Today's song is on it's 8th appearance on my countdown. I've been in love with this song since I came across it, for me it embodies Christmas from start to finish.
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Today's song is Super Junior's 'Santa U Are The One'.
Today's song is one of my favourite's and I've been in love with this track since I first heard it. This is one of those songs that I wait all year round to be able to listen to, and as soon as it starts playing I'm in a festive mood, singing and dancing.
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Today's song is Super Junior's 'Santa U Are The One'.
WOW!! what a year 2020 has been, I won't deny that while the year has gone by so fast, it's been a scary time for everyone.
I started the year on a high when I got to go see SuperM live in London with my friend Mary-Kate, I'd waited 6 years to be able to see members of EXO and SHINee live and I hope one day I'm able to see EXO and SHINee as a whole.
Not once have I ever suffered from anxiety but come May when it was time to head back into work, I was nervous and then 3 weeks later had a mini freak out, and even now I still get random bouts of anxiety, even when I'm at home.
I'm not the only that's started to suffer with anxiety, many people with everything going off in the world.
It's been 2 years since I last did a Musical Christmas Countdown, last year I just posted it onto my Instagram stories, but I think this year, I'm ready to bring it back, to help everyone begin to feel that Christmas spirit, to forget everything that's going off for a short while.
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What better song to start my countdown with than Super Junior's "Santa U Are the One"!
Bit of a change this week for K-pop Monday, it's time to introduce you to soloist Henry, Henry Lau is a singer, rapper, composer, dancer, entertainer and actor, I introduced you to actor Henry when I posted about Oh My Venus, his name has also appeared in Super Junior posts, but now it's time for solo singer Henry. He's mainly active in South Korea and China and made his debut in 2008 with Super Junior's Chinese sub-unit group Super Junior-M under SM Entertainment. As well as his own music, Henry has produced several songs for various artists, television dramas and is also part of the composing team NoizeBank. In April 2018, his contract with SM Entertainment expired, with him deciding not to renew, effectively leaving both the company and Super Junior-M, he is now signed with Monster Entertainment and Korean label AXIS and has his own studio named Henry Workshop. Trap is Henry's debut solo mini album under SM Entertainment, on the 31st of May 2013, the M/V teaser for his title track Trap, featuring label mates Kyuhyun and Taemin.
On the 14th of August 2013, SM Entertainment announced that Henry would have follow-up promotions for the re-release of his song 1-4-3 (I Love You) as a digital single and would feature his friend and then label mate Amber of F(x). A few days later on the 23rd of August, his digital single for 1-4-3 (I Love You) was released, which also included an English version of his debut single Trap.
Henry was the original lyric writer for 1-4-3 (I Love You), My Everything and Ready 2 Love, meaning that these songs were probably originally written in English and then rewritten in Korean for his album.
As part of NoizeBank, Henry composed 1-4-3 (I Love You), My Everything and Ready 2 Love.
Trap peaked at No.2 on the Gaon Albums Chart, No.45 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart and No.3 on the Billboard World Albums Chart.
Gaon Sales:
38,388+
*YouTube views correct at time of writing post*
The M/V for Trap has gained 66,884,600 million views, with the views increasing on a daily basis.
Trap is set out in a standard sized hardback book style case, containing the Cd and photo book.
The photo book is really colourful and seems to showcase Henry as art as well as him having fun.
Track List:
Trap
1-4-3 (I Love You)
My Everything
Ready 2 Love
Holiday
I Would
Trap (Featuring Cho Kyuhyun)
Trap (Featuring Lee Taemin)
There's something about Henry's voice, for me he has a distinctive voice, he may now be on the vocal line of singers like Super Junior's Kyuhyun but, he does have a powerful voice, and it has the power to bring me to ease and just sit and listen to him sing. I think the album layout is pretty simple which some may think that for his solo debut was pretty poor, but I love that the photo book is small and that the pictures follow the same concept as I think Henry himself sees not only his music but all music as art and a way to express oneself. I love each and every song on this mini album, each one is different from the previous and no matter the tempo, showcases Henry's vocals perfectly. Every time I listen to this album I feel it sets up my mood for the rest of the day and has me fired up ready to tackle what may lay ahead in the day. I'm glad we get a track in English as I think it helped Henry express his emotion even more in this song, I'd never heard Henry sing a ballad style of song before and when I heard I Would, I was blown away to the point that I shed a few tears and still do when I hear this song.
