Hard to imagine that's it possible for Dong Bang Shin Ki to get more popular than they already are, but the past year turned out to be a massive breakthrough for the group in Japan. In 2008, they released their third Japanese album and a ridiculous nine J-pop singles (including the TRICK singles), four of which became #1 sellers, and ended the year with an appearance on Kohaku Uta Gassen. (Somewhere in there, they also released Korea's best-selling album of the year.) Continuing at their superhuman pace, Dong Bang Shin Ki recently released their fourth J-pop album, The Secret Code, which made its Oricon debut at #2 and has already sold double what T did.
With half the album made up of previously released singles, The Secret Code runs the risk of being a singles-plus-filler album, but TVXQ has gathered together some strong new tracks to bolster the parade of hit singles. The Secret Code opens with its most thematically relevant offering, Secret Game (Track 1). The song kicks off with a jazzy secret-agent piano theme intro, before jumping unexpectedly into a rap passage and a funky fusion of hip-hop, big band, and dance. As more of a concept pop song, Secret Game is a fun and jaunty track with a rhythmic jazz flourish that carries right to the Bond sign-out ending.
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