Super Junior-M, often referred to as SJ-M, is a Mandopop boy band. Formed in 2008 in Seoul, South Korea, the band is the first international music group in the Chinese music industry to have members of both Chinese and Korean descent,^[1] and is the first group produced by Korea's CT (Culture Technology) organization, created through a comprehensive localization strategy.^[2]

Super Junior-M is the third and most successful subgroup branched off from the Korean boy band Super Junior. The group originally consisted of leader Han Geng, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kyuhyun, and two additional members appearing exclusive to the subgroup, Zhou Mi and Henry.^[1] In December 2009, Han Geng filed a lawsuit against their agency SM Entertainment and parted with the group, resulting in the group's temporary disbandment.^[3] Han Geng was later replaced by Super Junior members Eunhyuk and Sungmin, coinciding with the release of the group's second EP Perfection in February 2011.

Background[link]

Name origin[link]

Before the official name of the subgroup was released, they were known by "Super Junior China". On April 3, 2008, SM Entertainment announced their official name to be Super Junior-M, with "M" representing the word "Mandarin".^[4] The "M" can also represent a list of other aspects, such as the first letter of their debut album Me, and also "mi" (Chinese: 迷), the pinyin for "charismatic" and "fan", the latter meaning referring to their desire to connect closer with fans.^[4]

History[link]

2007: Formation and "Only 13" controversies[link]

In October 2007, SM Entertainment announced that a new Super Junior subgroup would debut in China in 2008. Super Junior's original member Han Geng, and a new member Henry Lau, who performed the violin solo of Super Junior's "Don't Don," were announced to be the first two of seven members representing the subgroup.^[5] Some of Super Junior's official fanclub, E.L.F, signed online petitions and held protests to express their dissatisfaction and opposition of adding a fourteenth member to the group, fearing that a new member would mean one of the original lineup would get 'replaced'.^[6] Many fans boycotted Super Junior's products and held silent protests in front of SM Entertainment's main building in Seoul, holding signs of the "Only 13" slogan. ^[7][8]

Over one thousand fans appeared in front of the SM Entertainment building on E.L.F's third protest on November 3, 2007.^[9] Instead of a silent protest, the fans sang various Super Junior songs and shouted "thirteen."^[10] Fans purchased 58,206 stocks of SM Entertainment, holding 0.3% of the company's entire stock.^[11] They released a statement through the media, stating that they would obtain all chances to prevent SM Entertainment from adding new members and to keep Super Junior as only thirteen.^[11] SM Entertainment later announced that they would not add the new subgroup members to the main group.

2008–2009: Debut and commercial success[link]

From April 4 to April 7, 2008 the seven members of Super Junior-M were individually announced to the Chinese media in a chain of short trailer clips. The first member, Han Geng, was announced to be the subgroup leader on April 4.^[12] On April 5, Siwon and Donghae were revealed to be the second and third members.^[13] On April 6, Kyuhyun was announced to be the fourth Super Junior-M member, following the new member, Henry, as the fifth.^[14] Ryeowook and another new member, Zhou Mi, were announced to be the final two members on April 7.^[15] A trailer of all seven members was released on the group's debut day, April 8. Super Junior-M's trailer clips exceeded 1.4 million views in less than four days.^[16]

Super Junior-M debuted in Beijing on April 8, 2008 at the 8th Annual Music Chart Awards, simultaneously with the release of their first music video, "U" on Sohu.com.^[16] They released their debut album Me in selected provinces of China starting April 23, 2008. A Korean version of the album with three bonus Korean-language tracks was released in South Korea on April 30, 2008. A modified version of the album was released in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan on May 2, 2008.^[17] Though a majority of the tracks in the album were Mandarin remakes of Super Junior's previous Korean hits, reviews were generally positive. Hong Kong Cantopop singer, Hins Cheung, critiqued the album favorably, saying that the album contains "international-level music" and that the group is "vocally-talented".^[18]

A month after their debut, Super Junior-M won their first award, Asia's Most Popular New Group, at the 5th annual Music King Awards in Macau on May 25.^[19] They took home another three awards that year. On December 27 and 28, Super Junior-M held their first concert, the Super Junior-M Show, in Hong Kong.^[20]

