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omonatheydid
TVXQ. It was breathless to read the four letters. I had soon forgotten that the seasons have changed a multiple times while checking when they would comeback. As soon as their comeback was confirmed, it didn’t take half the time for the bear to eat mugwort and garlic to become OongNyeo* (tn: This is referring to the birth myth of Korea) to get the interview scheduled. For TVXQ, who must have the foreseeable future in their mind for their every move, daily schedules are filled in beforehand, clearly. So the problem didn’t start till then. We got greedy and asked them to meet us outside, rather than in an indoor studio. We asked the celebs who should be hiding themselves to meet us in a place where nothing hid them. Picturing two men who would stand in the dark sight with the definition of tough guy dripping all over, we settled on a desolate part of Nodul Island. The main characters are TVXQ. To think of that name, which makes us risk any and every strategy, there should not be any interference in this project. We got the Ok sign from the control office and the police. What if we set the fire on the drum for the photoshoot and someone who just happens to pass by the Hangangdaegyo reports it mistakenly? We reported today’s shooting to the fire station. Even the way to the said area, crossing the Nodul Island vegetable gardens from Hangangdaedyo area wasn’t easy. When we finally delivered a clamorous map to TVXQ’s guardian, an employee from the SM Entertainment, he noticed the “007 Plan” and yelled out, “Are we shooting a movie!”
TVXQ had very little sleep for the past 3 days, shooting the music video for their new album. The interview took place around the time when everything was getting ready in preparation for the new album release in the end of September. The two, who didn’t even have the time to trim their beard, got out of their van. It would be hard for the two, who met in their teens, to grow up in similar speed and condition, but Uknow Yunho and Max Changmin were in very similar shape, as if they’ve met for the “Over 180cm, 9 head figure” group. The first things that got blurted out of our mouth in meeting them were not the formal pleasantries but rather, simple and clear adjectives. “So tall” and “Handsome”. When one said “So tall!” the other replied by saying “Super handsome!” (The fashion reporter who was responsible for their styling was 5 months into pregnancy and gloated at seeing them standing there as it was apparently good for prenatal education).
As the previous album was released on January of 2011, it was definitely not a short break if one remembers the current music industry pattern. Of course, this “break” is only if we’re thinking of Korea. When they are out of our sight, they were in Japan or some parts of Asia. Big concert schedules such as “A-NATION” by TVXQ’s Japanese agency AVEX, “SM TOWN” where all performers from SM Entertainment appears, and TVXQ’s own tour dizzily cross each other on calendar. I attempted to somewhat memorize it, only to give up very quickly. Even the SM PR representative has given up on it. The reason why the broadcasting stations could make concerts like “Korean Music Wave” to go around the glove is because “SM Town World Tour in Paris” has proven something. I remember my eyes popping out at the photos and videos from Paris while watching them to write the <Vogue> exclusive report last summer.
“We did a lot of tour in Japan, but Paris was completely new. As well, I thought they may find us unfamiliar compared to all the active juniors… but the crowd started singing the Korean lyric along as soon as we started ‘Mirotic’. It was so cool! I was really surprised,” remembered Yunho. “Regardless of who, when you get interested in a person you get interested in his or her culture. Kind of like that, I think more performers were given the opportunity. There was a period where ‘Sorry Sorry’ by Super Junior was really hot overseas. Surely there has to be some Europeans who learned about TVXQ and SM performers through that?” There has to be both excitement and fear before jumping into a new market. Yunho remembered that the fear was a little greater. “It does feel like we’re the national representatives. But somewhere along the way, we were just having fun. At that point, it felt like I leveled up”.
What’s interesting about SM Entertainment is that their ideas connect with others in the end. And these ideas are usually confusing at first. Super Junior, which is composed of many people and different members in Korea and Japan was like that, and F(X) who brought out lyrics that were difficult to understand even in the 20s was like that. TVXQ was confusing even from its name. A name targeting the Asian market. They’re called “TVXQ” overseas. In Japan it’s “Tohoshinki”. When there’s a “K-POP” concert, whichever continent it’s held in, they decorate the finale. If that’s because of the power of the largest entertainment in Korea, the crews must be up to par with it to survive. When TVXQ brought out the previous album, they blew all concerns about how the duo will be lacking or foreign on their first stage. It was smooth slick, not leaning towards any of music, performance, singing, or rap.
