Shinhwa members, Kim Dong Wan and Shin Hye Sung are releasing their solo albums around the same time – making them direct competitors in Korea’s cut throat music industry. Kim Dong Wan will release his first solo album in mid-July and Shin Hye Sung in early August. Since these two are on good terms, they are more excited about it than feel threatened, but it’s going to be interesting to see who’s better than who. Who do you think will win the Shinhwa solo battle this summer?
*Kim Dong Wan recently finished filming his MV and Shin Hye Sung will kick of his second album with a Japan concert tour in August. Shin will hit four cities including Kanazawa (23), Tokyo (25), Osaka (27) and Nagoya (29).
Kim Dong Wan! Kim Dong Wan! I love his voice.
Obviously Shin Hye Sung! I love Dong Wan too but the voice of Hyesung is like a voice of an angel…So beautiful!
Besides, the first album was a hit and DongWan isn’t well known for his voice..^^
Shin Hye Sung for sure!
I love Kim Dong Hwan but I think he’s better as an actor.
Hyesung is better known for his voice but his first album was a disappointment. Hopefully his second album will do much better. I’m hoping Hyesung does better because I’m biased lol.
SHS has a better voice so i guess he’ll win?!?!?
i totally go for kim dong wan, i just love his voice!
hyesung is not the lead vocal(of shinhwa) for no reason~~~for me, i’ll definitely buy hyesung’s album first, then listen to wannie’s online, and if i like wannie’s i’ll buy it too:P
man i’m sooo ;looking forward to hyesung’s vol. 2~!!!!
how i wish he’ll hold a concert in australia~!!
i think shin hye sung is going to win ! =] he has a better voice.
DONGWAN! I love his body!! That goes with his voice.
I’m tired of HyeSung’s voice, overlapping since Shinhwa days.
Shin Hyesung, of course!
His voice is far more versatile than Dongwan’s.
Not that I’m not excited about Wannie’s 1st jib.
Shinhwa members, HWAITING!
prob hyesung cause he’s got more experience being solo. dong wan is good at acting though. heh.
Dong Wan oppa is HOT. *cheers on* XD
they are both awesome.. i hope they both do well……
I love them both but I think hyesung will win because he ahs released cds before and is more popular.
I dunno as individuals i Like Dong Wan better but as vocals…I agree that Shin Hye Sung is more talented in that area – i have to say that whoever has the better songs will win. I don’t reallie like their voices though..so nasally it bugs me – reminds me of BoA >_
I think that SHS will do better. I am hopping that he dose an R&B style this time not just ballads.
Dong Wan is good too, I like him better as an actor though.
Is Minwoo still releasing his album in the US this month?
you guys have got to be kidding me. both of them have NO voice. they have no singing talent. they are manufactured, cookie-cutter, run-of-the mill average lookin’ korean guys. hyesung’s voice kinda sounds like a old wailing siren. dongwan’s voice is stuck in his throat. his acting is pretty sucky too. eric seems to have found a niche doing silly roles since that’s about as much as his acting abilities will take him. jun jin can’t act or sing. who knows what andy does…
honestly, i think korea’s pop music scene is a total joke. the big houses like sm entertainment have literally farmhouses full of hopefuls. the talent “directors” mix and match kids together until they find a combination that is MARKETABLE and work on them for years before they “debut”. they teach them how to “dance”, teach them how to “sing”. that is why the contracts are so bent against the “artists” because the companies are making their money back on their “investments”. there’s a reason why once these groups get big, they “break up” for solo careers or move on to other agencies to represent them once their contracts are over.
there are a only a handful of truly talented SINGERS in korea. frankly, i don’t understand why certain “singers” feel the need to branch out to “acting” when they can’t do either.
personally, i wish kim dong wan would do better, but i think hye sung will actually do a little better.
but i’m glad for him.
to “OMG!”
im really curious as to who you think is those handful of truly talented singers are in korea,,
Janet:
i think people like kim johan, bobby kim, kim gunmo, kim kyungho, big mama are talented SINGERS. do i think some of the manufactured bubble-gum pop is entertaining? sure. but they are not singers. they are entertainers. in other words:
singers = entertainers
entertainers != singers
as for my comment about the manufactured acts, TIME magazine (asia edition) did a full cover story about it, particularly spotlighting sm entertainment… i didn’t make that one up.
http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/1101020729/story.html
shin hye sung was more “the singer” in shinhwa so he’ll have the stronger voice butttttt his music style seems to linger around the ballade area whereas kim dong wan may not have as strong of a voice, he might choose a better music style and spread from ballades to faster beats?
tie?
