Shinhwa

Shinhwa
Shinhwa Grand Tour in Singapore press conference on 16 June 2012 (L to R: Eric, Jun Jin, Lee Min-woo, Andy, Kim Dong-wan and Shin Hye-sung)
Background information
Origin	South Korea
Genres	R&B, K-pop, J-pop, hip hop, dance, electropop
Years active	1998 present
Labels	SM Entertainment (1998-2003) Good Entertainment (2004-2008) Shinhwa Company (2011-present)
Associated acts	Battle
Website	Shinhwa Company
Members	Eric Mun Lee Min-woo Kim Dong-wan Shin Hye-sung Jun Jin Andy Lee

Korean name
Hangul	신화
Hanja	神話
Revised Romanization	Sinhwa
McCune–Reischauer	Sinhwa

Shinhwa (Hangul: 신화; hanja: 神話) is a South Korean six-member boy band that debuted on 24 March 1998 with: Eric Mun, Lee Min-woo, Kim Dong-wan, Shin Hye-sung, Jun Jin and Andy Lee. It is the longest-running in the history of K-pop^[1][2][3][4] and has enjoyed success alongside Sechs Kies, g.o.d., Fly to the Sky, Turbo, Baby V.O.X, Fin. K.L., H.O.T. and S.E.S.. Shinhwa is the Korean word for myth or legend.

Shinhwa was formed under SM Entertainment; however, it moved to Good Entertainment in July 2003, upon the expiration of their contract. Whilst under Good Entertainment as Shinhwa, each of the members pursued their own solo careers under individual companies. The group also mentored Korean boy band Battle. In 2011, members of the group formed Shinhwa Company to continue to perform together. They made their comeback to the music industry in March 2012, after a four year hiatus, during which the band members served individual mandatory military services, with the release of their tenth album The Return and concert tour.

Group members

Stage name	Hanja	Birth name
			Hangul	Date of birth	Agency
Eric	文晸赫	Mun Jung-hyuk	문정혁	(1979-02-16) 16 February 1979	Top Class Entertainment
Lee Min-woo	李玟雨	Lee Min-woo	이민우	(1979-07-28) 28 July 1979	Liveworks Company
Kim Dong-wan	金烔完	Kim Dong-wan	김동완	(1979-11-21) 21 November 1979	Liveworks Company
Shin Hye-sung	申彗星	Jung Pil-gyo	정필교	(1979-11-27) 27 November 1979	Liveworks Company
Jun Jin	朴忠载	Park Choong-jae	박충재	(1980-08-19) 19 August 1980	–
Andy	李先鎬	Lee Sun-ho	이선호	(1981-01-21) 21 January 1981	TOP Media

History

1998-1999: Formation and debut

In order to capitalize on the success of boy band H.O.T. and girl group S.E.S., created by Lee Soo Man, producer and co-founder of SM Entertainment. Lee scouted for possible candidates to create another band to match their standards.

The first member scouted was Shin Hye Sung, who attended Venice High School, after a stand-out audition in Los Angeles, California. Andy Lee was then chosen to join the group as he was once a candidate for H.O.T. At that time his parents prohibited him from joining H.O.T because he was too young. Eric Mun joined not long after Andy. Eric attended John Burroughs Middle School located in Los Angeles, CA and Sunny Hills High School located in Fullerton, CA. Following Eric came Lee Min Woo, who was discovered by a SM scout when he won 1st place at a student dance competition. Kim Dong-wan was spotted by a scout on the street and was initially interrested in acting, but joined after he saw a preview video of the existing members. Finally, Jun Jin made it as the final member through an audition backed by his high school friend, Kangta. Among the six, only two had had previous exposure to the media; Eric and Andy were introduced in 1997 as rappers in fellow SM group S.E.S.'s song "I'm Your Girl".

With the formation complete, the six-member group, named Shinhwa, debuted under SM Entertainment on 24 March 1998 with a performance of their first single "해결사" (The Solver) on KM Music Tank. Their second single, "으쌰으쌰" (Eusha Eusha), is a light-hearted track where they adopted a cute image to match the concept of the song, complete with outfit in white and blue colors. Their third single, "천일유혼" (Sharing Forever) also charted well but was not as successful as the previous two. However, they were accused of being another copy of H.O.T. and were involved in controversy when a tragic water accident occurred, and "으쌰으쌰" (Eusha Eusha), which was about a fun trip at the beach, was used as a reminder of the accident.^{[citation needed]} Hence, their debut album 해결사 (The Solver) did not perform as well as expected and the band almost disbanded.^[5]

Shinhwa's second album, T.O.P., was released on 19 April 1999. It garnered considerable success with its title song. The album debuted at #4 and peaked at #3, selling 377,500 copies and charting for 24 weeks on the Korean monthly chart.^[6] With the release of T.O.P, Shinhwa began to move away from their "cute" image to an edgier image concept. Riding on the success of their second album, the group received the "1998's Best Music Video from a new male pop group" award from M.Net, their first major music award.

