Sam Fang
SHINEE’s Minho is back, with longer hair, his trademark smooth vocals and the effortless charisma that has made him one of K-pop’s most enduring performers. You’d think Make it hot would be a pretty safe bet with everything working in its favor… Unfortunately, something feels a little… hollow.
The title track promises heat, momentum and presumably exactly the kind of sultry confidence Minho has made a specialty of throughout his solo career. Instead, the song feels strangely restrained. The music video itself is practically perfect, matching the lyrics and Minho’s established image with polished choreography and visuals that absolutely understand the assignment, but the song itself just doesn’t quite live up to its namesake.
And that’s a shame, because there are flashes of the Minho we know is capable of being really good here on the EP as a whole.
Minho…Where’s the Heat Exactly?
“Make it hot” isn’t a bad song. That’s almost what makes it so frustrating to listen to. Minho’s smooth delivery remains as appealing as ever, but the production doesn’t give him enough to work with. The track repeatedly hints at the kind of sensual, confident banger it could become without ever quite getting there…
The bridge comes closest. “I feel you dripping down on me” is repeated with a sultry purr that suddenly makes the entire track click. That’s the delivery the song should have been built around, but it sadly wasn’t.
Instead, it’s a brief glimpse of what ‘Make it hot‘ could have been before the song retreats back into its relatively subdued groove. Compared with his previous solo work — including 2024’s CALL BACK — this feels like a bit of a misstep.
…and unfortunately, the rest of the EP doesn’t immediately do much to change that impression. Track-by-track review below:
Liquid
“Liquid,” featuring KISS OF LIFE’s BELLE, is the first indication that perhaps things aren’t completely doomed on Make it hot.
The two singers alternate throughout the verses, and their voices contrast beautifully. More importantly, BELLE doesn’t feel like she’s simply been dropped into the song for a guest verse and sent on her way. Their partnership is balanced enough to make “Liquid” feel like an actual duet.
It’s a small distinction, but an important one in an industry where artists are often paired up in order to boost each other’s appeal. Ironically, this partnership feels much more like the Minho we were expecting “Make it hot” to deliver.
There’s sensuality here without desperately insisting that everything needs to sound sexy. There’s chemistry. There’s space for Minho’s voice to actually breathe. Suddenly, we’re cooking.
Love Me Now
And then we get “Love Me Now.” Oh, Minho. The production and vocals here are beautiful. Genuinely. Which makes the song’s biggest problem all the more heartbreaking.
The chorus essentially boils down to “I wonder if you’ll love me now, now, now, now” and “Lo-love me now” repeated until the listener begins wondering if they will ever love this song again.
Repetition can absolutely work in pop. In fact, Minho’s best material understands that repetition can be incredibly sexy when the delivery and production give it purpose. But here, it simply becomes exhausting.
There is a good song buried somewhere inside “Love Me Now.” Unfortunately, it’s buried beneath approximately 700 repetitions of the same sentence.
Time 1.1
“Time 1.1” at least attempts something different. Its production is more experimental, moving away from the expected K-pop formula and gradually finding its groove as the pre-chorus arrives. It’s an interesting direction for Minho, and experimentation is hardly something anyone is going to complain about.
The problem is that same sense of hollowness returns that invaded the title track. After the strength of CALL BACK, perhaps my expectations for Minho’s solo work were simply too high. But that’s difficult to completely blame on the listener when we’re talking about an artist whose track record with SHINee has consistently demonstrated just how compelling he can be.
Minho is capable of more, and Make it hot keeps reminding us of that without quite delivering it at the same level.
And Finally, Out of My Hands
FINALLY. “Out of My Hands” arrives like someone backstage finally grabbed Minho by the shoulders and said, Stop overthinking it.
This is where he shines. The song isn’t trying too hard. It simply settles into the formula Minho excels at: smooth vocals, sultry delivery, an infectious chorus and enough repetition to get stuck in your head without beating you over the head with it.
The chorus is the perfect example. Unlike “Make it hot” or “Love Me Now,” the repetition actually works because it’s paired with Minho’s delivery. The verses are beautifully crooned in that gorgeous register that, for some reason, the earlier tracks seem determined to underutilize.
And suddenly everything makes sense. This is Minho. It’s effortless. It’s sexy without screaming SEXY. It’s polished without feeling over-engineered. Seriously, what the hell was happening with the first half of this EP?
Ending Scene
“Ending Scene” immediately slows the momentum back down, functioning as a pared-back slow jam after the much-needed spark of “Out of My Hands.”
It isn’t quite the fire-starter its predecessor is, but it still understands what makes Minho’s music work. There’s room for his voice, room for the atmosphere and, most importantly, a sense that the song doesn’t need to constantly prove itself.
At this point, Make it hot. almost feels like two different EPs stitched together.
The first half experiments with production, repetition and different approaches to Minho’s sound, with mixed results. Then “Out of My Hands” arrives and reminds everyone what actually works, followed by “Ending Scene,” which quietly reinforces the point.
It’s almost as if the first four tracks were an extended experiment before someone finally said, You know what? Just let Minho be Minho.
Final Thoughts
There are some genuinely good songs on Make it hot. “Liquid” is an excellent duet, “Out of My Hands” is easily the standout, and “Ending Scene” provides a solid, understated closer.
But for an artist with Minho’s track record, that’s a frustratingly low batting average. The title track looks the part but doesn’t quite feel hot. “Love Me Now” has gorgeous production undermined by maddening repetition. “Time 1.1” is an interesting experiment that never fully escapes the same hollowness.
And then “Out of My Hands” shows up and makes you wonder why we spent the previous ten minutes getting there. At least the entire thing comes in at under twenty minutes…though it’s almost as if not even those working on the songs could be bothered to put in more time, either.
Maybe CALL BACK set the bar too high. Maybe Minho is simply experimenting with what his solo sound can become. And honestly, experimentation is something worth encouraging, even when it doesn’t completely work.
But when Make it hot. finally stops trying so hard, it becomes clear that Minho never needed to reinvent himself in the first place. He just needed to make it Minho. It turns out, that’s more than hot enough.
