After over a 2 year hiatus as a solo artist (due to his mandatory military enlistment), TAEMIN is officially back with a brand new mini-album and title track, both of which are titled Guilty. The last time we heard from TAEMIN (as a solo artist) is through his Advice comeback in 2021. More recently, following the completion of his military enlistment, TAEMIN did return as part of SHINee’s comeback HARD from earlier on in this year.

Haunting is how I would personally describe Guilty. And it does that from the very first second, thanks to the instrumentation. The mix of some low beats and orchestral elements makes Guilty super atmospheric and evocative. The orchestral elements also adds a striking component to the song, at the same time. This in combination with TAEMIN’s vocals creates quite a piece. TAEMIN captivates with his singing in Guilty. For the most part, he sings in a slow and dragged out manner. It feels sensual and sultry, which is a style that we know that TAEMIN does best. We also get some powerful moments from TAEMIN via high notes and some stronger and really heavenly vocal work at other points in Guilty. The second verse also features some rapping from the soloist, which fits in amazingly well, and some deep whispery vocals in the pre-choruses that adds to that haunting vibe that I mentioned at the start of this section. Guilty is also definitely well-produced, with a lot of thought put towards the planning of when the vocals or instrumental comes into play. This just makes Guilty even more riveting and captivating to listen to, overall. If I had to be critical about something, I would have like more memorable melodies. But honestly, the music and vocals take care of that side of things for Guilty anyway.

The music video features a zombie-esque storyline (how fitting for the day before Halloween). But rather than it being gory and another horror conceptualized music video (beware – there is still some of this, like the emerging hands that looks like it was going to bend his neck just before the first chorus, but we are shown soon after that TAEMIN is just jerking around like zombie and TAEMIN’s zombie bite mark which he digs his fingers into), there is actually more to the video than just brain eating zombies. The zombie virus shown in the video is compared to the idea of selfish love portrayed in the lyrics of Guilty, where it causing pain to the other person while claiming it as one’s own way of loving (taken from SOOMPI). It is definitely a different and unexpected take on something that is quite terrifying and it keeps it quite terrifying. TAEMIN’s acting in this video is superb, with the zombie-like jerking throughout the video and the emotions you can see on his face when he is stilled and thinking about his lover.

If what we see in the music video is the choreography (i.e., the jerky movements that we saw during first chorus), then this is going to be a routine that you do not want to miss. It feels very artistic and contemporary. The ‘arm under the shirt’ move brings a sensual vibe to the table, which I thought looks very cool. The rest of the routine that we did see in the music video also captures the music quite well. For now, I am giving it a 9/10, just because it is unknown what the entire routine will look like. But it can be an easy 10/10 should the stage performance for Guilty replicate all of what we see in the music video (and I will return to update the review accordingly if that is the case).

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 10/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9.3/10