After seeing Super Junior at KCON NY, my love for Super Junior has just grown. Donghae touched my hand, it was a magical experience. I died a little. Because of this, when Super Junior D&E Bout You was announced, I had to pick up a copy. Donghae and I had a special moment… it was quite beautiful. Yes, I know I talked about this in my The Beat Goes On post, but this is important. Donghae is important!
I picked up my copy of this album on Choice Music. There are 3 versions of it: Donghae, Eunhyuk, and the D&E version. I only purchased the Donghae version of the album. You can get a copy of the album from Choice for $15.99 plus shipping. They also offer a set of all three for $46.99 here. On Amazon, you can get a copy of the album for $24.90 here with free shipping as a Prime Member.
If you don’t have Amazon Prime, you can get a 30 day free trial using this link here. I will not lie, the free 2 day shipping, plus all of the free music and videos are totally worth it. I also now use it for books for my Kindle paper white too, and it is honestly a life saver. They have a program called Kindle Unlimited where you can check out 10 books at a time, read them, and put them back in the kindle library. The program cost $7.99 a month, and you get the first 30 days for free with this link.
Note to readers: I highly recommend that while reading the next part you put on the album and listen through it as you read it. This is what I do as I write it, and it will definitely help you understand where these thoughts are coming from. I really like these posts to be discussion of the music itself, and not just an overview of general themes.
Super Junior D&E Bout You Track by Track:
머리부터 발끝까지 (‘Bout You)
As expected from the main dancers in Super Junior, Eunhyuk and Donghae have presented us with an upbeat, dance song. It gets you moving, and gets the head bopping. I do really enjoy this song, and the music video is also fun to watch. Is this my favorite track on the mini-album? No, but I do still really enjoy it. It is in at least 2 or 3 of my playlists.
RUM DEE DEE
This is my favorite track on the mini-album. In the past 24 plus hours since the mini-album has been released, I have played this song on repeat, and restarted it from the beginning at least half a dozen times. I actually would not be shocked if I’ve listened to it about 20 times. It has a strong hip hop dance feel to it. I also really like the nonsense word chorus that they just play on repeat. Let’s be honest, this song is extremely easy to dance to, which means it made it into every one of my Dance Playlists… including my “English Only” ones that I have to play around my family that has slowly been polluted with K-Pop.
여름밤 (I Love It)
For a B-side track, I do enjoy this song, but it sounds relatively typical, like I’ve heard it before, not sure if you feel the same. It has a typical chord progression, and melody line. What I think distinguishes this song from similar songs is how the chorus drops. They add in that electric rhythm (I have no idea how to describe it, but it’s like a light vroom sound. I know nothing about electric sounds and what they are called, even though there is definitely a name for it). I enjoy it, but not enough for it to make it into my playlists, as not every track can make it into the playlist.
Livin’ In
I always love Super Junior D&E releases because there are a ton of dance tracks on them. Donghae and Eunhyuk have a habit of picking tracks that are pleasing, and easy to dance to. No even joking, I can see someone with a dance background easily coming up with a routine for this track. The dance break at the end of the chorus is also perfect for a dance routine. Even though this isn’t my favorite track on the album, as that’s Rum Dee Dee, I definitely enjoy it, but not enough to put it in my playlist.
백야(白夜) (Evanesce Ⅱ)
Alright, moving on to a slow R&B track. I don’t expect Super Junior D&E to put out vocally complex tracks. As you may have noticed, through this entire post, I’m not focusing on their vocals at all. Donghae & Eunhyuk aren’t amazing vocalists. They are amazing dancers. From a dancing perspective, I love this song. It’s extremely easy to choreograph something beautiful to. Do I like this track enough to put it in a playlist, no not really. I enjoy it as a movement in the mini-album as a whole though. It’s a perfect middle ground between the previous track and the one I’m about to talk about.
지독하게 (Lost)
This is track is a ballad with a wee bit of a country flair to the guitar being played in the background. Like I can 100% hear a country singer take this song and make it their own. This track would be really good for a partner dance. I can see leaps and pirouettes (that’s the dance term for turns) being done to this track as well as big flowing movements. That being said, based off of the beat and how the chorus does have accented notes, you can also contrast those flowing movements with some sharp accents. I will note now, that this song didn’t make it into a playlist, as I do not have one yet for tracks that I want to choreograph. That is an idea for the future though!
Illusion (Obsessed)
Okay, I love the minor chords and trap beat used in this track. I’m not sure why, but I have an affinity for songs with minor chords. They make me happy because they are emotionally expressive. Throughout this track I love the piano that is playing in the background with the arpeggios and chords. After Rum Dee Dee, this is probably my favorite track. It has made it into all of the playlists… minus the ballad one… this isn’t a ballad.
Victory (Special Track)
This track is basically a “we are the world” kind of track. LIke it makes me want to step touch, and slowly wave my arms from side to side like I’m singing Kumbaya. It is an extremely positive track that would be well performed with an orchestra and a chorus. That being said, I actually am not a big fan of this song. I think it has it’s place musically, maybe for the victors of some sort of championship or as like a final number in some sort of concert, but other than that, I’m not a big fan of it. This is just my personal opinion, obviously.
K-Points: 386/5
When it comes to sub-units of Super Junior, I expect very different things from all of them. With Yesung, I expect a beautiful ballad album that will put me to sleep (in the best possible way). With Super Junior D&E, I anticipate and expect that I will get an album full of tracks that Donghae and Eunhyuk could easily choreograph a routine to. I don’t expect their tracks to have the same feel as Yesung’s or Super Junior as a whole.
Every single track on this album can be very easily choreographed. This I will point out is coming from someone who started dancing at the age of 3 (not by choice).They add percussive hits in the track that would help them move from a flowing motion to a hard hit to create that variety in a choreographed routine. Basically, the entire thing could be easily taken and turned into one big ol’ production number.
So, reasons that points were deducted? Mainly because I feel like I have heard some of the tracks before, obviously not sung by them, but by other artists. Is there an issue with that, no, not really. It is simply a thing. Depsite that, there are a number of songs that I like, not for their musical ingenuity, but for their head bopping qualities.
Should you buy a copy of this album? I personally don’t think it is necessary. I did buy one out of my loyalty to Super Junior, and to Donghae who touched my hand. Yes, yes I know I am weird. Should you stream this album? 100% I hope you did stream this album while reading this post, like I recommended. There are a number of solid tracks on it.
What track off of Super Junior D&E’s new mini album was your favorite? Let me know in the comments below!
사랑합니다!
–Rachel
