Super Junior's BIJIN reviewed on the Jukebox

[koganbot]

Super Junior's "Bijin" is reviewed today at the Singles Jukebox. I wouldn't say I get Super Junior; I was one of the low scorers. Here's the Korean-language original, which I'd have given an extra point, raising it to 7:

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Comments

[askbask]

I think it's become my favorite Korean boy band tune in general and a very solid 10.

[askbask]

Have no real interest in Super Junior otherwise, discography or people.

[koganbot]

So you prefer it to "Sorry Sorry."

Think my problem is that the chorus needs to be real shivery and instead it's just kind of so-what (for me). The first verse is powerful, as are some bits later, though maybe that's my problem, that the start is strong and the rest is a letdown, the later verses and the middle eight suffering from weak singing. I love what I think they're going for on this, just don't think they get there. I may be a point too low on it, however.

[askbask]

I think Sorry Sorry is an 8/10 - it's the blueprint, but Bonamana does everything better: It's more tightly coiled, more focused, but also more melodic, more badass and fearsome. Less human, perhaps, but I don't think Super Junior, for all its members, excel in personality - they're better as this army of intense robotic love warriors. (I'm inconsistent, admittedly - I also like 'It's You', where they get close and intimate, but they're still a little scary there)

Anyway, with this song everything springs out of some nuclear core, every verse and syllable is a concentrated burst of energy. The pre-chorus was a bit problematic at first, but the way it builds down into the amazing arsenal of consonants that is the main chorus just overpowers me.

[atommickbrane]

I'm really fond of this song! I don't really 'get' SuJu as an 'entity' (I never quite followed their 'teams' and lost track of what was going on with them after a while). However, perhaps I'll go and watch the TV programme where they sit around in pyjamas, have a pillow fight and generally Do Each Other's Hair again. This is great.

(Weeeren't they getting involved in litigation a while ago, or some of them were...)

[koganbot]

Han Geng sued for his freedom - to get his contract revoked, anyway - and now has his own career in Mandopop. A court ruled in his favor (according to Wikip), but SM Entertainment have appealed. The rest of the band say that they still consider him a member of the group and that they miss him (again according to Wikip).

[koganbot]

By the way, thanks for posting here. Come again. If you ever scroll down the comments on my K-pop threads, you'll see that the topic often turns to J-pop; not that I have much to say about it, since I don't know it, but anhh will often write quite a bit.

[koganbot]

I love the middle eight in "Bang!" though maybe that's 'cause with what's coming it's like Bambi being led to the slaughter. But it's also really beautiful on its own.

The more I listen, the more I do hear something special in "Bonamana" that wasn't in "Sorry Sorry," all the steel slivers in the sound and the boys darting around them. Problem is that the chorus and the middle eight either are the wrong melodies or just have singing that I wish were stronger. Whereas I like "Sorry Sorry" on its own as a song, hence my total love for IU's version. The way I hear what "Bonamana" should be is for it to have exquisitely tingly high harmonies (or voices strong enough to deliver the harmonies they've already got); I'm actually thinking of the Hollies' "Carrie Anne," I mean the effect, not the actual harmonies: high harmonies that hurt. (The fact that I'm even making that comparison means that "Bonamana" is growing on me.) As I told Mat, I think the first minute is fabulous, and come to think of it, I also love the Autotune pileup (in the

[askbask]

10: I think you've been making new attempts in that sense too. "BONAMANA" is made in a similar way as "Sorry Sorry" but I think you purposely meant to add in a Korean style of melodic structure to it.
Yoo: You're right. To start with, I wasn't intending on making something completely different from "Sorry Sorry." It suited them and the singers had liked the song a lot too. So instead of thinking I would divert from it completely, I expanded on it. My wife did a bit of traditional Korean music when she was in college so when I asked for her recommendation for a samulnori beat, I came across a drum beat which I thought could be used as the melody. That's how I came up with the melody in the beginning of "BONAMANA." There's definitely a limit to how much I can do because I'm a pop music composer but I want to do more specialized music. The melody in "BONAMANA" may repeat in a very simple way but I wanted to give various changes to it within that flow. I'm trying hard in my own way. (laugh)From the interview I linked you to earlier. The '

[askbask]

But putting 'Samulnori' into youtube reveals some beats that can remind you of Bonamana.