XV (TVXQ album)

XV is the tenth Japanese studio album by South Korean pop duo Tohoshinki, released on October 16, 2019 by Avex Trax. XV (fifteen) denotes Tohoshinki's fifteenth debut anniversary in Japan. The duo announced the album's release at the A-Nation Music Festival, which they headlined, on August 18, 2019.^[1] XV was released in five physical versions: a standard CD version, a limited CD and Blu-ray version, a limited CD and DVD version, an exclusive fan club version, and a special "gift" version with a CD packaged in two different LP-size slips. Musically, XV is a varied electropop album that is influenced by a broad range of electronic musical genres, including influences from symphonic metal, soft rock, hip hop, dance-pop, and R&B. Recording for the album began shortly before the launch of their Japanese studio album Tomorrow in 2018.

XV
Studio album by Tohoshinki
Released	October 16, 2019 (2019-10-16)
Recorded	2018–2019
Studio	Avex Azabu Studio (Tokyo) Avex Studio Aoyama (Tokyo) Bunkamura Studio (Tokyo) Studio Tanta (Tokyo) In Grid Studio (Seoul)
Genre	J-pop dance-pop electropop
Length	56:01
Language	Japanese
Label	Avex Trax
Producer	Hi-yunk Matthew Tishler Crash Cove Dr. R Jonas Jeberg Nicolas Scapa John Read Fasse Mats Valentin Willie Weeks Shinjiroh Inoue Benny Jansson Uta Chris Wahle Yoichiro Kakizaki Steve Manovski
Tohoshinki chronology
New Chapter #2: The Truth of Love (2018) XV (2019) Epitaph (2022)
Singles from XV
"Jealous" Released: November 21, 2018 "Hot Hot Hot / Mirrors" Released: July 31, 2019 "Guilty" Released: October 16, 2019

"Jealous" was released as the album's lead single on November 21, 2018. The track debuted at number one on the Oricon Singles Chart and peaked at number three on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. "Hot Hot Hot" and "Mirrors" were released as a double A-side single on July 31, 2019, debuting at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart.

XV is Tohoshinki's eighth album to debut at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart, setting a new record for a foreign artist in Japan.^[2] The album also debuted at number one on Billboard Japan Hot Albums,^[3] with first-week sales of 155,000 copies.^[4]

XV is the accompanying album for Tohoshinki's XV Tour, the duo's sixth nationwide dome tour in Japan.

Background and release

On May 23, 2019, Tohoshinki announced that they would be holding their fourth nationwide five-Dome tour in Japan from November 2019 to January 2020.^[5] They referred the tour as their fifteenth anniversary concert. On August 18, during their headlining appearance at the A-Nation Music Festival, Tohoshinki formally announced XV as their upcoming album. Their official website updated new details moments later.^[1] The Roman numerals XV denotes 15, referring to Tohoshinki's 15th debut anniversary in Japan. Like its namesake, the record is composed of 15 tracks.

A website for XV opened in September 2018.^[6] Two fan projects were launched to commemorate Tohoshinki's fifteenth anniversary; the first is a short movie consisting of fans being interviewed about their memories of being a Tohoshinki fan;^[7] the second is a dance workshop led by Tohoshinki's dance team.^[8] On September 11, Avex dropped a promotional image to media outlets and opened a "limited time" Twitter account for the album.^[9][10] The Twitter account will be opened from September 11 to November 8, 2019. Cover photos and the track list of XV were revealed on September 13, 2019.^[11] On September 29, Avex released 30-second teasers of each new track, dropping one new teaser per hour starting at 08:00 JST on Twitter.^[12]

Promotion

The dance track "Jealous" was released as the album's lead single on November 21, 2018. The single debuted at number one on the Oricon Singles Chart — their first number one single on the chart since "Catch Me -If you wanna-" (2013) — and charted for 10 weeks.^[13] It peaked at number three on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.^[14] The single was Tohoshinki's 13th number one single on the Oricon, putting Tohoshinki as the foreign artist with the most number one singles in Japan.^[15] The music video of "Jealous" was released on YouTube on October 31, 2018.

