For some reason, I had thought that SuperM would be a one-off release type of group, given that the members come from 4 different groups based in two different companies. So it was suprising to hear that SuperM (made up of EXO’s Baekhyun and Kai, SHINee’s Taemin, NCT’s Taeyong and Mark and WayV’s Lucas and Ten) will be making their comeback in September with a studio album. It just sounds like a logistical nightmare to get the schedules of these four groups to align so that SuperM can rejoin, practice and promote any new releases (SM Entertainment can’t even get Lay to rejoin for any EXO promotions for the past 3 years!). Ahead of the release of the studio album, Super One, the group released 100 as a pre-release single yesterday. This is also the group’s first comeback since their debut with Jopping.

I won’t deny that 100 packs a punch. It truly does with its dubstep effects and fast tempo breakbeat direction. That alone already set the song up for succes. But I can’t help but think that the song gets pretty messy as it progresses, and this steals the attention away from the dynamic nature of the instrumental. The portion of the bridge that begins with Mark’s ‘Boom Boom Boom‘ and the start of the loaded dubstep effects, through to Taeyong’s ‘We go straight to the top‘ just felt it could have been much cleaner, yet also deliver that captivating climax to relaunch the song back into the final chorus. What we got felt like layers and layers of harshness that just overwhelms. The chorus itself could have forgone the inclusion of the ‘We go We go We go‘ line, as it felt unnecessary and doesn’t have that heft like the lines around it does. But apart from those problematic moments, the song highlighted some of the members’ talents. Taemin’s whispering at the start and during the bridge (this pretty much took me back to many of his solo releases) and vocal moments in the bridge brought out his vocals. Baekhyun’s high note was powerful. Mark’s rapping at the start was quite strong and proved to me why he was voted as the Best Rapper of 2019 in the 2019 KPOPREVIEWED Awards. Overall, 100 does the job of relaunching SuperM and definitely begins the fast trip to their upcoming releasing.

The futuristic concept of the music video is totally winning. I really like the sets that the music video is filmed in, even though they bring back that boxed feeling and that is mildly disappointing. Apart from that, the members bring strong visuals and definitely know how to throw punches to make the music video match the intensity that is felt in the song. I do note that the music video does also use that closeup and choreography formula, though it isn’t as prevalent (which is a good thing). I only just realized while writing this review myself. Overall, a really good video.

The choreography was definitely powerful. I think that is what everyone’s expectation going into this release, especially since the group is made up of strong dancers and 100 being the first release from the group after Jopping. It alone in the music video is already quite captivating, so I wonder what a live performance would feel like?

Song – 8.5/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.8/10