Play (Super Junior album)

Play (stylized as PLAY) is the eighth Korean-language studio album (ninth overall) by South Korean boy band Super Junior, released on November 6, 2017, by SM Entertainment. The album features seven members, marking the return of Shindong, Eunhyuk, Donghae and Siwon after their mandatory military service.[1] Ahead of the official release, SM Entertainment released the single "One More Chance" on October 30, 2017.[2] The album features the vocals of only seven Super Junior members. Only six members promoted the album formally: Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Donghae, Shindong, and Eunhyuk. Vocals belonging to Kyuhyun and Siwon can also be heard on the album.[3]

Play
Digital cover (Artwork from Blacksuit version cover)
Studio album by Super Junior
Released	6 November 2017 (2017-11-06)
Recorded	2017
Studio	SM Studios, Seoul, South Korea
Length	35:03
Language	Korean
Label	SM Label SJ Genie IRIVER (repackage)
Super Junior chronology
Devil (2015) Play (2017) One More Time (2018)
Singles from Play
"One More Chance" Released: 30 October 2017 "Black Suit" Released: 6 November 2017
Repackaged edition cover
Digital and Normal version cover for Replay
Singles from Replay
"Super Duper" Released: 23 March 2018 "Lo Siento" Released: 12 April 2018

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.[4]

The album's repackage, Replay released on April 12, 2018.[5]

Promotion

Background

On September 27, Super Junior's website began a countdown to November 6, the date of their 12th anniversary, with the text "SJ Returns." and announced it as their comeback date for their 8th album.[6]

On September 29, the group opened a V Live channel[7] for their reality show "SJ Returns – Super Junior Real Comeback Story." along with their first teaser featuring Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Donghae, Eunhyuk, and Siwon. The show captured 120 days of Super Junior leading up to their comeback, including moments from the members' military discharge, the members' album preparation process, and more.[8]

On October 15, Label SJ shared the time schedule for the group upcoming comeback as "Super Junior 8th Album Comeback Track", which the group will reveal their group image on October 17, and followed with personal images on October 18 to October 20.[9] On October 18, Label SJ announced the group album title Play alongside personal image teaser of Leeteuk & Siwon, which is a combination of two meanings as in 'replay the music' and 'play excitedly'. The next day alongside personal image teaser of Donghae, Shindong, and Eunhyuk, Label SJ announced Play will consist a total of 10 tracks. On October 20, while revealed 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.[10]

On October 29, SM Town released the video teaser for "One More Chance" and after few hours in the following day, October 30 the music video was released.[11][12] On November 1, SM Town released the first video teaser for title track "Black Suit". In the following days, November 2 and November 3, more two video teasers were released.[13][14][15]

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.

Release

Super Junior held a press conference to announce the album's release in Seoul on November 6, 2017.[16] In the same day they held a live stream through their V live channel to talk about their new album.[17]

The music video for "Black Suit" was also released earning 3 million views in 24 hours.[18]

Play ranked no.1 on the iTunes Albums and the iTunes Pop Albums charts in 23 and 26 countries, respectively.[19][20]

It was announced that SM Entertainment stocks hit the highest yet this year (+7.48%) the day of Super Junior's comeback and also the highest among the big 3 entertainments in South Korea.[21]

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.[4] Play debuted 3rd on Billboard World Albums chart for the week of November 25[22] and achieved the top of KKBOX Korean Music Chart having all songs charted.[23]

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. [24]

Super Junior released their song, "Super Duper," to SM Station on March 23, 2018.[25] Shortly after, SM Entertainment announced the album's repackage would release on April 12. The title track was confirmed to be "Lo Siento," and marked Siwon's return.[26] Shortly after, Heechul announced he would not promote the album due to his leg injury.[27]

On April 4, it was revealed Super Junior would collaborate with Leslie Grace, marking the group's first collaboration with a foreign artist. [28]

Live performances

The group made their comeback performance on the Korean music show M! Countdown with the songs "Black Suit" and "One More Chance" on November 9, 2017 and kept promotions going on Music Bank, Music Core and Inkigayo.

Super Show 7

On December 15, 16 and 17, the group held its "Super Show 7" at Jamsil Gymnasium in southern Seoul.