"Hot Hot Hot" and "Mirrors" were released as a double A-side single on July 31, 2019. It debuted at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart.^[16] "Hot Hot Hot" peaked at number four on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 and "Mirrors" peaked at a moderate 46.^[17] The light-hearted "Hot Hot Hot" has been compared to Tohoshinki's previous summer singles "Ocean" and "Sweat", respectively taken from the albums Tree (2014) and With (2015). The music video for "Hot Hot Hot" was released July 19, 2019. The darker, rock-inspired "Mirrors" was used as the theme song for Asahi TV's prime-time television drama Sign (2019).^[18] A short movie of "Mirrors", intercepted with scenes from Sign, dropped on August 23, 2019.

"Guilty" was the album's final promotional track. The music video was released on YouTube on September 25, 2019.^[19] The duo debuted their performance of "Guilty" on Fuji TV's Music Fair on October 12, 2019. On October 15, a day before the album's release, they performed "Guilty" on NHK's Utacon. Their performance trended worldwide on Twitter, at number 11.

Though not released in the album's DVD and Blu-ray, a music video for the dance track "Hot Sauce" was released on YouTube on October 23, 2019.

Reception

XV topped the daily Oricon Albums Chart on the first day of release, selling 105,884 copies.^[20] It maintained its top position on the weekly Oricon Albums Chart with 155,153 albums sold,^[4] already exceeding the lifelong sales of their previous studio album Tomorrow (2018). XV is Tohoshinki's eighth album to enter the Oricon at number one, setting a new record as the first and only foreign artist in Japan with eight number-one albums.^[2] It also debuted at number one on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums and Top Album Sales with 160,872 units.^[21][22] 13 tracks in the album entered mu-mo's Weekly Download Chart, with "Guilty" peaking at number three.

XV has received generally positive reviews from J-pop music critics. Japanese website Real Sound commended the album for taking a more aggressive attitude towards lyrics, music, and vocal style, yet still retaining the colorful pop sound that Tohoshinki have been known for.^[23]

Track listing

XV track listing^[11]

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Hello"	H.U.B.	Hi-yunk	Hi-yunk (BACK-ON)	4:03
2.	"Manipulate"	Kelly	Matthew Tishler Elizabeth Russo Kara Madden	Tishler Crash Cove	2:58
3.	"Hot Sauce"	Kelly	Dr. R Elizabeth Abrams Lola Blanc Brandon Wollman	Ryosuke "Dr. R" Sakai	2:39
4.	"Six In the Morning"	Kelly	Jonas Jeberg Neil Ormandy Dillon Deskin	Jeberg	2:53
5.	"Hot Hot Hot"	Kelly	Nicolas Scapa Michael John Hancock John Read Fasse	Scapa Fasse	3:40
6.	"Master"	Kelly	William James McAuley III Mats Valentin	Valentin	3:51
7.	"Mekakushi (目隠し)" (Blindfold)	Tsukiko Nakamura	Hi-yunk	Hi-yunk	4:03
8.	"Everyday"	H.U.B.	Willie Weeks Kyler Niko	Weeks	3:30
9.	"Hotaru no Namida (ホタルの涙)" (Tears of the Firefly)	Mami Yamada	Yamada	Shinjiroh Inoue	4:06
10.	"Crimson Saga"	H.U.B.	Benny Jansson Jonathan Bratthall-Tideman	Jansson	4:06
11.	"Guilty"	Kelly Hiro	Uta Sunny Boy	Uta	3:54
12.	"Mirrors (ミラーズ)"	Nakamura	Hi-yunk	Hi-yunk	4:08
13.	"Jealous"	H.U.B.	Chris Wahle Didrik Thrott Chris Meyer	Wahle	3:20
14.	"Yuki Furu Yoru no Barādo (雪降る夜のバラード)" (Ballad of the Night When Snow Falls)	Katsuhiko Yamamoto	Yamamoto	Yoichiro Kakizaki	5:44
15.	"Pay It Forward"	H.U.B.	Steve Manovski Craig Smart Shaun Smith Casey May Jenson Vaughan	Manovski	3:06
Total length:					56:01

