Sunday, December 19, 2010

JYJ express their thoughts about the lawsuit and American promotions




June 2009 witnessed one of the biggest controversies in K-pop history, as three members of TVXQ - Jaejoong, Junsu, and Yoochun - decided to withdraw from their agency, SM Entertainment, and file a lawsuit against them for being locked in ’slave’ contracts. Soon after, a new trio was formed under the name ‘JYJ‘, who have been actively promoting their new worldwide album, ‘The Beginning‘.

When the three were asked about their decision to walk a different path, the members confessed that they’ve been so busy that they could only concentrate on their JYJ schedules.

Yoochun explained, “For a while now, we’ve been going back and forth between Korea and Japan for promotions. We had concerts in both countries, as well as our individual activities. We didn’t want to think about other issues, which is why we put in effort to keep ourselves preoccupied.”

Feeling that SM Entertainment was causing them undue suffering during their time as TVXQ, the trio finally put their foot down last year and made the weighty decision to withdraw from the company. During the difficult time of their lawsuit, they had only each other for support. But that’s not to say that they didn’t have something to fill their void before meeting with their current agency – the boys had activities with their Japanese agency, AVEX, up until the end of last year.

Jaejoong reflected, “It’s still the same now, but we never had an opportunity to voice out our perspective, and we tried to be really careful. This was during the time when there were all sorts of rumors going around in Korea. In that kind of situation, it was difficult for us to willingly approach news reporters ourselves. It was a situation when just one comment could become a huge misunderstanding and receive criticism, because saying anything would have hurt a lot of people. It was only afterwards when the legal proceedings were complete that we could finally begin to talk.”

After their promotions in Japan, JYJ finally decided to release a new meaningful album titled, ‘The Beginning’. However, due to circumstances with their visas, the trio had no choice but to hold free-entry showcases for their fans in the U.S. Fortunately for JYJ, their misfortunes later turned into a blessing.

Junsu recalled, “We couldn’t even imagine that so many fans of different races would come to our concert. It was a sight that you could only see at concerts from pop stars like Michael Jackson, where fans of all ages came to watch. In the beginning, there were a lot of people who looked at us with blank faces because they didn’t know the songs. But later on they started to move their bodies and get into the groove, even praising us with a thumbs-up. It was definitely a different feel from our fans in Asia.”

Having free showcases allowed them to expose their music to a wider range of people. Well-known, global producers such as Kanye West helped produce three of their tracks, including ‘Ayyy Girl‘, ‘Empty‘, and ‘Be My Girl’. Other songs in their album were produced directly by the members themselves: ‘Still in Love’ was produced by Jaejoong, ‘I Love You’ by Yoochun, and ‘I Can Soar‘ by Junsu.

Jaejoong elaborated, “They are all tracks in the traditional pop sense. This is something we were trying for the first time, but at the same time, we weren’t trying to change our style. We wanted to turn back to the origins of music. We went to America to personally work with producers. During that time, Yoochun was filming his drama and probably had a really difficult time.”

The members expressed that they would like to keep concentrating on their States-side activities. Junsu concluded the interview with some final thoughts on their American career: “We haven’t even officially released our album in America, as it’s only sold on iTunes for now. We heard that our song was picked by readers of Billboard as one of the ‘Top 10′ songs of the year – we came 5th. Seeing Kanye West and Lady Gaga getting 10th and 7th respectively, we were very surprised.”

Friday, December 10, 2010

Learn KoreaN

네.(예.)
[Ne.(ye.)]
Yes.

아니오.
[Anio.]
No.

여보세요.
[Yeoboseyo.]
Hello (when picking up the phone).

안녕하세요.
[Annyeong-haseyo.]
Hello.

안녕히 계세요.
[Annyong-hi gyeseyo.]
Good bye (when you, the guest, are leaving).

안녕히 가세요.
[Annyeong-hi gaseyo.]
Good bye (when you, the host, are bidding your guests good bye).

어서 오세요.
[Eoseo oseyo.]
Welcome.

고맙습니다.(감사합니다.)
[Gomapseumnida. (Gamsahamnida.)]
Thank you.

천만에요.
[Cheonmaneyo.]
You're welcome.

미안합니다.(죄송합니다.)
[Mianhamnida. (Joesong-hamnida.)]
Sorry.

괜찮습니다.(괜찮아요.)
[Gwaenchansseumnida.]
It's all right.

