SHINee’s TAEMIN Releases New Album “PHASE 1 : Soft Violence”
SHINee’s TAEMIN has officially returned with his new solo EP “PHASE 1 : Soft Violence,” marking a new chapter in his career as a solo artist.
Released on August 31, 2026, at 6 PM KST, the EP presents a darker and more experimental side of TAEMIN while maintaining the delicate and sophisticated style that has defined his solo work. Built around the contrasting ideas of “Soft” and “Violence,” the project explores the tension between beauty, expectations, desire, and the less polished sides of identity.
The release also features double title tracks, “FLOAT” and “Gooey,” highlighting two distinctly different sides of TAEMIN’s musical and artistic expression.
TAEMIN’s First Solo EP Under Galaxy Corporation
“PHASE 1 : Soft Violence” is TAEMIN’s sixth solo EP and follows his fifth mini album, “ETERNAL,” released in August 2024.
The new project is also his first solo EP released under Galaxy Corporation, where he has continued his solo activities since signing with the agency earlier in 2026.
Rather than completely abandoning the style he has developed throughout his solo career, TAEMIN uses “PHASE 1 : Soft Violence” to push those familiar qualities in a sharper direction.
The album’s official description explains that TAEMIN moves between four contrasting moods — Sweet, Bitter, Silent, and Brutal — while revealing rawer sides of himself that were previously hidden behind his established image.
“Soft Violence” Explores the Contradictions Behind Beauty
The title “Soft Violence” itself represents the central concept of the album.
By combining the opposing words “Soft” and “Violence,” the project focuses on the tension and contradictions that can exist within something seemingly beautiful or familiar.
The album’s central message can be summarized as “Beauty can sometimes be cruel.” It looks beyond the beauty created through other people's expectations and examines what exists underneath it.
This idea is also reflected in the album's visual direction. TAEMIN's promotional materials move between softer, delicate imagery and darker, more intense visuals, creating a contrast that mirrors the album's title.
Rather than presenting a completely new version of himself, TAEMIN uses these contrasting concepts to reveal different sides of the identity he has built throughout his career.
Double Title Tracks: “FLOAT” and “Gooey”
One of the defining features of “PHASE 1 : Soft Violence” is its double title-track format.
“FLOAT”
“FLOAT” is built around a sweet pop sound and presents a more romantic side of the album.
According to the official album description, the song captures the excitement of being with someone you love, turning even an ordinary day into something peaceful and almost fairy-tale-like.
The accompanying music video contrasts that romantic atmosphere with a more unsettling mood. While the visuals initially create a beautiful, almost storybook-like world, subtle tension and anxiety appear beneath the surface.
This contrast reflects the larger concept of “Soft Violence” — beauty and discomfort existing at the same time.
“Gooey”
“Gooey” takes the project in a noticeably different direction.
Where “FLOAT” emphasizes sweetness and romance, “Gooey” presents a hotter, heavier and more intense atmosphere. TAEMIN also participated in writing the lyrics, adding another personal element to the track.
The two title tracks were deliberately chosen to showcase contrasting sensations and temperatures, allowing TAEMIN to present two different sides of the same artistic concept.
11 Tracks Including Songs First Performed at Coachella
The announced album tracklist contains 11 songs, combining new material with songs TAEMIN had previously introduced on stage.
The tracklist is:
- FLOAT
- Gooey
- Let Me Be The One
- Sober
- 1004
- Easy Loving You
- SKIN
- PARASITE
- Frankenstein
- This Is The End
There is a discrepancy between the announced Korean album information, which describes the project as an 11-song EP, and some international streaming platforms, which currently display 10 tracks. Korean music services such as Genie explicitly describe the EP as containing 11 songs, including five new songs and six tracks previously introduced through TAEMIN's Coachella performance.
For an article intended to remain factually safe, it is therefore better to describe the release as an 11-song EP according to the official Korean album information, rather than relying solely on the current track count displayed by individual streaming platforms.
Among the songs on the project, “Let Me Be The One,” “Sober,” “1004,” “PARASITE,” and “Frankenstein” were among the tracks TAEMIN performed at Coachella in April 2026.
The project also includes “This Is The End,” which had been introduced ahead of the full EP.
From Coachella to “PHASE 1 : Soft Violence”
TAEMIN’s 2026 activities leading up to the EP have been particularly significant.
In April, he performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where he introduced several songs that would later become part of “PHASE 1 : Soft Violence.”
This gave fans an early look at the musical direction of the new project months before its official release.
Rather than presenting the songs for the first time through a traditional comeback showcase, TAEMIN had already begun building the new era through live performances.
That connection between the stage and the finished EP is one of the most notable aspects of “PHASE 1 : Soft Violence.”
A New Chapter for TAEMIN
“PHASE 1 : Soft Violence” also represents a new stage in TAEMIN’s career as he continues to become more involved in his own artistic direction.
The project does not simply attempt to recreate the concepts associated with some of his best-known solo releases. Instead, it expands his established identity by combining elegance with darker, more uncomfortable imagery.
The four keywords — Sweet, Bitter, Silent, and Brutal — are particularly important to understanding the project.
They show that TAEMIN is not presenting himself through one fixed image. Instead, the album moves through different emotional and visual states, allowing seemingly contradictory qualities to coexist.
Final Thoughts
With “PHASE 1 : Soft Violence,” TAEMIN presents a project centered on contradiction.
The contrast between softness and violence, beauty and discomfort, romance and anxiety, and familiar and unfamiliar sides of himself gives the EP a distinctive identity.
More importantly, the album shows TAEMIN continuing to expand his artistic world rather than simply repeating the concepts that made him one of K-pop’s most recognizable solo performers.
With “FLOAT” and “Gooey” leading the project and his “LiMiNaL” World Tour beginning in September, “PHASE 1 : Soft Violence” marks an important new chapter in TAEMIN’s solo career.