Shinee ( SHY-nee; Korean: syaini; Japanese: shiyaini; stylized as SHINee) is a South Korean boy group formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2008. The group is composed of four members: Onew, Key, Minho, and Taemin. Originally a five-piece group, vocalist Jonghyun died in December 2017. Shinee were introduced as a contemporary R&B boy group by their company with the goal to be trendsetters in all areas of music, fashion, dance, etc. and debuted in May 2008 with their first EP, Replay on SBS' Inkigayo with their single "Replay".

In early February 2009, Shinee won the "Best Newcomer" award along with Davichi and Mighty Mouth at the 18th Seoul Music Awards. Shinee's second extended play, Romeo, was released on May 25. Its lead single, "Juliette", was released earlier on May 18. The song is an instrumental remake of Corbin Bleu's "Deal with It". Shinee had their first stage performance for the song on KBS's Music Bank in June, 2009, where the group also received the award for the first place.  Shinee released the digital version of their third extended play, 2009, Year of Us on October 19, 2009, with a physical release on October 22. The lead single, "Ring Ding Dong", was released digitally on October 14 and charted atop of several Korean music charts and gained popularity all over Asia. In early December 2009, the group was also awarded with the "Popularity" award along with Super Junior at the 24th Golden Disk Awards.  On July 19, 2010, the group released their second full length studio album, Lucifer, which topped various physical and digital sales charts in South Korea. The songs on the album "were more carefully selected than ever," and the album is said to "[give] listeners a great chance to experience the diverse musical characters and more mature vocal skills of the members." The group made their comeback on July 23, 2010 at KBS Music Bank. For its outstanding choreography, "Lucifer", was nominated for the Best Dance Performance Award at the Mnet Asian Music Awards. Lucifer became the 6th best-selling album of 2010 in South Korea, selling over 120,000 copies. In October, 2010, the album was re-released under the title Hello. Amidst their promotional activities for the second studio album, the group also participated in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour on August 21, 2010. On December 26, 2010, Shinee commenced their first concert tour, Shinee World, at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo. The event was attended by approximately 24,000 people.

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