Super Junior 슈퍼주니어 | |
 | |
Background information | |
Also known as | SJ, SuJu |
Origin |  Seoul, South Korea |
Genres | K-pop, dance, R&B |
Years active | 2005–present |
Labels | SM Entertainment |
Associated acts | SM Town Super Junior-K.R.Y Super Junior-T Super Junior-M Super Junior-Happy SM The Ballad |
Members | |
Leeteuk Heechul Han Geng Yesung Kangin Shindong Sungmin Eunhyuk Donghae Siwon Ryeowook Kibum Kyuhyun | |
Super Junior (Korean : 슈퍼주니어), often referred to as SJ or SuJu (슈주), is a boy band from South Korea formed by SM Entertainment in 2005. With a total of 13 members, they are one of the largest boy bands in the world. The group consists of Leeteuk, Heechul, Han Geng, Yesung, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, kibum and kyuhyun. The former Chinese member, Han Geng, was chosen from three thousand applicants via auditions held in China by SM Entertainment in 2001. As of 2010, only 10 members are active, due to Han Geng leaving SM Entertainment, Kangin's leave of absence for mandatory military service and Kibum's pursuit of an acting career. However, the other members have insisted that the three are still part of the group. Zhou Mi and Henry Lau debuted in the sub-group Super Junior-M.
Super Junior has released and contributed in 20 different kinds of records with varying degrees of success. Over the years, they have been divided into smaller sub groups, simultaneously targeting different music industries and audiences. Largely due to Super Junior's success as entertainers, other Korean entertainment managements began to train their music groups in other areas of entertainment, such as acting and hosting. In addition to their commercial success, Super Junior has earned seven music awards from the M.net Asian Music Awards, eleven from the Golden Disk Awards, and is the second singing group to win Favorite Artist Korea at the 2008 MTV Asia Awards after JTL in 2003.
History
Pre-debut
In 2001, the company held their first overseas casting auditions and discovered Han Geng in Beijing, who was chosen among three thousand applicants. That same year, Yesung was discovered under Seoul's casting system. Sungmin and Donghae became trainees after jointly winning the first place in Best Outward Appearance in an SM-sponsored contest. In 2002, Heechul and Kangin were recruited along with Kibum, who was discovered in Los Angeles. Siwon was recruited in 2003 and Ryeowook in 2004, in which the later was discovered through the Chin Chin Youth Festival singing competition. In 2005, Shindong was selected. The last member, Cho Kyuhyun,was then discovered after he won third place at the Chin Chin Singing Competition in 2005.
Not long after boy band TVXQ's debut in 2003, news about Lee's unprecedented plans of forming another boy band quickly spread on the Internet. In early 2005, Lee confirmed the news and announced that an all-boy project group of twelve members would debut near the end of the year, promoting this singing group to be "The Gateway to Stardom of Asia." Lee announced that that most members in this group were chosen because of their performing experiences as actors, MCs, models, and radio hosts prior debut. Heechul and Kibum were already established entertainers, and most of the other members had already made various kinds of appearances on television and media. Highly inspired by the rotational concept of Japan's girl group Morning Musume, this group would also experience line-up changes, with new members replacing some selected members every year to keep the group constantly young and all-rounded. This concept was then newly introduced to the K-pop market.
For a while the group was rumored to be called O.V.E.R, the acronym for "Obey the Voice for Each Rhythm." However, before the group settled with their current name, SM simply referred to them as Junior, a representation of the members' young ages when they first became SM trainees. After the members' showcased their different talents to the company at a picnic, the company finalized their concept name to Super Junior. The group thereafter became officially Super Junior 05, the first generation of Super Junior.
Super Junior 05 made their pre-debut on the Korean channel Mnet on September 11, 2005. At the showcase, they performed various styles of hip hop dancing. The group danced to B2K's "Take It To The Floor." Han Geng, Eunhyuk, and Donghae also performed a separate dance away from the group, dancing to Usher's "Caught Up." However, the performance did not air on television until May 16, 2006 as a segment in the Super Junior Show, the group's first television documentary.
2005–2006: The Super Junior project
Super Junior 05 debuted on SBS's music program Popular Song on November 6, 2005, performing their first single, "TWINS (Knock Out)." A digital single with "TWINS (Knock Out)", "You are the one", and three additional tracks were released online on November 8. A physical CD single was scheduled to be released the following week but a more complete album, SuperJunior05 (TWINS), was released on December 6, 2005 instead. Their debut album sold 28,536 copies in the first month of release and debuted at #3 in the monthly chart of December 2005. In that same month, they released "Show Me Your Love," a collaboration single with TVXQ. "Show Me Your Love" became the best-selling record of December 2005, selling 49,945 copies that month.
In February 2006, Super Junior 05 began performances for "Miracle", the second promotional single from their debut album. "Miracle" was the group's first single to peak #1 in online music charts of South Korea as well as the music charts of Thailand, drawing interest from international markets. As promotions for "Miracle" came to an end, SM Entertainment began selecting new members for Super Junior's second line-up project, Super Junior 06. The company even prepared a list of chosen members that were to graduate from the group. However, no members were taken out and a thirteenth member was added instead in May 2006. The line-up project has been abandoned since then, and the group became known as just Super Junior, without the suffix "05".
2006–2007: Don't Don and breakthrough success
On May 23, 2006, SM Entertainment revealed the thirteenth member Kyuhyun, who was discovered through a singing competition in 2005. They released their single "U" online for free download on May 25, 2006 in their official website. "U" had over 400,000 downloads within five hours of release and it ultimately exceeded 1.7 million downloads, crashing the server. The physical single of "U" with a total of three tracks was released on June 6, 2006, eventually selling over 81,000 units. The single became one of Korea's most popular songs of the year, yielding #1 spots for five consecutive weeks on two of Korea's top music programs. By the end of the year, Super Junior collected over seven awards in five of South Korea's top music award ceremonies, winning the title as Best New Group of 2006.
Super Junior's first sub-unit, the ballad-singing trio Super Junior-K.R.Y., debuted on November 5, 2006 with a performance of Hyena theme song "The One I Love" on KBS music program Music Bank. A second sub-unit arrived in February 2007 called Super Junior-T. The trot-singing group released their first single "Rokkugo" on February 23, 2007 and made a debut performance on Popular Songs two days later.
