On February 7, SM Entertainment announced that Shinee would release their third studio album later that month, with "Dream Girl" as the lead single.

[2] Two of the directors for the album also made an appearance to give a basic explanation about the concepts and meanings behind the project.

Furthermore, the choreography for the lead single "Dream Girl" was revealed, which was choreographed by Tony Testa, who previously worked with Shinee on "Sherlock (Clue + Note)".

The making of the music video was also shown which showed the members jumping on trampolines and using running machines.

– The Misconceptions of Me was described as evoking the gap between Shinee's reality and dreams and has an overall deeper and darker sound.

[8] "Dream Girl" was produced by Hyuk Shin and his team of composers, Joombas Music Factory.

[4] It is written by Jun Gandi and composed by Hyuk Shin, Jordan Kyle, Ross Lara, Dave Cook, DK, and Anthony "TC" Crawford.

[9] The song has a fuller sound, featuring electric guitars among various other synths and the beat is very diverse and complex with a lot of tempo changes.

It talks wittily about a zombie that has lived in darkness for a very long time who falls in love with a human girl.

[11] "Shine (Medusa I)" is a powerful dance track that "combines high quality lyrics that express the love of fans as a 'shine' together with tough drum sounds to add enjoyment to listeners".

[12] Teddy Riley, Andrew Choi and Kim Tae-seong composed the song, with lyrics penned by Misfit and Minho.

[15] The music video premiered on February 19 and features the group doing unique tricks with mic stands that are noted to be the highlight of the dance routine, choreographed by Tony Testa.

[18] The music video was filmed in Cheongdam-dong and Namyangju in early April, featuring choreography by Devin Jamieson, who previously worked with the group's labelmates Super Junior.

[21] Jonghyun was unable to participate in the music video and the early stages of album promotions due to injuries sustained during a car accident.

[22] SM Entertainment said in a statement, "Jonghyun was discharged from the hospital [...], and until he is fully healed, he’ll be focusing on treatments.

[25] Billboard K-Town columnist Jeff Benjamin wrote that the lead single, "Dream Girl", is a "safe, enjoyable mainstream single" while the album is "a triumph that never lacks in energy and balances nods to 80s pop stars and forward-thinking pop".

He said "songs like 'Punch Drunk Love' and 'Aside' sonically recall the sounds of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, respectively", while "tracks like 'Beautiful' and 'Runaway' combine unique electronic production elements over sugary boy band harmonies to create year-round pop music".