[News] Restrictions on JYJ’s Activities, Is that Really Poison?

The Bangkok, Thailand Concert that kicked off JYJ’s World Tour proceeded in enthusiasm that was much more heated than was expected.  Around 22,000 fans visited the concert that was held over two days.  One could not see the end of the footsteps of the Thailand’s citizens who wanted to see JYJ’s performances — from the Prime Minister of Thailand to Thailand’s celebrities and entertainers.  It was almost enough to make one become confused as to whether this was actually JYJ, a group that has restrictions on their activities as artists.

JYJ is going through a dispute with its former agency SM Entertainment after having split off from TVXQ.  It is true that due to this, it has become difficult to find their stages in Korea.  Each TV station’s music programs are mired in complicated understandings and relationships so that they are unable to easily put JYJ on stage.  Currently, JYJ fans are seeing their members not on the stage but through dramas and musicals.

Particularly, because JYJ is restricted on its TV appearances, there is a limit to building awareness of their activities.  Kim Junsu spoke his mind on the disappointment on that point before the concert in Thailand: “Even though the album itself is not even released officially in the United States, it became #5 in Billboard’s Album of the Year.  Also, artists like Kanye West and Rodney Jerkins participated in the album but people who are not fans are unaware. We have pride in our album’s quality and its good songs but I feel regret that we are not able to show that in Korea.”

That is not all.  JYJ’s reality program, which was planned to air on the cable channel QTV, repeatedly delayed itself and in the end the program itself became cancelled without a satisfactory explanation.  Furthermore, the fans on their own opened an Internet Radio Station and pointed out the direction for the new fandom culture, but absurdly the entire staff announced its closing in four days to everyone’s shock.  Indeed, JYJ is having one bad thing happen after another.

But Kim Junsu did not leave this out: “We think that this is a mountain to be climbed. I think we’ve all become more solid.”

In truth, JYJ, when they were TVXQ, was a group that gloried in (having) the highest level of popularity in Asia.  They received the highest level of treatment and each TV station competed to cast them and JYJ performed their activities with the best staff.  However, Kim Jaejoong, Park Yoochun, and Kim Junsu must have realized the value of everything that they had basked in the moment that they became JYJ from TVXQ.

For them who cannot sing on TV, the concert stage is the only place on which they can let fans hear their songs.  This made the members again appreciate the value of the stage, something that they probably felt only during their debut years.  This made JYJ train themselves so that they can sing perfect songs on a live stage that comes only once.

Furthermore, as much as their time of exposure by the media is small, JYJ came to bring themselves with care to each and every interview with the media.  It was impossible for the members to not be concerned with how they would appear, not merely to JYJ fans but also to the former fans who have turned away and to those people who do not know JYJ. One affiliate, recalling an interview that JYJ had with a media entity, said: “I’ve never seen the members tremble like that.”

The fans, watching the hardship that JYJ endures in their activities, strengthened in their ability to unite and cohere.  The disposition of the fans to themselves protect JYJ has deepened.

The JYJ Internet Radio Station, which had many troubles, was also an attempt in which the fans gathered by themselves to relieve the restrictions of the media activities by creating a JYJ-exclusive media.  Furthermore, the reason for its closing is not, as some have relayed, that the administrator had suffered from threats from JYJ fans and so decided to close — this is false.

JYJ fans had wished that the Internet Radio station would aim for equity and fairness as do the regular media.  However, contrary to the original goals, the staff used the copyrighted materials without permission, provided incorrect information about JYJ, made appear a female politician who had nothing to do with JYJ, and engaged in other problematic acts. At this, the JYJ fans worried that JYJ would be used politically and that the broadcast would become prejudiced, and in the end the staff announced its closing.  The Internet Radio can be understood as an incident in which from its opening to its closing the fans’ voluntary will and self-purifying abilities were applied.

It is hard to guarantee when people will be able to see JYJ freely on Korean stages. However, what is clear is that because JYJ is going on live stages frequently due to their difficulties in domestic activities, they are in fact transforming into a more capable group. The fans also are uniting more.

In the Concert in Thailand, JYJ showed off their first live of the ‘Nameless Song part 1’ which expresses their current situation, and the audience applauded when it was over. It was an applause of encouragement that supported JYJ’s path.

source: 06April2011 My Daily

translation credit: JYJ3

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