2000-2001: Only One and Hey, Come On!

Shinhwa's third album, Only One, was released on May 27, 2000. The album was as successful as Shinhwa's previous two albums, selling approximately 423,873 copies.^[7] It debuted at number one and was the band's first number one album. It contained three successful singles: "Only One", "All Your Dreams", and "First Love". The album spent approximately 24 weeks on the charts.

With the success of Only One, Shinhwa won three awards that year: the SBS Gayo "Popularity Award", the KMTV song "Bonsang Award", and the "Popular Singers Award". Their revised dancing style also garnered them much popularity, as it took after the likes of popular American boy bands N'Sync and Backstreet Boys. The group once again underwent a drastic change in appearance, taking on a distinctly gothic image, with most of the members bleaching their hair. On January 13 and January 14 of that year, Shinhwa also held one their first concerts ever, entitled First Mythology.

Shinhwa's fourth album, Hey, Come On!, was released on June 8, 2001, debuting at #3 with the lead single "Hey, Come On!" rapidly climbing up the music charts. The album's release coincided with the rise of the Korean Wave, spreading the group's popularity overseas. The album was a strong seller and managed to sell 430,706 copies.^[8] Though a success, Shinhwa promoted the album with only one single. In yet another change in appearance, the members took on a cleaner look, moving completely away from the goth image in the previous album. Hey, Come On! charted for 28 weeks on the Korean monthly chart and was ranked #11 on the 2001 year-end chart.^[9]

While their album was a stronger seller, Shinhwa was associated with controversies at the time, giving the group a heavy publicity with the absence of group member Andy and the alleged copying of Shinhwa's popular single, "Hey, Come On!" by Taiwanese boy band, Energy.

On January 31, 2002, Shinhwa released a compilation album entitled, My Choice. The album featured some of the members' favorite songs and some of their most popular tracks as well. In contrast to Hey, Come On!'s strong sales, My Choice was met with moderate success, selling more than 171,368 copies^[10] and debuted and peaked at #4 before it was dropped from the Korean monthly Chart. However, when the yearly chart was released, My Choice ranked #31, selling a total of 183,098 copies.^[11]

2002-2003: Perfect Man, Wedding and leaving SM Entertainment

A few months after the release of My Choice, Shinhwa released their fifth studio album, Perfect Man, on March 29, 2002. The album also marked the return of member Andy Lee. The album was accompanied with another change in the group's appearance as they moved away from their "clean" look into a more preppy style by sporting trendy clothing and styles. Perfect Man debuted at #1 on the Korean monthly chart, becoming Shinhwa's second #1 album. The title track became popular among their fans, letting Shinhwa promote the album with a second single, "I Pray 4 U". The album was once again a strong seller, selling 355,333 copies^[12] and was #14 on the year end chart "Top 100 Albums in 2002" where the album sales was 362,639 copies.^[11] It charted for approximately 23 weeks.

On August 25, 2003, Shinhwa experienced one of its first international breakthroughs in Asia when Perfect Man was ranked #10 on the Singapore-Mandarin chart. With this recognition, they were chosen to be Korea's representative in the POP Asia 2002 ceremony in Japan and were later invited to be Korea's representative in Japan's Asia Dream concert (ABU award ceremony).

Towards the end of 2002, Shinhwa made history in the Korean music industry by becoming the longest-running Korean boy band with the release of its sixth album, Wedding, on December 6, 2002.^[13] They also became the second artist in South Korea to release two albums in a single year. Wedding debuted and peaked at #3 and sold 273,714 copies.^[14]

With the expiration of the group's contract, SM Entertainment offered them a second contract but the group rejected it and signed with new company, Good Entertainment. However, they had to go to court to retain the use of their name. Which they won and duly moved from SM Entertainment to Good Entertainment. Because the contract with Good Entertainment did not begin until 2004, Shinhwa members pursued solo activities in 2003.

