Taemin on Finding Cruelty in Beauty on 'PHASE 1: Soft Violence'
Culture Index
Score Breakdown
Relevance
9/25
Freshness
23/25
Authority
18/20
Brand Signal
6/15
Depth
6/15
5-Axis Cultural Radar
Taemin has spent almost 20 arguing that a pop star can be an unsettling one too, and PHASE 1: Soft Violence is his most literal case for it yet. The album introduces itself with a sugar cube being pulled apart by ants, an image that reads as sweet and grim in the same glance, and from there he fills the record with slime, clay and holes torn through walls. None of it is set dressing. Each object s

