MEAWW.COM / ENTERTAINMENT / K-POP NEWS

'Devil': K-pop fans blame marriage for TVXQ Changmin's low album sales

Knetizens reasoned that many obsessive K-pop fans see marriage as a 'betrayal' and hence stop supporting the idol

Known as the ‘ace of K-pop’ and one of the first major K-pop idols, Max Changmin was a force to be reckoned with. He was part of the 10 million-selling group TVXQ whose legendary song ‘Mirotic’ is still covered by artists to this date. Changmin and his group were one of the many artists of the second-gen who were responsible for the Hallyu Wave in the West. And fans everywhere were excited for his second solo mini-album ‘Devil’ released on January 13.

Unfortunately, his popularity hasn’t transferred on to the commercial success of ‘Devil’. Having debuted in 2003, TVXQ became mainstream right from their debut release while their studio albums were always best sellers. Before we had PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’, ‘Mirotic’ was one of the few popular K-pop songs in the West. Even when the five-member group turned into a duo with Yunho and Changmin, they kept topping charts and even had sold-out tours in Asian countries outside of South Korea and so are considered ‘Asia’s Stars’. And even when they went solo, fans followed them.

READ MORE
‘SMCU Express’: Release date, where to listen, artists, concept, all about Kwangya album

EXO's Chen welcomes second child, fans rejoice and say 'happy for you'

Changmin releases second album after marriage

Changmin went solo in 2015 with the Japanese album ‘Close to You’ a day before his military enlistment. He then released his first Korean album ‘Chocolate’ in April 2020 which was a smashing success in the country. With over 127k sales, ‘Chocolate’ charted high on reputable South Korean charts, was #2 on Gaon and #3 on Japan’s Oricon. It was then announced that he had married his non-celebrity girlfriend in October 2020. And while happy fans congratulated him, it seems that it has affected his popularity as seen with the release of his latest album ‘Devil’.

While ‘Chocolate’s first week sales were around 63.8k copies, ‘Devil’ dropped down to 13.9K, which shocked many as even rookie groups and debut albums have higher sales. The title track ‘Devil’ which is a Korean rock cover of a Swedish song was hailed for being a masterpiece from the haunted and dark music video to Changmin’s strong vocals, fierce expressions and graceful dance form. And so, a lot of Korean fans think that the low sales might have something to do with the fact that he is married. A majority of K-pop fans are obsessed and delusional due to the idol culture that has fan service like idols pretending to be in a relationship with their fans.

Knetizens blame marriage

So, many toxic fans do not allow idols to be in relationships let alone get married, and when they do, fans demand they retire from K-pop or even boycott them. We have had instances like fans demanding EXO’s Chen and iKON’s Bobby leave their groups because they got married and had children. And so one Korean fan of Changmin shared, “Getting married definitely caused a big aftermath.”  Another added, “Marriage obviously played a big role but he's Max Changmin so who cares? He's already lived through the fanciest life as a singer.” One tried to reason, “But surprisingly, there are many fans who think marriage = betrayal.”

International fans hoped that wasn’t the reason as one joked, “This has nothing to do with his marriage. homeboy has been releasing sh*t for a whole year now. fans are broke.” Another was shocked, “Man is at the age of getting married and if theyre dropping him for getting married jdjlslshfja weird people.” One fan tweeted, “This is really sad because that man is super talented he deserves nothing but success.”

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.