Super Junior's second official album was intended for a late 2006 release, but due to several accidental setbacks, Don't Don was not released until September 20, 2007. Within the first three days of release, offline album sales for Don't Don passed the 11,000 unit mark, debuting as #1 in all available offline charts. It finished the September monthly album sales as #1. 60,000 units were shipped by the first week of release and additional copies were printed. Although Don't Don received rather bland reviews from critics, the album sold more than 160,000 copies by the end of the year, becoming the second best-selling record of 2007. The album also found success in Taiwan; it broke the record for being the highest ranked Korean album on the G-music Combo Billboard Chart, surpassing the albums of TVXQ and Shinhwa. Super Junior's album also ranked above Taiwanese boy band K One, whose album debuted at #6.
Supported by the release of Don't Don, Super Junior was nominated in seven separate categories at the 2007 M.NET/KM Music Festival that was held on November 17, 2007. Super Junior won three of those categories including "Netizen Choice Award" and "Mobile Popularity", being the biggest winner of the night. The group also won "Best Artist of the Year" (Daesang), termed by many as the highest recognition of the ceremony. Super Junior collected two more awards on December 14, 2007 at the 2007 Golden Disk Awards. Although defeated by SG Wannabe in winning the "Daesang", Super Junior won a "Bonsang" and the "TPL Anycall Popularity Award", which were reported as expected wins for the group by the media after the success of Don't Don.
2008–2009: Beyond Korea and Sorry, Sorry
On October 2, 2007, SM Entertainment announced a third Super Junior sub-unit Super Junior-M, a subgroup designated for the Chinese market. While the creation of the subgroup created a brief controversy between the fans and the management, Super Junior-M became a phenomenal success in China, having the opportunity to have two sold-out concerts in Hong Kong, top weekly ratings with their appearance on variety programs, and becoming the idol group with the most endorsement contracts in China. With the absence of almost half of the members in Korea, a fourth Super Junior sub-unit was created that same year to prevent Super Junior from disappearing in the Korean music industry. With five members from Super Junior-T and Yesung, they formed the subgroup, Super Junior-Happy. Super Junior-Happy released the EP Cooking? Cooking! on June 5, 2008, and promotions ended on September 7, lasting for four months. In November 2008, Super Junior-T returned, this time as a singing group in Japan, called SuperJunior-TxMoeyan; this group added Moeyan, a famous two-woman comedy group in Japan. "ROCK&GO", a Japanese-language version of "Rokuko", debuted at #19 on the Oricon Daily Charts three days later.
Super Junior's first major tour, Super Show, commenced on February 22, 2008 in Seoul. The tour covered three countries and had shows on six different cities, including Bangkok, Shanghai, and Beijing. From July 8 to July 9, 2008, Super Junior held their first fan meeting in Japan, at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, as a celebration for the grand opening of their official Japanese Homepage, which was launched on April 1, 2008. 12,000 tickets to the fanmeeting were all sold out in several days. The group released a compiled Japan single the following day, entitled "U/TWINS", which includes the Japanese version of "U" in the limited release, to complement the event. The single peaked at #4 on Japan's Oricon Daily Chart in its first day of release, and dropped down to only four places in its second. The single broke a new record for being the first Korean single to have made within top 10 on Japan's Oricon Weekly Chart. On August 2, 2008, Super Junior expanded their routes to Genting Highlands, Malaysia, being one of the top guest performers at the MTV Asia Awards 2008 along with other international performing artists such as OneRepublic and the Jabbawockeez. They are the third SM artist to win Favorite Artist Korea at the MTV Asia Awards after Kangta of H.O.T and BoA, and the second musical group to win the award after JTL in 2008.
Super Junior's third album, Sorry, Sorry, was released on March 12, 2009 with acclaimed reviews. The title single of the album, "Sorry, Sorry" was digitally released on March 9, 2009. In less than a week after preorders were announced, over 150,000 copies were pre-ordered. Sorry, Sorry was their first album to debut at #1 on the Hanteo Charts, and it sold over 29,000 copies the first day, defeating Seo Taiji's record of 25,000. Promotions for the album started March 13 with the performance of "Sorry, Sorry" and "Why I Like You" on Music Bank. Two weeks later, "Sorry, Sorry" became the number one song of the week on the same program. During the group's performance on music program Popular Songs on March 15, ratings went up to as high as 14%, the highest in recent years. From March to May, "Sorry, Sorry" collected a total of ten #1 awards with consecutive wins in Korea, having the single becoming a national and international success. After only a month of release, the album became South Korea's best-selling album of 2009. Sorry, Sorry was also a critically and commercially successful hit in other Asian countries, opting the group to become the only overseas representative for the second time at Taiwan's annual Golden Melody Awards. "Sorry, Sorry" was also #1 for a record-breaking 33 weeks in Taiwan. Sorry, Sorry was a best-selling Korean-language album in Taiwan, Thailand, China, and the Philippines, in which the latter listed the album to be the first K-pop album to reach #1 in music charts from the country. Super Junior won three awards in the 1st MNET Asian Music Awards - Overseas Viewers Award, Mobile Popularity Award and CGV Popularity Award despite not attending. Super Junior's Sorry, Sorry won Daesang at the 2009 Golden Disk Awards.
2010: Bonamana
On May 6, 2010, the teaser for their fourth studio album, Bonamana, was released through SM Entertainment's YouTube page. The full music video of the lead single of the same name was released on May 12 and full album was released on May 13 in South Korea. The album was released by the group with only 10 members, without Han Geng who has terminated his contract with SM Entertainment, Kibum who is involved in acting career and Kang-in who had enlisted himself in to the Korean army. Their fourth album had also broken a personal record for the group by having over 200,000 pre-orders. On May 14, Super Junior had their comeback stage on KBS Music Bank, performing title track "미인아 (Bonamana)" and "나쁜 여자 (Boom Boom)".
On May 17, 2010, music video for the song, "Victory Korea", which was used for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was released through SM Entertainment's YouTube page.