Shinhwa released a compilation album entitled Winter Story 2003-2004 on December 30, 2003, which sold over 100,000 copies.^[15] The lead single "Young Gunz" was often requested at radio stations. Because it was a success, Shinhwa began releasing Winter Story every winter afterwards.

Shinhwa had another live concert from April 18 to April 20, 2003 named The Everlasting Mythology. They also went on their Winter Story Tour, which traveled to six cities: Seoul, Pusan, Daejeon, Incheon, Daegu, and Kwangju as well as going to Japan with a concert call SHINHWA First Live in Tokyo, where they also held a Japanese fan meeting called Have Fun With Shinhwa On M.Net Tour.

The members of Shinhwa pursued solo activities in 2003. Min Woo went solo under the name "M," releasing his first album entitled Un-touch-able, while Hye Sung collaborated with Kangta and Lee Ji Hoon for a project group S. Jun Jin branched out into acting with the drama Forbidden Love alongside actress Kim Tae Hee. Andy and Jun Jin also participated in a Korean sitcom Nonstop 4 as well as Banjun Drama. Eric also began acting in dramas soon after acting in several CFs.

2004-2005: Good Entertainment and Daesang awards

Shinhwa's first album with Good Entertainment was entitled Brand New. It debuted at #3 and peaked at #1 in November, selling 320,337 copies.^[16][17] Unlike their previous albums, Brand New had a different beat, transitioning from bubblegum pop to dance songs. The group heavily promoted Brand New with four singles: "Angel", "Oh!", "Crazy", and title track. The album was ranked #4 on the 2004 year-end chart.^[18]

On December 10, 2004, Shinhwa was awarded the Daesang for Best Artist of The Year for the first time at the Seoul Gayo Daesang Awards. Several weeks later, on December 29, Shinhwa was awarded their second Daesang at the 2004 SBS Gayo Daejun Awards, winning two of the possible 4 Daesang in that year with Rain and Lee Soo Young receiving the other two. In 2004, of all musical artists and groups, Shinhwa received the most awards, totaling thirteen or more, from various places: the m.net KMTV Music Video Festival, Seoul Gayo Daesang, Golden Disc Awards and MBC, KBS, SBS Gayo Awards. The awards other than Best Artist of the Year included Best Male Artist, Best Dance Artist, and Overseas Choice Award.

After the success of Brand New they began touring. In August of that year, they held a Korea-China-Japan summer camp called Shinhwa Summer Story 2004. The camp was dedicated entirely for their non-Korean fans. Hundreds of non-Korean fans flew to Korea from all over Asia for the opportunity to spend a few days with the band. They also toured in Japan and held a concert, selling 13,000 tickets within a week.

In yet another change in appearance, Shinhwa's image matured from the preppy style in Perfect Man to a more sophisticated look. They began wearing black suits, which was rather uncommon among boy bands at that time. Although they previously dyed their hair in various colors (from purple to silver), in Brand New they stopped completely, leaving their hair in either brown or black. They also trimmed their hair to a neat style or cut it short, which was uncommon among boy bands because "shaggy hair" was in style.

Though they have written lyrics for their music before, Shinhwa took more creative control over their music and began writing a majority of their lyrics. Eric wrote some rap lyrics for some of the songs while Minwoo Lee took charge and began writing full lyrics. Some songs that he had written are: "All of My", "Oh", and "U". He later went on to write the song "Superstar" for the group Jewelry, which became a hit. The other members also co-wrote various other songs.

Although, Shinhwa was mostly on hiatus throughout 2005, they released two popular singles, "How Do I Say" and "Hey Dude!". They also held the Tropical Summer Story Festival concert. For a majority of 2005, Shinhwa hosted a reality show called Let's Coke Play Battle Shinhwa!. The show was almost identical to the American reality show, American Idol where people audition and sing, hoping to become singers. (see Notable Achievements below.) To end the year, Shinhwa released their second Winter Story album, Winter Story 2004-2005, selling in excess of 102,345 copies.^[19]

2006: 8th album State of the Art and 1st Asia tour

On January 14, 2006, Shinhwa renewed their contract with Good Entertainment for another 3 years and on March 24, celebrated their 8th anniversary. They then released their eighth studio album, State of the Art, on May 11. The album debuted at #1 and sold approximately 215,641 copies domestically.^[20] Brand New and State Of The Art became their first consecutive #1 albums. It was also the third best selling album in 2006, behind SG Wannabe's The 3rd Masterpiece and TVXQ's "O"-Jung.Ban.Hap..^[21]

On 15 April, Shinhwa performed at M-Countdown in Japan concert at Tokyo's Budokan Hall celebrating the founding of Mnet Japan.^[22] This was followed by the release of their first Japanese language album Inspiration #1, with lead track, "This is the Sun in Our Hearts" released on June 14. The album released in Japan on August 16 peaked at #4 on Oricon Chart, selling in excess of 100,000 copies each.

