Super Junior
Super Junior (Korean: 슈퍼주니어), often referred to as SJ or SuJu (슈주), is a popular boy group 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 (leader), Heechul, Hankyung, Yesung, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kibum and Kyuhyun. The only Chinese member, Hankyung, 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's ongoing lawsuit against SM Entertainment, the personal activities of Kibum in acting, and Kang-in's leave of absence for mandatory military service.[2] However, the remaining members have insisted that they are still part of the group.[3][4]
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 (consisting of Jang Woo Hyuk, Tony An and Lee Jae Won of H.O.T) in 2003.
History
Korean talent agency and record label SM Entertainment has been holding annual auditions to scout new talents that complemented the success of pop groups H.O.T, S.E.S, and Shinhwa, all of which were created by SM founder Soo-Man Lee in the mid 1990s.[7] Leeteuk and Eunhyuk were the first two members of the group to be recruited in 2000 under SM's Starlight Casting System in [Seoul].
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 were also selected to be trainees after their 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.[8] 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."[9] 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.[10][11][12] 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."[13][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.[13] 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.[8]
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
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.[14][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.[14]
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.[15] 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".[16][17].
[edit] 2006–2007: Breakthrough success
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.[18][19] The physical single of "U" with a total of three tracks was released on June 6, 2006, eventually selling over 81,000 units.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22] A second sub-unit arrived in February 2007 called Super Junior-T. The trot-singing group released their first single "Rokkugo" in February 23, 2007 and made a debut performance on Popular Songs two days later.[23]
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.[24][25] 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.[26] 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.[27][28][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.[29][30]
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.[31] Super Junior collected two more awards on December 14, 2007 at the 2007 Golden Disk Awards.[32] 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.[32]
[edit] 2008–2009: Beyond Korea
On October 2, 2007, SM Entertainment announced a third Super Junior sub-unit Super Junior-M, a subgroup designated for the Chinese market.[33][34] 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[35], having the opportunity to have two sold-out concerts in Hong Kong,[36] top weekly ratings with their appearance on variety programs,[37], and becoming the idol group with the most endorsement contracts in China.[38] 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.[39] "ROCK&GO", a Japanese-language version of "Rokuko", debuted at #19 on the Oricon Daily Charts[40] and jumped to #2 three days later.[41]
Super Junior's first major tour, Super Show, commenced on February 22, 2008 in Seoul.[42][43][44][f] The tour covered three countries and had shows on six different cities, including Bangkok, Shanghai, and Beijing.[34][43][45] 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.[46] 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.[47] 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.[48] The title single of the album, "Sorry, Sorry" was digitally released on March 9, 2009.[49] In less than a week after preorders were announced, over 150,000 copies were pre-ordered.[50] 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.[51] Two weeks later, "Sorry, Sorry" became the number one song of the week on the same program.[52] 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.[53] 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.[54][55] 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,[56] 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.[57] 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-present: Bonamana
On May 6, 2010, the teaser for their upcoming fourth studio album, Bonamana, was released through SM Entertainment's YouTube page. The full music video was released on 12 May. It reached the 1 million views mark in just one day after release. Bonamana was released on May 13, 2010 in South Korea. Bonamana was the first album released by the group only with 10 members, without Han Geng who is currently processing his contract termination with SM Entertainment, Kibum who is involved in activities in acting and Kangin who to enlist in to Korean army.[58] Bonamana also broke a personal record for the group by having over 200,000 pre-orders. On May 14, 2010, Super Junior had their comeback stage on KBS Music Bank, performing title track "미인아 (Bonamana)" and "나쁜 여자 (Boom Boom)". On May 17, 2010, a teaser movie for "Victory Korea", which is going to be used for the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, was released through SM Entertainment's YouTube page.[59] To date the album has sold over 100,000 copies according to Hanteo, becoming the current best-selling album of 2010.[60]
Super Junior will be kicking off their third Asian tour, Super Show 3, in South Korea on August 14 and 15, 2010, at the Seoul Olympic Stadium.[61] Super Show 3 will also make stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Manila.
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. Their own Kangin was featured in this song before his enlistment to the Korean army. 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.
On July 3, 2010, Bonamana Version A and B was released in the Philippines.
