Song Review:: TVXQ!: Zone- Sweet Surrender {Pre-Release} {Japanese}

•  Release date: November 06
• Album tracklist:
• Disc 1: Introduction -Eternal Echoes-, T.R.H.M, On My Radar, Party Like Madonna, Sweet Surrender, Parfum, Fresh, I'm sorry I couldn't express it well, Live Your Life, It's True It's Here, Damn Good, Ark, Dearest
• Disc 2: UTSUROI, The Reflex, PARALLEL PARALLEL, No Sympathy, Lime & Lemon, Sentimental Mood, Forever Love - ZONE Ver.
• Album runtime: 70 minutes

I was not expecting TVXQ! to drop a single today! What is this? I don't even know if this is a Japanese release. It doesn't matter. I see TVXQ! is the artist, I must listen.

Apparently this is a Japanese release. It's a pre-release for the album to celebrate their twentieth anniversary since their Japanese debut, and the related album is a chonky boy. I'll update Disc 2 when the album actually drops.

Why is this song so ominously and weirdly sinister? It can't be because this is the Month of the Spookening, and my mind is on a lot of horror right now. Clearly not. Must not be me.

That is a very deep, hollow-sounding drum the instrumentals have, one that is basically only present during the chorus, so I have to look forward to the choruses. There's also a bit of a siren and tink of metal at different points during the song. It's more industrial than I expected from them, but the variation is curious. It's not as bold as I would have expected for a group in their, what, twenty-first year? And despite the fact that I typically like their Japanese releases more, this isn’t a song that makes me go "Yes. I need more of this."

Their high notes are unlike anything else I've heard in K-Pop. Even some of the better vocalists I've heard can't match what TVXQ! can, or at least one of the duo, and the vibrato on display! Those are terrifyingly high notes and a good example of how to use a voice. If he spent the entire song up there, it would lose the oomph it has. And also probably be damaging to his voice. Instead, when used sparingly, it is a powerful impact. While there are idols who are older than them, even among other second gen groups, there are few with the experience and seniority who are still active, and it shows in their voices. There is a reason why they're still titans on the industry. You can hear it. Unfortunately, the style of the song prevents them from being able to truly flex what is only hinted at. The sing-song aspect and the admittedly hypnotic bounce between two notes that is so prevalent shackles them from what they can do. 

Well, that answers my question about which one has the high notes. Yowza. The acting was on point. The choreo is seductive and clear. I mean, what they have going on is the mature idol in his prime. I'm also a huge fan of the vampire/goblin imagery the music video has. I thought it was vampire originally because their shirts are open basically to their navel and that's a staple of the vampire genre, that or billowing sleeves, but then they started messing with time and the ace turning into a joker feels more goblin and trickster than vampire. Or maybe one is a vampire and the other is a goblin. That would be interesting, and might have some actual basis, but I think it's more that both of them are the same kind of being. The shot with the mirrors is very similar to something called "Seeing into Eternity", where you set the mirrors up so that they reflect each other, but with the way these are set up, they actually fractured the eternity and created infinite possibilities. It's pretty cool what they did here.