SHINee's Minho had already wrapped filming the music video for his new title track before SM Entertainment confirmed anything publicly. The album that video belongs to now has a name and a date.
What Did Minho Just Announce?
Minho (Choi Min-ho) of SHINee is releasing his second solo mini album, Make it hot, on September 7, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. KST . The reveal went up at midnight KST on August 18, 2026 through SHINee's official social channels, paired with summer-themed teaser images and a full teaser-schedule graphic covering the roughly three weeks between the announcement and release day .source
Quick Answer: Minho releases his second mini album Make it hot on September 7, 2026 at 6 p.m. KST, announced at midnight KST on August 18 via SHINee's official channels. Korean outlet MyDaily reported on August 12 that he had already finished filming the title-track music video.
The "second mini album" label is format-specific, and worth unpacking. Minho's debut EP CHASE arrived December 6, 2022 and is catalogued as "CHASE – The 1st Mini Album," peaking at No. 4 on the Circle Album Chart with 76,139 domestic copies sold . Between then and now he put out a full studio album, CALL BACK (November 4, 2024), and a two-track single album, TEMPO (December 15, 2025) . Neither counts toward the mini-album ordinal, which is why Make it hot is the second — nearly four years after the first.
One sourcing note for fans checking primary channels: at the time of writing, the announcement is verifiable through SHINee's official social accounts and coverage of them, but had not yet appeared on SM Entertainment's newsroom or on storefront and streaming-catalog pages . That is a timing gap rather than a contradiction, and those pages should fill in as the rollout proceeds.
The MV Was Finished Before the Announcement — Here's the Timeline
The music video for Minho's new title track was already shot before SM Entertainment said anything publicly. Korean outlet MyDaily broke the comeback as an exclusive on August 12, 2026, six days ahead of the official reveal, reporting that Minho had finished filming the music video and was in the "final stages of preparation" (막바지 준비) . Reporter Kang Da-yoon placed the return in "early September" with a second mini album, and framed Minho with the label "멀티테이너" — multi-tainer — a nod to his parallel run in stage plays and variety .
What that August 12 report did not carry matters as much as what it did. There was no album title, no exact release date, and no direct comment from SM Entertainment. Both "Make it hot" and the September 7, 2026 6:00 p.m. KST slot surfaced only with the official announcement posted at midnight KST on August 18, alongside summer-themed teaser images and a full teaser-schedule graphic .source
| Date (2026) | What surfaced | Source |
|---|---|---|
| August 12 | Exclusive: second mini album in "early September"; title-track MV already filmed; no SM comment | MyDaily |
| August 18, 00:00 KST | Official reveal: title "Make it hot," teaser schedule graphic, summer concept images | SHINee official channels via Soompi |
| September 7, 18:00 KST | Scheduled release of "Make it hot" | Soompi |
Read together, the sequence points to a rollout held tightly rather than assembled in a hurry. Filming wrapped before the first press mention, and roughly three weeks separate the August 18 reveal from the September 7 release — enough runway for the concept photos, tracklist, and MV teasers that a standard SM promotional calendar spreads across that window . It also fits a year in which Minho has been visibly busy on the group side: SHINee's sixth Korean EP "Atmos" arrived June 1, 2026 for the group's 18th anniversary, following three sold-out KSPO DOME shows on May 29–31 . A solo MV finished quietly in the middle of that schedule reads as planning, not improvisation.
What's Confirmed vs. Still Unknown
Six facts about "Make it hot" are confirmed, and almost everything fans want to know is not. Confirmed as of August 18, 2026: the album title, the second-mini-album format, a release set for September 7, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. KST, a published three-week teaser calendar, a summer-leaning visual concept, and the fact that the title-track music video has already been filmed . Everything past that line is still label-side.source
SM Entertainment has not disclosed the title-track name, the tracklist, the song count, featured artists, producers, physical album versions, pre-order dates, or any showcase or fan-event plans . Those details normally land inside the teaser window itself, which means the answers arrive between late August and September 6 rather than in the announcement post.
- Confirmed: title "Make it hot" · second mini album · September 7, 2026, 6:00 p.m. KST · teaser schedule graphic · summer concept imagery · title-track MV filmed
- Not disclosed: title track, tracklist, number of songs, features, producers, album versions, pre-order window, showcase plans
There is one sourcing detail worth stating plainly, because it will look like a red flag to fans checking for themselves. At the time of this report, "Make it hot" did not appear on SM Entertainment's newsroom, SMTOWN Global's store, Apple Music, or Bugs . That is a timing artifact rather than a contradiction: the newsroom block visible at crawl time ran only through August 10, 2026, and streaming or storefront catalogs do not carry unreleased titles until distribution metadata goes live. For comparison, the Apple Music catalog entry for "Flawless – Single" (February 25, 2026) remains his most recent listing there .
The practical rule for the next three weeks: the announcement is verifiable through SHINee's official accounts and coverage of those posts, and nothing else. Any tracklist, collaboration, or B-side claim circulating before SM's own teaser image carries it should be treated as unconfirmed — including reasonable-sounding guesses drawn from past rollouts.
