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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Super Junior










Super Junior (슈퍼주니어; Syupeo Junieo) is a South Korean boy band. Formed in 2005 by producer Lee Soo-man of S.M. Entertainment, the group comprised a total of thirteen members at its peak. Super Junior originally debuted with twelve members, consisting of leader Leeteuk, Heechul, Hankyung, Yesung, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook and Kibum. Kyuhyun joined the group in 2006.

Known as the "Kings of the Korean Wave", Super Junior launched into international recognition following the release of their best-selling single "Sorry, Sorry" in 2009, the title song of their most critically successful album Sorry, Sorry and were the best-selling K-pop artist for three years in a row.

Over the years, they have been divided into smaller subgroups, 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 fourteen music awards from the Mnet Asian Music Awards, sixteen 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. In 2012 they were nominated for "Best Asian Act" in MTV Europe Music Awards showing one more time their popularity around world.

In December 2009, Hankyung departed from the group after filing a lawsuit against their agency S.M. Entertainment. Hankyung subsequently won the lawsuit in December 2010, though his departure from Super Junior was not made official until September 27, 2011, when S.M. Entertainment finally released a statement to that effect. Heechul enlisted for his mandatory military service on September 1, 2011. Kangin was absent from the group for their fourth and fifth album promotions, but completed his service in April 2012, and rejoined the group for their sixth album in mid-2012, however, the absent three members are considered as part of the group regardless. Leeteuk enlisted for his mandatory military service on October 30, 2012. Yesung enlisted for his mandatory military service on May 6, 2013. As of 2013, Super Junior has eight active members: Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Siwon, Donghae, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun.


2000–2005: Formation and debut


In 2000, SM Entertainment held their first overseas casting auditions in Beijing, China and recruited Hankyung, who auditioned against three thousand applicants. That same year, Leeteuk, Yesung, and Eunhyuk were recruited after auditioning for the company's annual casting system in Seoul. Sungmin and Donghae became trainees after jointly winning first place in an SM-sponsored contest in 2001. In 2002, Heechul and Kanginwere recruited along with Kibum, who was discovered in Los Angeles, California by a casting agent. Siwon became a trainee after being scouted in 2003 and Ryeowook in 2004, who was recruited into the company after winning the 2004 Chin Chin Youth Festival singing competition. Shindong and Kyuhyun, the latter winning third place at the 2005 Chin Chin Youth Festival, were cast in 2005.

In early 2005, Lee Soo-man announced that he had been preparing for an all-boy project group of twelve members to debut at the end of the year. He called this singing group to be "The Gateway to Stardom of Asia," as most of the members in this group were chosen for their experiences as actors, MCs, models, and radio hosts prior debut. Heechul and Kibum were already established actors at the time, and most of the other members had already made various kinds of appearances in television and media. Inspired by the rotational concept of Japan's girl group Morning Musume, Lee said that his new group would also experience line-up changes, with new members replacing 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, the company simply referred to them as juniors, 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 group name to Super Junior, and officially became Super Junior'05, the first generation of Super Junior. Super Junior 05 made their pre-debut performance on the Korean channel Mnet on September 11, 2005. At the showcase, they performed various styles of hip-hop dancing, where they danced to B2K's "Take It to the Floor". Hankyung, Eunhyuk, and Donghae also performed a separate dance together, 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.

The group officially 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, followed by the release of their debut album SuperJunior05 (Twins) on December 6, 2005. The album sold 28,536 copies in the first month of release and debuted at number three in the monthly chart of December 2005.

2006–2007: U, Don't Don, and commercial success
In February 2006, Super Junior 05 began performances for "Miracle", the second promotional single from their debut album. "Miracle" topped the music charts of Thailand, drawing interest from international markets. As promotions for "Miracle" ended, SM Entertainment began selecting new members for Super Junior's second generation, Super Junior 06. The company even prepared a list of chosen members that were to graduate from the group. However, the company abandoned the rotational concept after adding a thirteenth member, Kyuhyun, in 2006. The group then became known as just Super Junior, without the suffix "05".

