It’s come to this… I so neeeeed to blog about him.
Lee Jinki, only aged bloody 22 is the latest muse of mine. His stage name is Onew, and he’s the leader of the band SHINee, a 5 member group who is so diverse and absolutely hilarious with their unofficial roles in the SHINee family. There’s a dad (Onew), a mom (Key), a lover (Jonghyun), an elder (Minho) and a younger son (Taemin). It’s side-splittingly funny – their endless ability to make fun of each other, and yet really support one another during difficult times still. I know all these because it happens to people who watch waaaay too many videos on them in all sorts of situations (idol comps, concerts, variety shows, reality shows, even fan cams who stalk them unknowingly, blah blah).
When I first saw SHINee’s MV on Lucifer (yes, I know the significance), my eyes were on Taemin. He could sing, looked good, danced pretty darn well. Turns out he is the strongest dancer of the group, and he started dancing since a looong time ago. Taemin is only 19, the youngest. WTH la. Anyway, as I checked out more and more vids, gentle Onew really grabbed my attention big time. Surprised myself even.
The guy’s a real hoot! OMG. I’d never seen an idol behave like him, it’s almost incredible. He’s such a klutz, and he falls over during concerts / competitions / ANYTHING. Once he flung his mic on stage and he actually dived to reach for it instinctively, so you could only see 2 legs flying up in the air as he fell back. Not a gag, it was a real live performance! That was so frickin’ funny that I actually doubled over in my chair. Good grief. Or falling backwards in his chair during an interview show. Only Onew.
After checking out tons more info on him, it turns out he has an Onew Condition, which his members coined for his immeasurable ways of falling / slipping / saying really cold jokes / numerous funny expressions / gags. It will always appear somehow and somewhere. Initially, his members thought Onew was doing it on purpose for entertainment, but after some time, they realised he was totally clueless himself. He’d either sing out of key and grin mischievously, or say something which no one could react to. Coooold. And the best part is, the members will sing a short melody whenever the Onew Condition appears. The lyrics are –
“Whatever he does, it’s the Onew Condition”. In his haste to hug Minho for winning the high jump at the MBS Idol Sports Comp, he knocked over the pole and successfully smacked another female idol down as he stumbled.
And that was just one of the myriad of accidents he had, all captured on film. He tripped down the stairs, smacked people unwittingly, banged his forehead on objects above him, etc. Too many!
He’s totally well-known for his weird talents, like spinning a tea table with his finger (unbelievable until I saw the vid, tea table not very small and light lor), having a reasonable grasp of English (and even got American accent one) like conversing briefly with an MC who wanted to test his English when SHINee was in HK or during the Korean quiz show where he answered everything in English correctly whilst Shindong got his all wrong (HAHA!), being really studious (2nd in school, and incidentally, his best subj was English because he actually memorised the book lor), beat-boxing, MCing, imitating Donald Duck and even his members like Jonghyun for fun. People are really curious about him. They’re always laugh-out-loud moments and I don’t remember how many times I actually had to smack my hands together deliriously or bang the table because they are SO funny. Goodness. And when the radio program asked Onew to do a ‘sexy version’ of congratulatory messages, the poor DJs were also smacking the table or bursting out into uncontrollable laughter at how he was doing it. I really had aching sides, I tell you. It’s now my alarm tone, haha!
And of course, his vocals. He can really sing, especially when he does solos or duets with other idols. Being picked for a musical was proof of his talent, but he was very modest and didn’t want to talk about it too much. It’s quite obvious that he doesn’t want his members to feel left out. However, his talents only shine through when he isn’t with SHINee, since he always takes a back stand. And his fans are amassing in serious numbers, haha. During his solo performance in Taiwan, he sang Jay’s 安静.
Oh, not forgetting – he has this obsession over chicken. Fried ones preferably. OMG. It was so funny seeing him go crazy shooting the chicken ad, an endorsement from SHINee. His members really ROFLed just watching their leader go berserk. And his eyes and face just light up when anyone says chicken, and he pips ‘Chicken!’ if anyone says food. It’s darn adorable. Really lights up like no tomorrow, you can see his happiness and contentment. Happens at any talk shows, radio shows, whatever. He’s very consistent, haha. And the way he indulges in his fav things, his face tells it all. He really enjoys it like a little contented boy.
He has pecs, damnit! Jonghyun let the cat out of the bag during Hello Baby. Onew kept wearing those darn long-sleeved tops for some reason for all the performances, until they had to do the image change for Lucifer. Because of the album, all members underwent some pretty grown-up image makeover, and he sported a tight black semi-transparent top, showing a very toned back with really nice contours. I was literally… gaping. He showed really nice arms, but the pecs still remained hidden to this day. Sigh. One of the MCs accidentally felt his muscles through his jacket during the program, and when he asked Onew about it, he smiled sheepishly. It was so endearing.
Onew doesn’t stand out initially because he’s usually ok just being in the background. He has many talents and doesn’t showcase them intentionally, until people finger him out and ask him to demo. He’s gaining a lot of recognition and attention. As a leader, he mentioned that he was always insecure about whether he could lead his members, and he wanted their talents to shine as well. He works tirelessly and even after he trips, falls down stairs even, or is really tired and sleepy (he actually had a quick eyeshut as he was standing on stage once), he will smile to cover up his fatigue.