To the singers who are doubtlessly on top level, ranking in #1 on various charts may not mean much. Of course, there are events such as bringing the most audience as a Korean singer in Japanese Tour, or ranking 10 singles on #1 spot for the first time as a foreign artist on the Oricon Weekly chart. To TVXQ like that, what do they need to have in their mind while being active? They surely would make decent profits by bringing a dance version of popular children’s song. Yunho said without hesitation. “My thoughts differ. That’s when we start. That’s the point where we can start going downhill. It only means something if we break our own record.” Right now is TVXQ’s “That moment”. Changmin said cautiously. “If I compare it to school life, the memories remain more precious when you do a lot of things well rather than just being #1 in academics. I want to build more than the #1 in academics. To be honest, our music isn’t even something that would be #1 in a lot of places. Songs that a lot of people can listen to while having fun, are the ones that get #1 these days.”
The topic changed to music. The idols who may appear to only concern about being pretty and look handsome, worry seriously about music from time to time. As an actor becomes famous by meeting a good character, a good music can brand the singer. TVXQ has passed the freshmen years long past, to be a nine year old group. Even the people who can’t distinguish between Uknow Yunho and Max Changmin would know that TVXQ isn’t a team making just another sweet song. TVXQ and its music go well with uniforms like suit, despite the powerful dance. It has a pattern to an extent, it’s sometimes determined, and it’s closer to being dark than being bright. It’s not a song we can sing along well in karaoke either (If I do, I fall tired while singing). During our conversation, we called this simply a “heavy music”. It definitely differs a bit from the current music trend. Ever since the “well playing” BigBang has changed the dynamics, if a performance-based singer couldn’t do one or the other, it didn’t look so good. Either you play up the stage, or you refine it perfectly.
The reason why TVXQ is still top when they’re walking a different path from the trend is because they have their refined stage and music. The dynamically formed stage combines with the looks, the shape, and the performance to reveal their body. Yunho is improving day by day on his singing ability, and Changmin is the person who got the best Shouting! Yoo Young Jin’s genes out of all SM performers. TVXQ had to try their best even after becoming somewhat successful. It’s because the two of them had to do everything. “A while ago, a guy at the health club just came up and said ‘You’re Uknow Yunho, right?’ and continued ‘You guys got this one thing. So you look different from all others.’ We sometimes hear that it seems like we’re spitting out blood. There are times when I do want to try a more trendy music. But we have our root elsewhere. It’s something that started when we sung ‘Rising Sun.’”
Changmin talked a lot with the producer Yoo Young Jin about the colour of TVXQ while preparing this album. To put it simply, he decided that if they bring out a “heavy music” again, the listeners and the viewers will define what TVXQ is. Changmin seemed to be concerned about being defined as “just their own music”. TVXQ’s conclusion was that in the new album they need to take a slightly different direction. A little easier, a little brighter, with various genres. “It’s always our homework. Not losing the current style but finding a connection with a variety of people… It must be a dilemma for everyone who expresses something for work. The popular culture changes the “It” trend very fast and uses it up. If we have to follow the public’s taste every single time, we won’t survive in the end.” Yunho said after Changmin. “I’m confident. While preparing for this album, I felt a lot lot lot lot of things. Not just from the work, but from my personal life as well. I can’t tell you what it is, haha. As I had a lot of thoughts, I want to believe that I’ve given some life into the album.”
Yunho and Changmin are standing in the same land, but their styles differ a bit. Yunho must’ve been a MAN from the moment he was born. A MAN who’s not macho. How precious! He treasures past and roots much. He even watches frequently their debut song, “Hug” or previous stage performances. The times when he “wanted to become the bed of your room for just one day”, the teen times which a grown up man would find embarrassing. Yunho acknowledged that he does cringe a bit. “But because I had that, I have now. So I don’t want to forget about it. The times when I lived as Jung Yunho rather than Uknow Yunho, the times when I was a trainee… I try not to forget about those times. I meet up with old friends often. I live hard, but everyone else really lives hard. I just had a little more of experiences that they couldn’t have. But when I see my friends working very hard to get things that I get easily from others, I feel that I’m still young.” Types like these don’t change easily wherever they are, whatever they do.
