A lot of people think it’s easy to just follow Shinhwa’s step, break it off with SM and venture on their own. It’s not at all easy. Shinhwa didn’t have it easier either. As people has been saying, it’s almost impossible for SM artists to break off with SM and get away with it. Eric had to personally face the SM directors. And Andy’s contract didn’t end at the same time with the other members’ (because he was inactive during 4th album) so for quite a while the 5 members didn’t have a contract with any company while waiting for Andy to finish his contract, but then SM offered Andy a new contract so he wouldn’t leave SM. The other members had so much trust in Andy that he wouldn’t bail out on them. I mean, what if Andy had suddenly changed his mind and stayed in SM?

Then they had a hard time in choosing a new company, they almost got tricked when a company didn’t give them the promised money by the contract signing deadline, so they decided to break it off and look for a smaller company, which is GOOD Ent. They also got individual contract offers with different prices, like Eric who got an offer with price 3 times as much as what he gets with Shinhwa. For more than a year, their career seemed so unclear and directionless. It’s really hard to stay loyal to the group when your career looks more promising without it.

People thought it was the end for Shinhwa. And even with Good Ent., the company wasn’t really financially well, so Eric had to fund Shinhwa 7th album out of his own pocket. And even after they had success with the 7th album, despite being the only money-maker in the company, they couldn’t demand as much because most of the money was used to help Good Ent. get out of the slump.

Really, money problem isn’t a wise decision to go against SM. As Minwoo said, if Shinhwa were after money, they would’ve broken up long time ago. You have to be really loyal to the group and not be attracted to money. Not only that, you also have to fully trust other members in their loyalty as well, that they won’t bail out on you. Once you feel insecure about other members’ loyalty, it will lead to the group’s destruction. If you can’t solve the internal conflicts within the group, how can you survive against the external conflicts? However, trust, loyalty, strong bond, and all those mushy mushy stuff aren’t all it takes to survive against external conflicts. The world outside SM (and against SM) is much scarier. As Eric has said, there’s just too many people out there who want to step over you and break you apart. You need to have general knowledge and also intellectual ability in problem-solving, in making the right decision, and choosing the right thing. You have to be smart, mature, and wise in addition to being loyal, trusting, and unselfish.

As I said, not just any group can pull a Shinhwa. ^^

The song sounds so familiar and I was trying to recall where I heard of that song. And it just hit me that it’s the song that ‘The Bird’ sang at Hyesung’s concert!!! No wonder Junjin knows the song so well. I wonder if it he thought of that performance too when he was singing. It must have been hard to hold back the laughter. LOL.

PS: I miss “The Bird” =’(

A lot of people said that Dongwan was being immature (some even said he was being hypocritical) because he was doing exactly what Amy did, bashing her in public, also that he should’ve told her privately and that he should be doing his military service quietly.

Well, I just want to say: “Don’t you think Dongwan would know that?”, “Don’t you think fans would realize that?” I also thought it was kind of weird of Dongwan to confront a girl in public like that (as I said in my previous comment, “you just don’t talk like that to your friend’s ex-gf). I felt like it was so unlike his usual self to do stuff like that. Dongwan is not a newbie in the entertainment business who just has a big mouth and doesn’t know the time and place to say something. He’s not someone who doesn’t know what he can or can’t do or say in public.  He’s not stupid and careless like that. In fact, he’s actually really smart and very thoughtful with his words and actions. He knows what he’s doing. Fans (and Eric) don’t call him a wise old man for nothing. He’s very experienced in voicing out his opinion and he knows very well the consequence of that.

Just to refresh your memory, he experienced the same problem when he defended Junjin in 2006. So I’m sure he knew what was coming when he pressed that Enter button posting his message to Amy. Regarding his status in military service, didn’t he experience a similar problem during his training (when someone took personal pictures of him and posted on his/her private blog and it got leaked to public)? Moreover, he told his fans to stop stalking him to his office. He even closed his blog for a while. He definitely knew he should be keeping everything low-profile and don’t you think he’s smart enough to know that something like this would get to the media somehow and would possibly bring criticism to himself? Again, he’s not that stupid and careless, you know. He’s been in this business for 11 years after all, I’m sure it’s long enough for him to have this kind of experience and I’m sure he’s smart enough to learn from the past. Please consider that.

