So, the new Teen Top teaser came out today! At the mere sight of the article title I got so excited. After seeing their new year
performance on KBS I was even more hyped for the comeback than I had been before, as if that was possible. But I watch the teaser, and not even a glimpse of my boys. You heard me, not one of them in sight, just some man called Eric! Take a look for yourselves:
Not that this Eric looks like a bad man, or even an unattractive man. But he is not my precious L.Joe. So, of course, I had to investigate - who the hell is Eric and what has he done with my boys?
First means first, the other tag on the post I first read this on was
Shinhwa. What is 'Shinhwa', I wondered. Well, apparently it seems as though there were a little before my time, or at least my arrival onto the utopia that is the k-pop scene. They were a six member boy band that debuted in 1998. Apparently it is Andy, Eric's bandmate, who supervises Teen Top, but unfortunately he is otherwise disposed right now. Hmm, this left me thinking, does anyone else still remember them? What do their songs sound like? We all remember H.O.T, and their banger
Candy. They are talked about all the time, and everyone likes
having fun with their song, but why not Shinhwa because, let me tell you, they have evidently had some equally fabulous hits!
Let's see the debut video. It is so great. Titled 해결사 in Korean, it is also known as
Problem Solver apparently:
Recognise any musical references that were relatively concurrent for the time, they hit at around 2:28?
Cypress Hill anyone?? What a surprise that was! Not to mention the all gold shell suits. I was so happy that I had a reason to find this. I'm not really sure at the end - are they meant to be miners? Gold within the mine? I know that I value them at least.
So I wanted to know more about the members. Apparently
Andy Lee, one member, was originally meant to be in H.O.T, which kind of makes sense. According to wikipedia his parents prohibited him from entering because he was too young. There is also
Shin HyeSung, who originally auditioned in California and had a song on the
You're Beautiful soundtrack in 2009.
Eric Mun (the man in question) is also from L.A.
And there's
Lee MinWoo who tried to have a (third!) comeback with his "
M Rizing" project album in 2008, but apparently according even to him it failed.
(note the "Brave new sound" at the beginning! So UKISS!) Not sure why, I think I like it. It may even have to have a post another time...
Until then, check the comments for the low-down from a true fan.So, then he came back again (5th time!) in June 2009. Should have been, with the title
Minnovation!! Pretty much a mix between Se7en and Rain, so what's wrong with that? I'm going to have to embed it I like it that much:
Tick tick tick, tock tock tock. Still rocking the gold, and now some PVC too.
If I spot him coming back again, then this time I will be ready! Must be in the name, MinWoo.
Anyways, sorry for getting off of the point. There was also
Jun Jin who had a bit of a
solo career (but the video is a 19+, and not that sexy. Maybe he wasn't the right 'image' for S.Korean TV..?) and was on
We Got Married and one half of a pair coined the 'Gundam couple'. Lastly there is
Kim DongWan.
(He also had a solo comeback but based it on J-Pop sounds, according to my sources. I hardly have a leg to stand on anymore saying that this was not a good move, the J-Pop, and Bunny will call my bluff. But really, I'm not so sure about it. Sounds more like he took a straight route to Balladsville, though apparently it did ok in S.Korea.) Again, you should really check out the comments to get the full effect of his career, and an actually accurate portrayal, from an expert on the subject...
So...seems like they have all been pretty busy, and were all pretty dreamy in their day/still are! Now it appears a few of them are finally catching up on their military service.
Honestly, I have forgotten the point of this post. I think it was just to make a note of Eric, and now look where it took me. A whole new crush on yet another MinWoo. Oh well, at least we know that Teen Top are in good hands, or are they? I will leave you with one more Shinhwa hit. Please enjoy the Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake rap cover:
In all seriousness though, the Teen Top
Supa Luv/Transform (it is different on different websites) teaser does sound great. They will be back on the 13th, woo. In the meantime,
get well soon Daniel.
p.s.
*However, I now have it in good confidence that our initial youtube commenter was in fact correct! And Dongwan really was the first member of a k-pop boy band to use eyeliner, as confirmed by H.O.T and SES. I have so much respect for him.
Also, please visit
here for a whole wealth of information on everything Shinhwa. Thank you again, Crystalis.
