I wanted to write an entry about my personal opinions on the whole SM Entertainment VS JYJ thing that has been going on for...well, it must be nearly a year or so now. (!)
Now, just to clear up, OF COURSE I am in no way personally involved in this whole mess (and all I can say is thank god for that!!) So I have no real idea about what is going on except for that which I have read from online news articles regarding the subject. I have absolutely no idea what anyone involved is feeling. I am only writing about my 100% PERSONAL opinions on the knowledge I have gained on the subject.So....okay then! :)
I do like a lot of Korean Pop idol groups, especially the male ones!
But, I can say that DBSK were definately one of my favourites. They were actually my first experience of Korean pop music altogether...my "Kpop-bait" haha...hmm.
I was into only Japanese entertainment at first, I listened to a lot of music, kept up to date on the Oricon Chart and everything else. So when I kept seeing the mention of this group DBSK almost everywhere I looked, I naturally become a bit curious...but it wasn't until one of my friends kept singing a particular song of theirs that I finally decided to look them up properly.
I searched this song ("Mirotic") on YouTube and the infectious hook-line planted itself into my brain almost immediately. I noticed that everything about them was a lot more edgy than compared to the Jpop groups I was familiar with. The song itself had a much more Western flavour in it's heavy beat.
I then saw the Dance Version of the video and that is what really pushed me into that "fan" category for them.
The member's dancing was amazing, it was again like nothing I was previously familiar with. The moves are complex, but nevertheless, they remain in perfect sync throughout. I was so obsessed with it, I rewound the video countless times to watch again and again.
Upon further research, I learned the reason why I was seeing DBSK so often when looking at Japanese entertainment was because they had debuted there a while earlier.
It seemed that no other Korean pop group had really tried this before so it was definitely a bit risky to say the least. However, having experienced the damage a language barrier can have on someone's career abroad, the group took time out to learn Japanese fluently.
This is one of the things that I really like about them, they learned a NEW language in order to become successful, they then became familiar with what was popular in the Japanese music industry and re-created it for themselves, adding their own personal touch.
It makes me angry to compare them to the recent invasion of Korean artists that has followed (since around late 2010 especially). They simply translate their songs into Japanese and require a translator during interviews and variety shows.....!!
Aaaanyway, I can't get into all that here though...save that for another entry perhaps!!
One final thing I always like about this group is how genuine their friendship would come across to be.
I want to make it clear that I do not live in some sort of dream world where all that comes across is true and no one ever lies and we all dance around on a magical meadow holding hands...I understand that it all could be an act for the cameras, but with these guys I was inclined to think otherwise.
One of the things I tend to dislike about pop groups (Asian especially but ALL BOY/GIRLBANDS) is the obviously manufactured side of them, five or so random guys/girls can get thrown together and will be expected to work, live, eat etc. together in complete harmony.
It is obvious that people who are pushed together may not get along, but of course it is an unfortunate factor that comes with this territory and everyone knows that, none more than those involved I am sure.
Over time though, I have noticed certain members of certain groups will never sit next to eachother or talk to one another on shows and sometimes may come across as incredibly uncomfortable when in the company of some members as opposed to others.
This was seemingly never the case with DBSK. Each member looked like they enjoyed being together and working together all the time and they would mess around an joke with one another continuously.
This is why it was such a shock when the news came out that three of the members were filing a lawsuit against their agency SM Entertainment, whilst two of them were not. This then clearly resulted in the group splitting apart.
I remember my friend had become convinced that something was wrong with the group a while before this news came out. She was adamant that they were going to break up and became quite upset as she is a very big fan of theirs.
I didn't believe her and just reassured her that it wasn't going to happen. (On a related note, I am currently available for hire as a Physcic if anyone is interested
ANYWAY (man, I need to stop rambling!!), DBSK split apart...Hero, Micky and Xiah were to eventually become the group known as JYJ...whilst YunHo and Changmin were to cruelly keep the name TVXQ (another name for DBSK)...which I am NOT happy about!!
In short, these are my general opinions of the subject:
- SM Entertainment are an EVIL agency that treat their idols like slaves. (If you want another example of this, please go ahead and research Han Geng's lawsuit against the company!! - He was a former member of the group Super Junior)
- I am 100% on the side of JYJ in this situation. Although I am aware that both YunHo and Changmin's fathers work at SME, I was disappointed at their decision not to go against the company with their fellow members.
- It was a babyish jab at JYJ for SME to reassign the group name to the remaining two.
- SME is also in the wrong for intimidating other agencies enough to make them drop JYJ's contracts, leaving them with almost no leg to stand on and making their comeback as a unit incredibly hard.
Agencies must respect the human rights of its employees just like any other establishment. This is something that, unlike SOME Korean entertainment agencies, the Japanese ones seem to have gotten into their heads.
I do hope that SME gets it's act together soon and begins to treat it's artists right. I also hope that, maybe one day, DBSK will be able to come together and perform as a group again.
As I said previously, I am only going by what I know of this, SME could really treat each of it's artists with amazing kindness and compassion and the likes of JYJ (and Han Geng) could all be acting like spoilt divas that wanted too much...but I don't see that as being very likely to be honest.
Another question I would like to ask the likes of JYJ and Han Geng though is: if your contract is clearly breaching your Human Rights....why sign it to begin with?
Yes, much of how they are treated isn't anything to do with their contract, but there are some terms that are clearly unfair...so I can not understand why one would still want to sign it and become part of the company...
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