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On July 7, 2023, more than six years after their last dance in public, BTS’ Jimin and SHINee’s Taemin showed off their friendship by dancing to the latter’s latest comeback title track, HARD. SHINee posted the TikTok dance challenge on their social media, and it immediately went viral. ARMYs and SHAWOLs took a nostalgic trip down memory lane and mentioned how the video was an absolute treat for their eyes.
The last time BTS’ Jimin and SHINee’s Taemin shared the same stage was a SHOWDOWN battle at the 2016 KBS Song Festival. The video of the same currently sits at 21 million views on YouTube. Considering the Butter singers’ explosive popularity had indirectly restricted them from any other K-pop collaborations, the HARD dance challenge made fans extremely enthusiastic.
SHINee’s Taemin surprises fans by dropping a HARD dance challenge with BTS’ Jimin, takes 2nd-3rd gen K-pop fans on a wild ride
Second-generation popular idol group SHINee and third-generation representative group BTS have had several interactions in the past, ranging from short interviews at a music show festival, being interviewed together at Music Bank, or monitoring their stages backstage at Music Show nearly five years ago. However, the two groups had hardly interacted in front of the camera in recent years.
Putting an end to the content drought, SHINee posted a dance challenge of their latest release, HARD, featuring Taemin dancing with BTS’ Jimin on July 7. The duo looked comfortable, danced well, and even had wide smiles on their faces while dancing. Both of them are considered "Dance Kings" in their groups and in the K-pop world in general, something that fans echoed while gushing over them.
The HARD dance challenge made many fans nostalgic, especially the ones who had been supporting BTS and SHINee since their early days.
The 2016 KBS Song Festival was held on January 1, 2017, and it presented many iconic moments. One of them was Taemin and Jimin sharing the stage by first performing their solo tracks and then getting together for an electrifying dance performance.
Although that was the last time SHINee’s Taemin and BTS’ Jimin were seen dancing together, fans had often gotten glimpses of how close the duo were at music shows. Multiple clips of the two idols hugging and supporting each other spread on Twitter as fans reminisced about the old days.
Meanwhile, after watching the HARD dance challenge, some fans also wondered if the SHINee member would post a Like Crazy (Jimin’s solo debut) dance challenge as well.
In other news, since branching out into solo activities, BTS seem to have greater control over their freedom and collaborations with their respective friends. Most recently, Jung Kook switched on a Weverse livestream and introduced his ‘97 liner friend, SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu, in the same broadcast. He also filmed SEVENTEEN’s Super dance challenge with him, throwing the K-pop fandom into utter chaos.