Now, think about this. Why do you think he still did that despite knowing the consequences? Why do you think he would interfere with his friend’s relationship problem? He’s not that kind of a nosy person after all. *Well, it’s not exactly true on some level (i.e. he can be very nosy when some members are playing on their own and leaving him out).* But on a serious and real problem like this, it’s true. =) He knows better than to not interfere with a romantic relationship problem in public, esp. when it involves someone outside the circle of the 6 members.

So why he did that? Maybe he knew he didn’t have any other option and this is the only thing he can do to save his friend? He took the risks because otherwise, his friend would get negative light from the public and it is very not good for his promotional activities. Leaving Minwoo to deal with it himself is not a good idea either. Minwoo is not someone who would defend himself and fight back for his own sake. He would for his brothers, but not for himself. *They’re all like that, aren’t they. That’s why they need each other. =)*

Now, I’m not trying to defend Dongwan or save him from these criticisms.  I’m sure he knew what was coming when he pressed that ‘Submit’ button on his personal blog. So let him take those consequences and criticisms. But please, before you judge someone, please learn a little bit of something about that person first. Know that Dongwan is not just some immature person who can’t stop his blabbering mouth. Know that he already knew it would come to this. Yet he still did that for the sake of a friend. =)

I knew this (Dongwan’s msg) would get to the media. Oh well, I’m sure Dongwan already knew what was coming when he clicked on that ‘Publish’ in his blog. I just hope it wouldn’t get bigger than this and wouldn’t affect Minwoo’s promotional activities.

Anyway, looking at this issue, it makes me think that this kind of relationship tends to not get very far in the first place. You know, relationships where you didn’t know the other person at all before then you meet her/him at one setting and became very close and suddenly you’re dating her/him. This kind of relationship is only based on feelings and is very superficial. But soon the spark will fade away and you can see clearly the other person’s real personality. One example of this kind of relationships is (but not limited to) a relationship that blossoms during a short period of filming a variety show.

Like Amy and Minwoo. Amy comes from a rich family background who became a celebrity (probably through connection) just for fun, not because she needs the money or because her life depends on it. She never experienced a hard life before and to her, work is not that important. Now on the contrary, Minwoo became the provider for his family even before he finished highschool and he has experienced any kind of failure, rejection, financial problems, etc. To him work means everything. It’s obvious they live in two different worlds. Now I’m sure the relationship would still work out if both of them can be mature enough to work on the relationship trying to branch the gap between them. But it’ll be really hard if one of them (or both) is not ready for a serious long-term relationship yet. I’d partially blame Minwoo for his poor judgment. He should’ve known better than this. Oh well, I guess it’s a learning process for Minwoo that afterall, fans (and the members) are the only ones who are always behind him, forgive his mistakes, welcome him back and always support him.

Now let’s see how Junjin and Lee Shi Young’s relationship goes.

As a Shinhwa fan, I know Minwoo better than I do Amy (and I’d dare myself I know Minwoo better than Amy does), but still, we only get glimpses of Minwoo’s actual life. So I think we don’t have the right to say anything about them and their relationship. However, unlike us, Dongwan (and other members) knows Minwoo inside out. Perhaps even better than his own parents and siblings. They used to live together. They were together 24/7. They’re the ones who were fed up seeing his bragging about his new girlfriend, they’re also the ones who carried him back home after drinking over his failed relationship.

Other people might have doubts about him (after all those news about his past gfs and now this). But the members, they know Minwoo much better than anyone else. Out of all people, the members are the ones who have the right to say anything about him. Afterall, they’ve spent 12 years together with him and they’d know him better than the rest of us.

On a side note, it’s been a long time since I last saw Dongwan to be this straightforward in confronting people. I remember he got into some trouble after criticizing someone and I remember him saying he didn’t want to talk too much about other people anymore. And now he’s confronting not just some people. He’s confronting a girl, and even more someone who used to be his friend’s gf. I wonder how upset he must’ve been about all this. Let’s think about it. You just don’t talk like that to your friend’s ex-gf even when the ex-gf does something wrong. I’m guessing Minwoo must have talked to him about this and he must know something behind this relationship that the rest of us don’t.

So, without further ado, let’s ramble!