Mr. Simple- Super Junior

Super Junior is finally making their comeback! This is the title song for their last album before they take a hiatus while members do their military service required by Korean law.

Lyrics: 10/5
This song has to have the best message ever. The lyrics aren’t about love or a breakup or anything like that, it’s basically “Shit happens, deal with it”. The song is really just advice. It’s saying grades and test results go up and down, there is no use sweating all the little details. When things get tough don’t keep pushing, take a step back, go drink with your friends (a major social thing in Korea) or spend a night out having fun and relax a bit before tackling the issues. They say things like “Miss Simple, you’re pretty just the way you are” and other little encouraging messages to both men and women. It can be summed up to “Shit happens” and “don’t sweat the small stuff”.
“Look Mr. Simple Simple you are cool the way you are/ Look Miss Simple Simple, you are pretty the way you are (SJ Call)/ Look Mr. Simple Simple you are cool the way you are/ Look Miss Simple Simple you are pretty the way you are (SJ Call)/ Lets go lets go, hurry lets go/ when we get blocked let’s go back/ if you’re stressed to death let’s hang out for the day/ anyway, if I run endlessly in this rough world I’ll get tired/ wait, shake it off/ because your day will come soon“

Dance: 6/5
The dance has to be one of SJ’s best. Choreographers met with each member individually and had them make up a dance step or series, they combined these with some of their own choreography so that this dance has elements from every member. The dance solo in the middle is, as always, Eunhyuk and Donghae. With them is their pet-project DanceKyu (a member who was previous the “Dance Black Hole” of the group whom they are trying to improve) and Sungmin, a member who has not been included in an SJ dance solo since Super Junior’s “Miracle” MV over 5 years ago!

Story: NA
The teasers suggested a story MV, but that might be coming out later. For now there is no story to the MV, like with “Sorry, Sorry” and “Bonamana” (though there is more color in their outfits). They revealed there is also a Japanese version of the MV that will be released at an undisclosed date, so that may be the story that was appearing in the second teaser (a man or woman tied up with red ropes and a man covered in some kind of plaster or whatnot that he was trying to break free from).

Other Things

Super Junior announced just before the MV was released that this will be their last album before the group goes on a hiatus while the older members enter the Korean military for their mandatory 2 year service (all men must complete this before they turn 30). In light of this they said they will take their time promoting this thoroughly and not rush any aspect. They will also be releasing a repackaged version of Mr. Simple in a month or two with a second MV, just like with all previous albums (Sorry Sorry=Neorago, Bonamana=No Other).

I’m still not seeing the “Ubersexual” concept SM said they would have (at least not outside the teaser images!), but it does have a very cool feel. There is none of Super Junior’s trademark hip-thrust move, but the dance is cool and very well put together.

What Are You Looking At? (Close Your Mouth)- M&D

M&D is a project group featuring Heechul of Super Junior and Jungmo of TRAX, so I’m tagging both original groups as the M&D tag!

Lyrics: 7/5
This is a VERY arrogant song, but the content is rather unique, and I love it ^^. The song takes place during a fight between a boyfriend and a girlfriend. The boy is asking what style the girl wants: rock, rap, dance. Sounds like she keeps complaining and left the guy as a way to try and make him change. He is having none of it though and says things like “There are no men waiting for you” and “There are plenty of girls waiting for me”. He later talks about the girl wanting to get back together saying “I have no time to meet you, I am with other girls then”. “Snarky” barely begins to cover this song ^^

“Okay, fine/ should I dance?/ Okay, I understand/ should I rap?/ okay, good choice girl/ should it be rock?/ I got it/ get off, get off, get off/ (what are you looking at)/ there are plenty of girls looking for me/ (what are you looking at)/ there are no men chasing you/ (what are you looking at)/ that’s the difference between me and you/ Even so, you’re leaving?/ That’s great, oh bye, bye bye“

Dance: NA
No dance for this duo

Story: 3/5
Heechul directed this himself, and the quality is really good! The MV doesn’t really tell a story though, so I had a lot of trouble deciding if it should be treated like a story MV. Basically it’s Heechul walking through the halls of the SM Entertainment Apgujeong EverySing store (a karaoke studio and press release studio run by SME) with his friends from Chocoball, a club for 4D celebrities with the AB blood type run by Heechul. Miss A’s Jia is featured as a girl who leaves Heechul then keeps trying to get him back. That is all there is as far as story goes, otherwise he’s just grabbing his friends from the hallways.

