Lo Siento (Super Junior song)

After Play and its special edition subtitled (Pause version) was released on November 6, and November 28, 2017,[1][2] SM Entertainment announced that the album's repackage edition Replay would be released on April 12, 2018 to complete the trilogy.[3][2] The album's title track was described to be a song with unique concept that is "180 degrees opposite" to the musical style that had been previously shown by Super Junior.[3] A teaser image was released on March 27, 2018 alongside the announcement that four new tracks will be included in the repackage album namely "Lo Siento", "Me & U", "Super Duper" and "Hug". It was also confirmed that "Lo Siento", a latin-pop song will be the title track.[4] The single only featured seven out of eleven members of Super Junior, namely Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Eunhyuk, Siwon and Donghae.[5] Other band members did not participate due to various reasons; Kyuhyun and Ryeowook are carrying out their mandatory military enlistment while Kangin and Sungmin are in hiatus.[5] Although Heechul appeared in the teaser image, Label SJ announced that he would not participate in the album's promotion because of health issues.[6] In a separate interview, Heechul admitted that he had been having difficulties performing on stage since the release of "Sorry, Sorry" (2009) due to his leg injury.[7] The song's released also marked Siwon's return to the band's line-up.[6]

The single is the band's first collaboration with foreign artist. It was produced by Play-N-Skillz and featured Dominican-American singer, Leslie Grace.[8] It also marked the first collaboration between a Latin artist and K-pop band.[9] Grace part in the collaboration came from the recommendation of Play-N-Skillz.

Ellos no me conocían a mí, estaban buscando una voz femenina que cupiera en esta idea de hacer una canción trilingüe en coreano, inglés y español y los productores del tema son amigos míos y dijeron 'conocemos a una chica que podría encajar', y así llegué yo.

They didn't know me, they were looking for a female voice that would fit this idea of doing a trilingual song in Korean, English and Spanish and the producers of the song are friends of mine and they said 'we know a girl who could fit', and that's how I came.

— Leslie Grace[10]

In a different interview, she also praised the band's approach on the collaboration, saying that the band was really "open to learning about [Latin] culture, and why we use certain sounds".[11] On April 6, 2018, it was announced that a special version of "Lo Siento" featuring Kard will be released on the digital version of Replay while Somin and Jiwoo from Kard would join Super Junior on the song's promotion in South Korean music programs.[12] In October 2018, a remix version of the song, "Lo Siento (Play-N-Skillz Remix ver.) (Feat. Leslie Grace)" was released by the band as the fifth track from their Latin-pop extended play, One More Time.[13][14]

The song's music video was directed by Lee Gi-baek of Tiger-Cave and was filmed in March 2018 at Namyangju, Gyeonggi-do.[15][16] A teaser for the music video was revealed on April 10, 2018.[17] It was released on April 12, the same day as the single.[18] The music video depicted sensuous settings by using intense vivid colors and colorful neon signs which complemented the song's lyrics.[19] It also portrayed scenes where a sexy and provocative woman acted by Jess, seduced the band members.[20] Music magazine Billboard described it as the sexiest music video ever released by the band.[21] The music video surpassed 10 million views on YouTube in four days,[22] and 20 million views at the end of the first month of its released.[23]

"Lo Siento" was originally composed by Daniel "Obi" Klein, Charli Taft and Andreas Oberg.[15][24] SM Entertainment then entrusted Juan and Oscar Salinas, who made up the duo Play-N-Skillz, to produce the track for Super Junior.[25] It is composed in the key of A major, with the tempo of 95 beats per minute.[26] Musically, it is a Latin-pop song with an addictive melody added to a tropical rhythm.[27] It is also described as a dancehall pop song,[28] and has elements of Spanish guitars and subtle dembow riddim.[25] Tamar Herman of Billboard described the song as a "bold, upbeat dance track".[29]

The song's lyrics is written in three languages, Korean, Spanish and English.[30] The majority of its lyrics is written by Kenzie,[15] while the rap parts was penned by Super Junior members Heechul and Eunhyuk,[31] and the Spanish lyrics including the chorus were written by Grace in collaboration with Mario Caceres and Yasmil Marrufo.[25][32] The song's title, lo siento is a Spanish phrase which means "I'm sorry".[33] Its lyrics described a couple who fell in love at first sight and later decided to take a slow approach in their relationship.[32]