On June 28, 2010, Super Junior released their repackaged album with three new tracks - "No Other", "All My Heart", "A Short Journey" - and the remixed version of "Shake It Up!". "A Short Journey" was composed by Donghae and the lyrics were written by Eunhyuk. "All My Heart" was composed by Leeteuk and SJM member Henry. On July 2, 2010, Super Junior had their first live performance of "No Other" on Music Bank. The music video for "No Other" was released on July 7, 2010. According to Hanteo, the album has sold over 200,000 copies to date.
The group kicked off their third Asian tour, Super Show 3 on August 14 and 15, 2010 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul. The tour also made a stop in Qingdao on August 28, 2010, Beijing on October 23, 2010, and Nanjing on November 13, 2010.
On September 4, 2010, Super Junior took part in the SM Town Live '10 World Tour along with fellow SM labelmates at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. This marks the first time SM Town has performed outside of Asia. On September 23, 2010, Super Junior released their original soundtrack "Angel" for Haru: An Unforgettable Day in Korea, an omnibus drama that promotes Korea's tourism.
The album Bonamana got the 7th spot on the Billboard's World Album-Chart. On November 24, 2010, Avex Entertainment, as well as SM Entertainment Japan, released a statement about the renewal of contracts of SM artists signed to Avex.
2011-present
Super Junior won the Gaon Chart Awards for the Best Selling Album of 2010, surpassing their labelmate Girls' Generation. At the Mashable Awards 2010, they also won "Must-Follow Personality". Member Yesung was the winner of Cyworld Digital Music Award OST.
The group's then-untitled fifth studio album is rumored to be released in either April or June.
Artistry
Musical style
As a whole, Super Junior has released four studio albums and one physical single, including occasional contributions to drama soundtracks. They are acclaimed for their vocal harmonization and unison as each member contributes a different position range in their music. Leeteuk( leader, high lead vocalist, lead dancer), Heechul( rapper, high vocalist), Hangeng(lead dancer, high sub vocalist), Sungmin( lead vocalist, lead dancer), Eunhyuk(main rapper, main dancer), Donghae( high vocalist, main dancer), Ryeowook(high main vocalist, lead vocalist), Yesung(main vocalist of group), Kangin(sub vocalist), Siwon(sub vocalist) , Kyuhyun(main vocalist, lead dancer), Shindong(main dancer, lead rapper) and Kibum(main rapper, sub vocalist, sub dancer) Some members are credited for their vocal belting techniques.
Super Junior works closely with Young Jin Yoo, who has produced and arranged most of the group's promotional singles since debut. Yoo's also known for creating the renowned SMP style, a genre that includes a balanced infusion of rock, R&B, and rap, with complementing musical elements such as the electric guitar, bass, and other different percussion instruments. Super Junior has prominently used this SMP style in Don't Don.
Super Junior has covered a few songs in their albums. Their debut single "TWINS (Knock Out)" is a cover of Triple Eight's "Knockout," which was released in 2003. While the musical style is mostly maintained as the original, "TWINS (Knock Out)" touches closer to rap rock, with quicker rap and more emphasis on the bass. In most of their covers, the original titles are kept. Examples include Cape's "L.O.V.E" and Exile's "Believe." However, most of these covers are re-arranged to different accompaniments, such as H.O.T's "Full of Happiness".
Dance Style
Super Junior are known for doing performances that are heavily centered around their choreography, and are acclaimed for their highly synchronized dances. The group's pre-debut performance was a hip hop dance and they have also joined B-boy battles and performances throughout their career.
Their dance styles are widely termed as street dancing, with a majority of their choreography containing hip hop dance moves such as popping, waving, floating, and liquid dancing. Dances in the form of martial arts are widely used in their dance routines as Han Geng and Sungmin are professionally trained in that area. Shindong was the main choreographer for "U" and for a majority of the group's other dance sequences. Eunhyuk choreographed the dance for "Boom,Boom" (Fourth Album) and also worked with the other members to create the dance choreography for "Don't Don" and "Marry U", both promotional singles for the group's second album. The dance for their hit single "Sorry, Sorry" was choreographed by Nick Bass and Trent Dickens, who has also worked with Justin Timberlake. Nick Bass also choreographed the dance for "BONAMANA". While the dance for "It's You" was choreographed by Jae Won (SM's choreographers). The dance for "No Others" was choreographed by THE GEMINIZ, Rino Nakasone and Maryss From Paris.
Discography
Albums
- 2005: SuperJunior05 (TWINS)
- 2007: Don't Don
- 2009: Sorry, Sorry
- 2010: Bonamana
- 2011: TBA
Tours
Asia tours
- 2008–2009: The 1st ASIA TOUR, Super Show
- 2009–2010: The 2nd ASIA TOUR, Super Show 2
- 2010–2011: The 3rd ASIA TOUR, Super Show 3
April 19 accident
On April 19, 2007, Kyuhyun, who was sitting behind the driver's seat when the accident occurred, was severely injured with a fractured hip, pneumothorax from broken ribs, and deep scratches and bruises. Kyuhyun was slipping in and out of consciousness for the next few days after the accident occurred. Besides Kyuhyun, Leeteuk, Eunhyuk, Shindong, two of their managers were also involved in the accident. The accident occurred when they were commuting back to their apartment after Kiss the Radio (SuKiRa) in Kangta's van and not their own. Leeteuk had severe scratches on his back and face, and had to receive a total of 170 stitches. Kyuhyun was discharged from hospital later on July 5, 2007, but didn't fully recover until February 2008. The other two, Eunhyuk and Shindong, suffered only minor injuries.
Subgroups
Since debut, SM Entertainment has created four subgroups for Super Junior. Every member was put into different subgroups excluding Kibum, due to his busy acting schedule. The intentions of the subgroups were part of SM's strategy to not limit Super Junior's activities, and the goal was to show that the group could accommodate different musical genres. However, this strategy was later challenged by critics, as it has influenced an overwhelming amount of music groups to create official and unofficial subgroups alike. SM announced that Super Junior will form more subgroups in the future, and possible focuses of these subgroups include a variety of genres such as rock and hip hop. Previous Super Junior subgroups will also return to the industry along with appearances of new subgroups.