CD hidden track

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Arrangement	Length
16.	"Truth" (Japanese version)	H.U.B.	Thomas Troelson Jacob Littrell	Troelson	2:57
Total length:					58:58

Blu-ray and DVD versions

No.	Title	Director(s)	Length
1.	"Jealous" (Video clip)	Hideaki Sunaga
2.	"Hot Hot Hot" (Video clip)	Takuro Okubo
3.	"Guilty" (Video clip)	Tetsuo Inoue
4.	"Jealous" (Jacket off shot movie)	D. Walker
5.	"Jealous" (Video clip off shot movie)	D. Walker
6.	"Hot Hot Hot" (Jacket off shot movie)	D. Walker
7.	"Hot Hot Hot" (Video clip off shot movie)	D. Walker
8.	"XV" (Jacket off shot movie)	D. Walker
9.	"Guilty" (Video clip off shot movie)	D. Walker
10.	"a-nation 2018 supported by dTV & dTV Channel" (Off shot movie)	D. Walker
Total length:			80:00

Bigeast limited edition – DVD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"a-nation 2018 supported by dTV & dTV Channel" (Live clip)	50:00

Notes

• The Bigeast limited edition is only available for purchase at the Bigeast Official Shop, which requires Bigeast membership.

Personnel

Adapted from the album liner notes.^[24]

• Tohoshinki – all vocals (all tracks)
• Tsukiko Nakamura – background vocals (track 7, 10)
• The Philharmonic Chorus of Tokyo – background vocals (track 10)
• Hiroaki Takeuchi – background vocals (track 10)
• Team T – background vocals (track 15)
• Hi-yunk (BACK-ON) – producer, composer, all instruments (tracks 1, 7 and 12)
• Matthew Tishler – producer, composer, all instruments (track 2)
• Crash Cover – producer, all instruments (track 2)
• Ryosuke "Dr. R" Sakai – producer, composer, all instruments (track 3)
• Jonas Jeberg – producer, composer (track 4)
• Nicolas Scapa – producer, composer (track 5)
• John Read Fasse – producer, composer (track 5)
• Mats Valentin – producer, composer (track 6)
• Willie Weeks – producer, composer, all instruments (track 8)
• Shinjiroh Inoue – producer (track 9)
• Benny Jansson – producer, composer (track 10)
• UTA – producer, composer (track 11)
• Chris Wahle – producer, composer, all instruments (track 13)
• Yoichiro Kakizaki – producer, piano (track 14)
• Steve Manovski – producer, composer (track 15)
• Elizabeth Russo – composer (track 2)
• Kara Madden – composer (track 2)
• Elizabeth Abrams – composer (track 3)
• Lola Blanc – composer (track 3)
• Brandon Wollman – composer (track 3)
• Neil Ormandy – composer (track 4)
• Dillon Deskin – composer (track 4)
• Michael John Hancock – composer (track 5)
• William James McAuley III – composer (track 6)
• Kyler Niko – composer (track 8)
• Mami Yamada – composer (track 9)
• Jonathan Bratthall-Tideman – composer (track 10)
• Sunny Boy – composer (track 11)
• Didrik Thott – composer (track 13)
• Chris Meyer – composer (track 13)
• Katsuhiko Yamamoto – composer (track 14)
• Craig Smart – composer (track 15)
• Shaun Smith – composer (track 15)
• Casey May – composer (track 15)
• Jenson Vaughan – composer (track 15)
• Blue – all instruments (track 6)
• Udai Shika Strings – strings (track 12)
• Masao Fuknaga – percussion (track 14)
• Satoshi Shoji – oboe (track 14)
• Kaori Obata – horn (track 14)
• Chieko Kinbara Strings – strings (track 14)
• Katsutoshi Yasuhara – track director (all tracks)
• Atsushu Hattori – mixer (tracks 1, 9, 10), recorder (tracks 3–6 and 8–11)
• Naoki Yamada – mixer (tracks 2 and 6)
• Yoshiaki Onishi – mixer (tracks 4, 5, 7, 8, 12 and 13)
• Shinpei Yamada – mixer, recorder (track 14)
• Makoto Yamadoi – recorder (tracks 1, 2, 7, 10, 12, 14 and 15), mixer (tracks 3, 11 and 15)
• Takeshi Takizawa – recorder (track 13)

