Rave Review: I Really Want You – SHINee

While I predominantly cover singles on here, I’ve always been an avid consumer of albums. More often than not, this results in some songs that I adore but others that I detest. As a remedy to this issue, we have Beast Sides! These songs put the Beast in B-side and are either stronger than their accompanying title track or songs that are just too solid to leave out.

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I’ve been meaning to do a full review for SHINee’s comeback album for a while now but given that my laptop pretty much broke 2 days after its release, those plans were put on hold. And now that I’ve got a severe backlog of songs that I want to write about, the full album review has been pushed even further back. But since I need to do my monthly roundup for February as fast as possible, I thought I would highlight the song that from the moment I heard it, I knew would be nabbing the top spot on the b-sides list. And that is the immensely groovy and borderline modern day masterpiece, I Really Want You.

While the lead single, Don’t Call Me has grown on me, there were many songs on the album that I believe would have made much stronger singles. Chief amongst them is this track and after a single listen, it should be apparent why. I Really Want You harnesses the classic SHINee sound and adds a little bit of modern flair to create a standout package that resounds with an incredible sense of groove from its opening moments. It fits perfectly into the modern retro trend without feeling like a slave to the trends and comes across as one of the most genuine forays into this genre. I’m a big fan of tracks that feel completely unfiltered and light on their feet and the bright funk of I Really Want You achieves that and then some. There’s just something that feels so organic and addictive about a song like this and those bright blasts of brass alongside the hand-clap percussion come together to forge one of the most instantly potent grooves I’ve ever heard.

But a strong groove by itself doesn’t make a classic and thankfully, I Really Want You has the melody to back it up, with a bright, anthemic, brassy chorus that powers forward with a roaring yet slightly emotional melody before transitioning expertly into a ridiculously catchy and groovy repetition of the songs title. This is basically pop nirvana and is incredibly reminiscent of the kind of music released by pop icons like Michael Jackson and Prince. And through all of this, SHINee give one of the strongest performances of their career, imbuing every moment of I Really Want you with such personality that it elevates an already spectacular song into a complete standout. This is most evident during the bridge, my favourite moment of the track, where Key’s more sultry vocals are perfectly juxtaposed with Onew’s forceful and unique vocal to create a stunning build towards the tracks climactic chorus.

As a Shawol, there’s nothing more I could ever ask for.

Verses: 9

Chorus: 10

Production: 10

Performance: 10

Final Rating: 9.75/10