Super Junior-K.R.Y
Super Junior-K.R.Y, established in November 2006, is a trio formed by Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Yesung which makes up K.R.Y.in the title of the group. The company discovered that these three members developed a particular personal and subsequent fan-base that was separate from the rest of the group, and how they also had similar musical qualities. They therefore grouped these three members together to perform particular songs to target a more mature audience. Being amongst the most vocally powerful members of the group, Super Junior-K.R.Y are credited to singing mournful, R&B-style ballads, a style that has proven very popular in recent years.
Super Junior-K.R.Y's first official performance was on November 5, 2006 on KBS's Music Bank, performing "The One I Love (한 사람만을)." They have participated in the original soundtrack of the tvN drama Hyena with a total of three tracks, including the main theme. The trio also contributed tracks in two additional original soundtracks, one track in both the soundtracks of Snow Flower and Billy Jean Look at Me. Unlike Super Junior's other sub-units, Super Junior-K.R.Y has not officially released a single or album, and only participated in collaboration albums and original soundtracks. However, a new album is expected from K.R.Y in the future.
On 1 August 2010, Super Junior-K.R.Y had a concert of their very own in Japan, with Donghae and Sungmin as guests.
Super Junior-T
Super Junior-Trot (Korean: 슈퍼주니어-트로트), officially known as Super Junior-T (Korean: 슈퍼주니어-티) is the second official sub-unit of Korean boy band Super Junior. They are the first idol group known for capitalizing trot music, the oldest form of Korean pop music. Super Junior-T contains six Super Junior members, Leeteuk (the leader), Heechul, Kang-in, Shindong, Sungmin, and Eunhyuk.
Super Junior-T has released only one single in the short span of their career before they were announced to be on hiatus in 2008. The single "Rokuko" was Korea's sixteenth best-selling record and the number one best-selling single of 2007, according to the Music Industry Association of Korea. In November 2008, the subgroup returned with a debut in the Japanese music industry, releasing the Japanese version of "Rokuko."
Pre-debut
Noticing the dying trend of trot music, Lee Soo Man decided to revive the style by producing an idol band that capitalizes this genre. Three months before Super Junior-T's official debut, they performed "Don't Go Away" at the M.NET/KM Music Festival on November 25, 2006 with Super Junior's Donghae.
2007: Commercial success
In early February, SM Entertainment made the official announcement of a second Super Junior subgroup, Super Junior-T. The group released their debut single "Rokuko" on February 23, 2007 and on February 25, 2007, they officially debuted on SBS's Popular Songs, performing "Rokuko" and "First Express" with famous trot singer Bang Shilyi. The debut was also marked as Heechul's comeback performance after his injury from a car accident that occurred in August 2006.
"Rokuko" topped music charts three days after release. Two months later, the single topped Thailand-based music stations and remained in the same position for several weeks. By the end of 2007, the single sold almost 46,000 copies and was Korea's best-selling single of the year.
Two months later, Leeteuk, Shindong, and Eunhyuk were injured in a car accident, and all of Super Junior-T's schedules were completely canceled for two months. However, pre-recorded performances, such as the group's parody Palace T, continued to air on television and their single continued to top music charts. Schedules resumed in June, but only lasted a month.
2008: Performance tours and Japan
On April 29, 2008, it was announced that Super Junior-T would make a comeback later in the year with their second single. However, a fourth Super Junior sub-unit, Super Junior-Happy, debuted instead, putting Super Junior-T in partial hiatus. Nonetheless, Super Junior-T remained partially active throughout the year as they still appear as a group in Super Junior's concert tour, Super Show and other similar functions. Despite the debut of Super Junior-Happy, a future full-length album is still in the works and is expected to arrive in the future. Super Junior-T's latest appearance before the debut of Super Junior-Happy was on May 17, 2008, performing as the opening act at the 6th Korean Music Festival in Los Angeles, California.
On November 5, 2008, Super Junior-T re-released "Rokuko", now titled "ROCK&GO," in Japan. Presenting this project to the Japanese comedy duo Moeyan, who are skilled in combining comedy with song and dance, Super Junior-T hopes that the duo will help them localize the single into Japanese. The collaboration was the duo's official debut as singers and Super Junior-T's entrance in the Japanese market. The single debuted at #19 on the Oricon Daily Charts and jumped to #2 three days later. Super Junior-T and Moeyan held two mini concerts on the same release date as the single in the C.C. Lemon Hall at Tokyo to promote the record.
Musical goals
Super Junior-T's music style is a distinctive style of trot, an old-fashioned style of Korean pop music. Their revised style of the genre includes modernized K-pop melodies and also fast rap, notably performed by Shindong, Eunhyuk, and sometimes Heechul. Super Junior-T's goal is to enervate the fading genre in Korea's current music industry and to introduce the young audience to a traditional style of music, hoping to increase awareness of older trot musicians and bring trot back into mainstream music. Emergence of Super Junior-T is also due to a strategy that Super Junior has been using, which is to show that they can accommodate many different musical genres.
Image
Super Junior-T is well-known for their parodies, such as the short miniseries Palace T, a parody of the popular Korean drama, Princess Hours which aired on the channel M.NET, as a part of Idol World.
Due to Super Junior-T's active participance in trot music and their comedic appearances, the group gained outstanding attention from the older audience despite their well-known young idol images that was created for them in the main group Super Junior. Members of Super Junior-T explained that they wanted to change their idol appearanceand hope that they would gain different fans from their new trot image.
Singles
Year | Title | Release date |
2007 | "Rokkugo" | February 23, 2007 |
2008 | "Rokuko" feat. Moeyan | November 5, 2008 |
Variety shows
Title | Air date | Broadcast |
KM Idol World – 아이돌 월드 | May 5–June 30, 2007 | M.net |
Super Junior-M
Super Junior-M, often referred to as SJ-M, is the third official sub-unit of Korean boy band Super Junior. They are the first international music group in the Chinese music industry to have members of both Chinese and Korean descent, and are also the first group produced by Korea's CT (Culture Technology) organization, created through a comprehensive localization strategy. Super Junior-M consists of Siwon, Donghae, Ryeowook, Kyuhyun, Henry, and Zhou Mi. The subgroup is rumored to be releasing their new song on February 14. Han Geng, the group's ex-leader, having won his lawsuit against SM Entertainment, will not be taking any part in the album. Super Junior members Sungmin and Eunhyuk are confirmed to be added to the subgroup.
