Aimi Boutique: DONG BANG SHINK KI

Who are TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) from Korea?

The meaning of "Dong Bang Shin Ki" or "Tong Vfang Xien Qi" is "Gods Rising from the East". They consist of a five-member dance team is made up of high school students who auditioned for stardom. Each member of Dong Bang Shin Ki (DBSK) has proved his talent in singing as well as dancing. Thus, the mould of the korean boy band was formed.

The Dong Bang Shin Ki (DBSK) boys were put in different groups among peers during their training to be selected for the band, which was already named Dong Bang Shin Ki (DBSK) / Tong Vfang Xien Qi.

The first to join Dong Bang Shin Ki (DBSK) was Kim JunSu (김준수) who was 12 at that time; he was brought into the program through a TV show looking for a new talent. He continued to train for six more years and debuted under the name of Xiah Junsu (시아준수; Xiah is pronounced SHe-AH in Korean).

The next TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) member to join, Jung YunHo (정윤호), won his audition through a dance competition. However, he was no amateur--he had been a backup dancer and rapper for K-pop singer Dana. His chosen stage name is U-know YunHo (유노윤호; because when you say YunHo real fast, it sounds like U-know in English).

Kim JaeJoong(김재중), like Tamaki Nami (a Japanese pop singer), left his hometown to audition for SM Entertainment and debut under the name a fortune teller foretold years before: YoungWoong JaeJoong (영웅재중). He is also known as Hero, the meaning YoungWoong (영웅).

Shim ChangMin (심창민), was one of the youngest to audition; nevertheless, he passed the try-outs. He joined the band on the name of ChoiKang ChangMin (최강창민; the English counterpart to his stage name is Max).

Six months prior to the Dong Bang Shin Ki (DBSK)'s debut, a new member was added. American Park YooChun (박유천) changed his name to Micky YooChun (믹키유천). Originally, YooChun's English name was Micky, so he chose his English name to be part of his stage name.

For prep work, TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) recorded a single with The TRAX and BoA. BoA, already popular in Japan, and The Trax, which had released new music in Japan, made an awareness overseas about the new boy group.

Tong Vfang Xien Qi TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) has also released albums and singles in China. SM Entertainment has thought of adding a Chinese member to their group to help their popularity within the country. The management company had additionally thought of splitting Tong Vfang Xien Qi into two groups: one three-member group (U-Know, Micky, Xiah) to perform in South Korea and the other two (Hero, Max) with the new Chinese member to perform in China. The news of the addition of a new Chinese member/splitting the group is upsetting to the fans of Tong Vfang Xien Qi, Cassiopeia. The fans claim the musical group would only be itself with the five original members. Although this rotation was a problem in their first album, SM Entertainment did not rotate then; however, the problem had rosen again. However, now, SM Entertainment has abandoned the idea of rotating a Chinese member in Tong Vfang Xien Qi because of the overflowing amount of complaints from Cassiopeia and other fans.

On the other hand, since TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) Tong Vfang Xien Qi is very successful Korea, this boy-band's music has been shipped out to several countries in Asia.

In Korea, Tong Vfang Xien Qi TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) has released two albums (Tri-Angle, 2004; Rising Sun, 2005) and a Christmas album (The Christmas Gift From TVXQ, 2004). The group has also released a project album with all singers from SM Entertaiment under the name SM Town (Summer Vacation 2004), and three single albums (Hug, 2004; The Way U Are, 2004; Hi Ya Ya 여름날, 2005).

TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) is the male K-pop band that everyone talks about. TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) latest DVD release All About Dong Bang Shin Ki promises to create even more hype and fans for them.

If the repetitive and unoriginal music were stripped away, along with the over-singing, ill-fated lyrics, and lack of voice control, then we would still be left with a rather average boy band. SM's newest boy band endeavor, DBSK, is now princes to the SM Empire. We have seen this routine before, twice, and know that, regardless of talent, TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) will probably be hitting it big with numerous albums. There is a certain unimpressive attitude that we carry from this album, thinking that they would produce an album with more substance, more diversity, and more creativity then what they have given us. Usually albums that are unoriginal and just factory produced, such as this one, have a redeeming sound to it that merits at least the title 'catchy.' Yet it hurts to listen to some of these songs more than one time.

There is usually something to say about the title track of an album, and in this case, there of course is something very interesting to say: it closely resembles an H.O.T song. But who could blame SM for wanting to use popular songs from a popular boy group that they used to have signed to their label? However, with remakes of songs it is a rule of thumb to always expect less from the remake. In the case of 'Tri-Angle,' the original greatly outweighs the remake. The beat, though taken from another song, still retains its shock value of diversity. We have heard it before, but this time with different voices and a slight twist to it. Yet the song still lacks that special quality that DBSK just does not have and cannot find. We can sense a struggle in the album: TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) tries to hit that g-spot in the audience, but fails each attempt.

If the dance genre, with the very bizarre and ill-place rap/rock out, is not appealing to you, then there are a superfluous amount of very poorly done ballads to choose from. Usually it is the ballad that will redeem the artist in the case of very bad dance songs, but such is not the case with TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK). 'Thanks To,' though the chorus is rather subdued and mentionable, the solo parts in the song are very wishy-washy and retain little value because of the very bland voices. Many times throughout the song, and the album, there is a constant 'over-singing' quality that discredits the album as a whole. If the over singing was taken out and they stuck to their more subdued and bland voices, the album would have been better. But they had to reach farther then their little boy arms could reach for something that has about ten bear traps around it. In essence, they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

There are two semi- redeeming songs in this album that make it not fail miserably: 'Tri-Angle' the extended version with BoA and Trax and 'The Way U Are.' 'The Way U Are' was a single they released before they released their album and it gave us all hope. Though the song had a certain American- Boy Band nostalgia to it, making me wonder 'What ever happened to O-Town,' the song still had a very catchy and retaining quality that even the most anti-boy band/ mainstream person could admit was catchy enough. They vocals were better in that song then all the other songs, because they didn't try to sing something they couldn't sing. As for the extended title track, the only reason for its merit is because of BoA and Trax. Ironically, BoA outshines TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) in the song as if DBSK were just children. If BoA were in every one of their songs, then the album would have been great, but not because DBSK were singing.

There is usually something to say about groups that are just starting out. We usually accept that they won't be the best thing that happened to music since The Beatles. For those that say that this is TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK)'s first album and we shouldn't expect much, and we should look for improvement, I say one thing: that is not true. They have released numerous singles, including tracks from SM Town's Summer album 2004, and have had plenty of time to re-evaluate their musical abilities from whatever criticism they got from those songs. But of course they didn't. Sorry to say, but TVXQ (Dong Bang Shin Ki, DBSK) is just another factory produced band that will either make five albums and then disband or make six and then switch companies. They are young enough to obsess over for a few years until we all grow to ask ourselves 'What were we thinking?'

LATEST NEWS

In 2010, with the release of their thirtieth single, "Toki o Tomete", TVXQ extended their record, making them the first foreign artist to have eight number-one singles on the Oricon.

MEMBERS:

U-KNOW YunHo

Stage Name?: U-KNOW | U-know YunHo (유노윤호 or 瑜?允浩)
Real Name: Jung Yun Ho (정윤호)
Birthdate: February 6, 1986
Birthplace: GwangJu (광주)
Height: 184 cm
Weight: 66 kg
Blood Type: A
Hobbies: Music, reading, playing sports, composing music
Specialty: Dancing
Position: Bass vocal