Other Things
For an MV Heechul claims to have filmed in ten minutes (most of it is one-shot style) I think this was really well done. It’s more fun to watch than a lot of MVs from professional directors.

The snarky song, the unusual MV style, everything works well in this. I absolutely love this MV.

In the lyrics Heechul repeatedly says “Get off”. These are the official lyrics, but in the song and MV he seems to be saying “Get up” instead. I’m not sure what the verdict here is as far as which are the actual lyrics.

One comment against Heechul: his lip-sync is overdone. He isn’t as bad as DBSK (THEY NEED LIP-SYNC CLASSES!), but it’s definitely a tad over the top.

This is the first MV I’ve linked to here where I actually subbed it. I hope you like my style! I couldn’t find a good version with subs that wasn’t hard to read or wrong in parts, so I subbed it myself.

Mystery 6

This is a TV show, for those of you who don’t know.

From what I’ve come to understand about “Mystery 6″ the show is actually just called “Mystery”, the “6″ is the season number. I guess each season has it’s own story, I don’t think it’s on anymore though…

Plot: 6/5
The story follows (drum roll) Super Junior ^^

It’s filmed like a reality investigation, but it was all scripted (how closely the members stuck to the script is unknown). The show was filmed after “Miracle” promotions began, but before “U” promotions, so there is no Kyuhyun (I don’t think the members even knew at this point that there would *be* a Kyuhyun).

So here’s the story: Donghae has been having nightmares (I love how when they do a movie or show it’s Donghae who is the lead, not one of the actual actors). Only these aren’t normal nightmares, he can’t get up after waking from them and his health is failing fast from lack of sleep and illness. The “Mystery” staff decide to set up a series of video cameras in Super Junior’s dorm to investigate the issue, and on their first night the shadow of a girl appears huddled in the corner of the room.

Over the course of 6 episodes Super Junior must figure out why there is a ghost in Donghae’s room, the story behind the horrible event which occurred in their dorm, and figure out what the spirit wants with Donghae. The members’ investigation reveals a previous owner of the house who also began to see ghosts and have nightmares, and their experience ended when a crazed father beat his daughter to death to stop the visions. While Donghae’s condition deteriorates and the members start to see ghosts around them the whole story slowly comes to light.

I didn’t mean to be so DVD cover about it, but it was kind of hard to describe the plot without giving anything big away.

It’s a scary show, but it’s also a show with Super Junior, so it all balances out. Whenever there is something terrifying they bring in the members to try and make things better. Little corners include Reporter Kim’s feature story on the event in Episode 1 (Heechul steals a camera and a spoon microphone and goes on a rampage) and Kangin’s Cooking Show where they attempt to make some food for Donghae to help him get his strength back (and which involves a very foolish Eunhyuk being made to taste Vinegar and Sesame Oil among other things to check their freshness). There is a great story running through the show, and the funny detours are just that, funny tiny little detours, so they get back to the story quickly.

Acting: 5/5

It seriously entertains me how the “Actors” of Super Junior don’t do much acting in their feature shows (this and “Attack on the Pin-Up Boys”). It tends to be Donghae (who is making his big debut as an actor TONIGHT with his solo role in “It’s Alright Daddy’s Daughter”, in fact it should already be about over). The acting is great, and a lot of the show is informal, so other than Donghae the other members don’t really appear much. Don’t get me wrong, there are always 2-3 members in almost every scene, but no member other than Hae is really heavily featured. Ryeowook, Sungmin, and Yesung even catch a few lines here and there (they tend to be the quiet ones)! Ryeowook plays a bigger role later on in the show.