How This Comeback Compares to TEMPO's Rollout
The closest template for what happens next is "TEMPO," the two-track single album Minho released through SM Entertainment on December 15, 2025, running 6 minutes 1 second across "TEMPO" and "You're Right" . That cycle moved in a fixed order: teaser images on SHINee's official accounts casting Minho as a biker, a first live performance of the title track at his fan meeting 2025 Best Choi's Minho: Our Movie before release, then broadcast stages on Show! Music Core and the MBC Gayo Daejejeon, which he also hosted . Applying the same shape to a September 7 release, concept photos, a tracklist reveal, a highlight medley, and MV teasers would be expected to land between late August and September 6, 2026 — a projection from the prior rollout, not something SM has stated.
"TEMPO" also sets the chart benchmark. It peaked at No. 3 on the weekly Circle Album Chart in Korea and No. 9 on Japan's Oricon chart . The physical release was listed on SMTOWN Global at $20.90 with chart eligibility flagged for Hanteo, Circle, and Billboard . Those are the numbers "Make it hot" will be read against, with the caveat that a mini album and a two-track single album do not compete on equal terms.
The other difference is context. "TEMPO" arrived after a quiet stretch; "Make it hot" lands mid-run. Minho digitally released Japanese solo songs "Sunkissed" and "Flawless" on February 25, 2026, framed by SHINee's Japanese site as his first Japanese solo songs in three years and nine months . SHINee then released its sixth Korean EP, "Atmos," on June 1, 2026 for the group's 18th anniversary, a six-track, 19:51 set that peaked at No. 5 on Circle and No. 7 on Oricon .
| Release | Date | Format | Peak (Circle / Oricon) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHASE | Dec 6, 2022 | 1st mini album (6 tracks) | No. 4 / — |
| CALL BACK | Nov 4, 2024 | 1st studio album | — / — |
| TEMPO | Dec 15, 2025 | Single album (2 tracks, 6:01) | No. 3 / No. 9 |
| Sunkissed / Flawless | Feb 25, 2026 | Japanese digital singles | — / — |
| Make it hot | Sep 7, 2026 | 2nd mini album | Pending |
Read together, the schedule points to a compressed three-week rollout rather than a slow build, which is consistent with a music video that was already filmed before the announcement .
Why It Matters for Fans
For fans tracking SHINee's solo output, "Make it hot" confirms Minho as the group's most consistently active soloist through the current cycle: a Korean single album in December, two Japanese digital songs in February, and a mini album in September — three releases inside nine months. "TEMPO" arrived December 15, 2025 as a two-track, 6-minute-1-second single album , followed by "Sunkissed" and "Flawless" on February 25, 2026, billed as his first Japanese solo songs in 3 years and 9 months . The September 7, 2026 release lands roughly three months after SHINee's group EP "Atmos" on June 1, 2026 .
The practical consequence of a music video finished before the announcement is pacing. With filming already wrapped as of the August 12 report , concept photos, a tracklist, and MV teasers have a compressed window to appear between late August and September 6 — closer to a fast three-week sequence than a slow drip. Fans planning to buy physical copies should watch daily rather than weekly.
One caution: no pre-order date, album version, showcase, or fan-event detail exists yet, and the announcement is currently traceable to SHINee's official social accounts and coverage of them rather than to label or storefront pages . Until SM Entertainment's own channels post , treat everything past the title, the format, and the September 7, 6 p.m. KST release time as unconfirmed.
Frequently asked questions
When does Minho's Make it hot release?
"Make it hot" is scheduled for release on September 7, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. KST . The date and time came with the official announcement posted at midnight KST on August 18, 2026 through SHINee's official social channels, alongside summer-themed teaser images and a full teaser-schedule graphic . A 6 p.m. KST drop matches SM Entertainment's standard release slot, including Minho's earlier solo work.
Is Make it hot Minho's first solo album?
No. "Make it hot" is Minho's second mini album. His first, "CHASE," was released December 6, 2022 and is catalogued as "CHASE – The 1st Mini Album," carrying six tracks and peaking at No. 4 on South Korea's Circle Album Chart with 76,139 domestic copies sold . Between the two mini albums came his first studio album "CALL BACK" on November 4, 2024 and the two-track single album "TEMPO" on December 15, 2025 .
Has SM Entertainment confirmed the title track or tracklist?
Not as of August 18, 2026. Only the album title, the mini-album format, and the September 7, 2026 6 p.m. KST release time have been disclosed . The title-track name, song count, tracklist, featured artists, producers, physical album versions, pre-order dates, and showcase plans all remain undisclosed. Those details are expected across the three-week teaser calendar published with the announcement, so any tracklist circulating before then should be treated as unverified.
Was the Make it hot music video already filmed before the announcement?
Yes, according to pre-announcement reporting. Korean outlet MyDaily broke the comeback as an exclusive on August 12, 2026, six days before the official reveal, reporting that Minho had already finished filming the music video for the new title track and was in the final stages of preparation . That report placed the return in "early September" without a specific date; September 7 was confirmed only with the August 18 announcement .
Where can fans track pre-order and showcase details?
SHINee's and SM Entertainment's official accounts are the primary source, with SMTOWN Global handling physical product listings — for "TEMPO," that page carried the 12/15/25 release date, a $20.90 price, and Hanteo, Circle, and Billboard chart eligibility . At the time of the "Make it hot" announcement, SM Entertainment's newsroom, the Japanese official SHINee site, and Apple Music's catalog had not yet listed the album — normal for an unreleased title, and expected to update as the rollout proceeds.
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This article was written using information collected and analyzed by NAMANE's in-house K-pop research AI engine. We use AI technology to bring you faster, broader coverage, and in the process some details may occasionally differ from the latest facts. For important information such as dates, venues, and prices, please double-check with official sources.
