SHINee’s Onew is back with ‘Chakgak’, his first physical single album. The album and the music video for its title track came out on October 20 at 6 PM KST.
The title means “mistaken” or “illusion” in Korean. The song follows someone who reads too much into another person’s small gestures and slowly talks themselves into a story that may not be real.
Three lead tracks
The album has three songs, and all three are being promoted as title tracks: ‘Chakgak’, ‘Mind Game’ featuring Yuju, and ‘Tic Tac Toe’ featuring Zico. ‘Tic Tac Toe’ came out early, on October 7, and has already picked up a music show win. Onew worked on the lyrics and composition for every song.
Trying something new
In a Q&A shared by his agency, Griffin Entertainment, Onew said he’d long assumed ballads suited his voice best, but dance music kept coming up when he thought about what he performs well. So he made the main title track a dance song to test that assumption.
Onew joined Griffin Entertainment in 2024 as the agency’s first artist.