Then the group embarked on their first Asia tour with concerts in Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and other countries. It kicked off the Shinhwa 2006 Tour: State of the Art with two concerts at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena, Seoul on 13 and 14 May.^[23] They also performed at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, and Osaka-jo Hall on September 24 and 26, as part of the 2006 Japan Tour Inspiration#1.

2007: Solo activities, Volume 9 and 10th anniversary

In 2007, Shinhwa went on hiatus again. They also celebrated their 9th anniversary on March 24, 2007. With Shinhwa on hiatus, the members expanded their solo activities even further, including the members leaving Shinhwa's management company to start their own: M Rising (Min Woo), New Dream Entertainment (Andy),^[24] JF Story Entertainment (Jun Jin),^[25] H2 Entertainment (Dong Wan), and Top Class Entertainment (Eric). Dong Wan also released his first album entitled Kim Dongwan is on July 5, 2007.^[24] Min Woo released his third album on July 10, 2007^[26] and though he had intended to release his third album in the U.S.,^[27] he released it in Korea instead. Hye Sung released his second album on August 8, 2007.^[28] The three solo artists were successful and consider themselves friendly rivals.

The other members managed to pursue their own solo activities as well. Eric finished his drama Que Sera, Sera and although he is currently the only member in Shinhwa who hasn't pursued a solo singing career, reports have mentioned that this is a possibility in the near future.^{[citation needed]} Jun Jin, who released his first single the previous year, finished promoting it and was supposedly preparing for his first album, with the help of Min Woo, which would be released around September.^{[citation needed]} However, he did not release an album or single. Andy starred in the musical, "Music In My Heart (Season 3)."

In the midst of their solo activities, Shinhwa was said to be working on their ninth album. Originally set to be released on October 2007^[24] with tours from October to December, their ninth album was then pushed back to being released in December.^{[citation needed]} However, due to each of the members having hectic schedules, the album release date was pushed into March 2008.^{[citation needed]} While Shinhwa was not expected to release an album in 2007, they released their compilation album Winter Story 2007 on December 6, 2007,^[29] which debuted at #1 on the Korean monthly chart.^{[citation needed]}

Shortly after the release of Winter Story 2007, Shinhwa staged their Asia Concert with a two-day performance on the 8th and 9 December in Saitama, Japan followed by a concert in Shanghai. The concert's theme was "Forever Shinhwa" to commemorate Shinhwa's 9 years of activities and to announce the beginning of their 10th year together.^{[citation needed]}

Celebrating their anniversary, Shinhwa staged a 10th anniversary concert and released their 9th album.^[30] Because the concert was the last concert before the members left for the army, all 22,000 seats available for the concert were sold out.^[31]

After their 10th anniversary and the release of their 9th album, the members continued to work on their solo career. Dong Wan released his 2nd solo studio album and JunJin released his 1st solo studio album and joined Infinity Challenge as the 7th member. Min Woo released his 3rd solo studio album along with Hye Sung who also released his own 3rd solo studio album. Hyesung would then also release Part 2 of his 3rd album on January 2009. Eric would go on to star in a drama, Strongest Chil Woo. Dong Wan then released a single album and Jun Jin also released a mini album. Min Woo released another mini album in Summer of 2009 and Andy continued with his career as a musical actor and released his 2nd studio album.

2008-2011: Mandatory military service

In October 2008 Eric enlisted for mandatory military service, with Dong Wan in November at an army training camp in Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do^[32] Both served non-active duty, e.g. they were public service workers, after undergoing four weeks of basic training. Jun Jin enlisted on October 22, 2009 at the Nonsan military camp in Chungcheongnam-do Province for four weeks of basic training and continued as a public service worker.^[33] On January 11, 2010, Andy also enlisted for mandatory military service and was the only member to serve 21 months of active duty.^[34] Min Woo was the last of the members to enlist in February 2010. He also served non-active duty after undergoing four weeks of basic training. Hye Sung is exempt from military service due to serious and recurring injuries in his knee substained during a concert in 2001.

