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:

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[askbask.livejournal.com]

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

[askbask.livejournal.com]

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

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

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).



The following day, December 22, 2009, Han Geng's lawyer released the reasons for the contract termination: the contract had provisions in SM Entertainment's favor, the 13-year contract length was unlawful, it would take an unfair sum of money to end the contract, he was not allowed to request to revise his contract, he was forced to do things that were not in his contract, he was forced to do things against his will, he was fined if he disobeyed the company, missed any events or was late, and there was unfair profit distribution. Along with this, it was disclosed that because of SM Entertainment's refusal to give him a day off in over two years, he had developed gastritis and kidney disease.

[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.

[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.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

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.

[(Anonymous)]

My first hearing of this track what in this live “remix”, so any hearing after that was lacking…

[koganbot]

Well, I'll keep listening, to see if it'll finally hit me. I love the "Sorry Sorry" melody and chord pattern (the latter reminding me of this, or this, speaking of my original boybands).

[askbask.livejournal.com]

Someone on the jukebox said this is the k-pop sound diluted. I don't understand this point of view at all. It's the opposite, k-pop crystallized -- and represents the most extreme devotion to the core characteristics of its modern iteration. I can understand it being described as unfriendly, clinical, but I can't hear any compromise here. Steak tartare.

[koganbot]

She merely meant that "Bijin" loses something in comparison to "Bonamana."

[askbask.livejournal.com]

Yep, re-read it and realized my error. Egg on my face.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

Most people would agree with you that Bonamana is a 2nd rate sequel, so maybe I'm the who doesn't get Super Junior.

[descriptivist.livejournal.com]

I agree that "Sorry, Sorry" is the better song. I compared it to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance", where hook after hook, different idea after different idea, is stacked neatly on top of the last to create a solid Lego brick tower of a song. To pursue the Gaga metaphor, "Bonamana" is "Judas", a song that uses the same formula as the previous but with pieces that aren't exactly as good of a fit as before. It's still good, the formula works, but there are parts that stick out and the song doesn't go down as easily as its predecessor.

To be specific, I don't think the "I'll keep loving you" melodic middle eight needs to be there, but I generally don't like K-pop's use of the middle eight as a place to stick a totally different idea (e.g. a sweet, doe-eyed melody into an otherwise strident song, as in "Bang!" or even "Gee") so that's just me.

Also, since "Sorry, Sorry" I've appreciated that Super Junior are going for a more masculine, mature image than other boy bands who pile on the studs and colourful pants and guyliner. Even if that's only because the average age of the members is much higher than that of their fellow boy bands (I think the youngest member is 22 or 23?) and they already did the Final Fantasy hair thing in like 2005.

[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 video it runs from 3:30-3:45), which is right at the end of the maligned middle eight and may have been what Jonathan Bradley was referring to in his writeup.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

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 'Koreanness' of the melody is certainly not something I would've thought of before reading it.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

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

[descriptivist.livejournal.com]

Oops, forget what I said about not piling on the colourful pants - this is the teaser photo for their next single, which drops next week: