SHINee’s Taemin was crowned as the 1st winner of the 1st round of Korean dance competition “Hit The Stage”, but not everyone was happy with his win.
Complaints have arisen, with many having an issue with Taemin’s performance with Koharu Sugawara on the show, accusing it of being unfair to the other contestants. However, Mnet has spoken up regarding the fiasco and insisted that Taemin competed fair and square.
On yesterday’s (Wednesday, 4th August) edition of the show, Taemin chose to perform his own song, “Goodbye”, complete with the same choreography that he will be showcasing on music shows. This did not sit well with many netizens, as they soon resorted to the interwebs to air their complaints.
Some claimed that Taemin had an unfair advantage, as he had more time to choreograph and practice his dance, compared to the others, who had to come up with a new choreography in a short amount of time. Many others were also unsatisfied with his win, as they stated that he did not comply with the “devil” theme.
However, not all responds were negative. Netizens also defended Taemin, stating that Taemin had the same amount of practice time as the others, or even less, as he only knew about the choreography then. Others commented that Taemin did indeed obey by the “devil” concept, as his dance is about a ninja that confronts his inner devil.
Mnet also came into the fray, responding:
“There is no problem. The producers only present the theme. We respect the artistes’ choices regarding their song selection and stage performance. Taemin just expressed the devil’s internal image and selected the song that would express this the best. On the recent broadcast, all of the artistes were well aware that there were no restrictions on song choices. Taemin and all of the other contestants have not violated any of the rules presented by ‘Hit the Stage.’”
Watch Taemin’s performance here:
“Goodbye” is the Korean version of Taemin’s recently released Japanese single, “Sayonara Hitori”. The track was included in Taemin’s first Japanese album “Solitary Goodbye”, made public yesterday (Thursday, 3rd August), along with the songs “Tiger”, “Final Dragon”, “The Person I Loved Most In This World”, and the Japanese version of “Press Your Number”.