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for XV

Chart (2019)	Peak position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[4]	1
Japan Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[3]	1

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for XV

Chart (2019)	Position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[25]	18

Sales

Sales figures for XV

Released	Oricon chart	Peak	Debut sales	Sales total
October 16, 2019	Daily Albums Chart[20]	1	105,884	184,201
	Weekly Albums Chart[4]	1	155,153
	Monthly Albums Chart[26]	2	172,025
	Yearly Albums Chart	18	184,201

Release history

Release history and formats for XV

Region	Date	Format	Label
Japan[1]	October 16, 2019	CD Blu-ray DVD digital download streaming	Avex Trax
South Korea[27]	October 23, 2019	digital download streaming	SM Entertainment
Taiwan[28][29]	November 6, 2019		Avex Taiwan
	November 22, 2019	CD

See also

• List of Oricon number-one albums of 2019

References

1. "Tohoshinki's Official Website". Avex Group (in Japanese). 2019-08-18. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
2. Dong, Sun-hwa (2019-10-22). "TVXQ first foreign act to top Japanese music chart for 8th time". Korea Times. Retrieved 2018-10-23.
3. "XV on Billboard Japan Hot Albums, dated 28 October 2019". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-10-23.
4. "XV on Oricon Albums Chart, dated 28 October 2019". Oricon (in Japanese). 2019-10-23.
5. "Tohoshinki announces nationwide 5-Dome tour". Tohoshinki Official Website (in Japanese). 2019-05-23. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
6. Tohoshinki XV
7. "Application to take part in 'Memories with you and your loved ones' short movie to commemorate Tohoshinki's 15th anniversary". Tohoshinki Official Website (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-09-11.
8. "Tohoshinki's 'XV Dance Workshop & Contest to be held in commemoration of Tohoshinki's nationwide 5-dome tour". Tohoshinki Official Website (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-09-11.
9. Toho15th_JP @ Twitter
10. "Tohoshinki opens limited time Twitter account for upcoming album". Oricon (in Japanese). 2019-09-11. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
11. "Full Album 'XV'". Tohoshinki Official Website (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-09-13.
12. "Tohoshinki to release previews of 11 new songs from the album XV on Twitter". Tohoshinki Official Website (in Japanese). 2019-09-28. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
13. "Tohoshinki - Jealous". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-09-11.
14. "Billboard Japan Hot 100, Week of December 3, 2018". Billboard (in Japanese). 2018-12-03. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
15. "TVXQ sets 3 new Oricon records with latest Japanese single". Soompi. 2018-11-26. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
16. "Tohoshinki - Hot Hot Hot/Mirrors". Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-09-11.
17. "Billboard Japan Hot 100, Week of August 12, 2019". Billboard (in Japanese). 2019-08-12. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
18. "Tohoshinki's new song 'Mirrors' to be drama theme song". Tohoshinki Official Website (in Japanese). 2018-06-18. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
19. "toho15th_JP @ Twitter". Twitter (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-09-25.
20. "Oricon Albums Chart, 2019-10-15". Oricon (in Japanese). 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
21. "XV on Billboard Japan Top Albums, dated 28 October 2019". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-10-23.
22. "Tohoshinki's XV ranks top in AL sales with 160,872 units". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
23. "Tohoshinki, Mafumafu, UVER, BLACKPINK, Polka... New works by artists who demand cutting-edge sound". Real Sound (in Japanese). 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
24. Tohoshinki (2019). XV (liner notes). Avex Trax.
25. "年間 アルバムランキング 2019年度". Oricon. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
26. 月間 アルバムランキング 2019年10月度 [Monthly CD Album Ranking, October 2019] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
27. "XV by 동방신기 (TVXQ!)". MelOn (in Korean). 2019-10-23. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
28. "XV (CD ONLY) by 東方神起". Avex Taiwan (in Traditional Chinese). 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
29. "XV by 東方神起". Avex Taiwan (in Traditional Chinese). 2019-11-06. Retrieved 2019-11-13.