Preamble: How I got sucked in to the wonderful world of K-pop…
I have a friend who is a huge fan of JYJ, the Korean pop group formed by the 3 members of Dong Bang Shin Ki (DBSK) who severed ties with their management company SM Entertainment back in 2009 due to unfair contract terms. I was familiar with DBSK for a few years, having been introduced to them via their Mirotic video. Although I had no interest in K-pop at the time, I really liked that song, and the video… Well what can I say, the video consisted of 5 hot guys dancing really well…
Anyway, although Mirotic had been on my playlist since I first saw the video, I didn’t venture any further into the world of K-pop until I was dragged in, kicking and screaming, by my friend Lisa. I had read a number of her blog entries about JYJ, and admired their good looks in the pictures she posted, but I didn’t really have time to fall into a new fandom, so I resisted checking out their music or their videos for the longest time. After all, they were K-pop, and I was trying to learn Japanese, so I wanted to stick with Arashi, and perhaps check out some more J-pop. I allowed myself to get distracted enough from my Japanese pop culture consumption (which was, of course, meant to help expose me to everyday Japanese and therefore improve my studies… >.>) when I started watching Korean dramas from time to time. What can I say, Lee Min Ho is just too adorable to resist. But there was NO WAY I was going to start listening to K-pop and get further distracted.
“Oh, but they also sing in Japanese, and have a ton of Japanes songs with DBSK too,” said the evil enabler, Lisa. And, like a fool, I checked out the links she sent me.
BEST. DECISION. EVER! WOW! I loved their music. I loved JYJ and DBSK (beyond just Mirotic). I was hooked.
Fast forward to now, and I’m so firmly ensconced in K-pop love that, last night, I just booked a flight to New York in the fall because Big Bang is playing at the Prudential Center on November 9th, even though concert tickets haven’t gone onsale yet. And I will most certainly be booking another flight to NYC when JYJ return there eventually. (Soon please!) I’ve fallen for a number of Korean pop groups since I giving in to thesiren sound of K-pop, but JYJ and DBSK are still my favourites!
Anyway, that was my long-winded introduction to some JYJ awesomeness that I want to share. These are a couple of acoustic performances they did as part of a secret show for an intimate audience that was filmed for MTV Korea back in 2010. Check ’em out. They’re awesome!
Empty:
Be My Girl:
I love what Junsu does toward the end of Empty when he’s singing “Your heart is empty, empty empty-di-di-di-di-di-di,” and I am completely in love with the acoustic version of Be My Girl. Heavenly.
Purple Line 