''Epitaph'' is the first Japanese

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

by South Korean duo

Tohoshinki TVXQ (stylized as TVXQ!; , ), known as Tohoshinki in Japan, is a South Korean pop duo formed by SM Entertainment, composed of U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin. Originally a five-member boy band which also consisted of members Hero Jaejoong, Mick ...

. It was released on March 16, 2022, by

Avex Trax is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group. History Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from othe ...

. ''Epitaph'' is a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

album with elements of

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

dance pop Dance-pop is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developi ...

, and

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

. It was released as a follow-up to Tohoshinki's solo EPs ''Human'' (2021) by

Changmin Shim Chang-min (; born February 18, 1988), better known by his stage name Max Changmin (), is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor, and a member of the pop duo TVXQ. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Changmin was scouted by an SM Ente ...

and ''Kimi wa Saki e Iku'' (2022) by

Yunho Jung Yunho (; born February 6, 1986), better known by his stage name U-Know Yunho () or simply U-Know, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor, and a member of the pop duo TVXQ. Born and raised in Gwangju, South Korea, Yunho started his musi ...

, and is also the duo's first original release in Japan since '' XV'' (2019). The EP's first track, "Epitaph (For the Future)" is the lead single. ''Epitaph'' debuted at number three on the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon A ...

, breaking Tohoshinki's streak of number one debuts. ''Epitaph'' also debuted at number three on the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot Albums, but topped the ''Billboard'' Japan Download Albums, with 2,402 downloads on the first week. ''Epitaph'' accompanied Tohoshinki's nation-wide ''Classyc Tour'' in 2023, which started at the

Nippon Gaishi Hall , formerly Nagoya Rainbow Hall, is an indoor sports arena located in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. From April 1, 2007, its name was changed to Nippon Gaishi Hall, to reflect the sponsorship of the NGK Insulators. The capacity of the arena is 10,000 peop ...

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

on February 11, 2023, and concluded at the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium (whose former site is now occupied by the Tokyo Dome Hotel and a plaza for this stadium). In Japan, it is often us ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

on June 25, 2023.

Background and release

On October 18, 2021, Avex announced that Tohoshinki would be returning to the Japanese music scene with three consecutive releases starting December 2021. Referring to the

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

as mini albums, it was announced that Changmin would be releasing his mini album ''Human'' in December 2021, followed by Yunho's mini album ''Kimi wa Saki e Iku'' in January 2022, and finally the duo comeback mini album ''Epitaph'' in February 2022. ''Epitaph'' would be the duo's first Japanese release since '' XV'' in 2019. However, due to production issues as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Japan The COVID-19 pandemic in Japan has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths, along with 33,728,878 recoveries. Government of Japan, The Japanese government confirmed the country's first case of the disease on 16 January 2020 in a ...

, Yunho's mini album was delayed to a February 9, 2022 release, while ''Epitaph'' was delayed to March 16, 2022. Changmin's ''Human'' was released as scheduled, on December 8, 2021. The tracklist of the album was unveiled on March 5, 2022. Avex released snippets of each track every day starting March 5, 2022, through Tohoshinki's official

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account. The EP's official website was also revealed. Their single "Small Talk" (2020), which sold 9,786 downloads, was also revealed to be part of the tracklist. On March 12, a music video teaser of the EP's lead single "Epitaph (For the Future)" was released. A

television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

for the EP's release, which also featured an extended snippet of the lead single, was revealed on March 14. From March 14 to 20, promotional images of ''Epitaph'' were posted at the Metro Promenade in the

Shinjuku Station is a major railway station in Tokyo, Japan, that serves as the main connecting hub for rail traffic between central/eastern Tokyo (the Special wards of Tokyo, special wards) and Western Tokyo on the inter-city rail, commuter rail, and rapid tr ...

. The music video for "Epitaph (For the Future)" was released on March 16, alongside the EP. From March 16 to 22, the music video was broadcast at the Yunika Vision, a landmark of

Shinjuku , officially called Shinjuku City, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropol ...

, every twenty minutes from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

Composition

''Epitaph'' consists of six tracks. A

album, the EP opens with "Epitaph", a

dance track, with lyrics about determination toward the future. The second track "Like Snow-White" is a mid-tempo track with funk and R&B elements. "Mahoroba" draws inspiration from

trap music Trap music, also known simply as trap, is a subgenre of hip-hop music which originated in the Southern United States, with lyrical references to trap starting in 1991 but the modern sound of trap appearing in 1999. The genre gets its name from t ...

with heavy bass. "Storm Chaser" is a mid-tempo rock ballad, and "Light My Moon Like This" is a mashup of Changmin's b-side track "Light Up My Moon" from ''Human'' (2021) and Yunho's "Shake It Like This" from ''Kimi wa Saki e Iku'' (2022). A lyric video for "Light My Moon Like This" was released on March 20.

Reception

''Epitaph'' debuted at number two on the daily Oricon Albums Chart on the first day of release, selling 24,884 copies. It entered the

at number three, with 36,038 copies sold on the first week for release. ''Epitaph'' broke Tohoshinki series of number one debuts in Japan, and was their lowest-charted album since '' T'' (2008), which debuted at number four. ''Epitaph'' stayed charted for 17 weeks on the Oricon, selling 45,808 copies by the end of the year, and ranking 86th on Oricon's year-end chart. ''Epitaph'' also debuted at number three on the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot Albums, its lowest-charted album since the chart's inception in 2015. However, it topped the ''Billboard'' Japan Download Albums Chart, with over 2,402 downloads.

Track listing

Notes *"Epitaph (For the Future)" is stylized as "Epitaph -for the future-". *"Mahoroba" is stylized in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

. *"Storm Chaser" is stylized as "Storm chaser". *"Light My Moon Like This" is stylized as "Light My Moon Like THIS".

Personnel

Musicians *

– lead vocals (all tracks), background vocals (all tracks) *

Yoo Young-jin Yoo Young-jin is a South Korean singer-songwriter, record producer and vocal trainer formerly under SM Entertainment. He has produced and written songs for H.O.T., S.E.S, BoA, Shinhwa, TVXQ, CSJH The Grace, Super Junior, Girls' Generatio ...

– background vocals (track 1), recording (1) * Hi-yunk – background vocals (track 1), all instruments (1) * Suginami Junior Chorus – background vocals (track 3) * Jun – background vocals (track 5) * Katsuhiko Yamamoto – background vocals (track 6) * Yascotti – background vocals (track 6) * Uda Shika – cello (track 1) * Miho Shimokawa – violin (track 1) * Shinjiroh Inoue – guitar (track 3) Technical * Katsutoshi Yasuhara – directing (all tracks) * Yuka Koizumi – mastering (all tracks) * Makoto Yamadoi – mixing (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5), recording (1, 5), editing (3) * Jung Eun-kyung – recording (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5) * Pollen – directing (tracks 1, 2) * Atsushi Hattori – mixing (track 3), recording (3, 5) * Kevin G. Cho – directing (tracks 3, 6) * Dk Choo – directing (tracks 4, 5) * Kim Kwang-min – recording (tracks 4, 6) * URU – mixing (track 6)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2022 albums TVXQ EPs Avex Group albums 2020s Japanese-language albums