Billboard's Tamar Herman stated that the song stood out among other Latin pop songs in the K-Pop scene as it is a "full-fledged international production that was crafted by different songwriters".[29] Jang Woo-young, writing for SpoTV News praised the song's composition, stating that it is impressive how "various guitar sounds harmonizes rhythmically with Rhodes electric piano in different sections" of the song.[28] Yoon Gi-baek from Sports World stated that the song stood out as it "maintains the Latin vibe, yet it did not lose the identity of Super Junior." He also commented on the song's lyrics, saying that "the masculine sexiness that only [Super Junior] can show is permeated throughout the lyrics". He elaborated that the Korean lyrics are an excellent fit to the Spanish lyrics, and how the Spanish lyrics sound poetic, making them enjoyable to listen to.[34] Electronic Times writer Park Dong-seon in his analysis said that along with other K-pop songs released in spring, it "reveal sophisticated refreshing looks with light yet elegant choreography and delicate emotional line of vocals".[35]

Paper placed "Lo Siento" at number 10 in its top 20 K-pop songs of 2018 list, calling it "one of the year's most unexpected but greatest collaborations".[36] The song also landed at number 11 in Billboard's 20 best K-pop songs of 2018 as picked by music critics. The publication stated that the song was a "true representation of the diverse music industries [from which] all of the artists involved come from".[37]

"Lo Siento" is the first K-pop song to chart on Billboard's Latin Digital Song Sales chart,[38] debuting at number 13.[39] It also debuted and peaked at number 2 on the World Digital Song Sales chart.[40][41] It stayed for three weeks on the chart, positioning at number 12 and 18 on the following weeks.[42][43] In South Korea, the song did not enter the Gaon Digital Chart, instead it entered the component Mobile Ringtone Chart and peaked at number 77.[44]

Super Junior promoted "Lo Siento" with Kard on South Korean music programs in the week following its released, including M Countdown on April 12,[45] Music Bank on April 13,[46] Show! Music Core on April 14,[47] and Inkigayo on April 15, 2018.[48] They performed "Lo Siento" with Leslie Grace, who appeared as guest along with Play-N-Skillz, during the Latin American leg of the band's world tour Super Show 7 in April 2018.[49][50][51] They performed in front of 35,000 audiences overall during their stops in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile and Mexico City, Mexico.[52] They also promoted the song in Mexican talk show Montse y Joe, in which "Lo Siento" was rearranged in mariachi version.[23] The song was also performed without any featuring artist at some stops such as Cotai, Macau;[53] Manila, the Philippines,[54] and Bangkok, Thailand.[55]

On June 22, 2018, they appeared on Good Day New York, where they taught the song's choreography to the hosts.[56] The next day saw them performing the song live with Grace in KCON festival held at Prudential Center, New Jersey.[57] The event was televised in South Korea in a special episode of M Countdown which aired on July 5, 2018.[58] Super Junior also performed "Lo Siento" with label-mate Irene in SM Town concerts, firstly on July 29 and 30, 2018, at SM Town Live 2018 in Osaka, Japan,[59] and on January 18 and 19, 2019 in SM Town Special Stage in Santiago, Chile.[60] On August 11, 2018, they performed the song with Kard at the 2018 K-Flow Concert in Taiwan.[61][62]

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Replay:[15]

• Super Junior (Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Eunhyuk, Choi Si-won, Donghae) – vocals
• Leslie Grace – vocals, lyrics
• Heechul – lyrics, rap making
• Eunhyuk – lyrics, rap making
• Kenzie – lyrics, vocal director
• Mario Caceres – lyrics
• Yasmil Marrufo – lyrics
• Daniel "Obi" Klein – composition, arrangement, producer
• Charli Taft – composition, background vocals
• Andreas Oberg – composition, guitar
• Juan "Play" Salinas – composition
• Oscar "Skillz" Salinas – composition
• Play-N-Skillz – arrangement, producer
• Lee Min-gyu – recording, digital editing
• Lee Ji-hong – recording
• Goo Jong-pil (Beat Burger) – mixing
• Chris Gehringer – mastering