''Mr. Simple'' (reissue name ''A-Cha'') is the fifth studio album by the South Korean boy band Super Junior. It was released on August 3, 2011, by SM Entertainment, distributed by KMP Holdings and digitally release on August 2. On September 19, 2011, a repackaged edition was released, re-titled ''A-Cha''. It features four new tracks including title track "A-Cha" and "Superman" which was previously released in version B only. This is the group's second album that features ten of the original 13 members and the first being their previous album, ''Bonamana'' (2010). At the year end award shows of 2011, the album won the ''Disk Daesang Award'' at the 26th Golden Disk Awards and 21st Seoul Music Awards, as well as the ''Album of the Year'' at the 13th Mnet Asian Music Awards. The album, including the repackaged version, is listed as the 2nd best-selling album of the year for 2011. According to Gaon Chart, as of the end of December 2012, the album has sold a cumulative total of 543,623 copies domestically.

Background and development

On March 31, 2011, leader Leeteuk announced during the interview, "At the earliest, we'll be coming out with our fifth album this summer." Leeteuk and Eunhyuk confirmed on their radio show "Super Junior Kiss the Radio" on June 1, 2011, that they had begun recording their upcoming album that day. Kim Heechul, Heechul Twitter, tweeted on June 2, 2011, saying that the group "may be going crazy with preparations for our fifth album, but when it's finally released, you're all going to go mad." American dancer Kenny Wormald posted on his official Twitter on July 11, 2011, that he had started the choreography rehearsal for the group's upcoming new single. On the same day, Leeteuk and Eunhyuk stated on their radio show "Super Junior Kiss the Radio" that songwriter Jinu (hitchhiker) had contributed something for the new album. Shim Jae Won, current choreographer and former member of the disbanded SM group Black Beat tweeted two pictures of the choreography practice of the group showing the lower half of their bodies. The first of the teaser photos was released on July 20, 2011, featuring Eunhyuk. Other photos followed, in order of: Donghae, Leeteuk, Shindong, Kyuhyun, Sungmin, Ryeowook, Yesung, Siwon and Heechul. On the same day, it was announced that the album is set for an August 3 release.

Music and video

The album is mostly synthpop, with the title track, "Mr. Simple", being the last installation of the "SJ Funky" genre in which the group has been consistently pursuing since "Sorry, Sorry (album), Sorry, Sorry" (2009) and "Bonamana" (2010). Songs encompassed with synthpop elements include "Opera", "Be My Girl", "Walkin'" and "My Love My Kiss My Heart". Other tracks included in the album are the country-flavored tracks "Good Friends" and "Sunflower", an electropop number "Feels Good", a cover of a 1996 song by Jinu (hitchhiker) entitled "White Christmas", ballads "Storm" and "Memories", a Lee Donghae, Donghae-One Way (Korean band), Chance-written track "Y", as well as the inclusion of subgroup Super Junior-M's Korean version of their 2011 title track "Perfection (Super Junior-M EP), Perfection", in which it serves a purpose "to give a chance to Korean fans to enjoy the music of Super Junior-M which is appearing in various stages in Asia." Meanwhile, for the B-version of the album, a further-included track "Superman" is described to be "a minimalist hip-hop track which feature the members singing in a low vocal range." On July 22 to 24, 2011, the group filmed the music video for their new lead single. Two video teasers were released on August 1, 2011, in which the first teaser gained a million views on YouTube a day after its release and 2,500,000 views by the second day. Meanwhile, the second teaser passing a million views by the second day. The music video reached more than half a million views within the first few hours of release. It passed 1.5 million views by the end of the first day, and 3 million by the end of the second, views. On August 26, 2011, a music video for the album's supporting single, "Superman", was released on their YouTube channel, featuring clips from their ''Super Show 3 Tour'' as well as the photoshoots and music video making for "Mr. Simple". On November 1, 2015, the music video officially reached 100 million views on YouTube. On July 30, 2021, the music video officially reached 200 million views on YouTube.

