal training, but now that he’s singing more, I can’t wait to hear his voice more. He’s improved a lot since debut. Personally aside from Minho’s deep rap voice, I want to hear his smooth soft singing voice a lot!

onew is phenomenal and the most underappreciated vocalist easily. his technique is so rich, his breath control is absolutely PHENOMENAL, he never sounds disconnected in his lower register, mixed register and his developed higher register i'd say. his lower range is rlly impressive for a tenor and not too far off from the baritones, utilises his head voice frequently and when he does he supports it very well...... there's SO much i could say about his man.

The tone of Onew's voice is so beautiful and unique. I have never heard anyone else with a similar voice. It's so pleasant to listen to I could listen to it all day. Even him just singing about toast is the most beautiful thing ever 😂

While Jonghyun was my favorite vocalist in Shinee, I have to say that Key did a whole lot to "anchor" the Shinee sound. When Jonghyun was in the group, Key was holding down the fort, musically speaking, while your #1 and 2 singers were doing the vocal fireworks. In their group vocals, he's the one with the consistent tone, who's usually on pitch, far more than any of the others. My son, who's also a vocal coach, zeroed in on Key right away as one of the three with natural talent, and, as long as he's not too tired, he tends to have the most stable pitch of all of them. He also has the classic "round" sound to his tone, which is a big reason why his voice sounds bigger than it is. He doesn't have the most enormous range, but in that range, he's almost always dead on there. However, as new Shinee videos come out, my son has commented that Key is rather lazy in not pushing his boundaries and "growing" all that much over the years. Maybe it was because he was the middle of the road guy, and didn't need to kill himself to be effective in the group. Now, though, a big component of the traditional Shinee sound is no longer there, and Key needs to step up. He needs to start pushing himself a little more so that he can expand his range, to give the now four of them a fuller sound. I think he can do it, because, like Onew, his vocal talent is natural to him. Taemin had to work at it, and it shows. I'm not a musician, so I hope it make sense when I say that when Taemin goes high and sustained, he often sounds brittle or metallic. There's a hard edge to his sound that can be unpleasant to the ear. Not so Jonghyun, Onew and Key. When they go big, it sounds (or sounded) clear and strong. If Key will expand his range, it will give Shinee a lot more options for what to do with their sound.

Key’s Voice.. he’s one member who also likes to try different styles in attacking a song with his voice. And I’ve got a preview of that with his Solo Album. There are stylings and choices that I like more, but just the same, he knows how to fit his voice with the sound he wants.

i truly appreciate this video. As a singer who's currently doing music performance at university, I find your observations so interesting. SHINee is my personal favourite group vocal vise, and Jonghyun is my favourite kpop singer in general. have also studied and analysed Jonghyun's vocals and I'm just in awe of how good he was. also so amazed at how SM managed perfectly combine all these unique and amazing vocalists in one group. their performances always surprise me and fascinate me. thank you for making this video!

Jonghyun is definitely irreplaceable.

Shinee is my all time favorite vocal group. Individually they are ridiculously talented and have such wonderfully distinct colors/personalities but when you put them all together you get something truly magical! Thank you so much for covering them! Also I second the requests for A.C.E, Dreamcatcher, F(X), NCT Dream, Wayv, Oneus, and Vixx. (you couldn't possibly go wrong with any of them)

This might be my favorite of your ranking videos so far! SHINee is my favorite group when it comes to vocals, because they're not only very good but also incredibly distinct from one another, and it was so nice to see your thoughts on them. Thank you for uploading!

Can you please do some more older grops like bigbang, girls generation, Super junior, FX, 4minute etc. there isn’t so many youtubers that do any content with older groups so pls.

True. Key's voice is very open and full. He has this unique metallic character in his voice. The only other singer I have heard with such a metallic voice is Soyeon.

wow key placed 3rd!!! hes very underrated for sure, love your video! key was one of the mainvocals along with onew and jong, before taemin stepped up. good to see you appreciate his vocals!

Key is the most underrated vocal in SHINee. The thing about Key he can do alot with his vocals. To a baritone like him but can hit higher notes you could imagine.

thank you so much for including jonghyun,, it means a lot :))

At a point I forgot this was a vocal ranking video and was just crying while seeing jonghyun sing. He will always be missed and may his soul rest in peace. I miss you angel :)

Your excitement while talking about Jonghyun's voice was palpable through the screen. Tysm for doing this.

The main reason I got curious about Kpop was after listening to onew s voice.fell in love with that voice.one of the few voices I can keep on listening to without any music for hours

Taemin has a supported a4 belt, it was pretty random but awesome

Thank you so much for including Jonghyun. It means a lot.... 🥺

IVE BEEN SO SICK OF THE LACK OF RESPECT MINHOS SINGING VOICE GETS, SO THANK YOU FOR STARTING IT OFF WITH STRAIGHT FACTS! I WANT THE WORLD TO KNOW BABY BOY CAN SING!

This was really interesting. Thank you for praising them all so highly! SHINee are honestly some of the best Kpop has to offer. Not only are they extremely good at what they’re doing as artists, but they’re also a bunch of inspirational sweethearts and overall amazing human beings!

