TAEMIN Heaven English Adaptation with Identity Prelude 태민 テミン SHINee (ENG VER Version Cover MV FMV)
Taemin will be back soon. Time for an out breath.
This video is
a proof-of-concept English adaptation demo
a more textured translation that will hopefully reveal a deeper dimension of the songs
a MV for a “heavenly“ piece (😋cheesy pun, I know I know)
a celebration of the return to limelight of an amazing world-class artist
-----
Song meaning summary
(“High emotional fidelity“ lyrics writing prompt is vital in song writing, especially in adaptations. I’ve translated the original lyrics directly from Korean into Chinese and English, to capture every possible nuance that could’ve been lost in official English translations)
IDENTITY
Composed by Steven Lee
Lyrics by Jo Yoonkyung
Identity is about the pain of forced separation, and having faith in a loving light that brightened up his spirit through trials and tribulation, and will continue to keep him afloat through (anticipated) dark nights of the soul.
Identity first existed as an outro in Want extended play EP 2019. Lyrics were added later on, possibly at the request of fans. I’ve adapted the whole Identity, but included just the chorus part in this edit.
HEAVEN
Composed by Klara Ósk Elíasdóttir, Markus Videsäter, Emanuel Abrahamsson, Yoo Youngjin
Lyrics by Taemin, Yoo Youngjin
Heaven is about bridging higher human nature (empathy, integrity) with earthly desires and pleasures as expressed in Want, another fabulous Taemin song. The overtone feels at once earnest, sensuous, wistful yet hopeful.
------
I’ve adapted a dozen plus SHINee group and solo songs using this hyper-conforming technique (which I call Hypermatch), will share with y’all in the near future.
💝Writing this form of hyper-conforming adaptation lyrics is super time-consuming, though I do enjoy the creative process. My own psychic reward is to smoothly and meaningfully sing along in full emotional sync with the original vocalists in a language I’m familiar with. I wish to share my joys with other non-Korean music listeners who yearn for deeper emotional connection with K-pop music and their favorite artists. So, if you enjoy this - and if only to help these fabulous under-appreciated artists cross the language barrier to reach a wider audience worldwide, or just to get a few extra stream counts, do share this video with everyone! 💝
Hope you will enjoy singing along - and emoting and vibing along - with these wonderful artists as much as I do!
Technical blah-blahs
----
Notes on the bilingual vocal mix
2 main reasons why the vocal guide is mixed next to the original vocal:
- Even with good AI-extracted stem tracks, original audio dynamics will still be lost in a non-official instrumental track. Original studio mix is preferred for the energy level, and also out of respect for the artistry in the original mix.
- original vocal needs to be present as show-of-concept demo of Hypermatch song adaptation technique
*HYPERMATCH is a term I coined for the ease of discussion, to describe a hyper-conforming-to-original-song kind of adaptation technique, that aims to preserve multiple original song elements, for the purpose of singing along to a vocal-driven song in a different language, with seamlessly matched and synced narrative meaning, emotional energy, and vocal style.
Hypermatch adaptation involves
- standard song adaptation requirements (contextual translation, lyrics writing from scratch with close match of rhyming scheme)
and on top of that:
- multiple conform-to-original constraints: line-by-line narrative flow match, syllabic match, vowel match, consonant match, and vocal arrangements match, with the purpose of capturing the original emotional energy, so that it feels right to sing along in a new language to the original language.
This technique has been entertained in both amateur and professional songwriting circles, but it hasn’t been attempted often enough.
For over a year, I have refined the hypermatch technique, and adapted close to a hundred K-pop, J-pop, C-pop songs using this technique. I’ll be making more videos for selected adaptations as proof of concept.
Creating this type of intensive adaptation (and making demo-cum-FMV using unofficial AV files) is exhausting, but my desire to communicate the vast potential of this creative possibility is strong. Hope my sincerity and passion can be felt - and shared by other music lovers!
Thanks for listening to my mini Ted Talk! 💝
For more info see my About Me page :)
----
Metadata
#taemin #SHINee #テミン #태민 #샤이니 #minho #민호 #key #키 #onew #온유 #TaeminIsBack #shineeisback #Taeminiscoming
SHINee mashup stagemix live stage mix mash up fan MV FMV English cover version
李泰民 Lee Taemin 이태민 テミン
崔珉豪 Choi Minho 최민호
金起范 Kim Kibum Key 키 김기범
李珍基 Onew Jinki 온유 溫流
金钟铉 Jonghyun 김종현