The Making of TVXQ's 'Keep Your Head Down', and why it shouldn't have happened

The year is 2008, and TVXQ are riding high, the Korean five-member boy band just released their album Mirotic, breaking records and revitalizing sales for albums, which had been on a long and painful decline since the mid-'90s. The album's lead single, Mirotic, became the band's biggest hit yet, reinventing themselves with a dark and edgy funk sound, inspired by producers Yoo Young-Jin and Thomas Troelsen. If there was any doubt about who were the biggest artists in Korea before, it was certainly quelled with Mirotic's success. Pair that with their incredible success in Japan and Taiwan, and it was arguable that TVXQ were the biggest artists in Asia. Their next Korean album was already in the works, and it would possibly be the first album since the late '90s in Korea to break a million copies sold. 

Producer Yoo Young-Jin was soon put in charge of leading the album, and especially behind composing the title track. Sometime in late 2008 or early 2009, he finished creating Maximum, an R&B pop song, not too different from the fan-favorite Mirotic track Hey! Don't Bring Me Down. The powering track would feature SMP flourishes and climax in a massive bridge where members Jaejoong and Junsu would unless the vocals that made them the industry gold standard.

However, at the time, TVXQ were in trouble. SM Entertainment's contract with the boy band lasted for a shocking thirteen years, and they would not make any profits of their albums unless they sold 500,000 copies. During TVXQ's years as a quintet, only one album in Korea reached this milestone, their final album, Mirotic. Three of the members, main vocalists Junsu and Jaejoong, along with rapper-vocalist Yoochun, were tired of the abuse, both financially and mentally, that they felt through SM entertainment. While releasing their album The Secret Code in Japan, the trio filed to split from SM Entertainment. To simplify a complex series of events that deserve their own post, the lawsuit led to an injunction that SM could not interfere with the three members' activities, effectively putting a halt on the quintet's upcoming album. Noticing the way the winds blow, the group's Japanese agency Avex quickly released an unfinished Japanese album as part of a best-of-release. By the end of June 2010, the long legal process reached a major point when the trio, now going as JYJ, formally left TVXQ. For most outlets, this was a shocking revelation for the fandom, which swung between despair and relentless hope for a return. But it was clear to most that TVXQ, the biggest artists across East Asia were gone.

Or... were they?

Behind the scenes at SM, throughout much of late 2009 and 2010, there were questions about the fate of the band. By now, it was clear that the JYJ members were not coming back, and three options were left. The first, the most likely, and the most popular was to disband the group, as assumed by everyone. There were only two members left in Changmin and Yunho, neither of them was the most popular, and were hardly the best-paired vocal duo, with similar timbres. The two members could then go solo, Changmin as a rockstar and Yunho as an SMP rapper.

The second was to form a new combination of the group, possibly by adding new members. While it was never publically revealed who was considered to be added to the group, we have a few very obvious suspects. The first is Jino, now of Pentagon. At the time, he was an SM The Ballad member and SM trainee. In fact, for the vocal R&B group's debut single Hot Times, he was chosen as the replacement for Junsu. It is almost certain that his inclusion was being probed as a potential launch for his entry into TVXQ. Another obvious entry would be Suho, now of EXO. He had been an SM trainee for years by this point and was a clear and obvious pick. Another potential option would be to merge TVXQ with other surviving SM groups, such as Super Junior. This option would have likely never been taken seriously, partially due to the Super Junior fandom (ELF)'s intense dislike of member changes, and Super Junior's new popularity with a more electronic-party sound, very different from TVXQ's R&B rock sound.

The third, almost unthinkable option, was to continue TVXQ as a duo. The members would face a bit of a vocal issue, as even though they were talented, their timbres were too similar. The major reason this was even being considered was that the duo already had an established fandom, and the scraps of their uncomplete ninth album (fourth Korean album) were written in such a way that the duo could certainly tackle the sound, especially since it could best be described as SMP/R&B/rap-rock, a merger of the duo's individual sounds.

There was only one way to know for sure...

August 21, 2010, SMTown 2010, Seoul Olympic Stadium, attendance: 35,000. In came an intro, "After chaos, we stuck it out, stood through hard times, WE STILL STANDING HERE, WE ARE DONG BANG SHIN KI." Over the stamping rock of We Will Rock You came through floating wires, Changmin and Yunho. Actually, in came TVXQ. They opened with a medley of some of their best-known hits, carefully only sticking to the choruses and solo lines of the two members, until their most iconic song, Mirotic came on. In a move that stood as symbolic, Changmin sung what was Yoochun's line, signaling the beginning of a new era of TVXQ.

Afterward, the now-duo performed their new songs, written by Yoo Young-Jin for the now-once-again alive dream of TVXQ's successor to Mirotic. Young-Jin wrote solo songs for each member. Changmin performed a stadium-ready rock anthem with Big Time, and Yunho performed Keep Your Head Down, a hip-hop anthem. Both songs were well-received, but Keep Your Head Down especially generated cheers.

