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JYJ had rocked New York City for their The Beginning album showcase. What touches each and every single fan is that JYJ paid for the showcase using their own money therefore, the showcase is free for anyone. This was done by JYJ in order to keep their promises to their fans. JYJ have some problems with their visas and with a condition saying that the showcase must be free, JYJ decided to use their own money for the reason that the show must go on. And whether it’s free or not, more than 6000 fans showed up to support our boys. That is a BIG number of fans for artists that never perform in that land. Now, that’s what we call as DBSK and Cassiopeia power. DBSK is a global artist. They are famous in their homeland, conquered Japan and eventually every part of the world. This is the true Hallyu Wave but Korean media seems to forget that. If SNSD’s Gee was ranked in Oricon daily chart is the proof of Korean Hallyu Wave, how about JYJ’s The Beginning album that was in America’s Billboard chart? I’m on glee that my boys are unbeatable by any newcomers in Korean music industry. No offence to other idol group’s fans. Face it. TVXQ is definitely unbeatable. They showed respect for their seniors and remained humble although swept off most of the major awards for their ‘O’ Jung.Ban.Hap album back in 2006. Remember Jaejoong told us that after received all the Grand Awards in 2006, they have to return to Japan to do some promotional activities where their stage was in a university’s hall? Their down-to-earth attitude is what made TVXQ is invincible.

Here are a few things about new idol groups that I found weird and not-so-pleasant in MY eyes.

1. Too many idol groups until you have a hard time to recognize which member belongs to which group. The number of the members is also a big concern. It’s no longer trio or duo but six or seven! The logic is simple. When there are too many members, they don’t get a chance to portray their talent in singing as their parts are limited. That shouldn’t happen because they are SINGERS!

2. Off the field works like in variety shows. Singers sing. That is like ABC of music industry. But as you may have noticed, more rookie idol group members start to appear in variety shows to promote their groups. I only watch KBSWorld and this trend is a hit. KBS had started a show just for the girl band members (Invincible Youth) where 7 girls spend some quality time together by doing farm works. And I used to watch Let’s Go Dream Team Season 2 where Minho (SHINee), Danny An (g.o.d) and Eunhyuk (Super Junior) were in it. They were like the aces of the team and every week I anticipate their performances. But now, I don’t see them anymore. Great dismay for me and I stopped watching it. And if you are in K-Pop world for quite a long time, you sure knew about most of the Super Junior members have other professions other than being a member of SuJu. Siwon acts, Yesung does musicals and Heechul is a radio jockey. I really don’t know why they are in a band when they don’t hang out and create songs together. Another example to that ‘culture’ is Big Bang. They are in Big Bang but the members released solo albums. Why bother to be in a group when you don’t sing together?

3. The quality of the songs. I’m just commenting on their trend in K-Pop music industry. No offence. If I’m not mistaken, SNSD’s Gee sets the trend of creating songs with repetitive lyrics and catchy dance moves. Songs like BoBeep (T-ara), Heartbeat (2PM), RingDingDong (SHINee) and Bingeul Bingeul (U-Kiss) all have that trend. Hello? Wake up! You are not creating children songs to make it easier to remember with repeating the same part again and again. I can memorize DBSK’s Hug which has different parts for each of them. It’s not hard. Believe me as it comes from a non-Korean’s mouth.

4. Step up! Take your time and make good songs with your fellow band mates and then make your comeback with an ALBUM. Not with a single. I’m puzzled of why artists nowadays like to release a single, then a re-packaged album and finally a full album. I watched KBSW’s Entertainment Weekly last week and they featured coverage on number of hits that topped their Music Bank charts for 43 weeks. Only SNSD’s Genie was on top for 5 weeks consecutively. After that, a NEW song for every week. People’s taste changes as more songs are released at the same time.

I’m not bashing other artists. I still like to listen to non-DBSK songs like Love You More Than Yesterday by Kim JongKook, some of Lee Seunggi’s songs, FT Island and CNBlue. I love those artists that rely on their abilities in singing rather than those who promotes themselves as beast idols or sexy idols.