Super Junior, the original K-pop mega boy band, are coming. Here are five of their greatest hits
Super Junior were a 13-piece group at their peak, releasing catchy K-pop tunes since their debut in 2005. At the moment they are down to seven members and they’ll be winding up their Super Show 7 world tour in Macau this Saturday
Before BTS, before EXO, before 2PM, 2AM, and before even Shinee, there was Super Junior, South Korea’s original 13-member mega boy band.
During their heyday in the Noughties, and for many fans until now, Super Junior were the quintessential K-pop group, releasing a string of catchy dance tracks from the mid-2000s till the early 2010s.
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With high-profile members such as all-Korean heart throbs Choi Siwon, Leeteuk, Shindong and Chinese former member Hang Geng, Super Junior were also one of South Korea’s first multicultural K-pop groups. The first members were recruited in 2000 by entertainment conglomerate S.M Entertainment, although Super Junior did not officially debut until 2005.
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This Saturday, fans who didn’t catch the group’s Hong Kong show earlier this year will get a chance to relive their nostalgia for early Noughties K-pop hits when Super Junior finish their Super Show 7 World Tour at Macau’s Cotai Arena theatre. The tour started in Seoul earlier this year, before moving throughout Asia and into South America.
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However, audiences can still look forward to seeing Leeteuk, Yesung, Shindong, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon and Heechul perform live in Macau this weekend.
To get you in the mood for the show, here are some signature songs released by Super Junior during their 13-year career.
U
Super Junior’s first single, U, was released almost exactly 12 years ago. The video features the boys sporting the spiky tousled haircut that was popular at the time, serenading Yoona Lim of Girls’ Generation, who has since become a major star in her own right. The song is reminiscent of North American groups who made it big shortly before the K-pop era, sounding halfway between the Backstreet Boys’ Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) and British boy band Blue’s All Rise.
It’s You
This song is arguably the most representative song of Super Junior and their signature style of K-pop ballads. Catchy and moody, the song was the second single off the group’s third studio album, Sorry, Sorry, from 2009. The single became the number one song on Cyworld, South Korea’s biggest social networking site at the time. It’s You may be almost 10 years old, but in South Korea you’ll still always hear it.
Mamacita
This fun, if somewhat theatrical, title track from the group’s 2014 album of the same name is an urban “jack swing” track, with Eunhyuk performing a rap in Korean. The video features 10 of the members dressed up in a variety of cowboy-meets-dandy costumes in a spoof of a spaghetti western films, as they dance inside an old-time theatre.
Bonamana
The title track of the group’s fourth studio album features an electro-pop sound. Super Junior members have said the song is about professing their love for a beautiful woman. “My heart is beating so fast for you, to the point it can’t be caught, attracted to you,” the original Korean lyrics say.
Sexy, Free and Single
The 2012 title track from the group’s sixth studio album again highlights Super Junior’s signature polished R&B dance sound. In the video, the members are immaculately dressed and futuristic-looking “Sexy, free and single, I’m ready too, bingo.” Why didn’t they go with “mingle”? I guess we’ll never know.