The Legendary Orange

Recent events have every Shinhwa Changjo shaken up one way or another. I, for one, have been caught in the whirlwind, hence I waited for my head to clear before writing anything. Now the rest of this piece is purely based on my observation and should be taken with a grain of salt.

The announcement of Eric’s upcoming marriage drew a huge mix of reactions from the fans. However, I have narrowed down the main emotions that dominated in the past 3 or 4 days. You may be familiar with the movie Inside Out. In the movie, they clustered a person’s emotions into 5 basic categories – Anger, Fear, Disgust, Joy and Sadness. I will do the same in my analysis as I observed that these are the same emotions that prevailed. This is not absolute since it’s human nature to feel all of these emotions at different points.

ANGER The anger group is the group that has caused quite a stir in the fandom. These are the people who felt frustration after the announcement. However, they are not angry only because of the announcement. It is likely the announcement was just the trigger and that they have more pent up frustration on past things that I personally cannot attest to. But some say it’s because of the last comeback, and some say it’s because of the manner of announcement. I will not dwell on the reasons. But whatever it is, I will not question it anymore as people’s anger are triggered differently. This group almost immediately left the group, but not after saying some harsh words about Shinhwa. I personally can only empathize with their frustration, but not in the manner that they have hurt Shinhwa with their words. However, any form of frustration is valid. Whether they choose to return to the fandom is still up in the air. Time will only heal and tell. Anger has inadvertently created the second group of fans.

FEAR The fear group are those who have seen the events unfold and got paranoid over the sudden actions of the Anger group. Some of these people already have been scared ever since news of Eric dating was confirmed. I believe this is one of the biggest, if not the biggest chunk of the fandom. They’re those who question Shinhwa’s future because of fans leaving. Some are even contemplating of leaving because they don’t know how to deal if their fears come true. Now I believe this sort of thinking is quite counterproductive. Why? Because leaving based on their fear will just make their fears come true instead of preventing them to come true. An exodus of this group will be a huge loss to the fandom, in turn will definitely affect Shinhwa’s future. I am quite hoping both Shinhwa and Shinhwa Changjos who have remained will work on exacerbating this group’s fears. I do believe Dongwan’s latest words should help at the very least to assure them.

DISGUST People who are in this group are those who could no longer stand both Anger and Fear and the actions that they have done. These are people who couldn’t believe that adults could actually act and speak the way they did. While they crave for understanding for Shinhwa, they choose to just ultimately give up as they don’t want to be associated with SHCJs. This group is relatively small, but they do exist. And I do believe they could also be swayed as the Fear group.

JOY Amid the chaos, I have seen so much love and support from a lot of SHCJs the past few days. These people have somehow remained level-headed and have seen the silver lining in the bad. They may be frustrated or sad at times but eventually chose to be happy for Eric. They are the hope of the fandom as their influence to the former 3 groups would account for a lot. They need to take care and better understand the other 3. At the same time, they also need to continue assuring Shinhwa of their support. These people should also take care of each other since there’s no knowing if they’d turn to fear, anger or disgust. I am glad that there are still a good number that choose this path as they’re proof that the fandom is not doomed.

I was never prepared for the guerilla concert. In fact, I clicked on the video thinking it’s just one of their performances. But boy, was I wrong. It wrecked me. 

Just a little 411. A guerilla concert is an impromptu show/concert that an artist puts up given a short period of time to promote, mostly via word of mouth. This is usually held at non-traditional venues. Apparently this was a thing back then for Kpop idols. Not sure if they still do it nowadays. 

Flashback to 2001, a much younger Shinhwa took up the dare, albeit obviously missing one member - their beloved maknae, Andy (Lee Sunho). They were challenged to gather at least 10,000 people to watch their concert given just about a couple of hours or so of moving around the city, with nothing but a megaphone and flyers to announce the time and venue to the unsuspecting public. Jun Jin, being Jun Jin (bless him), was the most passionate one with the promotion, being the one who volunteered for the group in the first place. Once the promotion time was up, the boys gathered at the venue blindfolded so that they will not see how many people came. I understand how for a relatively young group, this could be a very nerve-racking experience. I mean, of course they are aware they have a huge fanbase. But as I mentioned, guerilla concerts are held at unusual places. This one was at a university gym, up a hill, and several miles from the city center. Who’d be crazy enough to go on a short notice? Well apparently over 11,000 crazies (I’d go too if I were there lol) While the boys were blindfolded, the tension was palpable. Jun Jin was the first one to get very emotional because of extreme anxiety and fatigue. Their vulnerability allowed them to tell each other how they each mean to each other. It also allowed them to express their sadness over the absence of Andy. It was very touching when Min Woo said that he wants to be with the guys forever and how he wishes for Andy to be with them. Even Dong Wan who never cries, actually broke down. Jun Jin, who’s also not as affectionate, told his hyungs how much he loves them. I was already a crying mess at this time. When they removed their blindfolds and saw all the people, another round of tears ensued. Eric was obviously trying to be macho and held back his tears. I was reduced to a pile of mush and was practically useless for the rest of the day. So obviously they won the challenge and got to perform their concert to the fans. 

 I learned a few things about the guys after watching this: 

1. Shinhwa will never be Shinhwa with a member missing. Andy arguably may not be as prominent in terms of the role he plays as his hyungs. However, his absence proved that Shinhwa will not feel complete without him. Any role, no matter how small, creates a huge hole in this group. 

2. This was probably one of the first public testaments of how strong their bond is, not only as a group of singers, but also as brothers. 

3. Jun Jin baring himself showed just how vulnerable he is. Without knowing his background then, I knew he hadn't had it easy in life just by watching him. 

4. One of their secrets to their success is their passion and drive. Regardless of the unfavorable circumstances, they did their very best and worked hard. And as they work hard, they also play hard. It’s very evident up to this time.

5. At the end of the day, they were just typical young boys, who initially wanted so badly to prove themselves to everyone, but ended up scared shitless. But as with any friendship, they felt better knowing they have each other's backs. It was beautiful to watch.

Image Sources:

https://goo.gl/images/pLlWgb

1997. It was the heyday of MTV. The year I discovered Brit pop and became the ultimate Boyzone fan. Everytime they visited the country for shows, I was there. I collected every cd, magazine, VHS (yes those existed still back then) I could get my hands on. I even followed their road manager up until the entrance of the men's room (long story). I was 14.