“JYJ is freer than any other K-pop artist right now” by callmepatricicia

This article talks about TVXQ2′s album review by callmepatricicia. She isn’t a JYJ’s fan, in fact she is bias towards TVXQ2, the full article is HERE. Even when some fans ask me to post the full article, I decided to post only the parts where she mentions JYJ  and TVXQ5.

Album Review KYHD

This album review is brought to you by Yunho and Changmin‘s now-infamous bullseye suits and Patricia’s horrible procrastination habits. It’s been two weeks since the remaining two Gods of the East came back to the entertainment scene, with the release of their new album, Why (Keep Your Head Down). Putting aside all the dramarama surrounding the lawsuit and the interviews and the unscrupulous tweeting that’s been going on as of late, I wanted to take a look at DBSK‘s latest album not just as an album, but as a promotional effort.

SM has not had a direct hand in managing DBSK’s activities since late 2008, and the K-pop scene has certainly changed since then. Now, with the added challenge of working with only two of the original members, SM had to figure out a way to bring back the Gods in a manner that would not only keep them in sync with current trends, but would also maintain their status as the reigning Princes of K-pop. Now, with the DBSK comeback in full swing, let us ask: Did SM do their job?

I’ve addressed this question by examining four main points of DBSK’s promotional efforts:

1. Concept/styling
2. The music video for “Keep Your Head Down”
3. Live Performances/Choreography
4. The album itself

Omitted

Oh, and one last note: I know the fandom (and JYJ) is going nuts over the lyrics of “Why”, which is kinda stupid. (What about the lyrics to “Mirotic”? “Break Out”? “O:Jung.Ban.Hap”, for crying out loud?!) But please, SM, don’t try to stir things up by putting stupid stuff like this in the choreography:

It’s generally not a good business move to stir things up in fandoms unless it’s blind adoration for your artists. If this dance move was just coincidental, then you should’ve been more careful. If it was intentional, then that’s really foolish and unprofessional. Just…don’t go there.

Omitted

I’ve been following the HoMin side of things more closely lately – partly because of bias, and partly because the JYJ side of things is just too messy for me to sort my brain through. That kind of messiness is both an advantage and a disadvantage – artistic and financial freedom are obvious advantages, whereas things like the US tour visa fiasco and having SM and KFPCAI breathing down your neck are obvious disadvantages. But the biggest advantage anddisadvantage is the fact that JYJ has a very wide road ahead of them. Regardless of whatever third-party decides to impede on the trio’s future career, JYJ is freer than any other K-pop artist right now, and will continue to be unless SM decides to jail them right back up again. That uncertainty in their career can allow them to take their music to new heights, or it could cause them to plummet. It’s risky, but it’s at the price of a kind of freedom previously unexperienced by any major K-pop idol – as well as the possibility of changing the Korean pop idol scene for good.

HoMin’s career, on the other hand, isn’t in the same kind of limbo as that of JYJ’s, but it’s in limbo nonetheless. I’ve thought a lot about the possible future of HoMin’s careers within SM, and judging from current K-pop trends as well as recent promotion efforts by respected sunbae artists like BoA, Kangta, and, most recently, DBSK, it seems to me that these last remaining years before mandatory military service will be quiet ones, as they play the role of “Idols-that-everyone-respects-but-no-one-really-likes” – up there with BoA and Kangta. To be honest, it’s not a bad way to live: leave the idol industry, serve in the military, come back and become a major stockholder, hope to become the next Lee Soo Man. If their main objective isn’t music, then HoMin is on a pretty good path. But as artists, this album spells trouble.

I’ve mentioned over and over again in this review about how DBSK’s promotion efforts essentially put them on the same level as all the hoobae artists that are out promoting right now. To put it frankly, Why exhibits a significant depreciation in musical quality since their last Korean album – solid evidence that DBSK’s career as artists is slowly going into decline. BoA’s comeback was the same way, albeit with a significantly more impressive album (that…wasn’t adequately promoted). At this rate, the two members of DBSK will slip quietly into military service, come back two years later, and release a single here and there whilst looking imposing in aviator sunglasses. Remind you of anyone?

Had SM promoted DBSK like the respected, senior artists that they are, DBSK would be in a class above all of the currently promoting artists, and you’d be able to tell. In that way, DBSK would almost certainly leave for the military with a bang – and a viable fanbase to come home to after two years. But now, I’m just not seeing that happening.

I’m curious as to how DBSK will be handling their career in Japan. I don’t believe that they’ll be coming back under Avex – although a part of me wishes they were. Avex did this amazing thing where they marketed both DBSK and BoA not as Hallyu artists, but as J-pop artists. It took a ton of hard work, but the result was illustrious and set an incredibly high standard for all incoming Korean acts that had their eyes on the archipelago. But with EMI’s current work with SM artists, it looks like DBSK will just be releasing Japanese versions of their Korean songs – just like SNSD, and now SHINee. And they’ll be met with limited success – just like SNSD, and probably SHINee.

It’d be so disappointing to see DBSK jump back into the pool of generic Hallyu artists in Japan, after spending so much work making a name for themselves as legitimate J-pop artists. But without Avex at the helm of Tohoshinki promotions, I don’t see DBSK enjoying the same success in Japan as they did before. I don’t think Japan wants any more Korean boy bands littering their airwaves – they’ve got their own boybands. Tohoshinki was different because their music was molded to Japanese tastes. It wasn’t cheap attempts of pushing Korean music at Japanese audiences in the name of Hallyu.

Review of TVXQ2′s Album gets 2 out of 5. If they re-release this album in Japan and call it Tohoshinki’s 5th Japanese album, I will throw things and cry. Fr srs.

Shared by: Seoulbeats, @jyj3