On 30 October 2010, Eric was discharged from military service.^[35] Dong Wan was discharged on December 17 after serving 24 months as an administrative worker at the Seodaemun-gu District Office.^[36] Andy was discharged from active duty on October 31, 2011 from the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.^[37] Jun Jin was discharged on 14 November 2011,^[38] after working at the Gangnam Management Corporation, managing the culture center’s fitness club and parking lot.^[39] This was followed by Min Woo on March 2, 2012, after serving as a public service officer in Seoul Station.^[40]

2011-2012: Shinhwa Company and 10th album The Return

On 1 July 2011, Shinhwa became the first K-pop group to own their own entertainment company, when they established the 'Shinhwa Company', a joint venture agency for members to perform as a group. It is helmed by Eric and Min-woo as co-CEOs, with the remaining members as shareholders. The Company manages the group as a whole, whilst members' individual activities are managed by their respective agencies.^[41][42]

Open World Entertainment CEO, Seok-Woo Jang, holder of the rights to the name of Shinhwa, granted permission to use the name as long as they perform together as a group. Open World holds the rights to Shinhwa's overseas concerts with Shinhwa Company, and overseas licensing of the group's albums. Also, the heads of Top Class Entertainment and Liveworks Company, are directors of Shinhwa Company, with the former in charge of promotion and management in general, and the latter provides support regarding albums, concerts and promotions.^[43]

A press conference to launch Shinhwa's comeback was held on 5 March 2012 at CGV cinema in Cheongdam-dong, which was also streamed live by Mnet Media.^{[44][45][46][47]} The group released their tenth studio album The Return on 23 March 2012, with pop-electro lead track "Venus", composed by Andrew Jackson and lyrics by Min-woo.^[48] The music video is directed by Kim Kwang-suk with a modern vampire theme and high intensity choreography.^[49] This was followed by their comeback concerts 2012 Shinhwa Grand Tour in Seoul: The Return at Olympic Gymnastics Arena on 24 and 25 March 2012, also marking their 14th anniversary.^[50][51] The Asian tour continued onto Japan, China, Taiwan and Singapore from the end of April and concluded in Beijing in July, with 10 shows in eight cities and five countries.^[52][53]

As part of their comeback the group are hosting their first exclusive variety program, Shinhwa Broadcast, aired on cable channel JTBC.^[54] The producers held a public shoot and press conference on 15 March to showcase the programme, for premiere on Saturday 17 March 2012.^[55] They were also featured in a photospread and interview in the May issue of Cosmopolitan Korea, with the photos shot at the Gucci flagship store in Seoul.^[56]

2013-present: 15th anniversary concert and 11th album The Classic

In January 2013, it was announced that the group is to resume their music activities as a group with the release of their 11th studio album and 15th anniversary concert in March.^[57][58] On 30 January, further information were announced, detailing their comeback with two concerts titled, 2013 Shinhwa 15th Anniversary Concert: The Legend Continues held on 16 and 17 March at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena; and the release of their 11th studio album in May.^[59][60][61] On the same day information on ticketing and a teaser video were also released.^[62][63] Tickets went on sale on 13 February at 20:00, and the 25,000 tickets for the two concerts were sold out within five minutes of going on sale, by over 300,000 people who tried to buy the tickets.^[64][65]

On 1 May, the company announced the release of The Classic on 16 May.^[66] This is followed by an Asian concert tour, 2013 Shinhwa Grand Tour: The Classic in support of the album. The lead track for the album is "This Love", with the MV featuring Japanese actress Fujii Mina.^[67] After three weeks of music programme appearances, the track collected eight first place wins, including the Triple Crown on M! Countdown, two each from Show Champion and Music Core; and one from Music Bank.^[68][69]

Notable achievements

Throughout its existence, Shinhwa has achieved many successes and has been awarded many honors. One of their first notable achievement was when they made history in the Korean music industry when they released their sixth album, Wedding on December 6, 2002, becoming the longest-running Korean boy band in existence. Shinhwa is still holding the record as they have not yet disbanded. In addition to becoming the longest-running boy band in South Korea, Shinhwa also holds the record for the only boy band to stay together for a decade and not lose members along the way nor add another one in (Member Andy's departure does not necessarily count as he came back into the group). Just as well, Shinhwa is also the only group to ever has all its member branch out to do solo activities with the group still together. Shinhwa has sold an excess of 5 million records worldwide, an incredible feat for an Asian group and one of the highest album sales in Asia.

