Active Legends, Shinhwa [神話]

When we think about boy bands from the 90s,

Names such as ‘Backstreet Boys’, ‘Nsync’ and ‘New kids on the block’ come to mind.

However, these days it seems that they have disappeared.

Nsync broke up, backstreet boys and New kids on the block have become inactive.

However closer to where I live, Asia, there is a boy band that has just celebrated their 15^th anniversary.

A boy band that has a huge fan base (both the young and old).

From Korea, they are Shinhwa.

            

['Perfect Man' a song that came up to Number 10 on Singapore's Mandarin Charts in 2003]

Having debuted in 1998, they overcame the times when many other popular Korean bands such as G.O.D and H.OT broke up and are presently living up to their group’s name in being a Legend. (Or as a joke, idol fossils. Active fossils I must add)

With an average age of 33.3 years, Shinhwa is made up by  Eric, Minwoo, Dongwan, Hyesung, Jun jin and Andy.

15 years running in the music industry with no change in members and still sticking together after the members took a short break to fulfill their National Service duties, they are indeed a group that idols these days should look up to.

[A snippet from Episode 14 of 'Shinhwa Broadcast'. A variety show done with the Shinhwa Members]

What is their secret to staying so long?

In many interviews, they mentioned it was because they never kept quiet among each other. If they were unhappy with one member, they’d fight it out. If they had a problem, they’d speak out. When one was sad, they would go over to cheer them up. Overall, being frank among the members is the key to success.

Also, the members are more than just ‘fellow-members’ they are good friends, company and family for each other. They were under many different labels and eventually in 2011 they made a company under their name, Shinhwa companies for the group’s activities. Even though they were prompted money ( at times,  individually) they still stuck  together and Eric the leader, placed his member’s thoughts above others.

The different members each all have their own unique personalities and can be seen and understood more from their own variety show ‘shinhwa broadcast’ that is currently into its 53^rd episode.

They recently also starred in Saturday Night Live Korea, proving to the audience and their fans that they are a well-diverse group and can do comedy sketches as well.

They will be making a comeback on M countdown this coming Thursday (16^th May) with ‘This Love’.

[A/N: I personally love Shinhwa after watching countless episodes of shinhwa broadcast. I got to know them after I heard the song ‘Once in a lifetime’ on MTV. That time I did not really like Korean music but the song still stuck in my head but I didn’t give much thought. However last year when they came back with ‘Venus’ that was when I went oh, this group is awesome! Not to mention each members has very unique personalities. ^^]