JYJ

WHO IS JYJ?

JYJ is comprised of three members from South Korea: Kim Jaejoong, Park Yuchun and Kim Junsu. JYJ was originally from the boyband TVXQ/DBSK/Tohoshinki (Gods from the East) which was formed in 2003 in Korea.

Korean Entertainment Agency: C-jes Entertainment

Korean Entertainment Public Relations Agency: PRAIN

Korean & Global Album Distribution Company: Warner Music

PHILOSOPHY

“The hard work we put in to be the best in what we do have so far been rewarding. There are of course times where that is not the case. However with the strength from our love of music, the constant support of fans, family and friends, we are able to overcome any hardships. We believe that the hardships we experience help us to persevere and ultimately mold our characters to be more mature. As we mature as individuals, our music will also mature, and as our music matures, we hope that it can bring hope and strength to others.”

HISTORY

The group formed following the hiatus of TVXQ. The three members who were to become JYJ filed a lawsuit against their South Korean record label, SM Entertainment, claiming that the 13 year length of their contracts and their earning percentages were unfair. The Seoul Central District Court ruled in their favor on this matter.

The three-membered group was announced in April 2010 by Rhythm Zone. The band performed two rounds of lives, their four date Thanksgiving Live in Dome concerts in June, and performances at A-Nation in August. The group’s debut release, the EP The…, was released in September 2010, and debuted at No. 1 on Oricon albums charts. The DVD for their Thanksgiving Live in Dome concert sold 116,000 copies and their album The… sold 140,000 albums in the first week after being released, with both debuting at No. 1 on the Oricon DVD and album charts in the same week.

The band members also worked on solo pursuits during this time. Junsu released his solo debut single Xiah, which reached No. 2 on the Oricon single charts. Jejung starred in the drama Sunao ni Narenakute, as well as appearing in a music video for Ayumi Hamasaki’s song “Blossom”. And more later Yoochun starred in Sungkyunkwan Scandal korean drama.

In September 2010, Avex Entertainment announced they had decided to suspend all of JYJ’s Japanese activities. This was due to issues the label had with the president of the group’s Korean management, C-JeS Entertainment, and his ongoing trial for links with organized crime. JYJ’s PR announced those allegations wasn’t true and that AVEX changed the original contracts and offered another where JYJ’s members were in disadvantages. Later it was confirmed AVEX choose to work with SM’s Entertainment when it was announced that they signed a contract to work with Super Junior, Shinee and F(x) in Japan.

The group was scheduled to release their English-language global debut album, The Beginning, on October 12, led by the Kanye West produced single “Ayyy Girl.” They also toured in October and November, with dates in South Korea, South East Asia and the United States. The tickets to the two performances at the 11,000 seat Hwaseong Tiger Dome at Korea University sold out in 15 minutes and a portion of the profits would be donated to World Vision. Two weeks before the release of the album, 50,000 copies of the regular edition had been pre-ordered and pre-sales for the 99,999-copies of the special edition of The Beginningreached numbers of 400,000 requests.

Despite visa issues almost causing the cancellation of their US tour, JYJ decided to continue with the tour and perform free concerts for their fans. 6,400 fans showed up at the New York show, including 3,400 that made it into the theater for the concert and an extra 3,000 that waited outside for JYJ to come back out.

In November 27th and 28th of 2010 JYJ started their Worldwide Concert in Seoul, 70,000 people attended at that event despite the cold. The JYJ Worldwide Concert in Seoul was directed by Jeri Slaughter, a well-known concert producer who has worked with international stars Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera. Also the group of dancers was conformed by international dancers who also worked with famous stars like Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and Britney Spears.

It was resported that The JYJ Worlwide Concert atracted alot turisms in Korea. Over 3000 foreigners visited Korea from America, Europe and Asia. Nature Republic were JYJ is featuring there as models was the only Shop Store that increased their sales. All this happened despite the problems between South Korea and North Korea at that time.

JYJ’s immense success put the Korean Federation of Pop Culture and Art Industry (KFPCAI) in an embarrassing situation as just over a month ago, it called for broadcasting and cable companies to refrain from allowing JYJ to appear on their shows as “JYJ’s activities will have a negative impact on the Hallyu Wave”. In the official document sent on October 11th to various broadcasting companies, the KFPCAI stated, “Allowing JYJ to appear on shows will be pouring cold water onto Korea’s pop culture industry and the nation’s image that has been built up by the Hallyu Wave,” and “JYJ will lead pop culture and the Hallyu Wave to a road of regression.” However, JYJ was able to attract tens of thousands of international fans to their showcases that were held in three US cities and six Asian cities (in Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, China) and promptly proved that the KFPCAI’s argument was weak with their amazing ticket power.

At December, after JYJ confirmed their appearance in KBSK Drama Awards 2011, they also appeared in KBS news, KBS Guerrilla date, and more and more differents channels were airing news about JYJ.

In December 31th, for the first time after 2 years JYJ sang live in a Korean TV. They sang SKKS’s drama Ost “Found You” at KBS Music Drama awards 2010 where Yoochun also won three awards.

The 2010 year finished favorable to JYJ. All of them winning rookie awards in musical, jdrama and kdrama. JYJ’s The Beginning album ranked first in hanteo second semester chart, JYJ’s SKKS Ost ranked first album in Ost category. Also FTC warned SM to change their contracts and the media reported the news, seems like JYJ have a big chance to win the lawsuit against SM and break the cockblocking they were receiving after KFPCAI’s announcement.

Credit: Wiki + PR