Throwback Thursday: 16 Years of Super Junior
Last week on November 6, legendary K-Pop group Super Junior celebrated a massive milestone in their music careers: a 16 year debut anniversary, making them one of the longest-running groups within the K-Pop industry. Since their debut in 2005, Super Junior have gone on to achieve many accomplishments, such as becoming the first K-Pop group to debut Chinese members and dedicating a sub-unit to the Chinese music industry (Super Junior-M), and more recently becoming the first K-Pop group to appear on the Latin Billboard Chart with their trilingual hit “Lo Siento” featuring Latin American artist and producers Leslie Grace and Play-N-Skillz. So to celebrate 16 years of Super Junior, for this week’s Throwback Thursday, let’s take a look at some songs from the group's earlier discography, including hits from sub-unit’s Super Junior-T and Super Junior D&E.
“Twins (Knock Out)”
On November 6, 2005, Super Junior made their debut on SBS’s Popular Songs with “Twins (Knock Out),” a rock-infused pop song that is worlds away from the style of music Super Junior tends to make today. “Twins (Knock Out)” combines intense and angry rapping with soft, melodic vocals, giving the song a unique and distinct flavor that paved the way for the group's long, successful career. “Twins (Knock Out)” is an iconic song with an iconic music video featuring very noughties looking hairstyles and outfits. But believe it or not, “Twins (Knock Out)” is not an original song; it is actually a cover of a 2003 hit by British boy band Triple 8, originally titled “Knockout,” although Super Junior’s debut version is definitely the most known version across the music industry.
“THIS IS LOVE” & “백일몽 (Evanesce)”
Although two separate songs with two different music styles, “THIS IS LOVE” and “백일몽 (Evanesce)” both tell a story that’s connected through the set and costumes of the two music videos. Released on October 22, 2014, “THIS IS LOVE” is an upbeat pop song, with influences from R&B, about all things love and romance. The music video begins with Kyuhyun happily opening a door to an extravagant set, showing the members in various room locations with a black, white, grey and red color scheme, whilst ending with Donghae happily exiting and closing the same door.
Released five days later, the music video for “백일몽 (Evanesce)” begins and ends in the same way as “THIS IS LOVE,” however the members are no longer happy and the set is now ruined, with the song now a slow, emotional pop-ballad about losing the love they had in the “THIS IS LOVE.'' It’s such a creative concept to have two connecting music videos of two different music genres, showcasing Super Junior’s talents in singing, rapping, dancing, and emotional acting. These two videos show exactly why the group and its members have gone on to become so successful.
“Rokkugo”
“Rokkugo,” a song from Super Junior’s trot music sub-unit Super Junior-T, is a fun, catchy and super cheesy song that became Korea’s sixteenth best selling record in 2007. Despite being the only song from Super Junior-T to have a music video, “Rokkugo” is performed at most, if not every, Super Junior concert with a highly energetic performance that sometimes sees the members dressed up in fancy dress costumes, filling the concert arenas with fun, happy, positive vibes. “Rokkugo” is certainly entertaining and gives a glimpse into another style of music that Super Junior can excel at alongside their more modern, pop tracks.
“떴다 오빠 (Oppa, Oppa)”
Another fun and cheesy song from Super Junior is “떴다 오빠 (Oppa, Oppa)”, the debut song from the group’s two member sub-unit Super Junior D&E. The song was first performed at Super Junior’s Super Show 4 concert in Seoul on November 19, 2011 by Donghae and Eunhyuk before SM Entertainment decided to make them an official sub-unit that has seen these members go on to have an amazingly successful sub-unit career. Since “떴다 오빠 (Oppa, Oppa),” Super Junior D&E have gone on to release music from cheesy energetic pop, to intense rock and EDM-influenced pop, to soulful ballad style music. Is there any style of music these boys can’t do?