Directing:
I’m not giving a numerical score here. The show is filmed guerrilla-style and is VERY informal. It really does just look like a camera crew sent to film Super Junior while SJ is distracted trying to help Donghae with the ghost that is trying to slowly kill him.

I HIGHLY  recommend checking this show out. It’s funny and it has a good plot. I’m currently watching it for the 4th time. Just a warning though: in the first episode you get some of the typical scary ghost-jumps-at-camera (beware of the scene with the girls in school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! scared the crap out of me…), but that happens maybe 2-3 times in the entire show, and usually they don’t dwell and try to be funny as quickly as good writing allows.

Announcement- KYA!!!!!!

The fangirl in me is totally dying right now (in a good way). So I tagged this video in the “Artist Profile” and MV section of each of the groups involved.

SM Entertainment just announced the formation of a new project group. This group, from the sounds of it, is more of a collaboration group and not an actual full-time group, so don’t get too worried, but it will definitely be performing so you’ll get to see a bit of it!

The new group debuting in less than 10 days is “S.M. The Ballad”. This group is comprised of a new singer named Jino (18), TRAX’s Jay, SHINee’s Jonghyun, and Super Junior’s Kyuhyun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The idea I’m getting from the press release about this (which pretty much just said they’d be releasing a CD the 26th) is that this is going to be like the Super Junior Sub Groups. No one is leaving their initial group. So don’t worry!

Wonder Boy- Super Junior

This MV was filmed specifically for Super Junior’s “Attack on the Pin-Up Boys” movie. It is the OST for the film.

Lyrics:
The song is about seizing your dreams and not letting anything stop you. It is a song about having confidence, and it’s really good. It wouldn’t have worked as a promotional song I think, since those types of songs usually are too kiddie-pop to compete with others, but it’s still a good song.
“There could be sad memories that make you cry/ Don’t forget that you have a shoulder to lean on in this world/ I have the whole world in my heart/ Let’s keep running/ for tomorrow, for the future/ to become a shining light under the sun/ wonder boy yeah“

Dance:
The dance is kind of massive. A lot of it is done standing in a relatively small space, since the dance features TONS of extras from the movie (I think everyone who played a student is there) and was filmed on a soccer field. The dance is pretty simple to follow.

Story
Watch the movie, that is the story. the MV itself doesn’t have one in it, but it is meant to be taken with the film.

Other Interesting Things
The sneaky-ness of SM Entertainment is strong in this MV. When most of the extras break off to the sides and just Super Junior members are dancing one extra stays close to the main group, this is future Super Junior “Guest Member” and Super Junior- M member Henry.

The panda is another sneak-in. In the movie itself member Ryeowook donned the Panda suit and played that role (he was the only member with 2 roles and between them appears more than anyone else), but someone else was going to have to wear it for the MV filming. The suit was used to hide someone who wasn’t supposed to be at the filming: Super Junior leader Leeteuk. Leeteuk was hospitalized with member Kyuhyun after being severely injured in the April 2007 car accident. He injured his back and forehead in the accident and received over 150 stitches. Leeteuk was released from the hospital and put on immediate rest. He wanted to participate in the filming for the movie but was not allowed. On the last day of filming (when they filmed this MV) he used a fan website to look up the filming location and drove there himself (in the behind the scenes you see him arrive and show off his heavily bandaged back). He was put in the Panda suit and allowed to film. At the end of the MV the members caught him and took of the mask to show off their leader. This gave rise to the popular belief that it was him in the Panda suit throughout the movie, but he was only in the MV.

One of the extras in the MV is future SHINee member Key, who made his debut a year after his MV was filmed.

This MV gained great popularity as it was Super Junior’s first after the series of car accidents from late 2006 to early 2007.

U (Korean Version)- Super Junior

This is the debut MV of Super Junior as a 13 member group. It is the official debut of new maknae (youngest member) Kyuhyun. The song became Super Junior’s first major hit and won them their first awards as well as several “Best New Group” awards.

