K-Pop super group Super Junior is back, and they're ripping off everything from Michael Jackson to James Bond. Does it work? Ohhhhh yessssss.
Super Junior has returned with the repackaged edition of its latest album, Sexy Free and Single, featuring the title track, Spy. With its James Bond Get Smart influence and slick albeit shallow video, Spy clearly has a polarizing effect: people will either love it or hate it. Can you guess which side I’m on?
First off, I don’t know what to make of Spy the song. It starts off with a trumpet intro followed by an almost honky-tonk intro, something that sounds like it was taken straight out of a Western playbook. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever heard from Super Junior. Then it has some pretty awesome horns that give it that James Bond secret agent feel. Then it launches into the patented Super Junior one-note monotone, albeit one octave lower. Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Kangin all deliver solo lines this way. There are rap parts – whoa, Shindong finally gets some lines! – there’s the patented Yesung adlib, there’s a little bit here for everybody.
It’s clear that Spy is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of song, and it appears that polarizing effect doesn’t work for a lot of people. For me, oddly enough, it works. I’m enjoying Spy. I like that it’s got an almost comedic sounding honky-tonk. I like that they went with a James Bond slick brass sound. I like that it still has that Super Junior feel (because of the monotones). Even the video is a few notches short of cool, despite the appalling lack of plot; it’s pretty much a showcase of the pretty boys of Super Junior, which is enough to please most ELFs. I like that Eunhyuk still gets his little dance explosion, and I like that Yesung gets to belt the way he likes it.
I’m frankly just shocked that Super Junior, one of SM Entertainment’s marquee names, continues to get slipshod video treatment from its management. There was so much potential in this video, and it was so half-baked. What is up with the random blood drops? The silly silhouetted girl? The bullets that defy the laws of physics? (You just know Simon and Martina will rip into this video like bloodthirsty vampires.)
Hello! My name is Donghae! I'm handsome, I'm sleek and I've been in the pimp spots two videos in a row. Who's yo' daddy?
Anyonghaseyo, I am Kyuhyun. I know my lower register sounds unusual, but I'm hoping you'll be distracted instead by the work of my (now late) plastic surgeon.
Hi! My name is Ryeowook! Whatever awesome changes I made to make me more masculine, like my Jagger-esque abs and deep lower register, have been negated by this hairstyle.
What's up, this is Siwon. You don't get to see my abs in the "Spy" video. Actually, you don't see much of me in this video at all. I'm not sure why, but Jesus has nothing to do with it.
Hi! I'm Eunhyuk. I love channeling Michael Jackson and rumor has it that I am also the girl in this video. Life is fantastic baby. (Wait a minute, that's Big Bang.)
Hi! This is Leeteuk. I'm preparing to enter the army, which is a real shame, because I spent a lot of time building up my abs for showing to girls, not boys.
Hi, I'm Sungmin. I know I look incredible, but knowing I'm always that next-best singer, the next-best dancer, the next-best abs guy... makes me wanna choke myself.
Hi, I'm Yesung. As I get older, I look and sound even more and more amazing. And you should see me without a shirt.
Hello! This is Kangin. I know it's been a while since I graduated from the army, but some things are hard to get out of your system. *salute*
Yo, I'm Shindong. Yes, I got a rap solo. Yes, I also finally got my moment in the center that lasted longer than a few seconds. Thanks for speaking up for me, SME now has my back.
