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The Top Ten Best Songs by TVXQ / DBSK / TOHOSHINKI

Posted on June 24, 2016 by Nick 40 Comments

Whether you call them TVXQ, DBSK or Tohoshinki, these guys have one of the most prolific, enormous discographies of any k-pop artist. I could have easily split this into two lists — one for the five-member group and one for their current two-member configuration. But, I gave myself a challenge. And at nearly 100 music videos/singles, that’s an understatement! Some great tracks had to fall by the wayside (I’m looking especially at you Wrong Number, Humanoids, Why Did I Have to End Up Falling Completely in Love with You and Scream), but in the end it all shook out easier than I would have expected. The group is just as well known for their grand ballads as their dance tracks, but you’ll notice that my list is almost entirely uptempo.

Updated 7/25/17

Honorable Mentions:

Fighting Spirit Of The East (2006) – Of all the group’s ballads, Fighting Spirit goes the biggest with its steady build to a full-on choir. Cheesy as it may be, it’s bound to rouse anyone’s spirits.

Athena (2010) – Perhaps the most obscure single on my list, Athena sees the guys tackling a bombastic piece of rock-opera grandeur. It’s TVXQ at their most rock-influenced, backed by a symphonic instrumental that absolutely soars.

10. Android (2012)

A harbinger of the sound TVXQ would continue to display over the next few years, Android bursts out of the gate with a heavy electronic beat and a chorus that feels like pop perfection.

9. Spellbound (2014)

Highlighted by its movie-musical inspired music video, Spellbound‘s retro funk arrangement impresses with its smooth instrumental and timeless chorus.

8. Keep Your Head Down (2011)

A stomping thunderclap of a reinvention for the TVXQ sound, marking the group’s transformation into a duo with hair-raising vocal riffs and a sinister rap.

7. Purple Line (2008)

A slinky, beat-driven dance track with a percussive chorus that hits hard. Its winding melody fuels each second with a healthy dose of staccato hooks.

6. B.U.T (BE-AU-TY) (2011)

Transferring their clipped, Yoo Young-Jin produced style to Japan, B.U.T is short on melody but heavy on personality. Its rapid-fire, labyrinthine delivery gives it an otherworldly appeal.

5. Balloons (2006)

DBSK were rarely a “cutesy’ group, but this ultra-melodic slice of aegyo proved they could master any genre. Great songs endure for years, and Balloons‘ mega-watt chorus has become a modern classic.

4. Mirotic (2008)

Likely the group’s most iconic release, casting a wide influence for years to come. Its jerky, unbalanced verses give way to a grand chorus that swirls with mystical synths.

3. ‘O’ – Jung.Ban.Hap (2006)

The template for much of what junior group EXO released in their first couple years. O‘s propulsive, guitar-fueled beat is only surpassed the the track’s immense, layered chorus that crashes in with jagged intensity.

2. Catch Me (2012)

The high-water mark for TVXQ as a duo, and perhaps the best use of dubstep elements in any k-pop song. Catch Me‘s electro-dance beat mixes sweeping production elements into a near symphonic euphoria. Even at four years old, it remains one of the biggest-sounding dance tracks the guys have ever given us.

1. Rising Sun (2005)

What to say about one of the most influential k-pop tracks of the last fifteen years? Sure, this Yoo Young Jin produced, beat-heavy mix of rock guitars and operatic grandeur existed before, but it never sounded as ambitious as it does in Rising Sun. It’s the original “frankenstein song,” cobbling together a dramatic brew of disparate elements into something so gigantic and perfectly constructed that it informed a decade of k-pop to follow in its wake. There’s more raw energy spun off from the track’s ever-evolving structure than any other song they’ve recorded, and it remains a potent burst of excitement eleven years after its release.