In July 2004, they were selected to represent Korea in the MTV Buzz Asia Awards along with Namie Amuro for Japan and F4 for Taiwan. They were also selected to sing at the finale. Shinhwa was also the most searched artist in the Yahoo! Singapore search engine for an entire week in 2004, becoming the first Korean artist to do so, on their first visit to Singapore in October 2004.

The group was also the face of Swiss watch brand Radoin Asia for a January 2005 campaign.

In March 2005, along with their management team, Good Entertainment, music channel, MNET and Coca-Cola, the group hosted a reality TV show, called "Let's Cokeplay Battle Shinhwa." The show, which set out to search for a new Shinhwa (new legend group), lasted 8 months long and attracted over 1,800 applicants throughout Korea to audition. The final show took place on November 4, 2005 at Olympic Park, Seoul, where Shinhwa members chose the 6 final members of the new Shinhwa from the 12 finalists. The 6 male winners (making the group now known as Battle), along with 2 other female finalists (as solos) immediately underwent training and debuted in 2006 under Good Entertainment.

A star was named after Shinhwa in 2005. In order to commemorate its launching, USC Korea, the official Korean partner USC (Universal Star Council), an American website that provides services for registering names for stars in the sky, offered a star to be named after them. The star is among the Aries constellation. Coincidentally, it matched the debut date of Shinhwa which falls on March 24, 1998. The star Shinhwa is the brightest among the more than 2 thousand stars with Korean names that can be seen with the naked eye. The star is best seen in November. However, according to the International Astronomical Union, this type of star name has no formal or official validity whatsoever.^[70][71]

In 2006, Shinhwa was chosen as best Korean singer overseas, according to a poll held by Arirang International Broadcasting. A vote was issued on the internet, allowing only foreigners to vote. Shinhwa's song "Once In A Lifetime" won 60% of the vote, beating Kang Ta, who came in second with 20.3 percent followed by TVXQ with 17.3 percent. Super Junior took fourth place followed by Bada, Se7en, BoA, SG Wannabe, Buzz, and Baek Ji-young, with all of them winning less than 1 percent of the votes.^[72] Shinhwa won the award again in 2007 for their song Pretty, beating TVXQ by a close percentage of 50.76% to 48.55%. The other candidates, Super Junior, Se7en, Rain, Big Bang, BoA, SS501, Paran and Jang Nara, all received once again less than one percent of the votes.^[73]

Styles

Musical style

Shinhwa has changed musical styles many times throughout their existence, beginning with typical bubblegum pop songs (as seen with their song Eusha, Eusha) like other pop singers at the time. They also did regular pop songs as well, with the release of their 4th album Hey, Come On!. Shinhwa would continued to release pop music (although they have done alternative rock as well) until their contract with SM Entertainment ran up. It would be in the release of their 7th album, Brand New that Shinhwa would transition into dance songs. With the release of their 8th album, State Of The Art, Shinhwa can still be seen having dance songs as well as, though their hit song, Once In A Lifetime shows a more slow pop style. Because they have change many musical styles over the years, Shinhwa have created a variation of popular music for their fans and general K-pop listeners, though throughout the years, they have as well created their own distinct style of music.

While Shinhwa is known best as artists who do dance songs, the members have branch out to do various styles. Min Woo's first album show him as an R&B singer, though his #1 hit song, Just One Night is more of a jazz genre. His later albums would be R&B/dance vein of his previous albums. Hye Sung have branch out to do ballads song, as ballads are becoming popular throughout South Korea. Dong Wan,Jun Jin and Andy had also followed within his footsteps, doing ballad songs.

Dance style

Shinhwa is often hailed as one of the best dance groups in South Korea, winning many dance awards such as M.net/KM music video festival "Best Dance Music Video" and Best Music Video For The Dance Section Awards. Their dances are often filled with heavy choreography, with a few free style moves once in a while (often from Min Woo). They also feature break dancers in the background of many of their performances as well as female dancers dancing with and around them. Shinhwa's own members Min Woo and Jun Jin also break dance and often teach it to their fans. Shinhwa's unique style of dancing is credited to member Min Woo, who is their main choreographer (although they do have another choreographer as well). Min Woo was discovered by an SM Entertainment scout while he was in a dance group, which can explain why he has choreographed some of Shinhwa's most technically challenging dances. Jun Jin, another member who is skilled in dancing as well assists Min Woo. Their dance moves has been describe as "evil," "complicated," and "difficult-to-follow" with few people being able to copy their dance moves.