Wow thank you so much for making this video and talking about Jonghyun with so much respect and admiration. I wasn´t into kpop when he passed away but when I read about I cried and felt so sad for the fans, his family and generally for the loss of such a bright star and human being. His legacy will live on for him because we will never forget him. On a brighter note, not holding your phone did improve the quality of the video I think haha

SHINee has been my ultimate group since I first got into K-pop in 2013. Jonghyun has been my favorite singer in general since that time. As someone who enjoys singing, I tend to prefer artists who I can sing their songs well, but jonghyun's vocal color was so different from mine that my vocal style just never really meshed. Despite that, I've always gravitated so much toward him and not just for his vocal abilities, but his personality, lyricist/composing talent, and overall aura. I just really appreciate the thought and time you put into this ranking and you really voiced thoughts that my amateur self couldn't. There is a reason that so many idols look up to these men and I'm so glad I took the opportunity to become a fan 7 years ago. Also people like to mention Minho as the lowest ranking vocally, but its just so funny because as you said, in a different group he would be listed as a vocalist.

Jonghyun ha inmortalizado el kpop con su prodigiosa voz, dulce, potente, versatil...especial.

SHINEE KEY SHOULD HAVE ANOTHER ALBUM TO TELL THE WORLD THAT HE IS AN AWESOME SINGER .

They are my ult-group and I know their voices so well, so I am incredibly happy you did this and I agree with your take. I'm gonna add some extra just because, lol. For Minho you can see how he tenses and his shoulders shoot up and I wish he'd get some help with that, because that hinders him a lot. Taemin is even still improving and now experimenting more with what his voice can do and I am so happy to see it, I'm proud of him every day. Key is definitely one of the more stable ones by them live, he's very calculated and hard working which shows. I liked that you mentioned he can't hit vibrato at higher points and I hadn't realised, but as soon as you said it I thought back and agreed. Also thank you for including the first clip of him, would love to hear more like this from him. Onews projection is just crazy, he's always the one with his mic furthest from his mouth(unlike Jonghyun who prefers his mic practically inside his mouth lol). Definitely very consistent with his sound, like you said. Jonghyun is like.. My favourite person. But even I have been iffy on his tone at times, but like you said it's so versatile. He's been referred to as a chameleon for a reason. His softer self-made songs are so far from most things he's done with Shinee. Miss him every day, grateful for knowing him every day.

Thank you so much for being so incredibly respectful towards SHINee as a group as well as Jonghyun. I'd love to see you rank CLC or Oh My Girl! Both have some incredible vocalists

Taemin made such a big improvement through his career... I remember how shy and insecure he was in the beginning. But a big help for him during this time was Jonghyun. He helped him with singing and with his confidence. And I always get tears in my eyes when Taemin sings Jonghyuns parts nowadays at their concerts because I'm sure Jonghyun watches him from the place wherever that is and smiles proud.

i feel like shinee have collectively the best vocals in the industry and were probably waaayyyyy harder to rank than exo. like, way harder, because they're all so incredibly skilled talented vocalists. their voices all just blow my mind.

I'm hoping this comment doesn't end up long and rambly, but firstly I'd like to thank you for looking into SHINee. Them and Monsta X are my favorite kpop groups. I completely agree with your ranking, I would've ranked the same if I were to do something like this. I love the way you look into many different performances and songs to get a good understanding of the various members' abilities and voices, as well as taking note of their development over the years. You are spot on. SHINee is one of a minority of groups where all of the members can sing regardless of their official part (rapper, dancer, vocalist, visual etc).

Key is a whole ass ace

Jonghyun has the most colorful voice in all of kpop.

Key is so underrated as a vocalist, he has such an interesting voice and also good technique but people often forget him when it comes to vocals

I understand when you said that even though you weren't there when he passed away, still watching the clips and stuff was hard. I had also a rough time watching Lady Code's tragedy (when I discovered it) even though I wasn't into Kpop back in 2014... Thank you for including Jonghyun and for the analysis!!

I'm glad I'm not the only who thinks that Key is one of the best singers in SHINee. Great job!

hyeya sung by jonghyun is like the most beautiful thing ever I could listen to it for hours honestly

I'd love for you to take a look at Super Junior, SNSD, and TVXQ (including JYJ members), they're also from SM, and are known for being "the idol of idols" They really are the only company that actually teaches their idols how to sing. And that's not to say there aren't groups (Seventeen, Vixx, Highlight (formerly Beast) Got7, Mamamoo, and Wonder Girls) who don't know how to sing well, it's just that those groups typically learned of their own volition, whereas SM actually invest in their vocalists. It's too bad SM is such a shady company... On another note, I love how detailed and unbiased your explanations are, I watch Reacttothek's videos too, and there are many occasions where they'll hold back more negative criticism on vocalists to avoid backlash. While I wish they didn't, I understand the concern. It's also interesting to see how someone who isn't a Shawol is able to pick up on things that are really only known within the fandom. It shows you research well, so thank you.

While it was a Japanese cover, I love when Onew sang Rainy Blue. It was so beautiful and gets me emotional when I hear it

Hi there. I was watching a minute into your video when you started talking about Jonghyun and I just had to pause and write this comment. I started to get emotional. I have been a fan of Shinee since 2009. I grew up watching them grow up. For me they are, even up to this day, THE BEST. And within Shinee, my bias was and will always will be KIM JONGHYUN my love. 💖 Yes you are right when you said that Jonghyun played a big part when it came to vocals and Shinee's overall presence. Even without finishing this whole video I already know that Jonghyun would take the first spot. He WAS Shinee's main vocal. Oh his voice is just amazing. Just amazing. I love Shinee so so much, but I have to admit it's actually hard for me to listen and watch new Shinee music after Jonghyun's passing. Thanks for this video, I will now continue.

I gotta admit. I cried a lot watching this video. Every video that includes jonghyun and shinee in it. Its 3am in the morning oh my ;-;

I really appreciate that you put Key in number 3. I agree his vocal role could be pushed even more!