'Shinhwa WDJ’(subunit) - "Come to Life‘
For the first time in its career of 24 years, a new subunit of the six-member boy band, ‘Shinhwa WDJ’ came into existence with the release of the EP “Come to Life.”
“Come to Life” has five songs: the lead track “Flash”, “Shape On Body”, “Guest”, “Rumble” and “Tomorrow”.
The subunit consists of members ‘Lee Min-woo’, ‘Kim Dong-wan’ and ‘Jun Jin’, and ‘WDJ’ stands for “Woo-Dong-Jin,” a nickname comprised of parts of the trio’s names, coined by fans.
“We talked about how we wanted a cool name, one in English or Spanish, and we thought of ‘Woo-Dong-Jin’ and We decided to go with the first initials; hence, WDJ.”
Why ‘Shinhwa WDJ’ chose that particular combination among the six members, it was “because we’re signed under the same company.”
Although all six members are signed under ‘Shinhwa Company’, the three in the subunit are also dually contracted with ‘Liveworks Company’.
“We’ve been so focused on our individual activities that it was time to come back together as a team,” Shinhwa WDJ’ collectively agreed. “We then realized that our fans may become exhausted if we kept postponing band activities, so we thought it would be best to at least gather the members who are currently available to release new music.”
On Dec. 30 and 31, Shinhwa WDJ will hold concerts at the ‘Jamsil’ Gymnasium in Seoul.
Other members’ reactions have been supportive.
This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, though, given that the six members have always been open in showing how close-knit they are during the past two decades.
Shinhwa debuted in 1998 as a boy band under ‘SM Entertainment’. Shinhwa is considered one of Korea’s first-generation K-pop acts. All six members are now in their 40s.
Though the band has switched agencies numerous times over the years, it is the oldest Idol Group to have kept all its members the same as when it started. Such a feat is considered very rare in the K-pop industry, as many groups fall apart around their seventh anniversary, usually when their first contract comes to an end.
The members' friendship could keeps
them together,
Finally, in 2011, the band founded its own agency, Shinhwa Company.
The band is known for hit songs like “T.O.P. (Twinkling of Paradise)” (1999), “Wild Eyes” (2001), “Perfect Man” (2002), “Brand New” (2004) and “Venus” (2012).
It has already proved its success with its music, establishing itself as a legend in the K-pop industry, and the six members have also shown to be popular with their solo endeavors. Eric, for instance, also acts and has starred in many hit television drama series.
