SHINee’s Key has spoken about his experience with burnout, recalling a time when he “started crying my eyes out for no reason”.
The singer recently made an appearance on Thursday Night, the YouTube show hosted by Cho Hyun-ah of URBAN ZAPAKA.
During the episode, Key got candid about his recent concerns. “I’m kind of scared that I will never be able to go back to having my usual day-to-day life because of how hectic I currently am,” he said before recalling a specific moment this year when he had to stop filming because he was “getting way too emotional all of a sudden”.
“This never happened to me before, but I just couldn’t continue with the shoots anymore,” he continued. “So, I told my manager that I honestly couldn’t resume filming, then went in an elevator to head out. As soon as I got in, I started crying my eyes out for no reason. There was nothing to be sad about at that time as well. I didn’t understand why my tears were coming out like that.”
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Key went on to explain that he felt “much better” the day after and that he had concluded his tears were due to his mind “simply overflowing with negative emotions then”. “I had no idea how difficult things were for me,” he explained. “I thought I was only physically exhausted. But as it turned out, I was also mentally worn out.”
He added: “Nowadays, I do worry about myself at times. I keep thinking to myself, ‘What if I continue being like that until the end of the year or even next year? What if I can’t rest at all until then, whenever that may be?’”
However, Key reassured both Cho and the viewers, saying that if his burnout were “so severe that I believed there was no way for me to get over it” he wouldn’t have been so open about it on the show.
Last month, Key shared his latest solo release, ‘Good & Great’. In a four-star review, NME’s Tamar Herman wrote: “While ‘Good & Great’ doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it doesn’t have to either – sometimes it’s enough to be satisfied with the way things are.
“But what the album does do is live up to its title, fulfilling the promise of both “goodness” as well as “greatness”, with a sense of awareness that comes with the air of someone who has found confidence in their art and place in the world. This may not be Key’s greatest release, but hell, if it isn’t a damned good one.”
In other SHINee news, Taemin is set to be the next member to hold a solo comeback. The singer will release his fourth mini-album, ‘Guilty’, later this month.