Super Junior

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.[1] 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.[2] However, the other
members have insisted that the three are still part of the group.[3][4] 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.[5] 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.[5] 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.[6]

History
[edit] 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.[1] 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.[7] 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."[8] 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.[9][10][11] 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."[12][a] 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.[12] 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.[7]

Super Junior 05 made their pre-debut on the Korean channel Mnet on September 11, 2005.[b]
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.

[edit] 2005–2006: The Super Junior project

Main article: SuperJunior05 (Twins)

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.[13][c] 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.[13]

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.[14] 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".[15][16]

[edit] 2006–2007: Don't Don and breakthrough success

Main article: Don't Don

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.[17][18] The physical single of "U" with a total of three tracks was released on June 6,
2006, eventually selling over 81,000 units.[19] 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.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22]

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.[23][24] 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.[25] 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.[26][27][c] 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.[28][29]

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.[30] Super Junior
collected two more awards on December 14, 2007 at the 2007 Golden Disk Awards.[31]
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.[31]

[edit] 2008–2009: Beyond Korea and Sorry, Sorry

Main article: 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.[32][33] While the creation of the
subgroup created a brief controversy between the fans and the management,[e] Super Junior-M
became a phenomenal success in China,[34] having the opportunity to have two sold-out
concerts in Hong Kong,[35] top weekly ratings with their appearance on variety programs,[36]
and becoming the idol group with the most endorsement contracts in China.[37] 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.[38] "ROCK&GO", a Japanese-
language version of "Rokuko", debuted at #19 on the Oricon Daily Charts[39] and jumped to
#2 three days later.[40]

Super Junior's first major tour, Super Show, commenced on February 22, 2008 in Seoul.[41][42]
[43][f]
The tour covered three countries and had shows on six different cities, including
Bangkok, Shanghai, and Beijing.[33][42][44] 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.[45] 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.[46] 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.[6] 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.[6]

Super Junior's third album, Sorry, Sorry, was released on March 12, 2009 with acclaimed
reviews.[47] The title single of the album, "Sorry, Sorry" was digitally released on March 9,
2009.[48] In less than a week after preorders were announced, over 150,000 copies were pre-
ordered.[49] 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.[2] Promotions for the
album started March 13 with the performance of "Sorry, Sorry" and "Why I Like You" on
Music Bank.[50] Two weeks later, "Sorry, Sorry" became the number one song of the week on
the same program.[51] 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.[52] 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.[53][54] 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,[55] 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.[56] 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.

[edit] 2010: Bonamana

Main article: 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.[57] 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.[58]

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.[59]

The group kicked off their third Asian tour, Super Show 3 on August 14 and 15, 2010 at the
Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul.[60] The tour also made a stop in Qingdao on August 28,
2010, Beijing on October 23, 2010, and Nanjing on November 13, 2010.[61]

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.[62] 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.[citation needed]

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.[63]

[edit] 2011-present

Super Junior won the Gaon Chart Awards for the Best Selling Album of 2010, surpassing
their junior Girls' Generation.

At the Mashable Awards 2010, they also won "Must-Follow Personality".

Super Junior member Yesung was the winner of Cyworld Digital Music Award OST.

[edit] Artistry
[edit] 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) [64] Some members are credited for
their vocal belting techniques.[g][65]
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.
[66]
Super Junior has prominently used this SMP style in Don't Don.[67]

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".

[edit] 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.[68]

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.[69][70] Shindong was the main choreographer
for "U" and for a majority of the group's other dance sequences. The dance for "Sorry, Sorry"
and "BONAMANA" was choreographed by Nick Bass, who has also worked with Justin
Timberlake. Eunhyuk choreographed the dance for "Boom Boom" and 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 "No Other" was choreopraphed by THE
GEMINIZ, Rino Nakasone and Maryss From Paris.

[edit] Discography
Further information: Super Junior discography

[edit] Albums

 2005: SuperJunior05 (TWINS)

 2007: Don't Don
 2009: Sorry, Sorry
 2010: Bonamana

[edit] 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

[edit] 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.[71][72] 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.

[edit] 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,[73]
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.[74] 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.[75] Previous Super Junior
subgroups will also return to the industry along with appearances of new subgroups.[75]

[edit] 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)."[76] 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. [75]

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-M
Super Junior-Happy