Before I talk about the album, let me introduce you to the group. TVXQ or Dong Bang Shin Ki in Korean, is South Korean boy group debut under the biggest entertainment agency in South Korea, SM Entertainment. Me, myself, has been their fan for almost 6 years. In the beginning, I was a fan of Japanese music, Japanese Rock music in particular and coincidentally, the people around me also japan-maniacs. One of my friend at the time, recommend me to listen to Tohoshinki (TVXQ's japanese name). Me, never put interest to a boyband before, dismiss the recommendation almost immediately, quoting: "even their name sounds ridiculous!".
After quite a time, another friend come to me with the same recommendation. This time, I can't ignore it because the one that recommend it is my best friend Ditha, which usually has the same taste of music with me. We both fans of L'arc En Ciel, Dir en Grey, System of a Down, and Dreamtheater. So, you must be understand how ridiculous a boyband for us before. But Ditha said this one is different, quoting: "they're not just handsome and dance, they can sing". The last time I check, the only boyband who can sing is Boyz II Men. So... that's how the snow drop and spiraling into a massive snowball of fascination. I started listening to their Japanese song, watching their music video and put an effort to download they're live performance and concert. They are awesome!
TVXQ start as 5-member group. Differentiated themselves among other with their vocal ability and powerful performance. I remember the first song that make me admit their vocal ability, Love in The Ice (Japanese version). At the time, I told Ditha that the song is so good and feels like a song that will be sung at a heartbreak night. And then I watched their "O-Sei Han Go" music video and be stunned by their dance. I grew up as teenager in early 2000, where pop boyband like N*sync, Five etc...etc... reign MTV alongside the like of Britney Spears and Christina Aguileira, and I wasn't a fan. I listened to Oasis at the time. So, when finally I watched their video, I feel like my teenager phase starting over in the second version. It was joyful yet embarrassing, but I try to enjoy it. Since then on, I still listening to their music even now, when they back to stage as duo,Yunho and Changmin.
Then this album, Catch Me. I have to admit, I like the album very much! Better than KYHD, almost like I like Five in The Black. The album consist of 11 tracks with different genres. I think they experiment with different taste of music, try to reach wider audience than their already established (and huge) fanbase. The title track, Catch Me, is a dubstep electronic track with some symphonic music throw in as the background. It's one of those song that will be played over and over again in a night club and get a variety of house music mix. The melody itself is something that very easy to listen and makes you humming unconsciously. I think this kind of music is in trend in Korea, to note PSY's Gangnam Style phenomenon and other's group song that also adapting this style of music.
The song is quite good, but it's not my favourite. When it come to TVXQ, I always prefer their ballad song. Quoting Ditha, "their [ballad] song always bring romantic feeling to it". In this album, my favourite songs are also ballad, it's the last track "Good Night" and the one which Changmin pens the lyric "I swear". The track "Good Night" has a very deep R 'n B feeling to it. If I look back to their discography, I will remember other track like "Tonight" and "Before You Go" when I listen to it. It turns out the composer is the same. "I Swear" on the other hand has a very sweet romantic feeling in it. Their vocalization in "I Swear" sound soft and calm, and styled with melodic humming and harmonization. I imagine sitting on the corner of a cafe, near the window, facing the street when it rains, sipping my favourite coffee, reading a book and listening to this song, perfect! Right now, "I Swear" have claimed the most played song in my iTunes, and it's not because I fell asleep while listening to it on repeat :D
Another song that caught my attention is "Viva" and "Getaway". When I listened to "Viva", I feel like smiling. The song sounds fun with not so conventional melody. The dynamic of the song is quite unpredictable, it feels fun in the beginning, quite serious and heavily electronized (is it even a word?) when it ends. I think I'm not really good on describing it. "Getaway" on the other hand has a rock vibe to it. It's not a new thing for them, because I think Changmin has a thing for rock music. His solo single in Japan, "Wild Soul" has a rock vibe and he even sang X-Japan's "Rusty Nail" at their Japan Tone Tour last year. I like the song because it's different from their R 'n B and club-dance music signature. It's refreshing.
On the bottom line, this is a good album. I like it very much and still listening to it in the last few days. My favourite album from them is still Mirotic, but Catch Me is definitely on the top 3. They have kicked off their promotional activities in Korea, and it has been announced that they will start their World Tour in November. Hope they will include Jakarta in their schedule, but if not, maybe if it come to Singapore I will go there.
(I walk back to my previous post and found that I wrote about them before in this post.)
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