On March 24, 2018, I wrote a blog post that explained why I no longer consider myself a Shinhwa Changjo. Four years has passed since then, and I think, I am slowly coming out of my hiatus in the fandom even though the group itself is still in hiatus.
All it took was the Korean drama 2521 before I suddenly found myself listening to Shinhwa songs on Spotify and watching some of their music videos on Youtube. I admit that I haven’t followed them since I made that post in 2018, so I was surprised to know that Hyesung is on hiatus even with his solo projects since last year due to health reasons. I did know, however, of the Instagram squabble between Eric and Dongwan, but I just shrugged it off because somehow, I knew that they’d work things out eventually.
Anyway, going back to 2521, there were two scenes iirc where the main character danced to Hae Gyul Sa. This one is my favorite scenes because it threw me completely off guard.
watch here: https://youtu.be/RNR6OH2pSfo?t=38
My I-thought-extinct-inner-changjo suddenly became alive, and I began listening to them again. I even listened to Shinhwa songs exclusively on their 24th anniversary. It was kind of funny because a few days earlier, I was celebrating my 10th year as a Hyphen (KAT-TUN’s fandom). Then I realized that two of my favorite idol groups, despite having a 10-year gap, both share the same debut anniversary week.
A few months later, Andy got married, and the other Shinhwa members sans Hyesung made an impromptu dance of Perfect Man onstage. So there goes another reason to think about them.
Fast forward to August 2022. Their company suddenly announced that they are going to have sub-unit for the first ever since debut. It’ll be composed of Minwoo, Dongwan, and Junjin. I guess Hyesung hasn’t fully recovered yet and that Andy has just gotten married. The announcement said that they’ll be debuting in winter. I hope that I’m still in Japan or in mid-January next year because I don’t want to fangirl during my 2-year long awaited vacation to the Philippines. Hmm, I’ll wait for new announcements and figure things from there.
I missed seeing Shinhwa that I bought the DVDs of their 18th and 20th anniversary concerts. My sister has them in our family home, but I have none here in Japan. I saw clips on YT, but I prefer watching them in HQ and with the official English subtitles. I was tempted to buy the Bluray versions, but I find them expensive especially since they’re already more than 4 years ago. I might buy the album or single, whichever it may be, from the WDJ unit. Maybe.
For now, while waiting for their comeback, besides listening to their songs, I’m rewatching episodes from Shinhwa Broadcast and other variety show appearances. Ah, that 2012 WinWin guesting was excellent. ANYWAY. There’s the comeback promotions of BlackPink and Twice, so I’ll be preoccupied fandom-wise. As for KAT-TUN, well, they have just finished with their concert tour (I went to two concerts!), and they have a regular group variety show. They’re kind of busy with their solo works, but I think a new single would be announced in the next couple of months.
ANYWAY.
I rambled so much on this post. The bottom line is, I realized that I’m still a bit of a Shinhwa Changjo. I was in a hiatus, and I guess I’m back?
Hyphenized Changjo 