From 5 to 3, JYJ’s 15-sec pause/silence (title of this article)
Bidding farewell to TVXQ and forming the new unit of JYJ, Yoochun, Junsu and Jaejoong visited Singapore for the first time with their new album. However, the press conference lasted for a mere 15 minutes , leading to the protest of the media.
As a result of the local organizer’s incompetence in many aspects, JYJ lost impression marks and Yoochun ended up having to apologizing to the local media.
After the formation of their new unit, JYJ was faced with many scandals. There were Japanese media reports that the trio’s termination of contract with former employer SM Entertainment was allegedly backed by local gangsters.
Recently, SM Entertainment applied for an injunction to the Seoul court for prohibition of the sale of JYJ’s album, on the grounds of their existing contract. At the same time, the Korean Federation of Pop Culture and Arts has requested all tv stations, radio stations, record companies and music sites to boycott JYJ’s works.
In the media invitation, the local organizer mentioned that JYJ’s management company has specifically requested that questions regarding SM Entertainment, criminal affiliation, the lawsuit and TVXQ are to be forbidden.
Yet amidst the hype around the scandal, it is impossible that the local media would allow such valuable opportunity (of asking JYJ their feedback) to pass. However, the local media to understand the organiser’s stance and have tried to cooperate by avoiding sensitive wordings and raise questions in an indirect manner.
However before the press conference started, the MC suddenly notified the present 20 media that there will not be a question-and-answer section. Instead, the MC himself will be representing the media in asking a set of “approved questions”.
I questioned the MC as to where the source of these “approved questions” came from since the organizer did not request questions from media prior to the event. He merely answered me “I don’t know”.
PR executing “press control”
Some media requested an explanation from authorities and after 10 minutes, the representative of the PR firm explained that due to the flight delay, JYJ has to rush to rehearsal and hence only 15 minutes can be spared for the press conference.
I therefore challenged that 15 minutes is still sufficient for a question-and-answer section. It is only till this point that the PR firm admitted that they were to execute firm “press control” to avoid sensitive questions directed to JYJ, to avoid JYJ’s flustered faces being caught on camera.
Since the official side posed a firm stance, the local media to take one step at a time.
When the press conference kick started, the MC did not even wait for JYJ to introduce themselves, and started asking the list of questions from his sheet of paper.
7 questions were approximately asked within 10 questions, which all emphasized on JYJ’s collaboration with Kayne West and Rodney Jerkins. In fact, their names almost appeared 10 times which made me question whether this is a press conference to eulogize these two great producers.
In the last 5 minutes, the PR representative decided to allow the local media to ask 5 questions.
I immediately grasp hold of this opportunity and asked JYJ how does it feel to be as 3 instead of 5? Despite my efforts in avoiding sensitive vocabulary and packaging my question to a non-defensive manner, the trio still looked at each other for 15 seconds (without answering). At least, Junsu picked up the microphone and answered “the feeling is a bit different and the three of us have to work harder to create very different music to everyone.”
PR arbitrarily changing questions from the media
The name of the album “The Beginning” obviously signifies a kickstart once again.
One reporter asked them what sentiments the trio harbour regarding “beginning”. This, however, was arbitrarily changed by the PR firm into “let them tell us more about their feelings towards the new album”.
I indirectly asked again, whether the trio has been affected by the hurdles the new album faced?
Amongst the trio, Yoochun could understand and speak English. However, before he could even react, the PR representative immediately sternly retorted “we will not answer this question” and then told the translator “you don’t have to translate this question”.
After that, another reporter conveyed the fans’ wishes to see the 5 of them again, and asked whether this will be fulfilled in future? Just like before, before JYJ could react, the PR representative immediately warded off this question.
There were only 2 questions from the media that were unscathed. (Below are the questions:)
Were there worries before the release of this album? The trio admitted that they worried about both the album sales and their future.
What was the happiest incident after the formation of JYJ? The trio expressed that they felt apologetic that the fans had to wait for so long, and that in future there will be many more events and activities where they could repay the love of their fans.
Yoochun saying sorry to reporters
Since Yoochun comprehended English, I believe that he understood the questions from the media.
Even if he merely said to us “I’m sorry, we are unable to answer this question”, the local media will be more than willing to accept this answer. However, often before he could even speak or translate the questions to the other 2 members, or that he could sign for help from the staff, someone would jump to fend off the questions.
The staff erected a strong and tall firewall and thought that this would enable the artists to remain unscathed, but in fact this has created an opposite effect.
When the artist is stripped of the chance to answer and can only stare at the media blankly, it is inevitable that the impression from the media is that the artist does not have his own thoughts or the ability/flexibility to answer the media’s questions.
After the press conference, the trio ran into the reporter (not sure whether he is referring to himself or media in general) and Yoochun said “sorry”, seemingly to apologize for the unpleasant press conference.
This apology made me felt that the trio had reasons for being unable to reveal their true emotions, or that they had lots of words to say, but was sadly not offered a chance to do so?
By Lo Chen Ling
credit: pinkwings@sharingyoochun.net
shared by: DBSGuardians Angels
