TVXQ, an acronym for Tong Vfang Xien Qi, is a quintet Korean boy band formed under SM Entertainment label, and later debuted under Avex Trax in Japan. Its five members specialize in the areas of singing, dance, a cappella, acting, and pop with an R&B vibe. Since debut, the group gained popularity in South Korea, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and other East Asian countries with a fan base ranging from teenage girls to middle-aged women ^[1][2].

TVXQ fans use various versions of the group's name in different countries. In South Korea, the group is known as Dong Bang Shin Gi, abbreviated as DBSG or DBSK, while the Japanese equivalent of the group's name is Tōhōshinki, abbreviated as THSK. TVXQ, the acronym based on the Chinese counterpart of their name Tong Vfang Xien Qi, is the abbreviation officially used on all advertisements and products outside of Japan. Their name roughly translates as "Rising Gods of the East" in all three languages.

Musical style

Although TVXQ was initially marketed as an acappella group, most of the group's music is mainstream K-pop or J-pop. Their debut single "Hug" was a bubblegum pop song, whereas their follow up single "The Way U Are" was a dance/R&B number, complete with stylized outfits and choreographed dance moves. Their third major single release, "믿어요" (I Believe), in contrast, was a ballad. TVXQ concluded the year with a Christmas album that also had an a cappella version of "Jesus, Joy Of Man's Desiring". With their releases in 2004, the group showed a versatility in style and has managed not to be permanently typecast as a certain "genre style" (as opposed to Fly to the Sky's R&Bs or Koyote's dance songs).

With consecutive releases, they have not moved from this formula, as their second and third albums have had a similar mixture without moving outside of the mainstream label. The second album's singles, for example, included a dance song (their first release) and a ballad (their follow up). The third album's releases have been dance, ballad and pop tracks. The group also recorded a cappella tracks for official albums released in both Korea and Japan, in which they rearrange original songs as a cappella versions. In the 13th single released in Japan, TVXQ arranged their debut single 'Hug' as a cappella track and performed it in their 2nd Live Tour in Japan.

In Japan, the group's image and music has shifted towards a different market from the one in South Korea. Owing to their more mature fan base in Japan, TVXQ has gravitated towards a cappella and melodic pop songs rather than the heavy and fast pop tunes, coupled with intensive dance choreography, that are commonly seen in their usual hits in South Korea.

History

2004: Debut

TVXQ made their first appearance on December 26, 2003 during a BoA and Britney Spears Showcase. They performed their debut song "Hug" as well as an a cappella rendition of "O Holy Night" alongside BoA. The group eventually released two singles ("Hug" and "The Way U Are"), accompanied by photo books, before their first album in 2004. TVXQ reached #1 on Korean music charts in three months after their debut.

An official fan club was created, named after the Cassiopeia constellation near the Big Dipper. TVXQ's fans chose the name "Cassiopeia" for their fan club because the constellation has 5 stars in its galaxy, and TVXQ has 5 members. When traced on a computer keyboard, "TVfXQ" makes the constellation Cassiopeia.

SM Entertainment once considered adding a Chinese member to the group and rotate members to help boost popularity in other countries, as hinted in The 3rd StoryBook - TVfXQ!. The purpose would have been to branch each member into different solo activities, or possibly combine other trainees into the group. However, the idea was abandoned due to opposition from fans who threatened to boycott SM Entertainment products.

2005

During 2005, TVXQ expanded its career to Japan. The group released its first Japanese single entitled Stay with Me Tonight on April 27, 2005, marking the group's official debut in Japan. (Earlier in the year, the English version of their single "Hug" and their first Korean album Tri-Angle had been released in Japan without much attention).

TVXQ continued to release additional singles entitled Somebody to Love and My Destiny. While in Korea, the group released its second Korean album Rising Sun and a joint single album with label-mate Super Junior, Show Me Your Love. In the end the year, TVXQ received the Best Music Video award for the song "Rising Sun" and the People's Choice Award at the 2005 Mnet KM Music Video Festival.

During that year, on June 14, 2005, TVXQ displayed their rising popularity between Koreans when, along with BoA, they were appointed as PR spokespeople for the city of Los Angeles in the United States.

2006: Overseas expansion and release of third Korean album

Going overseas

Before returning to their homeland, South Korea, with their third album in fall, TVXQ endeavored to spread their sphere of influence further in other East Asian countries. They held their first Asian tour, were featured on commercials, and made guest appearances in Malaysia, Thailand, China and Japan. TVXQ members were the first Korean performers to ever stage a concert in Malaysia for their "Rising Sun 1st Asia Tour" in Bukit Jalil (Putra Indoor Stadium) . The tour, which was in promotion for their 2nd Korean album Rising Sun released in 2005, continued to Bangkok in Thailand at the Impact Arena. The tour had also held its first concerts in South Korea.