Image

Like most popular bands, Shinhwa has change their appearances various times. In their early days, Shinhwa were generally marketed as a typical boy band with cute looks and matching outfits (as seen with their performances and music videos). They later transitioned this "cute" image concept into a more darker tone with the release of their second and third albums, bleaching their hair and wearing dark make up. Their outfits also matched their appearances, being either shiny or dark. With the release of their fourth album, Shinhwa would change from the gothic style of before into a much more simple and cleaner look. Their fifth album would change them into a more preppy style. With the style, Shinhwa would began to sport mondern trend clothing and styles. Shinhwa would continue this preppy style into their sixth album, though it was obvious that they were beginning to mature their looks. When they released their seventh album, Shinhwa began to change their appearance once again, wearing black suits and looking significantly more sophisticated than most boy bands at the time. They also stopped with the dyeing hair and heavy make up, as well as leaving their hair shaggy and long. Shinhwa's eighth album continued their sophisticated look, with the group wearing black suits for most of their performances. For their 9th album, Shinhwa's new look was displayed in their MV Run, in which they describe it to be "Mexican Mafia". Shinhwa has adopted a "vampire" concept mixed with an aristocratically Greek-gods look for their 10th album, The Return.

Discography

Korean albums 1998: Resolver 1999: T.O.P 2000: Only One 2001: Hey, Come On! 2002: Perfect Man 2002: Wedding 2004: Brand New 2006: State of the Art 2008: Volume 9 2012: The Return 2013: The Classic Korean singles 1st: "How Do I Say" (August 8, 2004) 2nd: "Hey, Dude" (April 4, 2005) 3rd: "Summer Story Tropical 2005" (August 10, 2005)

Japanese album 2006: Inspiration #1 Japanese single 1st: "This Is The Sun In Our Hearts" (June 14, 2006) Winter stories 1st: Winter Story (December 30, 2003) 2nd: Winter Story 2004-2005 (December 20, 2004) 3rd: Winter Story 2006-2007 (January 25, 2007) 4th: Winter Story 2007 (December 5, 2007) Best album 1st: My Choice (January 31, 2002)

Filmography

Tours and concerts

• First Live Concert: The First Mythology (2001) (13-14 January 2001)
• Second Live Concert: The Everlasting Mythology (18–20 April 2003)
• Winter Story Tour 2003-04 (31 December 2003 to 14 February 2004)
• Winter Story Tour 2004-05: Shinhwa Live in Seoul (December 2004)
• Shinhwa - 2005 Japan Tour - Osaka (21 January) and Tokyo International Forum (23 January)
• Tropical Summer Story Festival (June 2005)
• Shinhwa 2006 Asia Tour: State of the Art - Olympic Gymnastics Arena, Seoul (13–14 May), Shanghai (8 July), Busan (15 July), Bangkok (19 August), Singapore (10 September), Tokyo (24 September) and Osaka (26 September)
• 2006 Japan Tour Inspiration#1 in Tokyo - Nippon Budokan, Tokyo (September 2006)
• 2007 Japan Tour: Shinhwa Forever - Nagoya, Japan (6 December), Saitama Super Arena, Tokyo (8 and 9 December) and Shanghai, China (15 December)^[74]
• Shinhwa Must Go On: 10th Anniversary Live in Seoul - Olympic Gymnastics Arena (29 and 30 March 2008)
• 2012 Shinhwa Grand Tour: The Return
• 2013 Shinhwa Grand Tour: The Classic - including Shinhwa 15th Anniversary Concert: The Legend Continues in Seoul (16 and 17 March 2013)

Awards

Endorsements

• April 2012: Roygen (Men's formal wear brand) - marks their first commercial together in seven years.^[75]
• October - December 2012: Chicken Mania (fried chicken franchise) - 'A Delicious Legend, the Shinhwa of Chicken' campaign with a limited edition 2013 calendar.^[76]

Controversy

"Hey, Come On!"

In July 2002, Taiwanese boy band Energy covered Shinhwa's song, Hey, Come On! causing tensions between the fans of Shinhwa and Energy. As it was later noted, Jeff Vincent and Peter Rafelson who wrote Hey, Come On! had sold the song to Energy, therefore, it was legal. Even so, fans of Shinhwa were angry over that fact. The Taiwanese group 5566 also covered Shinhwa's "Dark", a song included in Shinhwa's 4th album.

