Three years and four months. That's a long time in anyone's book. Even more so when you're only seventeen. I've genuinely spent pretty much all of my high school life, half of my time so far as a k-popper and a large proportion of my life in general, following the SM Entertainment vs. JYJ trial.
At the end of it all now today? It didn't end with the result I'd hoped for initially. Although, it also didn't begin properly like I had originally panned out in my head either.
All I ever wanted out of this from the last three years were my five voices back. Instead, I simply lost two of them. I fell in love with the acapella group. Not the duo Yunho and Changmin are in now. Or the trio that Jaejoong, Junsu and Yuchun have currently found themselves in. Jaejoong, Yuchun and Junsu have done pretty well honestly though, all things considering, with hanging onto their original styles and voices. But perhaps that's more down to Lee Soo Man than Yunho and Changmin themselves.
Three years and four months ago. I was 14. Just recently turned 14 at that. When the day of the trial started, I was in Nottingham. In Center Parcs. If you know me, that's a pretty typical place for me to be in...but the image of that day is going to stay with me for the rest of my life. Not because I'm a member of Cassiopeia. Not because DB5K were the ones who brought me into both J-pop and then later K-pop...but because it had an impact on the way I view life, music and the k-pop industry. At the time? I was pretty uncontrollable honestly. Being a fourteen year old fangirl, you can imagine my reaction. It was Facebook and Twitter every day. All day. For months after the announcement. And as you can imagine, it all got worse after seeing day lose a ton of weight.
But at the end of the day, I had to move on and accept what had happened to the group. Hope for the best. And most importantly, always keep the faith.
Over the past three years, the phrase I've heard more than anything in the world has been "Always Keep The Faith". To the extent where I'm seriously debating getting the tattoo of it now...if I wasn't scared of needles that is...My point being? I'm proud of Cassiopeia. Sure we've had our moments. Like any fan base. But we've stuck together pretty well and supported all five members throughout the trial. After watching so many groups fail, we've stuck together. After watching Diadems fuss over T-ara. ELFs argue every time that a Super Junior member leaves or goes to the army. The whole mess with Hottests and Jay Park...I'm proud of the way we've acted together. I'm proud of the unity of our group. Even though DB5K is now TVXQ! and JYJ, I hope we can still stay as Cassiopeia and stick together through everything.
To the new fans who are Post-JYJ, I'm not speaking for the whole of Cassiopeia obviously, but no matter whether you support JYJ or Yunho and Changmin or both, I'll be friends with you and we'll stick together. As long as you don't bash the other half.
Three years and four months. That's a long time. And we've done well Cassies.
Lee Soo Man? Now starts my war against you though. JYJ were the only thing stopping me originally. The trial put my war at a bit of a halt. But now. I can do what I want.
I vowed when the trial started, three years and four months ago, that when new SM groups were released, I wouldn't get involved. I'd boycott SM from awards. But I couldn't bring myself to not support SHINee and Super Junior and BoA. So EXO. I'm sorry. But on principle I can never be an EXOtic.
Three years and four months. That's enough time to start mourning isn't it? Well. I'm officially commencing mourning for DB5K. It's officially the end of an era. Admittingly, three years ago, I'd pretty much accepted the end already. Being pretty pessimistic about the whole situation however seems to have paid off. I do feel bad for Jaejoong and Yuchun and Junsu. But honestly? I feel worse for Yunho and Changmin. To still be stuck under SM? Yep. That's definitely worse.
Three years and four months ago I didn't really understand what Jaejoong, Junsu and Yuchun were fighting for. Honestly I didn't understand their real intentions until the whole thing ended. I didn't understand the really meaning behind Always Keep The Faith. I couldn't see that AKTF wasn't really just saying "I want TVXQ/DBSK/THSK back together, releasing songs as five members again". It was a support-call. To the members. To let them know that we're here for them. We're one big family.
I'm not a particularly fandom based person. I don't know too many facts about one member. I don't focus on one group. When voting for the MAMA awards recently, I didn't want to vote for one group/idol more than once. But it never came to that anyway. My library is so diverse that I actually don't need to focus too much. Yet DBSK has always been special. Perhaps it's because they were my first. DBSK is my roots.
Three years and four months ago, I couldn't see that. We've all gone on a journey with JYJ, DBSK and SM Entertainment. I'm not advocating this sort of behaviour from either party. But I'm also not condoning it either. We've all learnt plenty of lessons here.
I'm glad I've posted this to you all, feel free to share your DBSK story with us or even your story within another fandom! What is your opinion on JYJ/DBSK? Has your opinion changed over the last three years? Will you still support DBSK even though there's only two members? Will you support JYJ now they've officially left? If you're a cassie, will you stay a cassie?
And finally! SM. Will you still support SM groups after all of this? What about groups like Super Junior, SHINee, BoA, EXO and F(x)?
Well, Have a nice day everyone! Always Keep The Faith...and for the next 3 weeks and 4 days, I'm going to wear a red bracelet constantly to mourn our loss~ but try and stay positive everyone!
(Also hoping that JYJ will start creating Christmas albums! I want another DBSK Christmas album...but because we can't have that~ and SM Town have their own separate one~ then I'll settle for JYJ instead ^^)