Lyrics
Just as in the Chinese version the song is a seduction song. It is about being desperately in love with a girl and says they will make her love them.
“Cause I can’t stop thinking ’bout U girl/ I want to be with you/ no I can’t stop thinking ’bout U girl/ Don’t leave me here/ Cause I can’t stop thinking ’bout U girl/ I’m gonna make you mine/ No I can’t stop thinking ’bout U girl/ I want to lock you deep inside me“

Dance
The song was choreographed by member Shindong! The dance is very strong and shows off a more powerful image than previous dances. The member-named key point of the dance is the hip thrust, which carried over to the Chinese Version. Personally this is some of my favorite choreography for a song.

Story
There is no story beyond the lyrics. you see a girl a the beginning and end who is watching this video, but it is not strong enough to be considered a story. Most of the MV was filmed before a green screen, though some shots were filmed in Korea’s “English Village”- a kind of cultural theme park where many MVs have been shot.

Other Interesting Things
For English Village shots you might notice there are only 12 members. Member Kangin was late for filming due to another schedule. He said on a program that by the time he finally got to the Village filming was over and so he could not be in that part of the video.

They filmed this MV using the same set as they did for their debut MV “Twins (Knock Out)”

The rap was written by members Eunhyuk and Kibum personally.

The girl in the music video is future SNSD member YoonA, who debuted with Super Junior’s sister group a year after this MV was released.

This was Super Junior’s first major hit song, and so they perform it at every Super Show concert. In Super Show 2 they performed Super Junior- M’s remixed version of the song but with the original Korean lyrics.

Believe it or not there was a very minor controversy which arose from this MV. Remember Super Junior’s fanclub being divided by “Only 13 vs Only 15″ fans? Well, this MV had a small issue with “Only 12″ fans who did not support the addition of Kyuhyun. The movement did not gain much strength though as most members of ELF were just relieved that the Generations of Super Junior 05 were no more (see the Artist Profile for more information).

Twins (Knock Out)- Super Junior

This is another MV that is technically by Super Junior 05, as the name Super Junior refers to the group after member Kyuhyun was added.

This was the debut song for Super Junior/ Super Junior 05. It had a lot of controversy with it, but this time the controversy was started by the government, not the members themselves or the fans.

Lyrics
The song is a remake of the British song “Twins”. It is a rock-style song with a fast and hard beat. It is about having broken up with someone and hating yourself for not being able to move on. The lyrics bounce between this rage and the feeling that they can’t give the girl up, she is the only one for them.
“No that’s not it (no that’s not it)/ she’s the only one for me/ the hidden shadow of my heart/ puts me into the clutches of uncomfortable darkness/ I need to be stronger (I need to be stronger)/ This isn’t me, yeah yeah/ I’ll keep on fighting until the other side of me dies/ Knock out/ Destiny always leads to the right path/ knock out/ It doesn’t matter how hard you struggle/ knock out/ accept that you can’t do this fight because/ she will never rely on you/ I wanna knock out/ no, I’ll just reject everything/ knock out/ we’re living by compromising/ I wanna knock out/ for all that I desire/ I’ll fight until the end/ reason is, I’m alive“

Dancing
The dance is very strong and has a lot of popping. It is meant to show off the power of SJ as the largest boy band in the world. A lot of the dance is in a pyramid formation, as that was the popular method to show off the members and make everyone fit on stage.

Story
There is no story to the MV.

Other Interesting Things
I think SJ had one of the hardest debuts out there~ let me explain why:

Super Junior originally had a different lineup. Member Ryeowook replaced a different member who chose to remain a trainee. The other member was featured in the pre-debut showcase, but left. Ryeowook joined Super Junior and recorded quickly after joining SM Entertainment. He has the shortest training period of any SM Entertainment singer with only 2 months between him becoming a trainee and debuting with the members. He revealed his own worries recently about debuting so quickly. When a member told him to practice the dance more after their first practice together Ryeowook stayed the night at the company and memorized the entire choreography in one night.