Name Origin
Before the official name of the subgroup was released, they were often referred to as Super Junior China. On April 3, 2008, SM Entertainment released the official name of the subgroup, Super Junior-M, with "M" representing the word "Mandarin," expressing the subgroup's ambition to become successful in the Chinese music market not limited to only China. The "M" can also represent a list of other aspects, such as the first letter of their debut album, Me, and also "mi" (Chinese: 迷), which denotes to "charismatic" as well as "fan" in Mandarin, the latter meaning referring to their desire to connect closer with fans.
Pre-debut
Responding to Super Junior's rising popularity in Mainland China, Super Junior's management, SM Entertainment, decided to compose a new Super Junior sub-unit which focuses on the Chinese market. On October 2, 2007, an official announcement was released to the media, stating the birth of a third Super Junior subgroup that would debut in China in 2008. Super Junior's original member Han Geng, and an SM Chinese trainee, Henry, were stated to be the first two of the seven members representing the subgroup. Five months later, a second Super Junior member, Siwon, was mentioned in news articles to be the third member. However, the confirmed list of members were not released to the public until April.
Starting from April 4 to April 7, 2008, the seven members were individually released to the media in a chain of short trailer clips. Han Geng was the first member to be announced on April 4. On April 5, Siwon and Donghae were announced to be the second and third members. On April 6, Kyuhyun was announced to be the fourth Super Junior-M member, following a new member Henry as the fifth. Ryeowook was announced to be the sixth member on April 7 followed by Zhou Mi as the final member. A trailer of all seven members was released on the group's debut day, April 8. Super Junior-M's trailer clips exceeded 1.4 million views in less than four days, garnering interest in both the Chinese and Korean audiences.
Music
Super Junior-M debuted in China on April 8, 2008 at the 8th Annual Music Chart Awards and with the release of their first music video, "U" online. Their debut album was released in various provinces in China starting April 23, 2008 and the Korean version with three bonus Korean tracks was released in South Korea on April 30, 2008. The album was also distributed in several other Chinese communities on May 2, 2008 such as Hong Kong and Taiwan. Reviews for the album were generally positive and it also gained praise from Hong Kong singer, Hins Cheung, who said the album contains "international-level music" and that the group is "vocally-talented".A month after their debut, Super Junior-M won their first award, Asia's Most Popular New Group Award, at the 5th annual Music King Awards in Macau on May 25.
After their debut performance in early April 2008, the group made guest appearances in many chains of entertainment variety shows. They appeared in an episode of the second season of TVB and HunanTV's collaboration show, Strictly Come Dancing (舞动奇迹), which made the show's ratings increase to 5.01%, ranking it the third most watched show ever in all of China. Super Junior-M's appearance in the talk show, Behind Story (背后的故事) two months later also increased ratings. The show had the highest ratings during that time slot, with a strong 4.05%. Separated into several weekly episodes, the group's appearance in their first episode on the challenging game show, Bravely Going Forward (勇往直前) in early August gave the show the highest ratings during that time slot as well.
Super Junior-M and Show Luo of Taiwan replaced Hong Kong entertainers, Nicholas Tse and Twins, for the 2008 summer season endorsement spots of Semir, a Chinese clothing brand. They were acclaimed to be sunny, young, and passionate; thus their image was suitable to endorse the brand.
The last performance of "U" was on August 29, 2008 at the 7th Golden Eagle Opening Ceremony Concert. The group gave their first performance of their second single, "Me," on September 13, 2008 at the SMTOWN LIVE '08 in Shanghai concert. The music video was then released a day later through Sohu. Super Junior-M held their first concert in Hong Kong on December 27 and 28.
On September 14, 2009, Super Junior-M released the music video for their upcoming comeback single Super Girl which features Girls' Generation's Jessica Jung. They are currently nominated for Best Singing Group at the 21st Golden Melody Awards.
Super Junior-M's goal is to bring the Korean pop influence over to the Chinese market, re-representing the hits in Mandarin. Similar to the style of their main group Super Junior, Super Junior-M's music style falls into the category of mainstream pop, dance, and R&B. Dance pop songs with rock and hip hop influences are easily heard in their music, such as in "Me" and "The Moment", which contains guitar riffs and heavy bass sounds. Rap is not performed as often like the main group, but these influences can be heard in "The Moment" and also the rap remakes in "Don't Don" and "A Man In Love".
Television
In late 2008, Han Geng acted in the drama Stage of Youth (青春舞台) alongside other prominent Hong Kong EEG stars Joey Yung, Kenny Kwan, and Yumiko Cheng. He starred as Xia Lei (夏磊), a youth who dreamed to be a dancer. Stage of Youth was an idol drama that was dedicated to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Other members of Super Junior-M gave cameo appearances in the final episode of the drama.
"Only 13"
After the first announcement of Super Junior-M on October 2, 2007, and the possibility of adding a non-Super Junior member, Henry, to this unit, Super Junior fans immediately voiced out their dissatisfaction and opposition. Immediately, a website was built, called "Only 13", to oppose against SM Entertainment's actions. Through the website, fans of Super Junior communicate and plan out protesting actions against the company. Before legal protests began, many online petitions were made by both Korean and Chinese fans to prevent and convince the label to not add a fourteenth member. Initially fans were planning to boycott the company's products, similar to the actions taken by fans of TVXQ in the past. However, most fans agreed on a silent protest instead. On October 21, 2007 and throughout the week, over 400 fans from Super Junior's official fanclub, E.L.F, silently sat in front of the SM building and held signs that supported the group to have only thirteen members. Situations became worse when SM Entertainment announced through the media that they never stated that Super Junior was a fixed group, although the label announced that Super Junior was a permanent group when Kyuhyun was added to the group in mid-2006. Thousands of fans wrote letters to the company and pleaded them to keep the group permanent, but no answer was returned.