After the addition of Kyuhyun, Super Junior released their single "U" for free download on May 25, 2006 on their official website. "U" exceeded 400,000 downloads within five hours of release and ultimately surpassed 1.7 million downloads, crashing the server. The physical single of "U" with a total of three tracks was released on June 6, eventually selling over 81,000 units in South Korea. The single became one of Korea's most popular songs of the year, taking up number one 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, and was one of the three Best Newcomer winners at the 21st Golden Disk Awards.

In late 2006, Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Yesung formed the subgroup Super Junior-K.R.Y, Super Junior's first sub-unit. They performed their first single "The One I Love", theme song to the Korean television drama Hyena, on the KBS music program Music Bank on November 5, 2006. In February 2007, Leeteuk, Heechul, Kangin, Sungmin, Shindong and Eunhyuk formed Super Junior-T, atrot-singing group. They released their first single "Rokuko" 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. Don't Don sold over 60,000 units the first day of release and debuted at number one on the monthly chart of September 2007. Although Don't Don received mixed reviews from critics, the album went to sell more than 160,000 copies by the end of the year, becoming the second best-selling record of 2007. Super Junior received seven nominations at the 2007 Mnet/KM Music Festival, winning three of them which included Artist of the Year, termed by many as the highest recognition of the ceremony. Super Junior collected two more recognitions at the 22nd Golden Disk Awards, including a Disk Bonsang award (Record of the Year).

2008–2009: Sorry, Sorry and career breakthrough


Super Junior performing at SMTown Live '08 in Bangkok,Thailand


Super Junior-M, Super Junior's Mandopop subgroup comprising members Hankyung, Siwon, Donghae, Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Super Junior-M members Henry and Zhou Mi, was formed in April 2008. Although the creation of the subgroup initially created a strife between the group's fans and their management, Super Junior-M went on to become Super Junior's most successful subgroup, selling out two concerts in Hong Kong, topping weekly ratings with their appearance on Chinese variety programs, and was the idol group with the most endorsement contracts in China. They won numerous awards at Chinese music festivals, and achieved critical acclaim after the release of their single "Super Girl" from their second record Super Girl, which garnered them a nomination for Best Vocal Group at the 21st Golden Melody Awards. A fourth Super Junior subgroup was created soon after Super Junior-M's debut. With five members from Super Junior-T and Yesung, they formed the subgroup Super Junior-H, releasing their first extended play (EP) Cooking? Cooking! on June 5, 2008. In November 2008, Super Junior-T made a debut in Japan, collaborating with Japanese comedy duo Moeyan. Their single "ROCK&GO", the Japanese-language version of "Rokuko", debuted at number 19 on the Oricon Daily Charts and ascended to number 2 three days later.

Super Junior's first Asia-wide concert tour, Super Show, started on February 22, 2008, in Seoul. The group held a successful two-day fan meeting in Japan at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, selling out 12,000 tickets in several days. The group released a compiled single "U/Twins", which includes the Japanese version of "U" in the limited release version, to complement the event. The single peaked at number four on Japan's Oricon Daily Chart on its first day of release, and dropped down four places on 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.

The group released their third studio album Sorry, Sorry on March 12, 2009. It was their first album to debut at number one on the Hanteo Charts, selling over 29,000 copies the first day. After only a month of release, the album became South Korea's best-selling album of 2009, and ultimately sold over 250,000 copies in South Korea. It became the best-selling K-pop album in Taiwan, Thailand, China, and the Philippines, in which the latter credited the album to be the first K-pop album to reach number one in music charts from the country. The album's title single "Sorry, Sorry" became an instant hit, collecting a total of ten number-one awards for ten consecutive weeks in Korea, and stayed as number one for a record-breaking 37 weeks in Taiwan's K-pop singles chart. "Sorry, Sorry" achieved national and international success, and has since been the group's best-selling single in South Korea. Sorry, Sorry won several accolades at the 24th Golden Disk Awards, including the Disk Daesang (Record of the Year).

After the success of Sorry, Sorry, Super Junior commenced their second Asia-wide concert tour Super Show 2, on July 17, 2009 in Seoul.