Track listing

Black Suit Version and One More Chance Version

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Black Suit"	Lee Seu-ran, Jo Yoon-kyung, Oh Min-joo, Im Jung-hyo, ESBEE	Martin Hoberg Hedegaard, Coach & Sendo	3:21
2.	"Scene Stealer"	Eunhyuk	Joe 'Joe Millionaire' Foster, Davey Nate, Prince Chapelle, Phillip Guillory, MZMC, Otha 'Vakseen' Davis III	3:25
3.	"One More Chance" (비처럼 가지 마요)	Donghae, JDUB, Eunhyuk	Donghae, JDUB	4:15
4.	"Good Day for a Good Day"	Jo Yoon-kyung, Park Sung-hee, Eunhyuk	Didrik Thott, Josef Melin, Chris Meyer	3:05
5.	"Runaway"	Shin Agnes (MonoTree)	Onestar, Choo Dae-gwan (MonoTree), Jeok-jae	3:26
6.	"The Lucky Ones"	Seo Ji-eum, Jin-ri	Lee Paul Williams, Jorgen Elofsson, Anton Martensson	3:38
7.	"Girlfriend" (예뻐 보여)	Lee Seu-ran, Eunhyuk	DAVII	3:23
8.	"Spin Up!"	Jo Yoon-kyung, Heechul, Eunhyuk	Mike Woods, Kevin White, Shin-hyuk, Cameron Edward Neilson, MZMC	3:09
9.	"Too late" (시간 차)	Seo Ji-eum	Cesar Peralta, Christopher Golighty, Francia Lopez, Anthony Lee	3:30
10.	"I Do" (두 번째 고백)	Yoda, Min Yeon-jae, 1wol 8il, Heechul	Shin-hyuk, Jeff Lewis, Bae Min-soo, Sun, Mrey	3:31
Total length:				34:43

Pause Version

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
11.	"愛,태우다 (Shadowless)" (CD Only; Super Junior-K.R.Y.)	Seo Ji-eum	Hwang Chan-hee, PJT, S2REN	3:51

Replay – Repackage

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Lo Siento" (featuring Leslie Grace and Play-N-Skillz)	Kenzie, Heechul, Eunhyuk, Mario Caceres, Yasmil Marrufo, Leslie Grace	Daniel "Obi" Klein, Charli Taft, Andreas Oberg, Juan "Play" Salinas, Oscar "Skillz" Salinas, Play N Skillz, TK	3:46
2.	"Black Suit"	Lee Seu-ran, Jo Yoon-kyung, Oh Min-joo, Im Jung-hyo, ESBEE	Martin Hoberg Hedegaard, Coach & Sendo	3:21
3.	"Scene Stealer"	Eunhyuk	Joe 'Joe Millionaire' Foster, Davey Nate, Prince Chapelle, Phillip Guillory, MZMC, Otha 'Vakseen' Davis III	3:25
4.	"Me & U"	이유진, 송민주 (Jam Factory), 조윤경, Eunhyuk	Jamil "Digi" Chammas, Justin Lucas, Michael (M.BRONX) SanFilippo, Anthony Pavel, MZMC	3:21
5.	"One More Chance" (비처럼 가지 마요)	Donghae, JDUB, Eunhyuk	Donghae, JDUB	4:15
6.	"Good Day for a Good Day"	Jo Yoon-kyung, Park Sung-hee, Eunhyuk	Didrik Thott, Josef Melin, Chris Meyer	3:05
7.	"Runaway"	Shin Agnes (MonoTree)	Onestar, Choo Dae-gwan (MonoTree), Jeok-jae	3:26
8.	"Super Duper" (슈퍼주니어)	Team One Sound, Leeteuk	Team One Sound, Leeteuk	3:14
9.	"The Lucky Ones"	Seo Ji-eum, Jin-ri	Lee Paul Williams, Jorgen Elofsson, Anton Martensson	3:38
10.	"Girlfriend" (예뻐 보여)	Lee Seu-ran, Eunhyuk	DAVII	3:23
11.	"Hug" (안아줄게)	Yesung, Min Yeon-jae	Yesung, Phenomenote, Kwon Doctor	3:46
12.	"Spin Up!"	Jo Yoon-kyung, Heechul, Eunhyuk	Mike Woods, Kevin White, Shin-hyuk, Cameron Edward Neilson, MZMC	3:09
13.	"Too late" (시간 차)	Seo Ji-eum	Cesar Peralta, Christopher Golighty, Francia Lopez, Anthony Lee	3:30
14.	"I Do" (두 번째 고백)	Yoda, Min Yeon-jae, 1wol 8il, Heechul	Shin-hyuk, Jeff Lewis, Bae Min-soo, Sun, Mrey	3:31
Total length:				48:50

Replay – Digital version

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
15.	"Lo Siento" (featuring KARD (Jeon Somin, Jeon Jiwoo))	Kenzie, Heechul, Eunhyuk, Mario Caceres, Yasmil Marrufo, Leslie Grace	Daniel "Obi" Klein, Charli Taft, Andreas Oberg, Juan "Play" Salinas, Oscar "Skillz" Salinas, Play N Skillz, TK	3:46

Personnel

Credit for Play are adapted from the album.