Over one thousand more fans appeared in front of the SM building on E.L.F's third protest on November 3, 2007. Instead of a silent protest, the fans sang various Super Junior songs and shouted "thirteen." Although SM Entertainment's answer to the fans' protest stated that new members in Super Junior-M will not be added to the official group and thus will not affect Super Junior's main career, many fans still held the belief that there will be this possibility of seeing new official Super Junior members in the future.
After more rumors leaked of SM Entertainment sneaking in an extra non-Super Junior member, Zhou Mi, to the subgroup, the fans decided to gain this chance to have a legal representation as part of SM Entertainment's stockholders. As of March 20, 2008, Super Junior fans from all over the world purchased 58,206 stocks of SM Entertainment, holding 0.3% of the company's entire stock. They released a statement through the media, stating that they will obtain all chances to prevent SM Entertainment from adding new members and to keep Super Junior as only thirteen.
After the release of Super Junior-M's official blog on April 3, 2008, over 5,000 comments were posted by Chinese fans in an hour, voicing out their support to keep Super Junior as thirteen members. The administrator resulted in locking the comment box where only those with sohu blog accounts could comment.
Studio albums
- 2008: Me
EPs
- 2009: Super Girl
- 2011: Tai Wan Mei (Perfection)
Awards
Year | Award | Category |
2008 | ||
Music King Awards | Most Popular New Group | |
Southeast Music Awards | Mainland's Most Popular Group | |
CCTV-MTV Music Awards | Best Singing Group of the Year | |
Starlight Grand Ceremony | Best New Music Group | |
2009 | 2009 China Digital Music Awards | Most Downloaded Overseas Singer |
2010 | 2010 MusicRadio TOP Awards | Mainland's Most Popular Group |
2010 China's Music Festival | Most Popular Award | |
2010 China's Music Festival | Golden Melody Award (Album Award) | |
2010 China's Music Festival | Composer Award |
Super Junior-Happy
Super Junior-Happy (Korean: 슈퍼주니어-해피), sometimes referred to as SJ-Happy or Suju-Happy (Korean: 슈주-해피), is the fourth official sub-unit of Korean boy band Super Junior. Super Junior-Happy contains six Super Junior members, Leeteuk (the leader), Yesung, Kang-in, Shindong, Sungmin, and Eunhyuk.
History
By 2008, all of the Super Junior members have already been a member of at least one subgroup except Kibum. Super Junior-Happy consists of every previous member from Super Junior-T except Heechul, who is replaced by Yesung. Super Junior-Happy made an unofficial debut performance on May 3, 2008 at the Power Concert although they had not formally introduced themselves as the subgroup at the time.
On May 30, 2008, SM Entertainment released the official announcement of the subgroup through Newsen. The subgroup's first EP, Cooking? Cooking!, was released on June 5, 2008. The music video of their first single, "Cooking? Cooking!" was released on that same day.
Super Junior-Happy debuted on June 7, 2008, performing their first single, "Cooking? Cooking!" at the 2008 Dream Concert. On the day before their debut, the subgroup held their first sign fan meeting to celebrate the success of the sales of Cooking? Cooking! On the morning of June 6, over thousands of fans lined up for tickets to the fan meet, overcrowding the streets. Close to 10,000 copies were sold by the first week of release. According to the Music Industry Association of Korea, the EP sold 27,122 by the end of August and was ranked fifth in the monthly charts.
Super Junior-Happy performed their second single, "Pajama Party" on August 3, 2008 on SBS's Popular Songs. The music video was released on August 4, 2008. "Pajama Party" promotions only lasted a month, and promotions for the EP officially ended on September 7, 2008.
Music style
Super Junior-Happy's music style involves the common style of contemporary dance music and bubblegum pop, mainly targeting the music industry with their fun and entertaining style. Super Junior-Happy's debut single, "Cooking? Cooking!" is a dance track with refreshing rhythm and quirky lyrics. Their goal is to give fans feelings of bliss and happiness with their music.
Extended plays
Year | Title | Release date |
2008 | Cooking? Cooking! | June 5, 2008 |
Film and television career
Debut
Prior to the group's debut, the members had individually appeared in television dramas, with Leeteuk being the first member of the group to act; he was an extra as a moviegoer for the drama All About Eve in 2000. Kang-in appeared as an extra for The Secret Lovers in 2002, and Siwon made a brief cameo appearance in Precious Family in 2004. Kibum had his acting debut in 2004 as young Han Jung-woo in April Kiss and in 2005, he was given the main role Joo Yeo-myung for the year-long drama Sharp 2, starring alongside Go Ara and Heechul. A few months before Super Junior's debut, Siwon starred as the young Kang Bong-man in Eighteen, Twenty-Nine; Heechul was given a role as a junior chef in Loveholic, and Sungmin starred as young Kang Dong-shin in morning drama Sisters of the Sea. After the group's debut in November 2005, both Heechul and Kibum acted in the sixth season of the sitcom Nonstop from late 2005 to early 2006. Kibum individually starred in Marrying a Millionaire as young Kim Young-hoon in 2005 and in March 2006, Heechul starred as Gong Min in Bad Family. That same year, Siwon was part of the supporting cast for Spring Waltz and Kibum starred as Ha Yeongchan in Snow Flower. In 2007, Heechul starred as Kim Young-soo in the popular drama Golden Bride, which ended its broadcast in February 2008 after the extension of 14 episodes. Siwon starred as the ambitious Lee Mong-ryong in the two-episode parody historical drama Legend of Hyang Dan, he also starred as the main character in Oh! My Lady! and Kang-in made a cameo appearance in Billie Jean, Look At Me. The song "It's Just That", sung by Super Junior-K.R.Y, was used as the drama's theme song. In 2008, Kibum starred in the sitcom Chunja's Happy Events as Park Jung-woo, and Kang-in had his first major television role in Romance Zero as Na Ho-tae in 2009. In August 2009, Heechul played the piano for Lee Chul for Loving You a Thousand Time.
Siwon was among the first of Super Junior to have participated in silver-screen productions, appearing in the Hong Kong historical action drama film, A Battle of Wits as the supporting role of Prince Liang in 2006. In 2007, Heechul, Kang-in, and Shindong lent their voices to the three chipmunks in the Korean release of Alvin and the Chipmunks. In 2008, Kang-in had a major role in the Korean-language film, Hello Schoolgirl.