2010–2011: Bonamana, lineup changes, and international recognition

Despite their critical and commercial success, the group was plagued by legal turmoils and lineup changes during their concert tour. Though Kibum was shown in the ads and promotional videos for Super Show 2, he did not officially participate in the concert tour, and announced his temporary leave from the group to pursue his acting career. In October 2009, Kangin was charged with a DUI and hit-and-run after crashing into a parked taxi holding three passengers. In December 2009, Hankyung filed for contract termination from SM Entertainment, claiming that the provisions of his contract were unlawful, harsh, and against his rights. He parted with the group and released his solo album Geng Xin in July 2010, which sold over 510,000 copies. That same month, Kangin announced his hiatus to fulfill his two-year mandatory military service.

With only ten members left, Super Junior went off to release their fourth studio album, Bonamana in May 2010. Although the album did not fare well as Sorry, Sorry critically, it sold over 300,000 copies in South Korea, outselling Sorry, Sorry. The album remained at the top of Taiwan's Korean-Japanese Music Charts for 61 weeks, breaking their own previous record of the said chart.

To promote the album, Super Junior embarked on their third Asia-wide tour Super Show 3 in 2010 and 2011, and had sold-out concerts for each stop. In February 2011, Super Junior released a 3D movie version of their tour,Super Show 3 3D in all CGV and Primus movie theaters. The movie debuted at number six on the box office charts and went off to become the best-selling 3D movie in Korea. After touring in Japan, they released the Super Junior Japan 'Super Show 3' Opening Commemorative Album in February 2011, which debuted at number two on Japan's Tower Records online sales charts. The DVD version of Super Junior Japan Limited Special Edition – Super Show 3 also debuted at number two, while the CD version debuted at number 10. The album also remained at number three spot on the Oricon Daily Chart for two consecutive days and number six on the Oricon Weekly Chart. Following their commercial success in Japan, the group released a Japanese version of Bonamana's self-titled single in June 2011, which debuted at number two on the Oricon Daily Singles chart, selling over 59,000 copies the first week of release, however, SM did not see the release as their official Japanese debut and has stated that their debut in Japan will occur at a later time.

Between Super Show 3 stops, the group took part in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour and toured in Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo and New York along with other SM Entertainment-managed artists, performing outside of Asia for the first time. Super Junior's performances were well received by the media, and they were honored as Korea's National Pop Culture Icon for their role in spreading the Hallyu Wave (Korean Wave), receiving the Minister of Culture Awards by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism at the Pop Culture Art Awards. They were featured on CNN'sTalk Asia program, and talked about their popularity and strategy for advancing into the world music industry. The group has achieved recognition beyond Asia, reaching notability in Europe, North America, and South America. Peru’s Top 30 ranking of The Sexiest Men in the World included all of the members on the list. They gave exclusive interviews to Slovenian and Iranian magazines, and were selected by Brazilian Hallyu fans to be the number-one Korean artist they want to visit Brazil. Both Mexico's TV Azteca and the United Kingdom's BBCacknowledged Super Junior to be the leading icon of the Hallyu effect.


2011–2012: Mr. Simple and The World Tour, Super Show 4


Super Junior members at LG Optimus Super Junior Fan meeting at Chateau de Chine in KaohsiungTaiwan in November 2011. (L-R: Leeteuk, Ryeowook, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Kyuhyun, Sungmin, Yesung, Shindong)


Mr. Simple debuted at number one on the South Korean Gaon Chart, selling 287,427 copies. The album stayed on the chart as number one for four weeks, and sold over 441,000 copies in South Korea by October 2011. It peaked at number three on the Billboard World Albums Chart and number 17 on Japan's Oricon Album's Chart. The album's title single Mr. Simple won first place on the first day of the group's comeback performance on the music show M!Countdown. In September 2011, Heechul left temporarily for military service. Super Junior began their first world tour, the Super Show 4 in November 2011. The group's second Japanese single, a Japanese version of "Mr. Simple", was released December 7, 2011 in Japan, however this was still not recognized by SM as their official Japanese promotional debut.

The group, with Super Junior-M members Zhou Mi and Henry, also recorded the song "Santa U Are The One" for the 2011 Winter SMTown – The Warmest Gift album, released on December 13, 2011. In addition, Donghae and Eunhyuk released their collaboration digital single "Oppa, Oppa" on December 16 and performed the single on Music Bank that same day.

In 2011 Super Junior was selected as the Hallyu Star who foreign fans want to date. Arirang Survey in 188 Countries Revealed Super Junior as the Most Wanted Artist.