I love both of them
I love Kim Dong Wan…But, no doubt Hyesung has the voice better !! if i ever have to buy one of their albums, i’ll buy Hye sung’s first then I’ll buy Dong Wan’s
i agree that they are very talented singers (esp bigmama)
but i think the definition of good singers is different to everyone
personally i think good singers are people that sing songs that are appealing to people. and of course that also means that their voices must be good too.
entertainers are people like hyunyoung
i dont know about you,, but i like the genre of pop and i think SOME boybands are really good singers
its like people that like rock think that people who rap are dont make music because all they do is……talk really fast??
and people who like rap think people who sing rock is nothing but yelling and guitar
it just depends on what people enjoy and i dont think that people should determine who are singers
on the otherhand i do think companies (sm entertainment etc…) arent so innocent. but i think EVERYONE has an image that their company demands. sm entertainment might want an image different from r&b or ballad singers,, so what? its different because they have a different audience to appeal to.
about the article. i only skimmed over it because its realllyyyyyyyyy long, but from what i saw im really not surprised. never liked like those greedy presidents, lee sooman or park jinyoung. its not a surprise to anyone that they bribed and stuff but what does that have to do with their popularity? its not like they bribed us to like them..
janet:
maybe i should clarify myself. when i mean talented singer, i’m talking talent regardless of genre, not just r&b or pop or rock. maya, yoon dohyun, jaurim’s kim yunah are some i can think of who are also very talented singers who, by virtue of their talent is able to entertain. much the same way we’d recognize brian mcknight and someone like josh groban to be talented singers despite different genres of music.
you really should read and try to comprehend the article – the point of the bribery scandal is that sm entertainment and others have bought air time for their acts and therefore influenced who gets popular purely based on exposure. you can be the most talented, beautiful, exciting singer or actress or model in the world, but if no one knows about you, you won’t get popular and by extension won’t make much money. so i’d have to say yes, the bribery DOES affect the general public (namely, us) since it influences their taste in pop culture.
Phew.. tough.. but at least they’re good enough friends not to be bitter competitors. Personally, I like both their voices from Shinhwa– which I understand not everyone agrees to but that’s okay because we all have different opinions.
Depending on the music I’ll decide which one I’ll be more likely to buy. Or I’ll just cut myself some slack from choosing and just get’em both, haha.
Well as it may be true that exposure is one of the factors that can make a certain song popular but it is only one of them. It has to catch the attention of people too. Songs that keep repeating but are not good to listen to irritates people.
Not everyone likes the most popular.. this could also be the reason why the more fans they have the more anti-fans they’ll have as well.
good is a subjective word..
korea has a very, very good underground music scene, however a lot of their songs dont cater to the public
also some good and talented artists’ songs can easily bore a lot of people
but i agree that hyesung’s voice is nasally
and on the ‘manufacturing’ thing
its the way the korean music industry has gone..
its business
yes it can pretty sad that they need to make them, but really..
talent CAN be made and honed
i dont understand the big deal about that
however i disagree with you when you say that dongwan sucks at acting
have you watched his latest drama?
even critics were praising him
i personally love shinhwa and all the guys in it. i think theyre decent at singing and some of them are decent and acting. its offensive that you say shit about them, but whatever, everyones entitled to their own opinions.
