Guilty

The record

Guilty is Taemin’s fourth mini album, released on 30 October 2023 with six tracks led by the title track of the same name. It is his first solo record since Advice, two years and five months earlier, and, as Paste set out, his first release after completing military service.

The album introduction by SM ENTERTAINMENT, carried on Bugs, says the title track ‘Guilty’ uses a 30-piece string section and a synth sound, and that the record gathers songs of different moods, hip-hop and alternative pop among them. The music video went up on the SMTOWN channel on the day of release.

Reviews

IZM’s Yeom Dong-gyo, reviewing the record on 1 November 2023, wrote that it is musically matured, and set out how the title track is built: “The thick synthesiser and orchestration designed underneath maximise the cinematic construction, and the high singing and the mysterious repetition, like an incantation, hold the centre of the song’s protagonist.” He credited the sound to its makers — “the skill of realising a popular sound out of unlike materials belongs to Moonshine, the Swedish writing and production team” — and closed: “‘Guilty’, which will be a turning point even within the discography of a Taemin who has shown his strength in conceptual music, is like an example of K-pop auteurism.”

The Kraze’s Cidney Atcherson, writing the same day, called the title song “the R&B/alternative track that we needed to end October” and added: “The title track, to me, is the true definition of TAEMIN’s music. It’s seductive, artistic, and passionate.” Of the dancing she wrote that “the choreography is smooth but hard-hitting”. The piece printed its numbers: 8.5/10 for the album, 9/10 for the title track, 7.5/10 for the music video and a total of 8.3/10.

David Opie placed the record 14th in Paste’s 20 best K-pop albums of 2023, published on 21 December 2023. He wrote that “in fact, Guilty is one of his most cohesive releases yet”, and added: “Beyond the grand theatricality of the title track, a song which soars thanks to its 30-piece string ensemble, the rest of Guilty reminds us why Taemin is essentially the blueprint at this point when it comes to dramatic yet gentle and even sultry K-pop.”

Among the tracks

The title track ‘Guilty’ is one of the songs Dazed carried in its 50 best K-pop tracks of 2023, published on 15 December 2023. Taylor Glasby’s entry sets out the readings the choreography, lyrics and video drew, and ends: “Whether you consume ‘Guilty’ at surface level or unpack the complicated and sometimes unsettling inspirations, Taemin’s seering vocal performance will stamp into your thoughts for a very long time.” IZM’s Yeom Dong-gyo wrote of the same video that “the figurative, symbolic movement, like a contemporary dancer’s, is a confession offered to God or a memoir written in pain, a self-therapy for a self-destructive love”, and that the choreography connects back to ‘Advice’ and ‘Criminal’.

Of the second track, ‘The Rizzness’, The Kraze wrote: “The song has this intense drill beat that makes you dance along instantly.” The same piece added: “While he has had hard-hitting dance music, the drill beat is a new sound that I really love.” Of the third it wrote: “The next track, ‘She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not,’ is so unabashedly mystical, and I love it.”

The last three tracks are ballads. The Kraze wrote that “‘Not Over You’ incorporates the R&B sound but has a blues smoothness as well”, and of the closing song that “‘Blue’ is beautiful and will definitely bring a smile to your face while listening”.

What happened

The record reached two English-language year-end pages of 2023. Paste placed it 14th on its albums list of 21 December, and Dazed carried the title track on its 50-song list of 15 December. Dazed does not number the entries on that page.

The next record was ETERNAL, ten months later on 19 August 2024.