Soon after, they were kept busy in preparation for the first tour in Japan in promotion of their first Japanese album Heart, Mind and Soul. The members focused on increasing their fluency in Japanese for their activities in Japan, as BoA had in her early years in Japan . TVXQ performed at a-nation, an annual Japanese live summer concert organized by Avex Trax that features j-pop artists in the record label. Moreover, they also released as many as five Japanese singles in total that year.

The group was the first Asian group to win two Thailand Music Awards for both Best Music Video ("Rising Sun") and Favorite Asian Artist. They also won the Popular Vote Asia Artist award at the Virgin Hits Awards 2006 in Thailand. Their seventh Japanese single "Sky" hit #6 on the Oricon Weekly Chart, with their eighth single Miss You reaching #3 in Japan. They have topped both the Japanese and Korean charts on the Malaysian radio show "988" twice with their singles "Begin" and "The Fighting Spirit Of The East". The show has an audience of about 4.2 million listeners, reaching as far as Singapore.

Return to Korea

The group returned to Korea in late August in order to prepare for their third album titled "O"- ('O' - Jung.Ban.Hap), released on September 29, 2006 with two editions. The album's name translates to 'O'-Thesis.Antithesis.Synthesis to reflect the title song's theme about degradation and corruption of humanity and the power of the people to avert this change. After topping several music charts in Korea, "O"-was re-released on November 11, 2006 to coincide with the group's image change for the promotion of their second title song "Balloons." This release contained two further editions with new versions of "Balloons" and "Get Me Some", along with a new track named "White Lie" written and composed by Xiah. "Balloons," in contrast to their lead single "O" Jung.Ban.Hap' and its heavy techno beats, is a lighter pop song about the innocence of childhood. It is a remake of an old hit by Five Fingers (Korean), re-written with a "modern feel" to try and appeal to kids of the new generation while relating to adults familiar with the original in an attempt to broaden their fanbase further. In the first month of its release, the third album surpassed the 100,000 mark in South Korea, and to date has sold over 330,000 copies, the highest ranking album for 2006 in Korea.

All About TVXQ became the best-selling DVD for 2006 in South Korea, with sales of 47,186 copies surpassing movies and shows. With the success of the DVD, SBS and SM Entertainment, the co-producer of the TVXQ DVD, decided to release All About TVXQ season 2 in a 5 DVD box set in 2007.

TVXQ won several major awards in the end of the year of 2006. At 2006 MKMF Music Festival, TVXQ won four awards including Best Group and Artist of the Year. At the 16th Music Seoul Festival, they won three awards including Daesang, equivalent to Artist of the Year followed by another Daesang at the 21st Golden Disk Awards 2006, in addition to a Bonsang.Lastly, they also picked up awards at the SBS Gayo Awards 2006 in which they were awarded the prominent title of Daesang and Bonsang.

2007: Japanese promotion

After sweeping major awards in South Korea, TVXQ travelled to live in Japan for almost a year to do intensive promotions and gain a stronger foothold in the Japanese music industry. Their stay consisted of the release of their second Japanese album, Five in the Black, and almost consecutive monthly releases of singles between March and December. Many of their singles placed on Oricon's top 3 on their debut. According to Oricon Style, TVXQ's popularity rose in Japan by three percent with every single release in 2006 and by five percent with every release in 2007. It was also stated that during 2007, 14.1% of Japanese fans were female while 4.6% were male with age demographics between 10 to 40 years.

On March 7th, the group released Choosey Lover followed by Lovin' You debuting as #2 on the Oricon charts, their first single to reach such a position in Japan. Closely following the success of the last single, the summery tunes of Summer Dream was to be their most successful Japanese single yet, debuting as #1 and taking an overall #2 spot in the Oricon weekly charts with sales of 112,771 copies in one week. TVXQ released their double A-side single SHINE / Ride On which also debuted at #2 on the Oricon daily charts. On November 7th, their collaborated song with Japanese singer Kumi Koda for her upbeat 38th single Last Angel was released, ranking as #3 on Oricon. The song was featured in the Resident Evil: Extinction movie. In the same month, TVXQ also released their 14th Japanese single, FOREVER LOVE, which debuted at #3. In December, they released their 15th Japanese single Together, which debuted at #2.

By early April, the members began hosting a weekly radio program called "TVXQ Bigeastation" on Japan FM Network channel, which is currently being aired on seven local FM stations . The group represented Korea on MTV's Video Music Awards Japan and won the 'Best Buzz Asia in Korea' award on May 26th, 2007. They were also invited to many prominent Japanese talk and music shows such as Hey!Hey!Hey!, Music Station, and Utaban during their stay.

