At a Nov. 5 showcase at a hotel in Seoul’s Songpa District, TVXQ’s U-KNOW Yunho (39) introduced his first full-length solo album, “I-KNOW,” walking fans through its 10 tracks and sharing how it feels to drop a studio set 22 years after his debut.
“Thank you for coming―this is my first full album 22 years into my career,” he said, before adding with a grin, “A lot of you have been waiting for the fourth lesson, right? Here it is: ‘Compare the fake and the documentary.’”
That “fake vs. documentary” concept frames the project as a dialogue between two selves―the high-voltage performer U-KNOW Yunho and the man behind the spotlight, Jung Yunho―similar yet distinct stories running in parallel.
“I think I’m finally at a point where I can talk about the worries and pressures beneath the stage persona―and take responsibility for that honesty,” he shared.
The album came together while he was juggling TVXQ’s 20th-anniversary concerts in Japan and promotion for the Disney+ series “Low Life,” a schedule he admits got intense.
Asked if the overlap was tough, he laughed: “I lived as a character named Beol-gu for quite a while, so I caught myself using his walk, his dialect―even saying, ‘Hey, you made it?’ in everyday life. It slipped into my singing, too. Honestly, some of it still hasn’t worn off.”
The set features dual lead singles “Stretch” and “Body Language” among 10 tracks. Under the album’s Fake & Documentary umbrella, songs are paired in twos, each duo exploring one theme from two angles―“fake” and “doc.” “Stretch” leans into an intense electronic-pop sound, its near-spoken vocal delivery tightening the tension. Its lyrics, which probe the inner meaning of dance and the stage, are designed to mirror “Body Language.”
In the “Stretch” video, Yunho confronts his shadow self in a taut face-off, cutting through with powerhouse choreography. The clip connects narratively to the previously released “Body Language” visual.
Photo: SM Entertainment
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)