[12.04.06] Edged out by juniors, limited program appearances…. Results of Shinhwa’s first week of comeback promotions

Hmm. I suppose there are a lot of challenges facing Shinhwa right now – the changing industry environment and competition from juniors aside, they still have to deal with showbiz politics. I can’t say for sure whatever this reporter wrote in this article is 100% true, and there is indeed some amount of speculation here and there – so just take it as a point of reference, another point of view, and try not to get too hung up over the nitty-gritty.

Let’s just enjoy their comeback for now – we’ve been waiting way too long to let things like this get us down. SHINHWA FIGHTING! SHCJ FIGHTING!

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The first week of comeback appearances for longest-standing idol group Shinhwa has got off to a rocky start.

Shinhwa made their first comeback performance on Mnet’s ‘M Countdown’ on 29 March with two songs including their title track ‘Venus’. But despite it being their first comeback program, Shin Hyesung – who hurt his knee during the concert – was not able to perform the ‘Venus’ choreography with the rest of the members and could only join in the singing. A dancer performed the choreography in his place.

Likewise for the 30th March episode of KBS 2TV’s ‘Music Bank’, Shin Hyesung had to sing while sitting down. It was a pity since it was their first appearance on a terrestrial channel after a long while. But other than this, Shinhwa’s music program comeback was generally fine.

But Shinhwa hit a snag in their series of music program comeback performances on the 31 March episode of MBC’s ‘Music Core’. Despite being the comeback performance from the longest-standing idol group, their segment was cut short and the ending performance slots were given to juniors CN Blue and SHINee. On top of that, they didn’t even appear on 1 April’s episode of SBS Inkigayo.

Things like this happen due to the complex internal circumstances and relationships with broadcasters. Shinhwa’s first comeback performance was supposed to have been on Music Bank. Shinhwa member Junjin’s management company Open World doesn’t have a good relationship with Mnet, and thus up to the day before, Shinhwa’s appearance on M Countdown seemed unlikely to happen. However, the problems were dramatically resolved and Shinhwa’s first comeback performance took place on M Countdown.

Having their Music Core performance cut short and the humiliation of the ending performance slots given to juniors instead, possibly arise from the fact that they chose Music Bank for their first comeback performance on terrestrial TV. Not being able to perform on SBS Inkigayo is possibly due to reasons related to variety show appearances. However, Shinhwa’s 3rd April recording for SBS’ ‘You & I’ may change the situation.

There has also been some speculations that because of Shinhwa’s appearance on jTBC’s “Shinhwa Broadcast” before their comeback performances, things haven’t been smooth sailing for their terrestrial TV appearances, which haven’t exactly matched up to the scale of their comeback.

For PDs of terrestrial channels who do not view general programming channels favorably, they are displeased that Shinhwa’s first step after 4 years is to jTBC. In the end, longest-standing idol group Shinhwa spent their first week of comeback promotions amidst complicated conflicts of interests and power struggles.

Credits: Kuki News + Absolut Shinhwa