''The Christmas Gift from TVXQ'' (stylized as ''The Christmas Gift from 東方神起!'') is the first

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

EP by South Korean boy band

TVXQ TVXQ (stylized as TVXQ!), an initialism for Tong Vfang Xien Qi (), is a South Korean male pop duo consisting of U-Know Yunho and Max Changmin. They are known as in Japanese releases, and are sometimes referred to as DBSK, an abbreviation of ...

, released on December 6, 2004 by

S.M. Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies where it was established in 1995 by record executive and record producer Lee Soo-man. The company ha ...

. The EP features Korean and English cover versions of popular Christmas tunes. It also includes a remake of The Classic's 1994 Korean song "Mabeopui Seong (Magic Castle)" (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The le ...

: 마법의 성), which was promoted as the EP's lead single. For the EP, TVXQ worked closely with Kenzie, who produced the album's music and vocal arrangements. The EP features acoustic arrangements, synthesized orchestras, and harmonizing vocals performed in a

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

style. It also includes a cappella renditions of Christmas carols.

Chart performance

The EP was released two months after TVXQ's debut album ''

Tri-Angle ''Tri-Angle'' is the debut studio album by South Korean boy group TVXQ, released through SM Entertainment on October 13, 2004. Several singles were released as part of the album, including "Hug", "The Way U Are", "I Believe" and the title track ...

'', which was the eighth best-selling album in South Korea. According to the Music Industry Association of Korea (MIAK), ''The Christmas Gift from TVXQ'' sold 68,888 copies in December 2004. The EP entered the

Gaon Albums Chart The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Korea based on their pure sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, previously kno ...

in 2010 and peaked at number six for the week of April 18–24, 2010. The EP has sold approximately 109,000 copies as of 2012.

Weekly charts

Track listing

"Magic Castle"

"Magic Castle" (

: 마법의 성; ''Mabeopui Seong''), written by Kim Gwang-jin, is the title song of The Classic's debut album, ''Magic Castle'' (1994). The song has been covered by several Korean artists since its release, including

Lee Seung-hwan Lee Seung-hwan (; born December 13, 1965) is a South Korean singer and record producer known as the country's "King of Live Performances" for his frequent solo concerts. Lee debuted in 1989 as a pop ballad singer and later incorporated rock el ...

, As One, and Seo Young-eun. TVXQ released their cover version of it on December 6, 2004, and it was used to promote their Christmas EP, ''The Christmas Gift from TVXQ''. TVXQ promoted "Magic Castle" simultaneously with "Tri-Angle" and "Believe", the lead singles from their debut album ''Tri-Angle''. The band did their first performance of "Magic Castle" on December 4, 2004 at the 2004 Mnet KM Music Festival. Their last promotional appearance for the song was on January 15, 2005, at MBC's ''Music Camp''. The music video of TVXQ's "Magic Castle" features the first appearance of

Yoona Im Yoon-ah (; born May 30, 1990), known mononymously as Yoona, is a South Korean singer and actress. After training for five years, she debuted as a member of girl group Girls' Generation (and later its subgroup Girls' Generation-Oh!GG) in Aug ...

before she joined the girl group Girls' Generation. The video was filmed at

Lotte World Lotte World is a major recreation complex in Seoul, South Korea. It consists of the world's largest indoor theme park, an outdoor amusement park called "Magic Island", an artificial island inside a lake linked by monorail, shopping malls, a lu ...

Release history

References