Shin Hwa's History


Resource: Thanks to Julie! 6/00

Shinhwa came out early in the summer of 1998 from SM Entertainment, the same producers that made H.O.T and SES. Their name means "Legend" or "Myth" in Korean and "Word of God" in Chinese. This group is made up of six very talented guys, Shin Hye Sung, Lee Min Woo, Eric Mun, Andy Lee, Kim Dong Wan, and Jun Jin.

Before even the group was formed two of the members, Andy Lee and Eric Mun, were introduced to the public in the end of 1997, when they did the rap for SES in their hit "I'm Your Girl". The other members, Shin Hye Sung, Kim Dong Wan, Lee Min Woo, and Jun Jin made their debut when the whole group came out. Andy Lee of Shinwha was supposed to be in H.O.T but his parents thought he was too young so he postponed his gasoo career until Shinwha came out.

Shinhwa made their debut on March 24th 1998, performing the first track on their album entitled "Hae Gyul Sa". Their unique, "hard-core" style and amazing dancing and singing skills gained them a great amount of popularity. The message of this song was also a positive and influential one, contributing to the songs popularity. The music video was also very impressive and creative. Throughout May and June, "Hae Gyul Sa" climbed the charts, but only became number one on a couple charts. By this time, Shinwha had made plans that for the summer, they would begin performances for their second track on the album, "Eusha! Eusha!". Although this did not give "Hae Gyul Sa" the chance it deserved to stay on top like they had hoped for, they gained popularity with "Eusha! Eusha!". This song took no time to make the top ten on the gayo charts. The look for this song was quite different from the hard-core image they had in "Hae Gyul Sah", for it was a more fun and spirited song for the summer time. The music video was taped in Pusan. The song was still in the top 20 on many charts when, once again, their plans for their next song cut "Eusha!Eusha!" short. In early September, they began performances for fall with their third track "Chun Il Yoo Hon". This new look consisted of suits and once again, new hairstyles for some of the members, which often is disastrous, but came out well for Shinhwa. This hit did rather well and quickly climbed the charts due to their past popularity.

In April 15, 1999, they came back with their second album. They performed with the song "T.O.P.(Twinkling Of Paradise)" on May 1999. Once again, this was a great hit. After they used T.O.P, they used "Yo" in July 1999. After performing their 2nd album, they quickly started making their 3rd album. They also visited Taiwan for a while after their second album.

The 3rd album took longer than many people thought it would. It was also delayed many times, to give their fellow SM group, Fly to the Sky, a chance to perform their songs. It was supposed to come out in March 2000, but came out in June. But it was worth the wait. They came back with the song "Only One", once again using a hard-core image. They also released a Shinhwa photo album at the same time.

Shinwha has risen immensely in popularity since their debut in Korea. Considering their skills in singing, dancing and rapping, and also their good looks, no wonder they are a hit group. Be sure to look for them in the future!