JYJ Release First Korean Album, Have Eye on Europe

After releasing its first English-language album last October and wrapping up its global tour this spring, three-man band JYJ released its first Korean album "In Heaven" on Sept. 28 (Above picture: JYJ /Courtesy of C-JeS Entertainment).

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"This album is so meaningful to us because it charts our journey and contains many of our cherished memories over the last two years since we debuted as JYJ", the band said in an interview last week. Some 150,000 copies of the album released in Korea have already sold out.

The three men wrote more than 80 percent of the tracks on the album. Kim Jae-joong, who created the title track "In Heaven", described his special attachment to the album because it was truly a product of collaboration between the three.

Park Park Yoo-chun also said, "Although the album's not perfect, I'm happy that we were able to work as we wanted to by cooperating and resolving our differences".

The group, composed of Kim Jae-joong Jae-joong, Park Yoo-chun and Jun-su, was formerly part of the immensely popular K-pop band TVXQ -- one of the forerunners of the Korean Wave in Japan -- but forged its own route in 2010 after a legal dispute with agency SM Entertainment in 2009.

"We haven't been able to appear on TV music programs [due to the legal dispute with our former agency], so we have had limited opportunities to perform for fans. But we'll never stop singing and performing", the band said.

Kim Jun-su said the band was determined to keep fans happy. "We'll keep improving as we prepare for more chances to get on stage", he said.

The popular boy group will be holding solo concerts in Europe -- a first for a K-pop group -- in Spain on Oct. 29 and in Germany on Nov. 6. But first they have a date in Japan on Oct. 15.

Kim Jae-joongJae-joong said they were not going to adjust their music to suit the ears of European fans, but rather the other way around.

"We will be recognized for our music -- which we are very good at -- rather than adjusting our music to the European style", he said.