Mirotic

For the town in the Czech Republic, see Mirotice. For the Spanish basketball player, see Nikola Mirotić.
Not to be confused with Milotic, a Pokémon, or the Romanian Mioritic Shepherd Dog.
Mirotic

Cover of Version A
Studio album by TVXQ
Released September 26, 2008
Recorded 2007–08
Genre
Length 50:27
Language Korean
Label S.M. Entertainment
Producer Lee Soo-man (exec.)
TVXQ chronology
T
(2008)		 Mirotic
(2008)		 The Secret Code
(2009)
Singles from Mirotic
  1. "Mirotic"
    Released: September 26, 2008
  2. "Wrong Number"
    Released: November 1, 2008

Mirotic is the fourth Korean studio album (seventh overall) by South Korean pop group TVXQ, released on September 26, 2008 by S.M. Entertainment. This is the group's last Korean album to feature members Jaejoong, Yoochun and Junsu.

The album was a major commercial breakthrough and is TVXQ's most critically successful album to date. The best-selling album of 2008, Mirotic debuted atop the Hanteo charts and sold 110,000 albums in one week, setting the record for one-week sales in South Korea on that chart. Version A of the album sold over 208,000 copies in a month, and cumulative sales surpassed 500,000 copies 109 days after its release. Mirotic is the first Korean album in four years to break 500,000 sales, a number which was last achieved by Seo Taiji's 2004 album 7th Issue.[1] Mirotic sold over 541,000 copies by 2014.[2][3][4]

Background

The album had been in production since 2007, but the title was not decided upon until January 2008. TVXQ members Xiah Junsu and Max Changmin participated directly in the making of the album, penning the lyrics for "노을.. 바라보다 (Picture of You)" and "Love in the Ice", respectively. In addition, members Hero Jaejoong and Micky Yoochun composed and wrote the lyrics to "사랑아 울지마 (Don't Cry My Lover)" and "사랑 안녕 사랑 (Love Bye Love)", respectively, for version C of the album.

TVXQ had two promotional singles from the album. The title single "Mirotic" won a total of nine number-one trophies on Korean music programs The Music Trend, Music Bank, and M! Countdown, and is touted by critics as a staple song of K-pop.[5][6][7] Though succeeding single "Wrong Number" was unable to meet the success of its predecessor, it was an acclaimed K-pop hit.

Mirotic won the Disk Daesang (equivalent to Album of the Year) at the 23rd Golden Disk Awards and Album of the Year at the 2008 Mnet KM Music Festival (MKMF). It is currently the best-selling album among Korea's second-generation idols, earning the name "Album of the Decade."[8]

The choreography of "주문-Mirotic," the title track of the album, was done in a collaboration between Korean choreographers and Kenny Wormald, who had also worked with pop stars Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown and Christina Aguilera.[9] The song features a "reverse beat" track, meaning that the bass beat is either a half beat or a whole beat late in coming into a new phrase. While in most genres of music, the bass note comes in directly on the first beat of the measure in setting the chord of the phrase, reverse beat songs alter this usual method. In doing so, the reverse beat genre is said to have an effect of "growing on" the listener, having an addictive sound.

"Mirotic" is a newly coined term, created by member Hero Jaejoong, that combines the Korean miro (미로), meaning "maze", and the English suffix "-tic".

The title song was composed by the Danish producers, Remee, Lucas Secon and Thomas Troelsen. The German singer, Sarah Connor, also bought the copyright to the song (not specified when). Despite the fact that the two original songs were the same composed piece, they have musical differences (TVXQ's version has a rap and multi-layered harmonies while Connor's has a bridge; the melodies in the chorus also differ). "Mirotic" is one of the most successful singles ever in South Korea, in 2008 the song was downloaded 2,337,864 times. By the end of 2011 the song was officially downloaded 4,173,225 times.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
IZM[10]

Mirotic has received positive acclaim from music critics. Hwang Seon-eop of online magazine IZM rated the album 3.5 out of 5 stars,[10] putting Mirotic as TVXQ's most critically successful album to date.

Controversy

In November 2008, the Korean Commission of Youth Protection ruled that Mirotic was detrimental to youths and declared that the lyrics were provocative and overly sexual. As a result, the album was labeled with stickers indicating that it was unsuitable for people under 19 years old and any performances of the song would have to be broadcast after 10 PM.[11][12] In response to the ruling, SM Entertainment agreed to make a clean version but also had filed an injunction to overrule the commission's decision

“ We will make a clean version in accordance with the commission’s administrative order, but since we cannot fully accept the ruling, we plan to make a provisional disposition with the relevant court to nullify the administrative order.[11] ”

After the Commission of Youth Protection released their statement regarding the ban on the album, SM Entertainment said,

“ Even before when the order had been put against Mirotic, we have clearly negotiated and tried to explain the real meaning and explanation of the lyrics, but even after this the results came out unexpectedly and we are bewildered as of this moment. [and] "Jumun-Mirotic"'s lyrical meaning is entirely different and miles away from the erotic or sexual that the association is making it to be.[fn 1][13] ”

TVXQ performed the clean version at the 23rd Annual Golden Disk Awards. The lyrics were changed from "I got you" to "I chose you" and "I got you under my skin" to "I got you under my sky."[11]