[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 voice range in their music. Leeteuk, Heechul, Hangeng, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, and Ryeowook are all tenors. Yesung, Kangin, and Siwon are baritones. Shindong, Kibum, and Kyuhyun sing in bass.[62] Some members are credited for their vocal belting techniques. [g][63]
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.[64] Super Junior has prominently used this SMP style in Don't Don.[65]
Super Junior has covered quite a few song 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.[66]
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 both Han Geng and Sungmin are professionally trained in that area.[67][68] Shindong was the main choreographer for "U" and for a majority of the group's other dance sequences. 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.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
[edit] ToursAsia tours
[edit] April 19 accidentOn 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.[69][70] Besides Kyuhyun, Leeteuk, Eunhyuk, Shindong, and two of their managers were also 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 released later on July 5, 2007, but didn't fully recover until February 2008. The other two, Eunhyuk and Shindong, suffered only minor injuries. [edit] SubgroupsSince 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,[71] 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.[72] 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.[73] Previous Super Junior subgroups will also return to the industry along with appearances of new subgroups.[73] [edit] Super Junior-K.R.YSuper Junior-K.R.Y, established in November 2006, is a trio formed by Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Yesung. 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 although stagnation in the style's development is causing it to lose its once fresh evocative power. 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)."[74] 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.[73] [edit] Super Junior-TFurther information: Super Junior-Trot
[edit] Super Junior-MFurther information: Super Junior-M
Super Junior-M is made up of a total of 7 members. Five of which are in the original band and other two are guest members (Henry and Zhou Mi). [edit] Super Junior-HappyFurther information: Super Junior-Happy
[edit] Film and television careerFurther information: Super Junior filmography
[edit] DebutPrior to the group's debut, the members had individually appeared in television dramas, with Leeteuk being the first member of the group to act; he was an extra as a moviegoer for the drama All About Eve in 2000. Kang-in appeared as an extra for The Secret Lovers in 2002, and Siwon made a brief cameo appearance in Precious Family in 2004. Kibum had his acting debut in 2004 as young Han Jung-woo in April Kiss and in 2005, he was given the main role Joo Yeo-myung for the year-long drama Sharp 2, starring alongside Go Ara and Heechul. A few months before Super Junior's debut, Siwon starred as the young Kang Bong-man in Eighteen, Twenty-Nine; Heechul was given a role as a junior chef in Loveholic, and Sungmin starred as young Kang Dong-shin in morning drama Sisters of the Sea. After the group's debut in November 2005, both Heechul and Kibum acted in the sixth season of the sitcom Nonstop from late 2005 to early 2006. Kibum individually starred in Marrying a Millionaire as young Kim Young-hoon in 2005 and in March 2006, Heechul starred as Gong Min in Bad Family. That same year, Siwon was part of the supporting cast for Spring Waltz and Kibum starred as Ha Yeongchan in Snow Flower. In 2007, Heechul starred as Kim Young-soo in the popular drama Golden Bride, which ended its broadcast in February 2008 after the extension of 14 episodes. Siwon starred as the ambitious Lee Mong-ryong in the two-episode parody historical drama Legend of Hyang Dan and Kang-in made a cameo appearance in Billie Jean, Look At Me. The song "It's Just That", sung by Super Junior-K.R.Y, was used as the drama's theme song. In 2008, Kibum starred in the sitcom Chunja's Happy Events as Park Jung-woo, and Kang-in had his first major television role in Romance Zero as Na Ho-tae in 2009. In August 2009, Heechul played the piano for Lee Chul for Loving You a Thousand Time. Siwon was among the first of Super Junior to have participated in silver-screen productions, appearing in the Hong Kong historical action drama film, A Battle of Wits as the supporting role of Prince Liang in 2006. In 2007, Heechul, Kang-in, and Shindong lent their voices to the three chipmunks in the Korean release of Alvin and the Chipmunks.[75] In 2008, Kang-in had a major role in the Korean-language film, Hello Schoolgirl.[76] As a group, Super Junior starred in Super Junior Mini-Drama, a television program hosted by the group that was released in late 2006. The group wrote, produced, and acted in the separate half-hour mini dramas. The subject matters of the dramas were chosen from viewers.[77][78] In 2008, Leeteuk and Sungmin starred in the one-episode drama act Super Junior Unbelievable Story. Both Leeteuk and Sungmin starred as themselves as a member of Super Junior-T. [edit] Reality showsDespite numerous appearances as television actors, Super Junior are still best known for their reality shows, having participated in popular comedic reality shows.