His members have expressed their concerns because he masks his pain very well, especially if he suffers an injury onstage, he gets right back up and finishes the routine. Once, he went back to the car and started to cry because he was bearing severe pain, and the members then realised he was holding his anguish in. He looks after his dongsengs well, and despite the fact that they make fun of him sometimes since he jokes around with them, they really respect him. Taemin wants to surpass him because he looks up to him a lot, even though Onew behaves like the dongseng all the time, haha! Their interactions are addictively funny. He’s always lifting his members’ spirits up by making them laugh and simply just by being himself. This can be seen during intervals when everyone looks visibly tired, but he makes them crack up by saying or doing something.
And yes, that smile. Wow. It’s captivating. Every time he smiles that smile of his, his members forgive him. And they should! He has one of those contagious, beautiful smiles that lights up his face and makes you think the world is a big flowery place. Serious. I find it rare to find a winsome smile nowadays, and he has one just like that. He’s very innocent and boyish, and he’s such a dork. Imagine Taemin and him inhaling helium from balloons and yakking in hilarious high-pitched tones, screaming, “I wanna rooooock!!” So random la.
So, during the rare times when he’s serious, it’s like … he’s friggin’ hawt, haha. I mean, I don’t go all ra-ra crazee like the fangirls who made the vids really hard to listen to from their screams when he ups the ante (haha), but wow, when he becomes Charisma Tofu (his nick when he becomes all suave and everything’s coordinating well) and turns up the heat, he reeeeaaaally knows what makes the fangirls tick. A smirk, his winsome smile, a timely flick of his hair… smite me. I am weak agst people like him – they’re usually funny but when they turn their charms on and become all sensual on you, it’s just sooo hawt. And then in a split second, he smiles and reverts to his innocent wholesome self. Aww. I cannot understand why I didn’t see Onew in the first place. In fact, he was my least fav somemore.
In two words, I’m too materialistic, hahaha. I shouldn’t have gauged people by first impressions.
Fangirls rock because they do screenshots of that vid every fan has seen, and I have the vid too, haha. A sweaty, flirty Onew performing Lucifer. A must have.
He was way too adorable when he ran away from the toddler whom SHINee was supposed to care for during Hello Baby. He barricaded himself with pillows, ran away from him like no tomorrow, and refuuuused to hold the poor thing. I mean, seeing his track record, one couldn’t blame him. He can actually trip whilst walking on a normal road. That’s actually a hazard, haha. He said that when he was a boy, he carried something and it ended badly, so he wasn’t gonna take his chances with somebody else’s son. The toddler got attached to him though, as he did with every other member too. After 3 months and on the final day of shooting, Onew got caught up in the spirit and actually carried the toddler up… just to put him into a time capsule, haha. The captions said, “He did it! He carried Yoogeun!” To be honest, I think the media really cares for him very much, since he’s such a precious person… so accident-prone la.
Onew is very good friends with Kyuhyun (the vid showing them happily walking together with shoulders around each other during SM Town was pure win!) and when Onew had his debut in a musical recently, Kyu and SHINee’s members were all seen trooping along together to see his opening show. Man, what a sight! And Onew is always seen at big idol gatherings talking to everyone from other idol groups, chatting with staff, playing a fool, making really funny facial expressions, mucking around with his dongsengs, and being chummy with his hyungs. Of course, like most idols, he’s also into skinship. He can indulge in some really dodgy moments with some of his members, mostly with Jonghyun (lover) and Key (mom). Of course, Onew is the father figure, so he ‘gets it on’ with Key sometimes, haha! Key loves dragging him to the washroom, or off to some random place even though Onew’s in the midst of something. It’s hilarious! Almost like girls really.
Minho, being the elder son figure, looks after Onew during the rare moments when Onew is sick, or when he had that accident with his knee and subsequently fell unconscious from shock after a light crashed near him during a performance. Minho was seen by his side at first instance and after. Even during performances, Minho looks out for his leader. But once, Minho knocked Onew’s mic off his hand and Onew did a really quick catch, so quick that you wouldn’t know until the vid replayed at a slower pace, haha. They exchanged cheeky smiles and resumed their performance as if nothing happened. It was really sweet.
Onew once commented that since he smiled so much, people would immediately ask him “What’s wrong!?” frantically if he didn’t. He’s polite, always never failing to bow to staff and thanking them when they wrap up shooting, or even in cases when he had to hug and comfort a crying Key after SHINee won an award, he still remembered to bow and thank the camera crew as they walked by. He never forgets to bring around plates to share with everyone too, especially in cold weather.
Vids really capture Tofu Onew well. Pictures don’t, haha. He must be seen to be believed, and I have so many vids of him that it’s not funny. I totally dig his sense of humour. He’s the best.
Dorky, hilarious, precious, serious, hardworking, modest, and HAWT only when he wants to. I don’t know why, but I just feel like I know you well somehow. It’s a different feeling compared to my other muses. Anyway, Jinki hwighting! Noona Qing is your fan, haha. Like Kyu, you look good in short hair too. I likeee.
Tags: Kpop, Lee Jinki, Onew, Onew Condition, SHINee
