Revolving around horror, new song talks about battle between two sides of one’s personality
Key of SHINee on Monday returned with his third solo album “Hunter,” blending a mix of horror and fantasy. He may be on to something: People crave horror to send chills down the spine when the temperatures soar.
This marks the singer’s comeback nearly a year after he dropped his mini album “Pleasure Shop” in September.
The 10-track album carries the title track, an English-language single “Strange,” “Picture Frame,” a synth-based track, as well as a song featuring Seulgi of Red Velvet.
“The main theme of the album is horror. The song was originally going to be about wanting to get someone’s phone number, but I didn’t want that. I used keywords like ‘teeth’ and ‘claws’ to think of horror,” the 33-year-old told reporters during a press conference held at Pullman Seoul Eastpole in eastern Seoul on Monday.
Speaking about the title track, Key said the song portrays the battle between two sides of a person.
“The song is about one’s internal conflict rather than monsters like zombies or ghosts — or should I say the typical ‘horror’ imagery people might expect when they hear the word. But the song feels eerie and symbolizes that the ‘hunter’ figure is actually part of the person’s own self,” he explained.
“There is a part that goes ‘we have become one’ and the song’s story ends with the two conflicting parts of the self coming together as one. I wanted to show that these two different selves or identities aren’t separate people, but that they are both parts of the same person,” Key added.
“While the word ‘hunter’ may seem unfamiliar at first, I believe Netflix’s animated film ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ has helped make it more recognizable,” the singer said, laughing, expressing hopes that he would be able to ride high on the film’s success and popularity.
Looking back on how he brought the album to life, Key said it was something “he has always wanted to do.”
“My previous songs like ‘Pleasure Shop’ and ‘Good & Great’ were relatively mild compared to ‘Gasoline’ because I wanted to show different sides of me. I wanted to go back to what I really want to do, and this is it. It is something I had been putting off for a long time,” the singer said.
“Hunter” is out Monday.
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