[edit] HostingThe Super Junior members were one of the first Korean idols to begin television presenting and radio hosting. Heechul was the first in the group to be a selected MC for the music programs Popular Songs and Show Music Tank. He was also the first in the group to host radio shows, and co-hosted Youngstreet Radio Show with ex-M.I.L.K. member Park Heebon in early 2005. Heechul has also been the MC for the Dream Concert since 2008. Leeteuk, Kang-in, and Shindong made their MC debut on Mnet's music program M! Countdown five days after Super Junior's debut performance. In August 2006, both Leeteuk and Eunhyuk founded their own radio show, Super Junior Kiss the Radio, which has become one of the more tuned-in radio channels in the country. The group also founded their own reality television program, and on November 11, 2007, the premiere of Explorers of the Human Body aired on SBS. The humorous show introduced the thirteen members as regular guests for the program, answering curious questions and doing demonstrations involving the human body. Kyuhyun, who was recovering from a car accident during the first half of the show's filming, joined the show in the later episodes.[79] The show has been the highest rating program of the reality line-up every Sunday, but due to Super Junior's tight schedule, the program ended quickly with thirteen episodes on February 3, 2008. The popularity of the program had inspired producers to create a second season, although no announcements of producing the next season has been announced.[80] [edit] Acting[edit] Attack on the Pin-Up BoysMain article: Attack on the Pin-Up Boys
Twelve members, excluding Kyuhyun, appeared in the group's debut film Attack on the Pin-Up Boys. The first film released by SM Pictures, it premiered on July 26, 2007 in Korea.[81] "Wonder Boy", performed by Super Junior, is used as the theme song of the film.[81] Although the film was promoted as a typical high school comedy, the movie gained positive reviews from critics, praising that the movie had a well-oriented plot unlike most idol films. However, ticket sales remained low in the premiere month despite its unexpected success in the sales the first week.[82] The film was a box-office bomb, failing to attract more than 102,600 admissions and was proven to be a big loss for SM Pictures.[83] However, both versions of the film's DVD became a best-selling record and were sold-out in both Korea and oversea markets, which was more than enough to make up for the production loss of 8.5 billion won.[83] [edit] Influence and impactDuring the course of Super Junior's career, several pop groups were formed with similarly extraordinary numbers of members. JYP Entertainment recruited thirteen boys to be in a boy band, who were all revealed in the show, Hot Blood Men. Of these thirteen, eleven were split into two groups that debuted at different times: 2AM, which has four members, and 2PM, which has seven.[84] Together, the two groups form the eleven-member boy band One Day. Ast'1, a boy band under DSP Entertainment, released a promotional video in March 2008. In the short preview the boy band expressed that they would "Knock Down Super Junior",[85] which resulted in a lot of criticism lashed into the group. However, they clarified that they had no means to create conflict, and explained the reason why they want to defeat Super Junior is because they see Super Junior as their answer of success.[86] [edit] EndorsementsSuper Junior members first began endorsing for various fashion lines in early 2006, notably for Ivy Club (2006–2007) and Spris (2006–2007). With their high popularity in Thailand, Siwon was contracted to be the main endorser for 12 Plus and began endorsing its products since 2007 with interchangeable Super Junior members. The group are also known for their string of humorous commercials for Thailand's Yamaha Fino along with several other Thai entertainers, notably Golf & Mike. Super Junior were also appointed as the Goodwill ambassadors for the 2008 Korea and Thailand 50th Anniversary, honoring the good relationship Korea has held with Thailand for the past fifty years.[87] Most recently in 2009, Super Junior have filmed CFs for brands such as Kyochon Chicken, Star Snacks and Happy Bubble. [edit] Controversies[edit] Expansion to ChinaFor more details on this topic, see Super Junior-M.
After the subgroups Super Junior-K.R.Y. and Super Junior-T, on October 2, 2007, SM Entertainment announced the birth of another Super Junior sub-unit project that would begin activities in China starting 2008. Han Geng and SM Entertainment's new Chinese-Canadian trainee Henry Lau, who was also featured in the music video of "Don't Don", were said to be two of the core members for the subgroup.[88] The announcement brought in a huge wave of dissatisfaction and opposition from fans of Super Junior after the announcement of two new members. Initially, fans were planning to boycott the company's products, however, most fans agreed on a silent protest instead. Thousands of fans from Super Junior's official fanclub E.L.F. silently sat in front of the SM building and held signs that supported the group to have only thirteen members.[89] After more rumors regarding adding a Chinese member to the subgroup, the fans decided to gain a legal representation as part of SM Entertainment's stockholders. As of March 20, 2008, Super Junior fans purchased 58,206 stocks of SM Entertainment, holding 0.3% of the company's entire stock.[90] They released a statement that they will obtain all chances to prevent SM Entertainment from adding new members and to keep Super Junior as only thirteen.[90] [edit] MBC ConflictFor more details on this topic, see Kang-in.
A time-slot dispute occurred between SM Entertainment and MBC when SM insisted to have Kang-in stay on SBS's Explorers of the Human Body instead of MBC's Sunday Night Dong-An Club (동안클럽) where Kang-in has been a regular host. MBC temporarily banned the rest of Super Junior from appearing in any future performances and shows hosted by MBC.[91] Kang-in also lost his MC jobs to T.O.P. of Big Bang for the music show, Show! Music Core and also two more variety shows, which both soon canceled after Kang-in left due to low ratings.[92] MBC demanded an apology from SM Entertainment in order for Super Junior to appear on shows hosted by the channel again. However, MBC concluded that Super Junior's ban was never official, but just a decision for shows' producers to decide.[93] [edit] Conflict during Expo 2010On May 26, 2010, organized by South Korea Pavilion of Expo 2010, many Korean pop stars including Super Junior were invited to the "South Korean classical and pop concert”which was planned to be launched at Expo Cultural Centre on May 30. As the tickets were not for sale to the public, visitors who want to enjoy the show could only exchange the ticket via expo ticket in the west door of the Expo Cultural Centre on May 30. The total ticket number is 5000, while 2500 of which would be assigned to Korea visitors for free which caused the actual available number to be 2500. Super Junior fans collected in the entry of the Expo Cultural Centre, and the strong emotion led to the occurrence of violence, resulting in casualties. An local armed police said that this is his first time to see such a “crazy” situation in Expo 2010 since the Expo park was opened.[94] |