As a group, Super Junior starred in Super Junior Mini-Drama, a television program hosted by the group that was released in late 2006. The group wrote, produced, and acted in the separate half-hour mini dramas. The subject matters of the dramas were chosen from viewers. In 2008, Leeteuk and Sungmin starred in the one-episode drama act Super Junior Unbelievable Story. Both Leeteuk and Sungmin starred as themselves as a member of Super Junior-T.
Reality shows
Despite numerous appearances as television actors, Super Junior are still best known for their reality shows, having participated in popular reality comedies.
- 2005: Super Junior Super Show
- 2006: Mystery 6
- 2006: Super Adonis Camp
- 2006: Super Junior Full House
Super Junior starred in their own reality show called Super Junior Full House which was about two transfer students who will be boarding with half of the members of Super Junior, specifically in the dorm where in Heechul, Kangin, Kibum, Siwon, Hangeng and Donghae are staying in. The two transfer students were model Eva and her friend Anya.
The show ran for about 13 episodes and it's running time was only for 25 minutes. It was aired from May 27, 2006 until August 26, 2006. The home stay only lasted for a month prior to its original plan and with the show it presented comedic experiences by Super Junior and the two international female students showing their deep friendship and funny attitudes and or personalities.
- 2006: Reality Survival Drama
- 2007: MNET Super Summer
- 2007: Explorers of the Human Body
A reality learning show, emceed by Shin Dong Yup and, on several episodes, chosen Super Junior members. It ran for 13 40-minute episodes from November 11, 2007 to February 3, 2008. The show focused on the members and Shin Dong Yup performing experiments on various subjects, such as the sense of taste and the origin of tears. The youngest member, Kyuhyun, was not present until the seventh episode due to the accident.
- 2008: Unbelievable Outing Season 3
- 2008: Idol Show
- 2009: Human Network Super Junior's Miracle
- 2010: Super Junior's Foresight
Hosting
The Super Junior members were one of the first Korean idols to begin television presenting and radio hosting. Heechul was the first in the group to be a selected MC for the music programs Popular Songs and Show Music Tank. He was also the first in the group to host radio shows, and co-hosted Youngstreet Radio Show with ex-M.I.L.K. member Park Heebon in early 2005. Heechul has also been the MC for the Dream Concert since 2008. Leeteuk, Kang-in, and Shindong made their MC debut on Mnet's music program M! Countdown five days after Super Junior's debut performance. In August 2006, both Leeteuk and Eunhyuk founded their own radio show, Super Junior Kiss the Radio, which has become one of the more tuned-in radio channels in the country.
The group also founded their own reality television program, and on November 11, 2007, the premiere of Explorers of the Human Body aired on SBS. The humorous show introduced the thirteen members as regular guests for the program, answering curious questions and doing demonstrations involving the human body. Kyuhyun, who was recovering from a car accident during the first half of the show's filming, joined the show in the later episodes. The show has been the highest rating program of the reality line-up every Sunday, but due to Super Junior's tight schedule, the program ended quickly with thirteen episodes on February 3, 2008. The popularity of the program had inspired producers to create a second season, although no announcements of producing the next season has been announced.
Acting
Twelve members, excluding Kyuhyun, appeared in the group's debut film Attack on the Pin-Up Boys. The first film released by SM Pictures, it premiered on July 26, 2007 in Korea. "Wonder Boy", performed by Super Junior, is used as the theme song of the film. Although the film was promoted as a typical high school comedy, the movie gained positive reviews from critics, praising that the movie had a well-oriented plot unlike most idol films. However, ticket sales remained low in the premiere month despite its unexpected success in the sales the first week. The film was a box-office bomb, failing to attract more than 102,600 admissions and was proven to be a big loss for SM Pictures. However, both versions of the film's DVD became a best-selling record and were sold-out in both Korea and oversea markets, which was more than enough to make up for the production loss of 8.5 billion won.
Endorsements
Super Junior members first began endorsing for various fashion lines in early 2006, notably for Ivy Club (2006–2007), NII Qualified (2007) and Spris (2006–2007). With their high popularity in Thailand, Siwon was contracted to be the main endorser for 12 Plus Miracle(2007–present) and began endorsing its products with interchangeable Super Junior members. Currently Donghae is the brand ambassador for Maxim Colours Contact lens worldwide. The group are also known for their string of humorous commercials for Thailand's Yamaha Fino along with several other Thai entertainers, notably Golf & Mike. Super Junior were also appointed as the Goodwill ambassadors for the 2008 Korea and Thailand 50th Anniversary, honoring the good relationship Korea has held with Thailand for the past fifty years. Most recently in 2009, Super Junior have filmed CFs for brands such as Kyochon Chicken, Star Snacks and Happy Bubble. They also endorse a clothing line called SPAO with fellow SM Towners, Girls' Generation. Super Junior also Spokesmodel for Donate Blood (2007–present) campaign at the Republic of Korea National Red Cross and was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for World Blood Donor Day at Sejong Center in Seoul with fellow SM Towners, F(x) (band) . They also promote and endorse for Samsung’s marketing of their new smart-phone Samsung Galaxy S in Singapore. Members of sub-group Super Junior-M also starring in commercials for Chinese mobile phones branded Oppo. They also star in a new commercial show for Pepsi and endorse Chinese clothing line Semir, reflecting their huge popularity in the Chinese region.
Influence and impact
During the course of Super Junior's career, several pop groups were formed similarly extraordinary numbers of members. JYP Entertainment recruited thirteen boys to be in a boy band, who were all revealed in the show, Hot Blood Men. Of these thirteen, eleven were split into two groups that debuted at different times: 2AM, which has four members, and 2PM, which has seven. Together, the two groups form the eleven-member boy band One Day. Ast'1, a boy band under DSP Entertainment, released a promotional video in March 2008. In the short preview the boy band expressed that they would "Knock Down Super Junior",which resulted in a lot of criticism lashed into the group. However, they clarified that they had no means to create conflict, and explained the reason why they want to defeat Super Junior is because they see Super Junior as their answer of success.