Three members suffered injuries immediately before debut. Member Kangin suffered from an injury to his leg (either it was to the muscle or broke his leg, I don’t remember). He danced in their debut stage with only a brace on. Member Yesung suffered from a kidney stone at that time as well (He said that he ignored the pain from it until it had grown too large and had to have an operation to remove it). He was supposed to be hospitalized, but refused to miss performances and so would give himself his injections in the bus between schedules. Member Hangeng fractured his wrist during practice. Due to fatigue and normal body aches when learning the dance he did not notice the seriousness of his injury. He ended up having to have surgery on the area and wore a wrist brace through much of the promotions.

The main controversy that arose from this was with Hangeng. He was the first foreigner ever to debut as a singer in Korea. SM Entertainment and Hangeng thought a normal residence visa would allow him to perform. However it was discovered that the residence visa only allows one to appear on 3 stations. SM Entertainment was fined a large sum of money for this. Hangeng was told he would have to leave Super Junior since he could not perform with the members. Hangeng came up with a compromise of wearing a black mask and a hat during performances. The song was re-choreographed so that he was no longer at the front, though he still performed. Hangeng continued to sing his lines, and members in the front would lip-sync to cover for him. This continued for two months. Hangeng revealed that it caused both him and Super Junior members great pain. The members would do a special cheer for him before he went on stage and he cried to himself a lot during this time. This continued until member Heechul pulled Hangeng to the center of the stage after a performance and removed his mask for the fans to see. Since then the Korean government has established a Performance Visa that allows foreigners to perform without restrictions.

Here is an early performance where you can see Hangeng’s mask and the members lipsync to cover his performance. In this performance Heechul is lip-syncing for Hangeng.

Sorry, Sorry- Super Junior

If you’ve listened to any K-Pop music you’ve heard this song. It was a complete record-breaker across the boards and had an incredible reception. It still enjoys high popularity and is STILL within the top 20 on music charts, even though it was released March of 2009.

Lyrics
The song is about falling in love, but it isn’t your typical love song. It apologizes for falling in love with the girl first, before she had the chance to fall for them. They talk about how much they love the girl and how cool they think she is. The song is fast-paced and has an almost arrogant tone. A warning: the fast pace, strong beat, and repetitive lyrics WILL get this song stuck in your head for long periods of time.
“Sorry sorry sorry sorry/ I I I first fell fell fell/ for you you you baby/ shawty shawty shawty shawty/ it’s dazzling dazzling dazzling/ it’s breathtaking breathtaking breathtaking/ I’m going crazy crazy baby“

Dance
The dance for this song is as famous as it is, maybe even more so. It was choreographed by Nick Bass, a famous US artist who has worked with artists such as Justin Timberlake. The dance is actually partly to blame for the song being so addicting. I’m not joking about the fame- every time I’ve heard someone say they like Super Junior everyone in the area who knows of the band does the Sorry, Sorry pose.

Story
No story beyond the lyrics, sorry

Other Interesting Things
I’ve never heard of a song taking people by storm to the degree this one did. It spent 13 weeks consecutively as the #1 song on all Korean music charts. For over 37 weeks it was #1 on Taiwanese and Fillipino charts. The only song that managed to knock it down was Super Junior- M’s “SuperGirl”, then “Sorry, Sorry (Answer)”. SJ still performs the song at concerts.

Seriously, if you haven’t heard this song you should give it a listen. There is a reason Super Junior swept every music award they were nominated for with this song. In a dorm tour the members revealed they received so many awards they did not have a place to keep them. Most awards were placed on top of tables, shelves, and windowsills, but they were so numerous that eventually the members started keeping the flatter ones under desks.

This is the first song Super Junior promoted without member Kibum, who appears in the MV but has not promoted with SJ since Super Show 1 back in 2008.

This song is to Super Junior as “Gee” is to SNSD. It has been mimicked as many times on as many programs. A prison in the Philippines had their inmates dance to this song, and the video of this became a sensation online.

It was through these promotions that Super Junior’s ELF fanclub grew by hundreds of thousands of members. They now have over 1,000,000 members and ELF is the largest official fanclub in the world.

Incidentally, this is also the first Super Junior song I ever heard. A girl I knew in High School sent this to me via MSN the day it came out. It got stuck in my head and so I got the CD (actually, I got SJM’s CD on accident and finally figured out that SJM was not SJ about 3 months later).

