Another “artist review” from me! Thankyou to everyone who left comments on the post about Drunken Tiger, and I hope those of you who hadn’t heard any of Drunken Tiger’s stuff enjoyed it ^^

This week, I thought that I would do one of my favourite artists. In fact, this is actually my favourite group in the entire world. They are a six member boyband, are fast approaching their 10 year anniversary, and are Korea’s longest lasting boyband. They are… 신화 (Shinhwa)!

신화 consists of six members: Eric, Lee Minwoo (이민우), Kim Dongwan (김동완), Shin Hyesung (신혜성), JunJin (전진) and Andy. Apart from Eric, all members have released solo work, and Eric and Dongwan have side careers as actors. Overall, they are incredibly successful as a group as well as when standing on their own.

They were formed in 1998 by SM Entertainment, one of the biggest labels when it comes to pop music in Korea. In 2003, they left SM Entertainment and signed under Good Entertainment instead.

Their sound during their first few albums ranged from upbeat, bubblegum pop tunes, to a slightly heavier, rockier type of pop music that was very similiar to H.O.T.’s style, one of 신화’s biggest rivals despite being under the same company. In fact, 신화 were actually given several songs that had been originally intended for use by H.O.T. Despite rivalry such as this, the members of the two groups formed and maintained friendships with each other, even to this day.

In recent years, 신화’s sound is more of an R&B influenced pop. Perhaps one of 신화’s main keys to success has been the way that their sound has constantly evolved and changed to fit in with what is most popular at the time while still maintaining their own style.

One of the things that I like most about 신화 is that they aren’t entirely manufactured. Over the years they have had more and more of an input into their music and lyrics, writing some of their own songs, and they are also very heavily involved in choreographing their dances.

신화 are quite popular in Japan, and are incredibly popular in China, Taiwan and Singapore. Hyesung and Minwoo’s solo works have also been very well recieved throughout Asia.

I am however a very sad puppy, because most of the 신화 boys are going to be doing their military service later this year, and I am going to miss them so much.

Now it’s MV time!

으쌰! 으쌰! Now don’t let this song scare you XD This is what I was talking about with bubblegum pop. It’s their second single from their first album.

Hey, Come On! This is from their fourth album, Hey, Come On!.

Wild Eyes This is one of my favourite Shinhwa songs, from their fourth album.

Brand New Another one of my favourite songs, from their seventh album Brand New.

Once In A Lifetime From their eight album, State of the Art.

The Snowy Night I love this song and this MV. It was from their latest release, Winter Story 2007. I think it’s adorable because you get to see them goofing off.

And to wrap it up, a live for you 😀 This is from late last year, December 30th, at the KBS Song Festival. Part 01, where they perform Brand New and Hey, Come On!, and Part 02 where they perform Perfect Man and T.O.P – and I totally recommend watching them performing T.O.P if nothing else. It’s a song from their second album, and they remixed it and it was awesome (you can watch it on it’s own here if you don’t want to click your way through the other file)