Ever Lasting Friends (commonly referred to as E.L.F) is the name of Super Junior's official fan base, with pearl sapphire blue as their official color. Although concrete statistic have not been conducted to count the number of fans, it has been observed that the group has a huge number of fans not just in Asian countries but also in other countries of the world.
Controversies
Expansion to China
After the subgroups Super Junior-K.R.Y. and Super Junior-T, on October 2, 2007, SM Entertainment announced the birth of another Super Junior sub-unit project that would begin activities in China starting 2008. Zhou Mi and SM Entertainment's new Chinese-Canadian trainee Henry Lau, who was also featured in the music video of "Don't Don", were also members of the subgroup.
The announcement brought in a huge wave of dissatisfaction and opposition from fans of Super Junior after the announcement of two new members. Initially, fans were planning to boycott the company's products, however, most fans agreed on a silent protest instead. Thousands of fans from Super Junior's official fanclub E.L.F. silently sat in front of the SM building and held signs that supported the group to have only thirteen members.
After more rumors regarding adding a Chinese member to the subgroup, the fans decided to gain a legal representation as part of SM Entertainment's stockholders. As of March 20, 2008, Super Junior fans purchased 58,206 stocks of SM Entertainment, holding 0.3% of the company's entire stock. They released a statement that they will obtain all chances to prevent SM Entertainment from adding new members and to keep Super Junior as only thirteen.
Conflict with MBC
A time-slot dispute occurred between SM Entertainment and MBC when SM insisted to have Kang-in stay on SBS's Explorers of the Human Body instead of MBC's Sunday Night Dong-An Club (동안클럽) where Kang-in has been a regular host. MBC temporarily banned the rest of Super Junior from appearing in any future performances and shows hosted by MBC. Kang-in also lost his MC jobs to T.O.P. of Big Bang for the music show, Show! Music Core and also two more variety shows, which both soon canceled after Kang-in left due to low ratings. MBC demanded an apology from SM Entertainment in order for Super Junior to appear on shows hosted by the channel again. However, MBC concluded that Super Junior's ban was never official, but just a decision for shows' producers to decide.
Han Geng's lawsuit
On December 21, 2009, one of the members, Han Geng, filed for contract termination with SM Entertainment, label company of the group. The following day, Han Geng's lawyer stated the claimed reasons behind the action: provisions were in SM Entertainment's favour, unlawful 13-year contract length, unfair sum of money to end the contract, not allowed to request to revise his contract, forced to do things that were not in his contract, forced to do things against his will, fined if he disobeyed the company, missed any events or even was late, and there was uneven profit distribution. Along with this, it was disclosed that because of SM Entertainment's refusal to give him a day off in over two years, he had developed gastritis and kidney disease.
Han Geng's current manager, Sun Le, also submitted a statement to the court of South Korea citing SM Entertainment's violation of Han Geng's rights. Sun Le's statement contended that: Han Geng was forced to wear a mask due to company's ill handling of the visa issue, company purposely discriminated against Han Geng and his family, company refused to cooperate or listen to any of Han Geng's suggestions, company purposely turned down individual activities for Han Geng (including Ariel Lin's "Fireflies" music video, which later starred two other Super Junior members) and that the company treated Han Geng's potential endorsers poorly.
On December 21, 2010, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the Han Geng. The court stated, “All three contracts – from the January 2003 contract, the altered contract from February 2007, and the affiliated contract from December 2007 – do not exist.” A representative of SM Entertainment said that they will file an immediate appeal to reverse the decision.
Conflict during Expo 2010
On May 26, 2010, organized by South Korea Pavilion of Expo 2010, many Korean pop stars including Super Junior were invited to the "South Korean classical and pop concert" which was planned to be launched at Expo Cultural Centre on May 30. As the tickets were not for sale to the public, visitors who want to enjoy the show could only exchange the ticket via expo ticket in the west door of the Expo Cultural Centre on May 30. The total ticket number is 5000, while 2500 of which would be assigned to Korea visitors for free which caused the actual available number to be 2500. Super Junior fans collected in the entry of the Expo Cultural Centre, and the strong emotion led to the occurrence of violence, resulting in casualties. A local armed police said that this is his first time to see such a “crazy” situation in Expo 2010 since the Expo park was opened.
Awards and Nominations
Super Junior, a thirteen-member boy band from South Korea, has won numerous awards and recognitions since their K-pop debut in 2005 and their introduction to the Mandopop industry in 2007. Super Junior won most of their awards from South Korea, but they have also grabbed a few awards and nominations from other Asian countries, such as in China, Thailand, and Malaysia. The group has only recorded four studio albums and one CD single, but they have released a total of 20 different kinds of records, including featurings and sub-unit recordings. The group won as the Album of the Year for Sorry Sorry at the 1st Philippine K-pop Convention Awards in the Philippines. Recently, the group also won the "Best K-Pop Group" in ASAP Pop Viewers Choice Awards 2010 in the Philippines. Artists who were nominated for the ‘Pop K-pop’ category were Super Junior, 2NE1, Wonder Girls, and One Way. Super Junior managed to outrank all three nominees by receiving 61.6% of the total votes, placing them in first place. Also last December 11, 2010, the group won Group of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year for their latest album Bonamana at the 2nd Philippine K-pop Awards which was made possible by The 2nd Philippine Kpop Convention at the PICC Forum in the Philippines.
The group's most successful song is "U", which earned Super Junior their first music award, the SBS Popular Songs Mutizen Song in June 2006. The single earned the group four more distinctive song awards, and the group grabbed their first MKMF award from the Mnet/KM Music Festival in November 2006. In terms of recognition in other areas of Asia, Super Junior is the first overseas artist to win Asia's Artist of the Year at the Tencent Stars Magnificent Ceremony in China, and is also the second musical group to win Favorite Artist Korea at the MTV Asia Awards, after JTL in 2003.
Super Junior have also gained recognitions for their dress style and fashion throughout their career. They hailed as the best-dressed artist at the 2007 Summer Break 20's Choice Awards, and also earned a similar nomination the following year, but lost to Big Bang. In the 2008 Mnet/KM Music Festival they won the only best-dressed (Red Carpet) award despite their absence at the festival. The group have also earned titles for their dance choreography and popularity.
*source : Wikipedia
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