For Korean fans, they released their first digital single entitled "여행기 (Yeo Haeng Gi)", "A Thousand Years Love Song", "하루달 (Harudal)", "All in Vain" and "Evergreen" ; these were the only songs that were released in Korean in 2007.

Members

The first member to join was Kim JunSu . He enjoyed singing at his church when he was young. At the age of 12 he was brought into SM Entertainment through a televised talent search with Moon Hee Jun and Kangta from H.O.T. as judges. His vocals won over the judges and won him thorough training for the next six years. After three years of training, he was supposed to debut, but puberty caused his voice to change and he was unable to sing until it ended after another three years. After six years, he debuted as Xiah Junsu (시아준수; Xiah is pronounced Shee-ah in Korean). Xiah is the stage name that Kim himself chose, explaining to his fans that the name was short for "Asia," as Asia is pronounced "a-shee-a" in Korean. "Xiah" would be a reference to his desire to become not only a star in Korea, but also a star recognized all throughout the continent.

The group's second member, Jung YunHo (정윤호), secured his spot in TVXQ through a dance competition in which he won first place. Prior to this, he accumulated some musical experience as a rapper and backup dancer for K-pop singer DANA. As a dancer, he accompanied many Korean singers, travelling to China as well. Jung debuted as U-Know Yunho (유노윤호). His chose his stage name as "U-Know" from his Korean name "Yun Ho"; U-Know is pronounced "You know" in English. However, it is meant to mean "Yunho 'Knows You'" in regard to understanding the other members as their leader. He is the second oldest member and the "leader" in TVXQ.

Kim JaeJoong (김재중) left his hometown in Chungnam to audition for SM Entertainment. Having left the shelter of home, he experienced poverty and strife before becoming a celebrity. Kim debuted as YoungWoong Jaejoong (영웅재중; the English definition to his stage name is "Hero") His manager picked the name Hero for him because he wanted him to be the hero of the music industry. Kim took first place in an audition of 5000 people, both in best looking and best vocals. He became the main vocal of TVXQ.

Shim ChangMin (심창민) was grouped with the youngest participants in the audition. Like Xiah Junsu, he impressed the judges with his powerful voice. He joined the band under the name ChoiKang Changmin (최강창민; the English counterpart to his stage name is "Max"). ChoiKang in Korean means "the best"; "Max" became an international rendition of this name.

One year before the group’s debut, a final member was added. Park Yoochun (박유천) lived in Fairfax, Virginia for roughly four years before he auditioned for Brothers Entertainment and was sent to Korea to SM Entertainment. Micky was Park's English nickname when he lived in Virginia. As the winner of a talent show, he was granted the opportunity to sign with SM Entertainment in Korea. He now performs under the stage name Micky Yoochun .

Member profiles

Hero JaeJoong Stage Name : HERO | Young Woong Jae Joong (영웅재중 or 英雄在中) Real Name : Kim Jae Joong (김재중, 金在中) Birthdate: January 26, 1986 (1986-01-26) (age 21) Birthplace: Chungnam (충남 or 忠南) Position: Main vocals, Harmony

U-Know Yunho Stage Name : U-KNOW | U-Know Yun Ho (유노윤호 or 瑜卤允浩) Real Name: Jung Yun Ho (정윤호, 鄭允浩) Birthdate: February 6, 1986 (1986-02-06) (age 21) Birthplace: Gwangju (광주) Position: Bass, Leader

Micky Yoochun Stage Name : MICKY | Micky Yoo Chun (믹키유천 or 秘奇有天/秘奇有仟) Real Name: Park Yu Cheon (박유천, 朴有天) Birthdate: June 4, 1986 (1986-06-04) (age 21) Birthplace: Seoul (서울) Position: Baritone

Xiah Junsu Stage Name : XIAH | Xiah Jun Su (시아준수 or 細亞俊秀) Real Name: Kim Jun Su (김준수, 金俊秀) Birthdate: December 15, 1986 (1986-12-15) (age 21) (registered on January 1, 1987) Birthplace: Gyeonggi (경기 or 京畿道) Position: Tenor Religion: Seventh Day Adventist

Max Changmin Stage Name : MAX | Choi Kang Chang Min (최강창민 or 最强昌珉) Real Name: Shim Chang Min (심창민, 沈昌珉) Birthdate: February 18, 1988 (1988-02-18) (age 19) Birthplace: Seoul (서울) Position: High Tenor Religion: Buddhism