The story about him in middle school, participating in “SM Teen Best Competition” and asking the judges to “see my dance to the end, whether you will drop me or not." The stories about doing all kinds of part time jobs such as removing snow, serving at a meat buffet, etc. in Seoul as a trainee all the way from Gwangju. Yunho may have been different from other immature male students even then. But it was still surprising to see him talk about sleeping at the Seoul station and parks in <Knee Jerk Guru>. He even told us a tip about sleeping in the open. When you sleep on a bench, you cross your arms, keep the hands in the armpit to save heat, and cross the legs. Such experiences would have played a big part in making the calloused man Yunho is. “Yunho hyung is overflowing with fighting,” said Changmin. “when everyone’s tired and worn out, there has to be someone who pushes everyone through it, and hyung does that for us.” It was Yunho who talked to us first and agreed with us in a tone full of “fighting” during the photo shooting or interviewing.
Changmin has said through multiple occasions that he’s thought a lot about how it would’ve been “to live an average life”. The story about getting picked up by the SM employee who was watching him suspiciously while he was playing badminton in middle school (there were casting managers in the 90s who wandered round the middle-high schools in order to find the hidden gems), or the story about doing some “army clapping” moves when they asked him to dance, are so contrasting to Yunho that it makes us laugh. When there’s a day off, Yunho always goes out, whether it be just for a walk. Changmin leaves himself free, eating, sleeping, and just rolling around. He doesn’t ask the hypothetical question anymore. “It’s not that I changed intentionally, but it just happened naturally. It’s a little embarrassing, but this work became fun. I learned to enjoy it somewhere along the way as well.” It will take a bit more time to enjoy acting. Changmin’s first TV drama <Paradise Ranch> wasn’t so lucky getting scheduled in. Changmin has recently shot the movie <Fly with the Gold> with Tsumabuki Satoshi and Asano Tadanobu. A role of North Korean spy, pretending to be an international student. “My reaction was 0.5 seconds slower than other actors, having to communicate in foreign language and understand the character. It was very hard. If I may say, I truly felt that actors like Lee Byung Hyun are really great.”
The Changmin I found out through the media seemed to be sensitive and delicate, harsh on himself, and kind of like a poker-faced person. When I asked Yunho about good qualities of Changmin he said “He never speaks easily. He always thinks multiple times and shows with his actions.” Changmin really spoke delicately and cautiously. When he talked about his important qualities he said “I want to live easily and happily. If I have fun every day I may not know that it’s fun in the future, so I want to have fun as much as right now – drinking, on stage, with family and loved ones” and added that “maybe I’m saying ‘fun and happily’ easily because I’m much better off financially than my peers. Others may call it carefree…”. When he was talking about being #1, he looked for an euphemistic expression, in worries of devaluing other’s opinions about #1. It was brave to see him deliver his opinion prudently but clearly. Of course, he can joke around with funny faces, saying “I can rap so freaking well”. There were moments when his eyes got big and sparkled, and one of it was when we were talking about soccer. Talking about how there’s no end when you go online for soccer… we ended up concluding that “Otakus move the world”.
Although TVXQ is always surrounded by crowds, building airplane mileages like Geroge Clooney from <In the Air>, I could see the two men in mid 20s, on land, through the small and ordinary talks we had. The men who live switching constantly between the spectacular stages and whatever’s below it. They can now immediately “switch mood” below the stage without needing to calm the emotional waves down. But such ordinary people Jung Yunho and Shim Changmin, also known as the Uknow Yunho and Max Changmin who stand the Tokyo Dome stage, full of 55000 people, must draw their futures. Some fandoms carry the experiences of their old idol groups who they believed to be “forever their oppas” separating away suddenly. If the idols from the past learned that “popularity is only for a moment” after the times have passed, their result and choices could be a database for idols currently active.
source: fuzzybunny@tumblr, yoonho600, tvxqdrip.
Original Interview by VOGUE KOREA
Translation by Fuzzybunny
Please do NOT take this for anti-purpose towards both or one of the members. Enjoy!
(Loved whole thing, but specifically their shared thoughts on what #1 is to them; moreover, despite thinking of it, why they don't do trendy music. Special lulz at the fandom comment. Apologies for the basic styling, but that's a massive horde of text. Changmin had more solo shots, but none were shared/are in HQ. Pitch, if anyone has them Never mind, updated the Changmin ones.)
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Date: 2012-09-20 05:38 pm (UTC)I don't care, I'm ready for all the Owl Shrieking Min and Angry shouty Yunho.
They look so good here, if only Sm styled them like this.
