Episode 61: The Rise and Fall and Rebirth of TVXQ Part 3—To the Toppermost of the Poppermost (2006-2008)
This is the third part in an episode series on the rise and fall and rebirth of TVXQ aka 東方神起 aka 동방신기. I touched on the group in my history series—which you may want to listen to first if you haven’t—but the circumstances surrounding the group’s almost disbandment and multitude of legal problems which began in 2009 and lasted for years afterwards are still contentious with fans (and anti-fans) to this day and their story really deserved proper time and attention paid to it.
I tried my best to remain as neutral as possible throughout this story and where a single narrative wasn’t possible I attempted to steel man all sides of the argument. Listeners can make up their own minds about the heroes and villains of this story.
The first episode is available here and covers the founding of S.M. Entertainment and some of the circumstances that led up to the creation of TVXQ.
Part 2 takes a look at the critical years 2003-2005 and the circumstances that led S.M. Entertainment to pivot their new boy group TVXQ to the Japanese market.
Part 3 looks at their rise to the top of Japan’s boy group market (as well as to the top of the newly forming “K-Pop” market) culminating in a performance at the prestigious national New Year’s Eve concert 紅白歌合戦 (Kouhaku Utagassen) on December 31, 2008, only one of four boy groups invited to perform.
(And a correction for part 3—Yamapi had already debuted with NEWS when 青春アミーゴ was released. The one thing I didn’t double check! You know what they say about assumptions…)
Ladies… of “a certain age” in the audience to see 東方神起 (TVXQ) on Utaban for an episode that aired November 22, 2007.
One of the things that shouldn’t be overlooked when looking at TVXQ’s rise in Japan is their successful rebranding from teen hysteria teenyboppers to romantic Korean men in the image of Bae Yong Joon aka “Yon-sama”. The housewife demographic is a powerful one and even as TVXQ picked up younger fans, the aunties suffering from “Bae Yong Joon Fever” remained a core part of the fan base… and really aunties remain a core part of the Japanese fan base to this day (as well as the core fan base of other K-Pop groups like BTS). It only makes sense that TVXQ would provide the theme song for Bae Yong Joon’s 2007 epic drama The Legend, a drama that has seemingly been wiped from the Internet. If you have a copy with English subtitles (or Japanese subtitles) let me know because I’d love to watch it again.
The K-Pop album sales arms race that currently has Seventeen’s sales numbers for FML with the new top selling record of all time with over six million began with TVXQ’s Mirotic in 2008 and although record keeping is fuzzy for numerous reasons it’s generally agreed that TVXQ’s sales record will hold until S.M. Entertainment group EXO released XOXO in 2013.
The poster for Heaven’s Postman (2009), a joint Korean-Japanese production under the CJ Group. The script was written by legendary Japanese drama scriptwriter Kitagawa Eriko (Long Vacation, etc), who has an eye for idol talent and specially requested Jaejoong.
Jaejoong branching out into solo work—even as S.M. insisted that the group activities came first—is also a significant development of these years. He was the center of the group in Japan and you have to wonder if he (or any of the other members) had been receiving offers for solo brand endorsements and other work that S.M. was preventing them from taking because it would interfere with “group activities.”
The Gospellers are a respected Japanese vocal group and it’s a testament to TVXQ’s rising star that the Gospellers invited them to participate in the 2007 Soul Power Tokyo Summit. I really love that whole slate of funky R&B songs they did during this era. “Choosy Lover” remains eternal.
An example of a five-member TVXQ Japanese commercial from 2009, with popular actress Ueta Aya. You can see that their image was romantic and refreshing…
Koda Kumi with TVXQ (Yunho and Changmin) on her instagram after attending a TVXQ fan club event in 2022.
Koda Kumi, one of Avex’s “Three Queens,” has remained friendly with the current version ofTVXQ.
Ahhh take me “back to the old school”… those were the days.
By the time 2008 comes to a close, the seeds of the “K-Pop industry” as we know it today have been planted. Something that my ex-A.R.M.Y. guest from episodes 49 and 24 and I have discussed at length is the importance for artists of the ecosystem, that an artists exists in context, not just as an entity in a vacuum.The 2008 SBS Gayo Daejun—which gave us showcases like the excellent piano battle between BigBang’s Taeyang and TVXQ’s Junsu—really signals the beginning of the “K-Pop” ecosystem, with its own mythos and stars… stars that may or may not overlap with what domestic Korean music consumers, generally, are listening to. Although it’s been completely memory-holed, the TVXQ vs. BigBang rivalry was a lot of fun. Most fans today won’t remember BigBang as the scrappy number two idol group behind kings TVXQ but the era exists! For a while BigBang’s T.O.P. and Jaejoong were even held up as friendly rivals for their acting roles… and as part of a glamorous “idol F4” along with Yoochun.
While there were certainly highs during this period, there were also many disturbing and traumatic incidents that came with their fame and those incidents left a mark on the members. I think it’s important to remember, especially when thinking about what happens next, that all of the members of TVXQ were under extreme stress during this era thanks to overwork and anxiety from being constantly stalked and all of the other pressures from family, S.M. Entertainment, and so on.
The songs played are:
“Bolero” by 東方神起 (from ~ The Secret Code ~ Final In Tokyo Dome)
“Rising Sun” by TVXQ
“Mirotic” by TVXQ
“どうして... 君を好きになってしまったんだろう？” by 東方神起
“Timeless” by SG Wannabe
“ロコローション” by Orange Range
“アイドル” by YOASOBI
“青春アミーゴ” by 修二と彰 (aka Yamashita Tomohisa and Kamenashi Kazuya)
“Juicy” by Koda Kumi
“Boomerang” by The Grace
“동방의 투혼” by TVXQ (World Cup 2006 Korea image song)
“Rising Sun” by TVXQ (live at a-nation 2006)
“Sky” by 東方神起 (Official MV; note: this song bangs big time)
“풍선” (Balloons) by 다섯손가락 (1986)
“Balloons” by TVXQ (and you can make up your own mind on the schmoopy stages; this one was only about a month after Yunho had been almost killed by an anti-fan poisoning his juice.)
“Choosey Lover” by 東方神起 (Official MV; note: I love this song so much)
“Lovin’ You” by 東方神起 (Official MV)
“Sky” by 東方神起 (live at a-nation 2007)
“永遠に” by Gosepllers (with TVXQ, live at Soul Power Summit 2007)
“Begin” by 東方神起 (acapella performance live on an early morning show, 2006)
“Hey Say” by Hey!Say!7 (a temporary Johnny’s & Associates unit; by 2009 Johnny’s & Associates groups would be moving their release dates so as not to clash with TVXQ)
“Last Angel” by Koda Kumi feat. 東方神起 (Official MV)
“Last Angel” by Koda Kumi feat. 東方神起 (Live at the Black Cherry tour final 2007)
“Purple Line” by 東方神起
“Mirotic” by TVXQ
“Mirotic” by TVXQ (cover by Jungkook (BTS), March 3, 2023)
“Purple Line”/ “どうして... 君を好きになってしまったんだろう？” by 東方神起 (Live on 紅白歌合戦 December 31, 2008; introduction by SMAP’s Nakai Masahiro)
“Haru Haru” by BigBang
“CLAP!” by 東方神起