[Review] TVXQ - Spellbound

After ignoring the less impressive “Something” from the “Kings of S.M. Town” earlier in the year, we dive into their follow-up track “Spellbound”, which is thankfully not the name of another title track being promoted by another artist.

Vocals: 7 / 10

The chorus springs to mind a familiar sound in a past song that’s just slipping past my mind right now, but it’s really solid. Unfortunately the rest of the song is about average, which is disappointing given how Changmin is a god and Yunho is getting better. The spam of “Suri suri ma…” is medioce at best, and the bridge isn’t up to par. The belts are somewhat of a saving grace, and execution could probably have been more…”TVXQ”-like. But besides, I don’t think the main attraction of this song was the vocals to begin with.

Dance: 10 / 10

Since the dance is so damn epic. I’d actually give this an 11 if that were possible. There’s a lot of stuff going on for the choreography, and TVXQ handles everything pretty well. But the highlight is most definitely the synergy between TVXQ and their backup dancers. It’s probably one of the first or most impressive instances where the backup dancers are displayed on equal level with the artist(s). The backup dancers are incredibly talented, and don’t miss a step against TVXQ. They’re dressed in black to complement TVXQ in white, and most of all they look like they’re having fun, which is exactly what this dance seems to me. It’s good-spirited fun, and probably a good workout, to boot.

Music Video: 7 / 10

Given how excellent this choreography was, I really enjoyed the camerawork which was carefree and helped add to the atmosphere. This is a performance song, through and through, so the MV doesn’t add or take away too much from the general purpose of the song. The moments where the MV was one continuous shot were well-executed, and the rooms were to the usual standard of S.M. I suppose.

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Overall: 80 / 100

While the vocals are underwhelming for TVXQ, the choreography is killer and the MV helps support that aspect, and scores well in doing so. Having more impressive vocals may have made “Spellbound” too hard to perform well, maybe. Nonetheless, it’s a good following track to “Something”, which left much to be desired out of this duo.

Next up on the review list, the queens of the industry: Girls’ Generation and 2NE1.