After 16 years in K-pop, SHINee’s Minho will release his first full-length solo album “Call Back” on Monday, showing off “the young boy that always lives within.”

“I always remember the doe-eyed high school Minho, oblivious to everything that’s going on as he performed SHINee’s debut song ‘Replay’ [2008] on stage,” Minho told reporters in a press conference held Monday in western Seoul.


“I didn’t know anything but I still raced toward my dreams. I always have that young boy within my heart and I wanted to express the pure, young heart and express it in my first full-length album.”

Minho will release the 10-track album “Call Back” as his first new music in 10 months since the single "Stay for a night" came out in January. The new album will be his first in two years since the EP "Chase" was released in December 2022.

It is his biggest project yet as a solo singer, ever since he made his debut in 2008 as a member of boy band SHINee. To put together the milestone album, Minho decided to listen to the people around him and let go of his own ambitions.

“I’m actually quite stubborn, but I let go of that for this album,” Minho said. “There are a lot of people who I have been working with ever since my debut, and so I figured that in some way, they could know me better than I know myself, and taking the chance to let go of what I wanted helped me grow once more. So, I tried to listen to their ideas and opened up to a new range of styles that I hadn’t tried before.”

A variety of R&B pop tracks are featured on the album, including the slow and heavy dance track “Call Back,” along with nine others, such as the afrobeat pop song “Affection” and an emotional breakup song titled “Would You Mind.” SM Entertainment’s talented artists, including Ningning of aespa and Sohee of Riize, took part in the album, the former with “Because Of You” and the latter with “Fireworks.”

“I want to thank all the younger artists who have been generously complimenting our team,” Minho said. When asked to give advice to up-and-coming artists as a veteran with 16 years under his belt, Minho had one thing to say: “Stay positive.”

“Rather than becoming fixated on a specific goal or result, I found that the best relationship with fans and the coherence of one’s work naturally flow when you keep a good attitude and a positive mind,” he said.

“I thought that I was running toward my goal, but it turned out that I was just steadily walking toward it. Personally, I think that I’ve never had a major success in my career. I could be overly ambitious, but I think that’s one of the reasons that I keep pushing myself to try new things so that I can keep showing new sides of myself to people.”

Minho has been expanding his acting career ever since nabbing his first role in 2010. He recently took part in the JTBC drama series “Romance in the House” and also had his first try at a play with “Waiting for Godot.”

He is set to hold his first solo concerts on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 — his first ever since his debut 16 years ago.

“I hope to keep on paving my own path with a strong backbone,” Minho said. “I hope to become a solo artist who can bring new things to people and make people want to know more.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]