i somewhat agree that “korea’s pop music scene is a total joke”, i mean there are singers who cant sing at all, like hyunyoung, but there are a lot of talented singers. everyone in these big companies like SM Entertainment KNOW how to sing. even if your taught how to sing, if you dont have the talent in the first place, you can never sing well. most of these artists know how to sing (which is how they got into the company in the first place) and then they are trained in vocals and in areas where theyre not that great (maybe hitting high or low notes). all these artists DO have at least some talent.
oh and what you said: “the talent “directors” mix and match kids together until they find a combination that is MARKETABLE and work on them for years before they “debut”” of course they have to be marketable, they have to appeal to viewers and fans. its not only in korea who does this, i dont get why your solely attacking the korean music industry. i mean i get some of it, but there are other bands in different countries that are “mixed and matched” before they debut.
the reason why the groups get big isnt because companies sign contracts with them and train them. its the reaction of the fans/viewers overall that decide whether a group/artist will get famous or not. companies didnt demand that fans like the groups that they “created”, its the fans’ decision. i mean there was a failure in SM (a group called black beat?) and they were all fairly good looking and decent singers. also, some groups make it big because theyre all goodlooking, and “cute” or “hot”. i do agree that some artists make it big not on their talent. but isnt that the same for all artists over the world? noone wants to see some fat, ugly(excuse me) person singing on stage no matter how much talent they have.
oh and almost all artists are tempted by companies/businesses to act, and almost all actors are tempted by companies/businesses to sing. ALL OVER THE WORLD. i mean in korea, lee junki was oringially an actor but released an album. eric is in shinhwa, and he acts in dramas/movies. in america, lindsey lohan was an actor but was tempted to sing. same with hilary duff. its the same for all entertainers over the world. granted, there are MANY failures.
woah that was the longest comment i ever wrote on popseoul.
Luv them both but rooting for my fav dongwannie~!! Aja!
although i’m a pure wannie fan, but have to admit hyesung has the more soothing voice.
h/e over the years, dongwan has tried to sing a variety of styles, in different languages – on tv solo appearances, in dramas, in concerts, etc. so he’s proven that he’ll try anything so he has a chance to reach a larger audience. he has a strong solid voice, not just a pretty face & body. he does HAVE talent otherwise i wouldn’t appreciate all his efforts as an entertainer.
wannie hwaiting!
even tho Hyesung’s voice is very good, i think that Dongwan or Minwoo will do better because they can they can sing and dance and explore into different types of music; whereas hyesung can only sing ballads and ballads CAN get a little boring
Well, Hye Sung does have a voice of an angel but Dong Wan is hot too. I would want DongWan to win but we’ll see.
I think that Hye Sung should step away from ballads for a while because I think if he goes into like hiphop or r&b, with his voice, he will be at the top and especially when he is going to dance he will rock. Min Woo he is very cute and attractive. He knows how to sing, act and dance very well but I still choose DongWan. I’m a fan of his and I do hope he wins because he has a good voice, he knows how to dance and he can be really cute. Junjin however on the other hand is pretty good too but he can be kind of boring with his dancing although it is interesting and grabs attention.
it doesn’t matter
they both will do good
they Sound great! I love Dongwan and Hyesung.
Both veriiiiiiiiiii Handsome.
Man hye sung’s voice is better ang so is his look but, somehow, i prefer dong wan’s album. If you put M in it too, i’ll choose M’s album..maybe it’s about the style of music.
BTW, They’re all great in their own way!
I like hye sung’s voiceand smile, dong wang’s laughing and m’s album!
Last, agree with Janet…
I prefer buy SHS album, because he’s very exist in the colour of music. i think he’s the best in korea male singer, same like Wang Lee Hom in taiwan, but he’s don’t have talent in play all instrument.
their both great im sure they’ll do just fine
will u ever put up the results of the battle?????
Who wins is no big prom cos’ i will support everyone in SHINWHA group….
SHIN HYE SUNG ALL THE WAY!
DONG WAN ftw.
ofcourse HYE SUNG!!!! I love dong wan too, i mean i love all the shinhwa members, butttt Hye sung has the best voice. Who can argue with that??????