Following their debut performance in April 2008, the group made a few successful guest appearances in many chains of entertainment variety shows to promote their album. They appeared in an episode of the second season of TVB and HunanTV's collaboration show, Strictly Come Dancing, which made the show's ratings increase to 5.01%, ranking it the third most watched show ever in all of China.^[21] Super Junior-M's appearance in the talk show Behind Story (Chinese: 背後的故事) also increased ratings. The show had the highest ratings during their time slot, with a strong 4.05%.^[22] Separated into several weekly episodes, the group's appearance in their first episode on the challenging game show Bravely Going Forward (Chinese: 勇往直前) in early August gave the show the highest ratings during that time slot as well.^[23] In August 2008, Han was casted in the idol television drama Stage of Youth, a mini-drama dedicated to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Han portrayed Xia Lei, a youth who aspires to be a famous dancer. Other members of Super Junior-M gave cameo appearances in the final episode.^[24]

In September 2009, Super Junior-M released their album album, the EP Super Girl. The album garnered them a nomination for Best Vocal Group at the 21st Golden Melody Awards.^[25] The EP's title single "Super Girl" is Super Junior-M's most critically successful song to date, winning numerous accolades for its composition and performances.

2010–present: Lawsuit and lineup changes[link]

In December 2009, Han filed for contract termination from SM Entertainment, claiming that the provisions of his contract were unlawful, harsh, and against his rights.^[26] Super Junior-M immediately canceled all of their future activities and performances in China and Taiwan. They returned to Korea to begin preparing for Super Junior's fourth studio album. Han, however, stayed in China and signed under a new management, releasing his debut solo album Geng Xin in July 2010.^[27] Although Super Junior-M remained largely inactive for most of 2010, they won several accolades for their song "Super Girl" at China's 2010 MusicRadio TOP Awards, including Most Popular Group, Golden Melody Award (Top 15), and Best Composition.

In December 2010, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Han. However, SM Entertainment announced that they will file an immediate appeal to reverse the decision. In September 2011, Han and SM Entertainment officially came to a mutual agreement regarding Han's contract, closing the case. Although Han will not continue his exclusive contract with SM Entertainment,^[28] the agency has yet to release an official statement regarding his status in Super Junior and Super Junior-M.

In February 2011, Super Junior-M resumed their activities with two new members from the main group, Eunhyuk and Sungmin, with the release of EP Perfection. A track in the album, "Love Is Sweet" is written by Jay Chou with lyrics penned by Chou's lyricist, Vincent Fang. Perfection was first released in Taiwan on February 25, followed by a Korean release two days later in South Korea. Hong Kong, Singapore, and selected provinces of China released the album on March 4. It debuted at number 2 on Taiwan's G-music chart,^[29] and stayed on the chart for four weeks.^[30] The repackaged version of the album was released on April 29, debuted at number 2, and stayed on the chart for 10 weeks.^[30] In March 2011, Siwon and Donghae were cast as the main leads in the Taiwanese idol television drama Skip Beat!, a live-action adaptation of the manga of the same name. The drama premiered on December 18, 2011 on Formosa TV. In this drama, Super Junior-M performed the drama's opening theme "S.O.L.O.", and Donghae wrote and performed the ending theme, "That's Love", featuring Henry.

Super Junior-M stayed in Taiwan for over two months to promote Perfection. The album won them several awards at the 2010 HK Asian-Pop Music Festival, including Best Song Performance and Best Stage Performance. They won Most Popular Group at the 1st Annual Global Chinese Golden Chart, and Best Group at the 2011 Singapore HIT Awards.

In 2012, Zhou Mi was casted in the drama When Love Walked In. Henry is currently filming an unnamed movie that is to be released in 2013.

Members[link]

Endorsements[link]

Super Junior-M and Taiwanese singer Show Luo replaced Hong Kong entertainers, Nicholas Tse and Twins, for the 2008 summer season endorsement spots of Semir, a Chinese clothing brand.^[31] They were acclaimed to be sunny, young, and passionate; thus their image was suitable to endorse the brand.^[32] They were also the 2009 endorsers of Pepsi and OPPO Mobile.

Discography[link]

Award and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Super Junior-M Official Korean website