SUPER JUNIOR – Producer Nam Soo-young – Director of Management Jung Chang-hwan – Director of Media Planning Lee Song-soo, Kwon Yoon-jung, Yoon Ji-hae, I Ga-won – A&R Direction and Coordinator Cho Min-kyung, Lee Seo-kyung – International Repertoire Jung Hyo-won, Kim Min-kyung, Oh Jung-eun, Park Mi-ji – Publishing and Copyright clearance Yoo Young-jin – Vocal director, background vocals Super Junior: Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon – Vocals, background vocals Goo Joung-pil (BEAT BURGER) – Recording, Mixing (SM Yellow Tall Studio) Kim Chol-Sun – Recording, Mixing (SM Blue Ocean Studio) Jang Eui-seok – Recording, Mixing (SM Blue Cup Studio) Kim Hyun-goon, Lee Ji-Hyoong, Kim Kyu-yeoung – Recording (doobdoob Studio) Jang EunGyung – Recording (Grid Studio) Jag Ki-hoong – Recording (Seoul Studio) Kim Han-goo – Mixing (Sound Pool Studio) Tom Coyne – Audio mastering (mastering done at Sonic Korea)

Tak Yeong-jun, Kang Byeong-jun, Wan Young-sun, Kim Min-gun, Kim Si-young, Song In-ho, Park Yeong-suk – Artist management and Promotion Lee Seong-Soo, Yoon Hee-jun, Cho Yoo Eun – Artist planning and Development Kim Eun-ah, Jung Sang-hee, Lee Ji-sun, Kwon Jung-ha, Lee Ji-hun – Public relations and Publicity Kim Min Suk, Park Min-Kwon, Jung Kyung-sik – Media planning Tak Young-jun, Hwang Sung-young, Beat Burger (Joe Sim, Greg Hwang) – Choreography direction Toni Testa, Beat Burger (Greg Hwang), Mihawk Back, Hyuno Jin (Look) – Choreographer Choi Jung-min – International marketing Steven Myungkyung Lee – English lyrics supervisor Lee Jung-ah – Customer relationship management Park Jun-young, Sun Young, Jun Sung-jin – Music video direction Hoong Won-ki – Music video director Min Hee-jin – Visual and Art director JAworkshop – Design Kwon The-mi – Stylist Kim Jung-eun, Kim Hye-yun – Hair stylist Choi Hye-rin, Han Hyoo-eun – Make-up artist Lee Young-hak – Photographer Young-min Kim – Executive supervisor

Chart

Album

Weekly Charts

Chart (2017)	Peak position
South Korean Albums (Gaon)[29]	1
US World Albums (Billboard)[30]	3

Year-end charts

Chart	Position
2017 South Korean Albums (Gaon)[31]	16
2018 South Korean Albums (Gaon)[32]	41

Singles

Country	Chart	Peak position	Ref
South Korea	Gaon Digital Chart	23	[33]
	Gaon Online Downloads	10	[34]
	Gaon Social Chart	3	[35]
Taiwan	KKBOX Korean Music Chart	1	[23]
Hong Kong	KKBOX Korean Music Chart	1	[23]
Singapore	KKBOX Korean Music Chart	1	[23]

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
South Korea	November 6, 2017 November 29, 2017 (Pause Version) April 12, 2018 (Repackage) April 24, 2018 (Kino Version)	CD, digital download	SM Entertainment, Genie Music, IRIVER
Worldwide		Digital download	SM Entertainment