It all culminated with a performance of their next single, Maximum. The stadium-ready R&B dance track was also well-received. Even now, we can still see SM's back-up plans with the solo tracks, and particularly a (supremely-underrated) collaboration where Changmin and rock band TRAX joined Super Junior's Don't Don.

Throughout the initial leg of the SMTOWN 2010 series, from August to September, TVXQ were extremely well-received. It suddenly became possible, nay, inevitable for a TVXQ duo to succeed. SM's biggest fear, a fandom split, was warranted and did play out, but most JYJ fans chose to still support Changmin and Yunho (called by fans as "HoMin" for a bit), giving the official TVXQ a bit of an edge.

With the official green light given, Yoo Young-Jin and TVXQ (now officially Yunho and Changmin only) worked to finish the group's ninth LP (ten, counting a 2004 Christmas special). A few major changes were made. Notably, Keep Your Head Down's ravenous applause convinced them to replace Maximum with it as the title track. The song was reworked to function for the duo, and the lyrics were changed to (likely) vaguely hint at TVXQ's break-up. The choreography even featured a move of Changmin showing five fingers, before switching to two. Maximum was redelegated as a b-side, but was to be promoted on music shows anyway. Big Time was forever cut, and never released.

Additionally, many producers that gained prominence since the band's last album were included in the tracklist. Names such as E-Tribe, Outsidaz, Ryan Jhun, Kenzie, Iconic Sounds, and Zebra1 were included, along with long-time collaborators Yoo Young-Jin, and has brother Yoo Han-Jin. The end result was an album that merged R&B with harder SMP edges, and a love for ballads. Yunho was given a new solo with Honey Funny Bunny and Changmin with Confession. While most songs stuck to a base sound, some tracks, like Our Game, featured a Western production team, for a more electronic sound. Additionally, features from Girls' Generation's Seohyun and TRAX's Jay added to the album's texture.

In November 2010, the album was announced, along with the title, Keep Your Head Down. Two versions would be released, one with a hundred-page photobook, and the other with an OST for Changmin's K-Drama Paradise Ranch, Journey. With the anticipation building, the first song from the album was released on December 20, 2010. It was Athena, an OST for the series, Athena: Goddess of War. Produced by Hwang Hyun, then of Sweetune, and now of Monotree, Athena was tense and dramatic, with crescendo-ing strings and high notes formed with a vengeance. While it hardly made an impact on the charts, peaking at number 22 for Korea's Gaon (now Circle) Chart, it remains a tantalizing track and a proof-of-concept of what TVXQ could still do.

On January 5, 2011, Keep Your Head Down, album, single, and MV, were released. The single instantly garnered controversy due to the lyrics' perceived jibes at the members of JYJ. Nonetheless, the song surged to the top five, selling 1.4 million copies just as a song. Numbers, hardly can explain Keep Your Head Down. It slowly grew to be a fandom favorite, and its MV-styling influenced much of K-Pop's look for the remainder of the second generation. It became a thundering return, and almost always serves as the intro to the duo's concerts. Its penchant for stadium-ready thunder has inspired an endless supply of covers, parodies, and memes. Yunho's shouted intro has led to many iconic moments and in-jokes for K-Pop fans. All jokes aside, Keep Your Head Down's fierceness was effective, and only Changmin's shout of "It's the return of the king!" could ever feel real. The song even topped the charts in Japan later.

Keep Your Head Down, the album too, was met with instant success. The album topped charts in both Korea and Japan, selling 413,000 copies. This was less than Mirotic, but it was nonetheless the third-best-selling K-Pop album internationally of 2011 (JYJ's In Heaven and Girls' Generation's The Boys sold just a little bit more, though numbers are often disputed, and TVXQ might have sold better than JYJ). This prompted SM to create a repackage of the album, with a new single, Before U Go. Ignoring mild controversy over its MV (due to violence, and (alleged) links to JYJ in its story. It is quite well-directed though), Before U Go was also a hit, but its true influence lies in how it more or less reinvented idol R&B. Later songs, such as EXO's What Is Love were quite obviously indebted to Before U Go's drama. The final minute-and-half let Changmin go ballistic, re-establishing himself as one of Korea's greatest vocalists.

These days, TVXQ surviving the split and continuing as legends is a given. That was not the case in early 2010, and it was largely due to Keep Your Head Down, and its Japanese counterpart Tone that TVXQ have continued for 13 years after being reduced to a duo. While the quality of the album is a given, its behind-the-scenes process is arguably as iconic and important, and that is what I aimed to highlight in this post. The album gave the duo one of their most iconic songs ever, and reshaped the state of veteran acts in K-Pop. Over seven years after debut, TVXQ had showcased they were still there, it was the return of the king.

Image Source: Victory Records