I hope now that Henry has left SM Entertainment, we get to hear more new music from him, he was really underrated and held back while under their "care". Overall he released 2 solo mini albums while a part of SM and the last album release will be 5 years this year, even part of Super Junior-M their last album was back in 2014. Don't get me wrong he still released songs, but when I say songs they were odd songs as part soundtracks and SM Station, but nothing that really promoted him and his talent. Fingers crossed we get a new album soon as well as new music and seeing the spotlight more on Henry Lau.
I'm back with yet another Japanese release and this time it's the Japanese debut full length album Hero from K-pop legends Super Junior.
Even though Super Junior released Japanese singles before the albums release, SM Entertainment stated that they weren't any official Japanese promotional releases.
On the 8th of June 2011, the Japanese version for their track Bonamana was released, then on the 7th of December 2011, the Japanese M/V for Mr Simple was released.
On the 24th of July 2013, Super Junior officially made their Japanese debut with their 1st full length Japanese album Hero.
During August 2013, Super Junior held release events in Tokyo and Osaka, and also promoted 'Hero' during their Super Show 5 at Tokyo Dome, Tokyo. Super Junior also had a meeting with the E.L.F Japan Official Fan Club members.
A month before it's release, 'Hero' was No.3 in Tower Records pre-order chart, by July 1st 2013, the Cd-only version was sold out in the E.L.F Japan store.
On the 24th of July 2013, the album debuted at No.1 on the Oricon Daily Albums Chart, selling 52,232 thousand copies on the first day. In the first week of sales 'Hero' debuted at No.2 on the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart with 102,224 thousand copies. just behind rock group Ikimonogakari's I. Hero also peaked at No.10 on the Gaon Albums Chart
The first disc of the album contains 13 tracks, including a bonus track, while the second disc contains Japanese versions of the group's subgroup singles and b-sides.
Gaon Sales:
3,495+
Oricon Sales:
122,373+
Three versions of Hero was released; a Regular Edition, a Limited Edition and a Korea Edition.
The regular edition is set out in a Jewel Cd case and comes with Cd and photo/lyric booklet.
The limited edition is set out in a rectangular jewel style Cd case and comes with 2 Cd's, 1 DVD and a glossy photo/lyric booklet.
The Korea edition is set out in a double jewel Cd case and contains 2 Cd's, 1 DVD and a lyric/photo booklet.
The regular and the limited edition have different album colours, pictures ad album covers, while the Korea edition has the same album cover and colours, as well as pictures from the limited edition version.
Track List:
[DISC 1]
Intro - Superman Prelude -
★Bambina★
Sexy, Free & Single
Mr. Simple
Opera
Wonder Boy
Our Love
A-Cha
美人 (Bonamana)
Tuxedo
Way
Hero
{Bonus Track} Hero - Performance Ver. -
[DISC 2]
I Wanna Dance / Super Junior Donghae & Eunhyuk
Perfection / Super Junior-M
Promise You / Super Junior-K.R.Y
明日のために / Sungmin
Destiny / Super Junior-M
Oppa, Oppa / Super Junior Donghae & Eunhyuk
Rokuko / Super Jnuior-T
Love That I Need ft Henry / Super Junior Donghae & Eunhyuk
First Love / Donghae
Hana Mizuki / Super Junior-K.R.Y
I have the Korea edition of the album and I have to say that their packaging for their Korean albums is miles better than they ever got for their Japanese album. The saving Grace for me for this album is the tracks themselves, even though a majority of them are Japanese versions of their previous songs, the Japanese fits them very well. I love the original Japanese songs especially Tuxedo and Hero, I also love that they also did Japanese releases to their subgroups songs like Super Junior-D&E's Oppa, Oppa. As well as giving us a solo song from Sungmin, while Sungmin may not have one of the strongest voices, I've always loved his vocal skill along with Kangin.
Even though I wouldn't really do this I can't help but have all 23 songs available for you to check out below.
While I do like this album, it's not one of Super Junior's albums that I listen to on a regular basis. I miss seeing Super Junior as a full group, at the moment I'm especially missing Kyuhyun, Sungmin and Kangin's voices and I hope that we fingers crossed in 2019, get a full and complete group comeback, but at the moment we will just have to wait and see what happens.