실례합니다.
[Sillyehamnida.]
Excuse me.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

BEAST’s Japanese Debut Album Lands On The Oricon Charts!

On November 24th, BEAST‘s first Japanese album debuted at number 6 on the Oricon Daily Album Charts.

Their special album is called BEAST-Japan Premium Edition and it includes a DVD along with two of their mini-albums.

BEAST will officially debut in Japan at a special event on November 27th at the Tokyo Big Sight (Tokyo International Exhibition Center) which has a capacity of 10,000 people.

As rookies in Japan, this is an enormous accomplishment and the Japanese media have even compared the group to Tohoshinki and Big Bang.

In Korea, BEAST will be holding their first solo concert on December 12th which has already sold out.

Yunho And Changmin To Come Back As TVXQ In 2011!

SM Entertainment released a statement on TVXQ‘s website on November 23rd saying that “2011, TVXQ is returning to everyone.”

The statement goes on to say that after the three members (Jaejoong, Junsu and Yoochun) left, Yunho and Changmin didn’t create anything musically for a year.

Both SM Entertainment and the two members wanted to bring TVXQ back to the fans who have waited so long which is why they are now returning from their hiatus.

The company also says that as the courts have ruled that any TVXQ actitives must be done through SM Entertainment and JYJ didn’t respond to their requests to continue as a five-member band and so the company made the decision to have Changmin and Yunho return.

SM Entertainment says that they are not ruling anything out for the future in terms of group activities but that this is the best way to keep the band alive. Yunho and Changmin will be coming back as TVXQ in January 2011.

*************************************************************************************

Supporting Yunho and Changmin just as much as JYJ is of course a must but what do you think about only the two of them using the TVXQ name when TVXQ has always been five members?

JYJ Performs “Ayyy Girl” And “Empty” At The Billboard Studios In NYC!

JYJ recently performed their two singles, “Ayyy Girl,” and “Empty” at the Billboard Magazine Studios in NYC and did a video interview.

Yoochun answered questions in English and Jaejoong and Junsu answered in Korean so the interview includes subtitles.

Billboard Magazine says, “When we featured the debut album by JYJ, “The Beginning,” as a Billboard Release of the Week this fall, the response was amazingly huge and positive. So we gladly invited the Korean pop trio to our studio recently to perform two songs and chat about working with Kanye West and Rodney Jerkins and bringing their music to America. Consider it a kind of holiday gift to JYJ and K-pop fans everywhere, from Billboard.com to you.”

2PM - I'll Be Back Lyrics

I’ll be back nuhn dashi nareur chajeul guya.Geuddae dashi naega ool guya.
Geu nugudo nureur naboda sarang uhbtgee-eh.

Gabjagi eerum uhdduhgae nan uhdduhgae haran marya nega dodaechae
Uhdduhgae eerae nan nega nar yungwunhee saranghalguran mar midutdan marya.
Yaksuhkhaetjanha yungwonhi byunhaji marjago oorineun bunmyung maejujin jjagirago
Boonmyunghee matdago. Naega geuruhgeh yaegihaetjanha.

I’ll be back nuhn dashi nareur chajeul guya. Geuddae dashi naega ool guya.
Geu nugudo nureur naboda sarang uhbtgee-eh.

You’ll be back nuhneun dashi dora ol guya geuraesuh nuhr bonaeneun guya
Naneun ara nega na uhbshin mossandan guseul I’ll be back.

Nuhn nan oorin he-uhjil soo ga uhbsuh nega chakkageul hana bwa
Eeguhn nuguna hanbuhnjjeum gyuhkneun gobi-eel bbuniya jungshincharyuh.
Dashi saenggakhae amuri mareur hae jwuhbwado eemee nuhn
Mareur deudji anha me-ariro dora-ojanha

Listen baby girl
Geurae dorasuhjoolgeh mutjigeh namjadabgeh nohajoolgeh
Geurigo nuhr gwichangeh haji anhgeh maruhbshi juh dwi-esuh
Ajoo manhi dduhrujyusuh na-eui jonjaereur nega wanjunhi eejuhbuhrigeh UH~

But you better know that I’m not giving you away
Will I ever stop waiting no way
It’ll be the same in my world I’m your boy You’re my Girl.
Jamggan geudaer bonaeman nan nega dashi dora-ool guhran
Guhl ara geuruhni guhkjung mara nega sseuruhjil ddae I’ll be back