In March 2009, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of SM Entertainment, stating:

“ We acknowledge that the lyrics concerned, including "You want me, you give yourself up to me, you’re crazy about me" and "I got you under my skin," may imply sexual acts, but they did not describe sexual acts or feelings excessively to the level that can stimulate youths' sexual desire... Even though we acknowledge that the young are more sensitive to sexual stimuli and less able to control sexual urges, the lyrics neither encouraged youth to have sex nor described women as object for sex.[14] ”

On April 9, 2009, the Commission of Youth Protection announced they would appeal the ruling to a high court after having an emergency meeting and deeming that the phrase, "I got you under my skin", was inappropriate for minors.[15]

Track listing

Version A

CD
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."주문-Mirotic" (Magic Spell)Yoo Young-jinSigvardt, Mikkel Remee, Lucas Secon, Thomas Troelsen3:28
2."Wrong Number"  Kang Joon-wooMarvin Ambrosius, Christopher Lee Joe, Iain James, Philippe Anquetil4:14
3."노을... 바라보다 (Picture of You)" (Looking at the Sunset)Xiah Junsu, Thanh BuiMarcus Jilla, James Hollands, James Critcher4:51
4."Crazy Love"  Young-hu KimYoung-hu Kim3:43
5."Hey! (Don't Bring Me Down)"  Yoo Young-jinYoo Young-jin4:11
6."넌 나의 노래 (You're My Melody)" (You're My Song)Young-hu KimJV, Sean Alexander, Pascal "Claps" Guyon3:33
7."무지개 (Rainbow)"  KenzieKenzie4:11
8."낙원 (Paradise)"  WheesungKelvin Kumar, Sean Kumar4:39
9."악녀 (Are You a Good Girl?)" (Wicked Woman)Yoo Young-jinYoo Young-jin4:11
10."Flower Lady"  Jo Yoon KyeongAndrew Omar Grange, Rupert Lloyd Gayle, Micah Samuel Williams3:53
11."잊혀진 계절" (Forgotten Season, Hero solo)Park Keon HoLee Beom Hee4:22
12."Love in the Ice" (Korean version of Love in the Ice)Max ChangminDaisuke Suzuki, Yuya Saito5:18

Version B

Version C

Taiwanese version

Japanese version

Release history

Country Date
South Korea September 26, 2008
Taiwan October 17, 2008
Japan December 12, 2008
Philippines January 30, 2010

Sales

Korea albums & singles chart[16]

Chart Position Cumulative sales
September Monthly Chart (2008) 1 307,974
October Monthly Chart (2008) 1 500,000 +

Taiwanese chart

G-Music Jpop Yearly Sale Chart[16]

Year Position Sales(%)
2008 1 3.45%

Awards

Year Award-Giving Body Category Result
2008 Mnet Asian Music Awards[17] Album of the Year Won
Golden Disk Awards Album of the Year Won

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Original text: "결정이 나오기 전 청보위 측에 정확한 가사 해석을 제출했다"면서 "그런데도 이런 결과가 나와 당황스럽다"며 '주문-미로틱'의 노랫말은 선정성과는 전혀 관계없다는 입장을 밝혔다.

References

  1. ↑ Kim Hyeong-woo (2009-01-08). "동방신기 4집 103일만에 50만장 판매 돌파" [TVXQ 4th album 500,000 sales topped in 103 days]. Newsen. Retrieved 2014-11-28.
  2. ↑ "2012년 10월 Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on 2015-07-10. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  3. ↑ "2013년 10월 Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on 2015-06-23. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  4. ↑ "Gaon Albums Chart, April 2014" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2015-04-27.
  5. ↑ "TVXQ, Which Member is Most Pure...?!". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved March 7, 2009.
  6. ↑ "TVXQ, Trying the Dance Number That Fits in the Winter!!". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved March 7, 2009.
  7. ↑ "TVXQ, To Become USJ Asia Goodwi-ll Ambassadors". Variety Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved March 7, 2009.
  8. ↑ http://www.allkpop.com/2012/07/sm-entertainments-2nd-generation-idols-achieve-great-album-sales-numbers
  9. ↑ "TVXQ's 4th Studio Album Mirotic Simply Irresistible". KBS GLOBAL. September 18, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  10. 1 2 "TVXQ's Mirotic". IZM (in Korean). Retrieved 2013-12-17.
  11. 1 2 3 Kim, Hyung-eun (December 16, 2008). "Teen tunes get the rap from censoring body". JoongAng Ilbo. Archived from the original on May 29, 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2009.
  12. ↑ "SM application for injunction on hazardous youth ruling". KBS (in Korean). December 2, 2008. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
  13. ↑ "SM, next week, 'order' application for injunction remains suspended effective decision". Money Today (in Korean). December 6, 2008. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
  14. ↑ Kim, Rahn (April 1, 2009). "Court Rules TVXQ Album Not Harmful to Youth". Korea Times. Retrieved April 1, 2009.
  15. ↑ Bae, Ji-sook (April 9, 2009). "Government Appeals to Define TVXQ's Song 'Lewd'". Korea Times. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2009.
  16. 1 2 Music Industry Association of Korea
  17. ↑ "2008 M.net Korean Music Festival Winners list". MAMA. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
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