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Date: 2012-09-20 05:50 pm (UTC)why can't SM styled them like these instead of giving them some weird outfit and bizarre hairstyle concept everytime when there is people like Vogue who know to appreciate them more :P
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Date: 2012-09-20 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 05:48 pm (UTC)really hope someone would make icon from this photoshoot really need to use one :P
anyway im loving the whole interview<3
these two forever humble, classy and very smart young man<3
and lol at the 007 way of the magazine try to take this two outdoor xD
and please SM could you just hire/kidnap this Vogue stylish and make that person work exclusively to style TVXQ forever because they deserve to look always this fabulous with awesome hairstyle and cool clothes especially during their important comeback :P
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Date: 2012-09-20 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 05:51 pm (UTC)so does he fap to kaneshiro takeshi, too? hehe!
When there’s a day off, Yunho always goes out, whether it be just for a walk. Changmin leaves himself free, eating, sleeping, and just rolling around.
lol! i imagined changmin literally rolling around his bed the whole day.
they look so good in these photos.
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Date: 2012-09-20 06:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 06:10 pm (UTC)something like this only in jammies.
ugh! i just want to run my hand up his legs and into his...
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Date: 2012-09-20 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 06:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-22 08:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 06:03 pm (UTC)Sooo excited for the comeback album AND the fact that we dont have to wait too long ^^
But can I say, (no offence to SuJu fans):
There was a period where ‘Sorry Sorry’ by Super Junior was really hot overseas. Surely there has to be some Europeans who learned about TVXQ and SM performers through that?”
Yunho,most of us knew you guys WAAAAY before SuJu <33
He treasures past and roots much. He even watches frequently their debut song, “Hug” or previous stage performances. The times when he “wanted to become the bed of your room for just one day”
Excuse me while I go emoshinki >.<
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Date: 2012-09-20 09:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 06:11 pm (UTC)SO MUCH FEELS FOR THIS SHOOT AND INTERVIEW.
It's refreshing to know just how aware they are of where they stand in the industry and themselves as artists and how fast things happen now.
And yesh, DBSK songs were never really the type that is easy to listen to and very radio-friendly. They're so associated with SMP that it really does set them apart from everyone else.
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Date: 2012-09-20 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 06:59 pm (UTC)Ugh nothing pleases like reading about them knowing where they stand, what they want rn and whatever they aspire to do next. It's been growing immensely during/after Tone Tour, and I absolutely love it.
(Is that a Reply 1997 gif? If so then uuuu is it following me everywhere or is it /o\)
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Date: 2012-09-20 07:18 pm (UTC)And, yes it's a Reply 1997 gif. IT'S FOLLOWING EVERYONE EVERYWHERE.
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Date: 2012-09-20 06:20 pm (UTC)i scrolled a lot cause of this on the main page....
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Date: 2012-09-20 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 06:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 06:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 06:41 pm (UTC)The boys look amazing of course and the interview is great, can't wait to see them on variety/talk shows!
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Date: 2012-09-20 06:42 pm (UTC)I love you
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Date: 2012-09-21 02:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-20 07:39 pm (UTC)I fall in love with them more and more.........
This group I know I will forever be a fan of..........
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Date: 2012-09-20 11:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-21 12:17 am (UTC)already very appreciative of these 2 individuals, still impresses me as much as ever
thks for sharing!
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Date: 2012-09-21 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-21 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-21 12:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-21 03:39 am (UTC)I just fell deeper for them. <3
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Date: 2012-09-21 06:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-21 11:54 am (UTC)And the interview is a really interesting read! <3
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Date: 2012-09-22 04:37 am (UTC)guhhh tvxq never stop being awesome
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Date: 2012-09-22 12:57 pm (UTC)I enjoyed reading the interview. :D
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Date: 2012-09-23 01:48 pm (UTC)What I loved most in this interview is how self-aware the both of them are. I never thought of TVXQ's music as radio-friendly (or cover-friendly, even lol), their genre is heavy / difficult which is something difficult to pull off - and they are totally aware of that. The other people over at SM have 'trendier' songs and their lyrics are so much easier to memorize tbh, so when Yunho said that people from overseas learned about them through SJ's Sorry, Sorry - I was floored (that is a fact here in our country - when Kpop started to become more and more popular, Sorry Sorry was the forerunner - but that's not saying that we don't have our own TVXQ fanbase because I've been a TVXQ fan forever so lol).
tl;dr
JHDFDSKJHFSH I LOVE THEM OKAY. They just surprise me everytime - they perform better everytime. TVXQ, hwaiting! You deserve every recognition you have right now.