Promotion and release

The group held a press conference at the Imperial Palace Hotel in Seoul on August 4, which attracted over 200 reporters, including 70 foreign journalists from Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore The group expressed that they will promote the album for as long as possible till Heechul's enlistment date and also to continue with ''Super Show 4 Tour, Super Show 4 World Tour''. Super Junior had their debut performance of "Mr. Simple" and a non-album track "Superman" at Music Bank on August 5, 2011, followed by Music Core the following day, The Music Trend, Inkigayo after that and on August 11 on M! Countdown. However, promotions for the song ended on August 28 due to the enlistment of member Heechul to the army on September 1, 2011. The album was released in 11 countries across Asia., including Republic of China, Taiwan on September 6, 2011, by Avex Taiwan. The album was supposed to be pre-released in the Philippines by Universal Records (Philippines), Universal Records on October 1, 2011, but was moved to October 8, citing manufacturing problems caused by Typhoon Nesat (2011), typhoon Nesat. The Type A album was officially released in the country on November 24. After the released of "Mr Simple" in Japanese, the group followed-up with the release of "Opera" in Japanese. The single album also include the travel-themed mid-tempo ballad "Way", Japanese original music video and making-of DVD. It has been available for pre-order from March 11, 2012.

Reception

Critical reception

Music critic Han Dong-yoon from webzine ''IZM'' expressed boredom with the song "Mr. Simple" due to repetition of the same lyrics and "techno-type electronic sounds"; he additionally criticized the "distorted vocals" which made identifying the members difficult, "except for a few people". Han also found similar patterns in the tracks "Opera" and "Be My Girl", but was more favorable towards the ballad tracks such as "Memories", "Sunflower" and "Y", referring to them as "clean[ing] up the place they left".

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 3 on Billboard (magazine), Billboard World Albums Chart for the week of August 20, 2011. It peaked at number one on the Gaon Album Chart for the month of August, with 287,427 copies sold. Meanwhile, the repackaged album, ''A-Cha'', which was released on September 19, debuted at number three with 97,210 copies sold. At the year-end list of album sales for 2011, compiled by Gaon Chart, the album is listed as the second best-selling album of the year with 343,348 copies sold and the repackaged version at number seven with 129,894 copies sold. Thus making a cumulative total sale of 473,242 copies in South Korea. On April 12, 2012, Gaon Chart reported that up till the end of March 2012, the album has sold a cumulative total of 502,830 copies, making it the first album in four years to exceed half a million in sales since Kim Gun Mo's eighth album ''He-story'' in 2003 and TVXQ's fourth album, ''Mirotic'' in 2008.Park, Hyun Mi
"Super Junior Records Half-Million in Sales"
''Mnet News''. April 13, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2012 The released in the Philippines on October 8, peaked at number one in ''Odyssey Weekly Album Chart''. After a week of selling the album reached gold status with standout sales of 7,500. This was the group's 5th number one album and 4th album to certify gold status in the country making them the only Korean act to do so.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

Credits are for the Type A of the album, unless where indicated. * Super Junior - vocals, background vocals ** Leeteuk - vocals, ** Heechul - vocals , rap ** Yesung - lead vocals, background vocals ** Shindong - vocals, rap ** Sungmin - lead vocals, background vocals ** Eunhyuk - vocals, rap ** Siwon - vocals ** Donghae - vocals, rap ** Ryeowook - lead vocals, background vocals ** Kyuhyun - lead vocals, background vocals * Super Junior-M - vocals, background vocals (''Perfection (Super Junior-M EP), Perfection'') ** Zhou Mi (entertainer), Zhoumi - vocals ** Henry Lau, Henry - vocals, rap * Yoo Youngjin - background vocals * Kang Sungho - background vocals * Park Il - background vocals * One Way (Korean band), Chance (One Way) - background vocals * Hitchhiker - background vocals, guitar, piano keyboard, keyboard, synth and Beat (music), beat arrangements, Bass (instrument), bass, sound processing * Thomas Troelsen - background vocals * TST - brass instruments, brass section * Choi Wonhyuk - bass * Kim Jungbae - guitar * Lee Hwa - piano * Yoong - string section * Shin Seokchul - drums * Choi Hoon - bass * Cho Jeongchi - guitar * Go Gyeongchun - keyboard * Lee Sungryeol - guitar * Park Cham - guitar * Super D - keyboard * Kim Kyuwon - Pro Tools, pro-tools editing * Goo Jongpil - Audio mixing (recorded music), mixing * Nam Koongjin - mixing * Lee Seungho - mixing * Jeon Hoon - Audio mastering, mastering (mastering done at Sonic Korea)

Awards

Release history

References

External links

Super Junior official homepage

Super Junior official YouTube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mister Simple 2011 albums Super Junior albums SM Entertainment albums Grand Prize Golden Disc Award-winning albums Avex Taiwan albums Korean-language albums