Super Junior made their return on Monday with their ninth full-length album, Time_Slip. But due to the unfortunate news of Sulli’s passing, Super Junior delayed the release of their comeback music video for SUPER Clap until today. Usually, I wait for the release of the music video to write a review, hence this is why we are reviewing the song 5 days after its release. This is Super Junior’s first comeback in 7 years since the return of all members from military enlistment. Unfortunately, it is not a full team comeback, with Heechul sitting out due to health issues, Sungmin being an inactive member and Kangin departing from the group earlier this year.

Over the last few years, Super Junior’s releases have been heavily dominated by the Latin genre. Even this album’s pre-release track, I Think I, had some of that influence. So, it is interesting to hear that a ‘different’ sound from the group. I put ‘different’ in quotation marks because it fits in with releases from other artists from a more recent timeframe. SUPER Clap finds itself situated on the KPOP spectrum (the dubstep instrumental break says it all). I find the song to be quite catchy and groovy, thanks to the heavy bass and the brass incorporated instrumentation. I also got an impression that the song was a lot smoother and polished, which is something I don’t really recall Super Junior doing back in the day when I first started listening to KPOP. This polished and smooth feel is something that felt more recent than opposed to the past KPOP hits. I liked their vocals, rapping and the beat, which all made the song enjoyable. I also liked how the clapping was incorporated. I thought it could have been overused or obnoxious, but they had a good balance.

The music video was plain. I just didn’t find it as interesting as it could have been. I think since this was their first comeback as a full group, I expected something a little more celebratory. But that might have been just me, as not doing something celebratory would have meant they jumped right back into their normal routine. It was colourful but it lacked meeting the same level of energy as the song had.

I think the most interesting thing with Super Junior when it comes to their performance is whether their age would impact. And it felt like it does. Their moves don’t seem to be as strong as before. While the song was a lot more upbeat, the dance moves felt like they were more constricted and slower. This was quite apparent during their dance break. They did well, nonetheless, as the performance still looks good.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 6/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.9/10