On January 11, Super Junior participated at the 26th Golden Disk Awards which was held at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan. The group ended up bringing home four awards: Popularity Award, MSN Japan Award, Disk Bonsang and the grand prize Disk Daesang. This was followed by further successes at the Seoul Music Awards on January 19, at which they were awarded the Disk Bonsang and Disk Daesang.

On January 13, Super Junior were crowned 'Album King' in Taiwan, after Super Junior’s 5th album Mr. Simple and 4th album Bonamana ranked 1st and 2nd on both album and music sections of the Korean Music Chart 2012. Significantly, Super Junior ranked 1 on the KKBOX K-Pop chart for 64 consecutive weeks with their 4th album title song "Bonamana", marking the longest record in the history of KKBOX K-Pop chart. They then reached 1 with the 5th album title song "Mr. Simple" for 46 consecutive weeks (as of 4 July 2012), effectively knocking themselves from the 1 spot. On February 22, Super Junior won Album Of The Year for the 3rd Quarter at the Gaon Chart Awards and on March 13, Super Junior won Favorite K-pop Video for "Mr.Simple" at the MYX Music Awards.

Also, Super Junior successfully completed their world tour ‘SUPER SHOW 4’ in 10 cities worldwide including Seoul, Osaka, Taipei, Singapore, Macao, Bangkok, Paris, Shanghai, Jakarta and Tokyo for 6 months starting in November. Combined with their three Asia tours, ‘SUPER SHOW 4,’ Super Junior’s concert brand, gathered a total of 900,000 audiences.

2012–Present: Sexy, Free & Single and The World Tour, Super Show 5


Super Junior in a promotional poster forLG
In June, 2012, SM Entertainment announced that Kangin will rejoin Super Junior for the group's sixth album, Sexy, Free & Single which has been released online on July 1 and in stores on July 4, 2012. SM released the MV for Sexy, Free & Single on July 3. The Version B of album was released on July 16, having only a different cover. On August 7, Super Junior released the repackage album for Sexy, Free & Single called SPY, including four new songs "SPY", "Outsider", "Only U" composed by Leeteuk and "Haru" composed by Donghae. The MV was released on August 13.

Super Junior 6th Album Sexy, Free & Single managed to rank high in iTunes in several countries including Australia, France, Peru and Japan. It also ranked 3rd on Billboard World Albums. The album debuted at 1st place on the South Korean Gaon Chart, selling 335,744 copies in one month. Staying on the chart as 1st place for three weeks in a row, 459,182 copies have been sold in only two months (July - August). Furthermore, Sexy, Free & Single also debuted at 1st on "Hanteo Chart" with more than 200,000 copies sold in one month become the first group to do so far this year. Super Junior rank 1st place on Hanteo's "Top 5 K-Pop Artists" 2012 winning Hanteo "Singer Award" and also rank 1st place in Hanteo "Album Award" 2012 also winning this award.

Sexy, Free & Single was placed 1st for several weeks on Taiwan KKBOX KPOP chart having all album songs charted. The Japanese version of this song, which was released on August 22, has sold over 118,902 units so far and is being considered Gold for selling over 100,000 units.

Super Junior were nominated for "Best Asian Act" in MTV Europe Music Awards showing one more time their popularity around world. On October Super Junior won "Teen Style Icon" award in Style Icon Awards and on November they also won the "Best Artist Group Award" the 19th Korean Entertainment Arts Awards. On November 30, Super Junior attended the Mnet Asian Music Awards where they won three awards, "Album of the Year", "Best Global Group - Male" and "Best Line Award", being the second year in row that Super Junior wins "Album of the Year". Their Super Show 4 3D movie was awarded with "Work of Art Award" at the International 3D Festivalbeing the only singer together with Glam winning an award.On January 15 Super Junior won "Disk Daesang" at 27th Golden Disk Awards, being the 3rd "Disk Daesang" that Super Junior wins and two times in row. Super Junior announce their world tour in February 2013. "The World Tour, Super Show 5" begin in March starting in Seoul. The group will then go to China, Japan, South America, and Europe.

2 comments:

  1. this is a bunch of suju's shows. :O I really can't finish all of em in one shot. need some times to concentrate on all of their shows~ thanks btw

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    Replies
    1. I know, right? Me myself don't watch some of the shows yet. haha XD

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