Play (Super Junior album)

South Korean boyband Super Junior released compilation albums to commemorate their tenth debut anniversary in two parts, Devil in July 2015,[6] and Magic in September 2015 through their label SM Entertainment.[7] Devil went on to be nominated for Album of the Year at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards,[8] and won an award each at the 5th Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards,[9] and the 30th Golden Disk Awards.[10] The year also saw SM Entertainment creating a new custom label, Label SJ which would independently acted both as recording and management label for the band.[11][12] All members of Super Junior renewed their contract with SM Entertainment that year except for Kim Ki-bum who officially departed from the band in August 2015, in between the two albums' releases, leaving the band with eleven members.[13][12] Super Junior underwent hiatus shortly after Magic's released due to most of their members were undergoing their mandatory military enlistment.[14]

The members who had finished their mandatory military enlistment prior to the hiatus embarked on solo activities outside the band. Super Junior's leader Leeteuk went on to became a prominent television host,[15] notably for presenting I Can See Your Voice,[16] Idol Star Athletics Championships,[17][18] and The Best Cooking Secrets.[19] Heechul became a fixed cast member of the variety show Knowing Bros,[20] and released a chart-topping rock song "Sweet Dream" (2016) with Universe Cowards.[21][22] Meanwhile, Yesung released solo extended plays Here I Am (2016),[23] and Spring Falling (2017),[24] both to commercial success.[25][26] Shindong, who enlisted prior to Devil's released in 2015 was discharged in December 2016.[27] He founded the production company, Walala Production and directed the music videos for "Lemonade Love" by Parc Jae-jung and Mark Lee,[28] "Marry Man" from his own collaboration with UV,[29] and Red Velvet's "Rebirth" in 2017.[30] The four of them performed on stage as Super Junior at the annual SM Town concert tour, SM Town Live Tour VI in Seoul in 2017,[31] marking them as the group with the smallest line-up in the concert tour.[32]

Sungmin who was discharged in 2016 was originally meant to join the band's line-up but he decided not to participate in the performance and the upcoming album due to negative fan backlash originated from his sudden marriage in 2014.[33][34] Donghae, Eunhyuk, and Siwon enlisted in 2015 and were discharged in 2017.[35][36] Kangin was in hiatus since he was caught drunk driving in 2016.[37] The youngest band members Ryeowook and Kyuhyun enlisted in 2016 and 2017, respectively.[38][39]

Star News reported in January 2017 that Super Junior were going to make a comeback later that year after Siwon was discharged in August.[40] In May, the band opened their official Instagram account.[41] In September 2017, Sports Dong-a reported that Super Junior would release a new album on their 12th debut anniversary on November 6, 2017, two years since the release of Devil.[42] However, Label SJ denied the rumour, saying that although the band was preparing for an album, its release date has not been decided.[43] While hosting the 2017 edition of Asia Song Festival on September 24, Leeteuk revealed that the band was in the final stage of their album's preparation and was in the process of filming a music video.[44] At midnight of September 27, a photo containing the cryptic word "D-40" and "SJ Returns" was posted on Super Junior's social media accounts.[45][46] The band's website also began a countdown to November 6, 2017 the date of their 12th anniversary, confirming their album's release date.[47] Label SJ announced the album title as Play on October 18, as well as it's dual meaning, to 'replay the music' and 'play excitedly'.[48]

Play was introduced as an album consisting of popular tracks.[48] It is influenced by old-school R&B and synth funk.[49] The album primarily featured the vocals of seven active members of Super Junior namely Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Eunhyuk, Donghae, and Siwon.[50] Kyuhyun's voice can be heard in two tracks, "Girlfriend" and "Too Late" as they were recorded prior to his enlistment in May 2017.[51][52] The record consisted of 10 tracks.[53] The band members actively participated in the album's production including in the selection process of the title track and writing lyrics for other tracks in the album.[54] The absence of treble vocalists in the band's line-up influenced the tracks selection in the album. The selected tracks were noted to be in lower range than their previous releases.[55] The album was produced by Super Junior and was mastered by Chris Gehringer.[56] The record was the first album published by Label SJ for the band since its establishment in 2015.[55]

The opening track "Black Suit" is a dance-pop song written with emphasise on synth and brass instruments.[57][58] Its composition was described as a restrained melody played on top of a swing brass rhythm.[59] Characterised by its cheerful melody and addictive chorus, the song reflected the K-pop trend during the moment of its release.[60][58] "Black Suit" lyrics told the story of a man in a black suit who stole hearts in the fleeting moment in the dark, inspired by the character Lupin.[61][62] News publication Ten Asia described the song as a result of the band "pursuing a more sophisticated style" yet still "showing some of their music colours".[58] It was picked over "Scene Stealer" as the album's title track through an anonymous voting carried out by the band and their production team, winning the vote marginally six to five.[63][64]

"One More Chance" (Korean title: Bicheoreom Gaji Mayo; lit.: Please don't go like the rain) is a British pop and rock ballad song. It was released as a pre-release single on October 31, 2017, accompanied by a music video.[65] The song was co-written by Donghae, who wrote it while serving in the military.[66] A love song,[59] Donghae cited his dating experience and the band members as inspirations for his writing.[67][68] Its rap lyrics was penned by Eunhyuk. The song incorporated the imagery of silent rain as an analogy to breakup.[65] "Girlfriend", a medium tempo pop song with trendy synth explored someone's emotion as they became closer with their love interest.[52] "Spin Up!" is a bouncing boom up disco track.[69] The ballad "Too Late" incorporated emotional piano melody and strong drum sound. The song described the feelings of a man who regretted losing his lover.[52][51] On the closing track "I do", Super Junior conveyed their feelings towards their fans.[69]

