Humanoids (album)

Background

TVXQ's sixth Korean studio album, Catch Me, was released on September 24, 2012. For the album, TVXQ stepped away from their usual SMP and orchestral pop genres to pursue electronic dance music and dubstep. The duo also experimented with British heavy metal music in the album. Catch Me was a commercial success, peaking at number one on the Gaon Albums Chart and maintained its number one position for three weeks. Selling over 256,000 copies by the end of the year, Catch Me was the third best-selling Korean album of 2012 and won Gaon's Album of the Year for the fourth quarter of 2012.

On November 17, TVXQ performed "Humanoids" for the first time at their two-day concert in Seoul, South Korea, the first leg of their Live World Tour: Catch Me. On November 19, the teaser for "Humanoids" was unveiled online, followed by the announcement of the repackage album, which was released on November 26.

New material

Coinciding with the release of the repackage, lead single "Humanoids" was released on November 26, 2012. Produced and written by Kenzie, "Humanoids" is a mid-tempo EDM song with low-strung vocals, a higher range chorus, and robotic cadences. The lyrics are rather cynical – though it talks of rebuilding a better future, the new generation is stained with daunting fragments of the past.

The music video premiered on YouTube on November 26, featuring members U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin dancing in a dark futuristic backdrop. The choreography was created by NappyTabs. The music video was noted for its dystopian-like steampunk imagery. While the background maintained its washed-out gray undertone, Yunho and Changmin were dressed in color. Changmin wore bright colors, while Yunho carried darker attires, and the duo's contrasts in colors were maintained throughout the video. "Humanoids" underperformed on digital charts, peaking at number 32 on the Gaon Singles Chart with only around 157,000 downloads.

The third track "Here I Stand", produced and written by Kim Young-hu, is an upbeat, dubstep ballad. The lyrics describe the feelings of a long-distance relationship.

Promotion

TVXQ's first televised comeback performance of "Humanoids" was on November 25, when they performed the single on The Music Trend. The performance was then followed by a performance on Music Bank on November 30 and Show! Music Core on December 1. The duo ended their music show performances on December 23.

Commercial performance

Charting together with the original Catch Me, Humanoids had first week sales of nearly 12,000 according to the Gaon Chart, peaking at number one. The album dropped a few spots on its second week, but rose to number one again on its third, and maintained its position for a second week. By the end of the year, Humanoids sold over 90,765 copies. Humanoids sold an additional 21,909 copies in Japan according to the Oricon.