Super Junior (Korean: 슈퍼주니어), often referred to as SJ or SuJu (슈주), is a popular boy band from South Korea formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2005. The group debuted with 12 members:
1.
Leeteuk (Leader),
2.
Heechul,
3.
Han Geng,
4.
Yesung,
5.
Kangin,
6.
Shindong,
7.
Sungmin,
8.
Eunhyuk,
9.
Donghae,
10.
Siwon,
11.
Ryeowook,
12.
Kibumand later added at 13th member named
Kyuhyun;
they are one of the largest boy bands in the world. As of 2010, 10 members are active, due to Han Geng's lawsuit with SM Entertainment, Kangin's leave of absence for mandatory military service and Kibum's pursuit of an acting career.However, the other members have insisted that the three are still part of the group. SM Entertainment have yet to release statements regarding their official status with the group.
Super Junior has released and contributed in 20 different kinds of records with varying degrees of success. 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. 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.
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. Some members are credited for their vocal belting techniques.
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. Super Junior has prominently used this SMP style in Don't Don.
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".
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, 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. 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 electropop, rock and hip hop.Previous Super Junior subgroups will also return to the industry along with appearances of new subgroups. Sumber :
Wikipedia.