References

1. Herman, Tamar (6 November 2017). "Super Junior Returns With 'Play' Album & Funky 'Black Suit'". Billboard.
2. Herman, Tamar (31 October 2017). "Super Junior Releases New Single 'One More Chance' Ahead of Upcoming 'Play' Album: Listen". Billboard.
3. Hong, Dam-young (6 November 2017). "Super Junior returns stronger -- despite Choi's absence". The Korea Herald. Originally, the act had planned to return as a seven-piece unit: Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Eunhyuk, Donghae and Siwon. But Siwon, surnamed Choi, decided to sit out the group's promotions for "Play" after coming under fire over the death of a local businesswoman who died upon being attacked by his family's dog.
4. "국내 대표 음악 차트 가온차트!". gaonchart.co.kr. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
5. "[공식입장] '완판돌' 슈퍼주니어, 홈쇼핑 한번 더 출격…이번엔 마스크팩". mosen.mt.co.kr. April 1, 2018.
6. "Super Junior Launches Exciting Countdown To Return - Soompi". soompi.com. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
7. "슈주 리턴즈 (SJ returns) : V LIVE". channels.vlive.tv. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
8. "슈퍼주니어, 컴백 앞서 'SJ returns' 네이버 V앱 통해 공개 [공식]". Retrieved 7 December 2017.
9. "Update: Super Junior Drops Brand New Group Photos Ahead Of November Comeback - Soompi". soompi.com. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
10. ""10色 담은 정규 8집"…슈퍼주니어 은혁-동해-신동 티저 공개". Retrieved 7 December 2017.
11. SMTOWN (30 October 2017). "SUPER JUNIOR 슈퍼주니어 '비처럼 가지마요 (One More Chance)' MV Teaser". Retrieved 7 December 2017 – via YouTube.
12. SMTOWN (30 October 2017). "SUPER JUNIOR 슈퍼주니어 '비처럼 가지마요 (One More Chance)' MV". Retrieved 7 December 2017 – via YouTube.
13. SMTOWN (31 October 2017). "SUPER JUNIOR 슈퍼주니어 'Black Suit' MV Teaser #1". Retrieved 7 December 2017 – via YouTube.
14. SMTOWN (1 November 2017). "SUPER JUNIOR 슈퍼주니어 'Black Suit' MV Teaser #2". Retrieved 7 December 2017 – via YouTube.
15. SMTOWN (2 November 2017). "SUPER JUNIOR 슈퍼주니어 'Black Suit' MV Teaser #3". Retrieved 7 December 2017 – via YouTube.
16. Hong, You-kyoung (7 November 2017). "Super Junior releases its 8th album, 'Play'". Korea JoongAng Daily.
17. "[V LIVE] [FULL] <슈퍼주니어 8집 컴백!> 슈주랑 엘프랑 다시 'PLAY' Super Junior COMEBACK!". Retrieved 7 December 2017.
18. SMTOWN (6 November 2017). "SUPER JUNIOR 슈퍼주니어 'Black Suit' MV". Retrieved 7 December 2017 – via YouTube.
19. GLOBAL, SMTOWN. "#SUPERJUNIOR's 8th Album '#PLAY' ranks No.1 on the iTunes Albums and the iTunes Pop Albums charts in 23 and 26 countries, respectively.pic.twitter.com/zGVGBPYYpx". Retrieved 7 December 2017.
20. "#슈퍼주니어_BlackSuit #1 on iTunes in 23 Countries #1 TH #1 Peru #1 Macau #1 Bolivia #1 Colombia #1 CostaRica #1 Ecuador #1 El Salvador #1 Panamapic.twitter.com/c166hGcwVD". November 6, 2017.
21. SMTownEngSub. "SM Entertainment stocks hit the highest yet this year (+7.48%) the day of Super Junior's comeback http://www.google.com/finance?q=KOSDAQ%3A041510&ei=HCFMVJj0KtCElAWmhIBg … #ReadyToPlaypic.twitter.com/2yM44k6tZP". Retrieved 7 December 2017. External link in |title= (help)
22. "Seventeen, MONSTA X, Super Junior, BTS, and more listed on Billboard's 'World Albums' chart". allkpop.
23. "韓語單曲週榜 Top 100 - KKBOX". KKBOX. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
24. "NOW". now.smtown.com. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
25. "[STATION] SUPER JUNIOR 슈퍼주니어 'Super Duper' MV". March 23, 2018 – via YouTube.
26. 슈퍼주니어, 4월 12일 정규 8집 리패키지 앨범 컴백 확정(공식). Newsen (in Korean). March 19, 2018.
27. "Super Junior to promote new album with only six members". March 31, 2018.
28. "SUPER JUNIOR 슈퍼주니어 'Lo Siento (Feat. Leslie Grace)' MV Teaser #1". April 4, 2018 – via YouTube.
29. "Gaon Album Chart – Week 48, 2017". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Retrieved December 7, 2017.
30. "World Music: Top World Albums Chart". Billboard.
31. "2017년 Album Chart". Gaon. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
32. "2018년 Album Chart". Gaon. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
33. "국내 대표 음악 차트 가온차트!". gaonchart.co.kr. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
34. "국내 대표 음악 차트 가온차트!". gaonchart.co.kr. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
35. "국내 대표 음악 차트 가온차트!". gaonchart.co.kr. Retrieved 7 December 2017.

External links

• Super Junior official homepage (in Korean)
• Super Junior official YouTube channel