Sorry, Sorry (Answer)- Super Junior

This is the official R&B version of SJ’s mega-hit song.

Lyrics:
The lyrics for this are very similar to Sorry, Sorry, and a lot of them are identical. The pace of the song was changed for the R&B, but the chorus is the same. For those of you who don’t know the original song, it is about seeing the girl of your dreams and falling in love with her. The song apologizes for falling totally in love with her before she even knew them.
“Sorry sorry sorry sorry/ I-I-I first/ for you for you for you I fall/ fall fall fallen baby/ shawty shawty shawty shawty/ your eyes are dazzling dazzling dazzling/ my breathing gets blocked blocked blocked/ I’m going crazy crazy baby/Sorry sorry sorry sorry/ I-I-I first/ for you for you for you I fall/ fall fall fallen baby/ shawty shawty shawty shawty/ your eyes are dazzling dazzling dazzling/ my breathing gets blocked blocked blocked/ I’m going crazy crazy baby“

Dancing
This version has no dance

Story: 3/5
There is a kind of story going on in the background. While it makes perfect sense and fits together very well, it really has nothing to do with the song itself. The members are each relaxing after a hard day. Some are reading, some lying on a couch, playing piano or dancing (the two lead dancers are the only ones doing this). A couple of members are preparing for a party, which all the members attend together. It is a dinner party. The MV was filmed in black and white, which really fits the mood of the song.

Other Interesting Things
This MV was filmed as a VCR for Super Junior’s Super Show 2 concert. They did not perform the song, but the video played between songs. The Studio Version released with the Super Show 2 live album gained such popularity that SM Entertainment released the video for fans.

This song was originally written for Super Junior- K.R.Y. The members of KRY, however, said they wanted to sing it with all the members together. Most of the vocals are still KRY members, but all of the members participate.

In the party scene you see a lot of shots of member Kangin preparing the food and such. They do not show his face fully, however, as at this point he was still grounded for his DUI incident. Kangin appears in the group shot at the very end of the MV. This was before he announced he would be entering the army for his 2 year mandatory military service (all Korean men must do this before they are 30), and it is the last MV he appeared in before enlisting.

Show Me Your Love- Dong Bang Shin Ki and Super Junior

Anyone who has seen really any program with an SM Entertainment band knows that the senior band helps to promote the younger band early on. For example: Super Junior members hosted a lot of the early shows with SNSD in them to help promote their sister group, and SHINee has been helping to promote F(x). Well, this video is Dong Bang Shin Ki promoting Super Junior, who had debuted 1 month before this was released.

Lyrics:
The song is about being in love with a girl, and wanting her to show that she is in love with them too. They repeatedly ask her to show her love so they can be a couple.
“Just show me your love (show me your love)/ words I want to say to you/ are so many/ just for today, look at me/ in my eyes I’ll be holding you/ I’ll go anywhere (go anywhere)/ in your warm eyes/ I’m falling in/ I’m just happy having you near me/ during this winter that has silently approached“

Dancing
There is no coordinated dance for this song, probably because Super Junior members and DBSK members total 17, and the set they used was not large enough.

Story
There isn’t a story to the MV itself. It was filmed at Lotte World when it was decorated for Christmas, so the set is very much that of a winter wonderland.

Other Interesting Things
This song is part of a special Christmas album featuring the two groups.

Like I said, DBSK helped to promote Super Junior after debut. The MV combines the two groups, with no one shot being just DBSK or Super Junior.

The groups in the MV are built around real-life relationships between the members of DBSK and Super Junior, many of whom grew up together. DBSK member Jaejoong and SJ member Yesung were friends before they joined SM Entertainment ( I think they were from the same hometown). Super Junior member Donghae is close friends with DBSK leader Yunho, who is from the same city and was his first friend in SM Entertainment. DBSK member Junsu and SJ member Eunhyuk also are featured, as the two are from the same hometown, were best friends since elementary school, and even auditioned together for SM Entertainment.

This is the only MV in which SM groups help promote one another, and it became very popular. They refer to Super Junior as the “new family”.