Leaving SM Entertainment

In 2003 SM Entertainment's 5-year contract with Shinhwa ended, thus allowing the band to either sign another contract or switch label. Lee Soo Man, the head of SM Entertainment, only wanted to sign on Eric Mun, Shin Hye-sung, and Lee Min-woo, but they rejected it. Eric as a leader and the most popular and had the most highly amount of the contract at that time made a decision that they wanted to stick together as a group with all members present as Shinhwa and not go solo. Thus, the band rejected the offer and switched over to the fairly new management at the time, Good Entertainment. The movement sparked controversy when Lee denied their permission to use the name Shinhwa with the different company. However, after the argument was taken to court, Shinhwa won, allowing them to hold the rights to use the name "Shinhwa".

References

External links

• Shinhwa Company official homepage (Korean)
• Shinhwa Company official YouTube Channel

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Rain	Gayo Daejun Award for Daesang (=Best Prize) 2004	Succeeded by Kim Jong Kook
Preceded by Lee Hyori	15th Seoul Music Awards - Daesang (=Best Prize) Award 2004	Succeeded by TVXQ

v t e Shinhwa Eric Mun Lee Min-woo Kim Dong-wan Shin Hye-sung Jun Jin Andy Lee Korean albums Resolver (1998) T.O.P (1999) Only One (2000) Hey, Come On! (2001) Perfect Man (2002) Wedding (2002) Brand New (2004) State of the Art (2006) Volume 9 (2008) The Return (2012) The Classic (2013) Japanese albums Inspiration #1 (2006) Compilation album My Choice (2002) Winter Story album series Winter Story (2003) Winter Story 2004–2005 (2004) Winter Story 2006–2007 (2007) Winter Story 2007 (2007) Summer Story Summer Story 2005 (2005) Tours 2012 Shinhwa Grand Tour: The Return 2013 Shinhwa Grand Tour: The Classic Television Shinhwa Broadcast (List of episodes) Related articles Good Entertainment SM Entertainment Open World Entertainment SM Town Battle Category Discography Filmography Videography Awards and nominations

v t e Good Entertainment Media Group Current Battle Charlie Park Eddie Jung Jae Hwan Kang Byung Gyu Lee Byung Jin Lee Chang Myung Lee Eun Lee Ye Rin Lyn Former Shinhwa Andy Eric Junjin Dongwan Minwoo Hyesung Oh-Sonyeo (Five Girls) SunMin Parent CJ E&M Music and Live Good Entertainment

v t e S.M. Entertainment Executives Lee Soo-man (chairman) Studio artists Yoo Young-jin Kenzie Kangta Misfit Shim Jaewon Rino Nakasone Razalan Song Kwang-sik Recording Artists Solo BoA Chu Ga-yeoul Henry Iconiq J-Min Kangta Zhang Liyin Duo/Group Exo f(x) Girls' Generation The Grace Shinee Super Junior TRAX TVXQ Sub-group Exo-K Exo-M Girls' Generation-TTS The Grace-Dana & Sunday SJ-Happy SJ-K.R.Y. SJ-M SJ-T SJ-Donghae & Eunhyuk Special unit Kangta & Vanness M&D SM the Ballad SM The Performance SM Town Younique Unit Former The Blue Black Beat Fly to the Sky H.O.T. Han Geng Isak N Jiyeon Kim Jaejoong Kim Junsu M.I.L.K nadia Park Yoochun S S.E.S. Shinhwa Shinvi Actors Go Ara Kim Ian Kim Kibum Kim Min-jong Lee Jae-ryong Lee Yeon-hee Park Heebon Yoo Ho-jeong Yoon Da-hoon SM C&C Woollim Label Solo Baby Soul Jisun Sungkyu Yoo Jia Yoo Jiae Duo/Group Infinite Nell Tasty Subgroup Infinite H Actors Baek Hyun Gong Hyung-jin Han Chae-young Jang Dong-gun Jo Min-seong Jung So-min Kang Ye-won Kim Ha-neul Kim Shi-hoo Kim Su-ro Lee Chae-won Moon Ga-young Song Jae-rim Yoon So-hee MC Hong Rocky Jang Dong-hyuk Jun Hyun-moo Kang Ho-dong Kim Byung-man Kim Kyung-sik Lee Dong-woo Lee Soo-geun Ryu Dam Shin Dong-yup Model Kim Mi-jung Concert tours SMTown Live '08 SMTown Live '10 World Tour SMTown Live World Tour III SM Town Week Discography Category Website Korea Japan