Following the announcement, two contrasting teaser images were revealed on October 17.[70] One of the image was in black-and-white, depicting the band wearing suits while the other was a colourful image showing them wearing pastel-tone outfits.[71] Individual teaser images of the band members were sequentially revealed between October 18 and October 20.[72][73][74] Play will consist of a total of 10 tracks. On October 20, while revealing Heechul and Yesung personal image teaser, Label SJ also announced that the image teaser consists of two concepts for title track "Black Suit" and pre-release track "One More Chance". "One More Chance" is a self-composed song by Donghae for the fans.[75]

On September 29, Super Junior launched a teaser of their web-reality show SJ Returns on streaming websites Naver TV and V Live. The show, which started airing on October 9, 2017 documented the band's preparatory period, covering the 120 days leading up to the release of Play.[76][77]

On October 29, SM Town released the video teaser for "One More Chance" and after a few hours in the following day, October 30 the music video was released.[78][79] On November 1, SM Town released the first video teaser for title track "Black Suit". In the following days, November 2 and 3, more two video teasers were released.[80][81][82]

Super Junior held a press conference to announce the album's release in Seoul on November 6, 2017.[83] In the same day they held a live stream through their V live channel to talk about their new album.[84]

The music video for "Black Suit" was also released.[85]

On November 28, it was released the 'Pause' version of the album that includes the song "Shadowless" from Super Junior's vocal subunit K.R.Y.[86]

It was also revealed Super Junior will be appearing in multiple variety shows such as Knowing Bros, Weekly Idol, Running Man, and SNL Korea to promote the album.

According to the music data provider Gaon, the album sold over 200,000 copies on its first week of release, making it their highest first week-sales number ever.[5] Play debuted 3rd on Billboard World Albums chart for the week of November 25.[87]

On March 19, 2018, SM Entertainment announced that a repackage edition of the album entitled Replay will be released to complete the trilogy of Play–Pause–Replay.[88] On March 23, 2018, a pre-released single "Super Duper" was released on SM Station season 2, marking it as the season's 50th release.[89] A teaser image was released on March 27, 2018 alongside the announcement that four new tracks will be included in the album namely "Lo Siento", "Me & U", "Super Duper" and "Hug". The latin-pop track "Lo Siento" was also announced to serve as the album's title track.[90] Shortly after, Label SJ announced that Heechul would not promote the album due to his leg injury while Siwon would return to the band's line-up.[91]

On April 4, it was revealed Super Junior would collaborate with Leslie Grace, marking the group's first collaboration with a foreign artist. [92]

Credits for Play are adapted from the album's liner notes.[93] Additional credits are adapted from Replay.[94]

• Super Junior – producer
  • Leeteuk, Shindong, Siwon – vocals
  • Heechul – vocals, rap making (on "Spin Up!", "I Do", "Lo Siento")
  • Yesung – vocals, vocal direction (on "Hug")
  • Eunhyuk – vocals, rap making (on "One More Chance", "Good Day For a Good Day", "Girlfriend", "Lo Siento", "Me & U")
  • Donghae – vocals, vocal direction (on "One More Chance")
  • Kyuhyun – vocals (on "Girlfriend", "Too Late", "Shadowless"), background vocals (on "Too Late")
  • Ryeowook – vocals (on "Shadowless")
• Leslie Grace – vocals (on "Lo Siento")

Additional musicians

Technical personnel

Studios

• SM Blue Cup – recording (on "Runaway"), mixing (on "Scene Stealer", "Girlfriend", "Spin Up!")
• SM Big Shot – recording (on "Spin Up!", "Lo Siento"), digital editing (on "Lo Siento", "Super Duper"), mixing (on "Super Duper")
• SM LVYIN – recording (on "Girlfriend", "Lo Siento")
• doobdoob – recording (on "Black Suit", "Scene Stealer", "One More Chance", "Good Day For a Good Day", "Runaway", "The Lucky Ones", "Girlfriend", "Spin Up!", "Too Late", "I Do", "Me & U", "Super Duper"), digital editing (on "One More Chance", "Good Day For a Good Day", "Girlfriend", "Spin Up!", "I Do", "Shadowless", "Super Duper")
• In Grid – recording (on "Scene Stealer", "The Lucky Ones", "I Do", "Shadowless", "Super Duper", "Hug"), digital editing (on "Shadowless")
• Seoul Studio – recording (on "One More Chance")
• The Vibe – recording (on "Black Suit", "Runaway")
• 821 Sound – recording (on "Hug")
• T Studio – recording (on "Hug")
• MonoTree – recording (on "Runaway"), digital editing (on "Spin Up!", "Too Late")
• Anemone – digital editing (on "The Lucky Ones")
• W Sound – digital editing (on "Hug")
• SM Concert Hall – mixing (on "Black Suit", "Good Day For a Good Day", "Hug")
• SM Yellow Tail – mixing (on "Too Late", "I Do", "Shadowless", "Lo Siento")
• SM Blue Ocean – mixing (on "One More Chance", "Runaway", "The Lucky Ones", "Me & U")
• Sterling Sound – mastering

• Super Junior official homepage Archived November 8, 2017, at the Wayback Machine (in Korean)
• Super Junior official YouTube channel