BY: NURIMAN
The Hallyu Wave has reached our shores. Following in the footsteps of Brown-Eyed Girls and FT Island, SM Entertainment’s red hot boyband SHINee is the latest Korean group to visit Singapore.
Their arrival in Singapore had local netizens buzzing as this was the first time SM Entertainment (SM) was sending one of their talents here. For those of you new to the Korean music industry (Kpop), SM, along with JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment dominate the Korean music industry. SM’s artists alone dominate the Asian music scene with Girls Generation as well as DBSK (TVXQ) which currently holds the world record of having the largest fan group.
Therefore it was no surprise when the group received a huge welcome at the airport when they arrived.
SHINee is a 5 member group comprising of Lee Jin Ki (Onew), 21, Kim Jong Hyun, 20, Kim Ki Bum (Key), 19, Choi Min Ho, 19 as well as Lee Tae Min, 17. They debuted in May 2008 and since then they have won numerous awards in Korea, including ‘Best Style Icon Award’ at the 2008 Style Icon Awards.
Fans arrived as early as 3pm to meet their idols whose arrival time was estimated to be at 8.30pm.
Glenda Chung, a 16 year old student said,” This is the first time such a popular group is coming to Singapore, so I knew there were going to be a lot of people at the airport. To make sure I get the best spot to see them, I knew I had to come early.”
The highlight of SHINee’s itinerary in Singapore was their autograph session at Lot 1 Shopping Centre at Choa Chu Kang. However, only the first 1000 fans would be able to get their albums autographed. The albums had to be purchased on the spot just before the event.
Although there was said to be a ban on overnight queuing, a large crowd had gathered before 12 midnight.
“I have been queuing up since 2pm and even then I was only the 6th person here,” said Alisha Tan, 20 who travelled all the way from her house in Pasir Ris.
Indeed, by 6am, over 2000 people had gathered outside Lot 1 (above). Many of them realised they were not one of the first 1000 thus they resorted to trying to get into the shopping centre itself even before it opens.
People gathered outside of Lot 1 at about 7am.
Credit: MinSooyi
Credit: MinSooyi
It was soon obvious that the crowd was getting out of control and the police were soon called in.
Disgruntled fans soon started forcing their way into the shopping centre and even resorted to forcing open the glass doors on the shopping centre even in the presence of the police.
Fan Signing Event
The queue only started moving at 9.30am, when organisers started giving out the tickets to the first 1000 fans and led them up to the open plaza, located on the top floor of the shopping centre.
“The album will be sold at the price of $60. Those who decide not to buy it may exit now, the rest will go up and purchase the album to receive your scratch card which will tell you which of the 5 members you will get the autographs from.” Linda Tan, a staff from Warner Bros announced.
The boys finally arrived at 2pm.
Even with the restrictions placed by the organisers such as no photography or videos when getting their autographs signed, many managed to sneak in photos or videos of their idols.
"I felt that it was worth queuing for 13 hours just to get to see my idols. It felt so larger than life," Tan Ee Ping (below), a first year student from Temasek Polytechnic commented when asked how long he queued for the album.
Credit: kokokoreano.com
Fan Signing:
Picture credits: kokokoreano.com, The Esplanade Co Ltd, Eileen Kyle
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