Pre-sales for JYJ‘s first Korean album since the great divide of DBSK in July 2009 began on September 9th and as you can imagine, JYJ fan girls went wild, online mall servers went down, and the next thing you knew over 300,000 albums of In Heaven were ordered. Who needs performances on music and variety shows with numbers like that!
Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu‘s In Heaven will feature 10 tracks; 01. Get Out, 02. In Heaven, 03. 낙엽 (Fallen Leaves), 04. 소년의 편지 (Boy’s Letter), 05. Mission, 06. I.D.S (I Deal Scenario), 07. Pierrot, 08. You’Re, 09. Nine, 10. 이름 없는 노래 PART. What’s impressive about this album is that all of the songs on the album were written and/or composed by one or more of the JYJ members. In fact, JYJ members wrote the lyrics for all the songs, except “Mission” and they composed the music for all the songs, except for “Boy’s Letter” and “You’Re.” That’s a pretty impressive feat and something definitely not seen often in Kpop. As expected, the track “Get Out,” which was written and composed by Jaejoong and Yoochun, immediately shot to the top of the charts.
Personally, I never was a huge fan of DBSK and I’m pretty neutral between the DBSK vs JYJ fan wars. I haven’t been blown away by any of the music that either side has released since the split, but I look forward to this new offering by JYJ. And while I understand why SM Entertainment is treating JYJ the way the are, lest any other of their idols get the idea to sue their way out of their contracts, I totally think they’re playing dirty. If Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu were anyone other than 3/5ths of ‘The Rising Gods of the East” and at the top of their game when they separated from SME, there was no way that they would have been able withstand the SME backlash to continue with their careers.
Unfortunately, the biggest losers of the SME backlash and JYJ’s banning from music and variety shows however isn’t JYJ, it’s their fans who can’t see them perform their songs live anywhere other than a concert or see them on any variety shows. The MV for the song “In Heaven” starring new label mate, Song Ji-hyo, will be released at midnight KST on September 14th. Their album, In Heaven will be officially released on September 27th.
