Fear not, dear Cassiopeia -- our humble leader may already be in the Army (sob!) but there was no way I was not going to talk about this.
TV5Q! sure has walked a long road since their debut in 2003 -- even just in the six or so years I've been happy enough to know them. Their place in KPOP history cemented, ("U-Know") Yunho's official leave for his mandatory Korean military service marks the second member (following Jaejoong) of the godly five to leave us mere mortals temporarily.
Rather than wait it out and stun the whole KPOP game with his crazy vocal chops and wild (snarky) soul (reference!), the team's baby and my personal bias ("Max") Changmin has quietly stated he will also soon be leaving us for the army, hoping to shorten the gap of time that duo!Shinki is on hiatus. Of course, I appreciate the sentiment and all but I selfishly was really hoping for a solo album. Bias is as bias does, right? And in Min's case, he would probably take a lot of amusement in that dream being crushed.
It also bares mentioning that current actor Yoochun has also announced army plans for August. This leaves Cassiopeia with only our duckbutt Junsu who as far as I know has not mentioned anything about his service plans. (It reminds of the five original members' prank game where the other four would purposely "leave out" Junsu when introducing their names to troll him. Who's laughing now, guys? ::Mel sobs uncontrollably::)
As a final parting gift, Yunho & Changmin have unleashed their "special" album Rise As God, just as Super Junior released Devil not as an official album per say, but a highlight reel of career strength. I'm choosing to take this grammatical fail of a title as part of the metaphor that is highlighted in one of Changmin's solo songs from the disc called "Rise As One" -- a display of the two's friendship and unity. That Min, for all his snark and sass, he certainly proved his undying devotion toward Yunho. (It's also a blatant reference to their team name itself -- Dong Bang Shin Ki, means "Rising Gods of the East".)
Seeing as Yunho is already now in the army itself and Changmin is finishing up a drama, there will be no live performance promotions from this set (besides, SM is too busy trying to win back Girls' Generation's favor as the Divine Nine Elite Eight of KPOP). Despite this, we've still got two polar opposite music videos -- Changmin's "Rise As One", a somewhat EDM-y, somewhat generic floor-filler cut that allows him to show how expansive his voice is, and Yunho's "Champagne", an oddly catchy pop jangler that allows him to show off how much of a dorky grandpa he apparently is.
Don't get this twisted -- I'm not bitter that this is how HoMin is going out pre-army. Do I wish they could have had a mammoth, dark dance banger so Yunho could show off his legit moves and Changmin could do that bellow-wail-scream thing and eye-eff the camera? Sure. But I also live in reality. Rise As God is a peace offering to fans. And besides, it's not like they'll never be back.
But as I said before -- these two years better fly damnit.
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