Super Junior: ‘This is Love’ Music Video Review

The music video for “This Is Love” by Super Junior starts off with Kyuhyun walking through a set of double doors into a room that gives a glimpse of the other eight members walking around. The camera then switches from Kyuhyun to Heechul, who is walking toward a piano and other instruments. Sungmin, Donghae and Eunhyuk then take over the camera’s focus to introduce the beginning of the song and dance routine.

After the introduction, the scene changes to a dining room where Leetuek and Kyuhyun join in on the singing and dancing. Here they lead the song into the chorus, which changes the scene to a bar setting where Donghae, Sungmin, Siwon, Eunhyuk and Ryeowook have taken command of the singing and incorporated an old fashioned microphone into the dance routine. That is then used throughout the rest of the video for the chorus, with just the members being switched out.

After the chorus, the scene switches again to a bathroom where Heechul takes over the song, with him performing his version of rapping. He walks around the bathroom and ends by finishing his rap and looking at his reflection in the mirror. The camera then moves on to a living room scene where Kangin, Eunhyuk, Ryeowook and Shindong, have taken over the singing and dancing. This leads to the chorus of the song that gives the viewers the first full look at all nine members of the group performing the dance routine.

From the entire music video, the standout point is the dance break section, which has Super Junior’s main dancers Donghae and Eunhyuk showcasing their smooth dance moves that they are known for by their fans. For the rest of the video, the scenes flash between all the previous mentioned scenes. The group members walk around singing with the microphone stand, which is showcased more with all nine members.

Throughout the music video, all nine members are dressed uniformly in three piece suits. The nine members give off the image of being old-fashioned gentlemen. Super Junior has, over their career, built up an image of being gentleman to the public. This has endeared them very highly to their fan base, E.L.F.

The director of the music video has used the classic Super Junior music video in that it is more focused on the dance routine rather than a plotline being used. The dance routine is showcased within a box setting that, unfortunately, Super Junior and SM Entertainment are highly known for. However, the director has tried to mix the box set formula up a little by turning the box set into different rooms of a high-class home.

It makes use of the growing popularity in South Korea of one-shot music videos. This is where the entire music video is shot in one-take, without taking any breaks or changing clothes. In addition to using the one shot concept, the director has also made use of black and white filters. That gives the video an old-fashioned feel that is elegant and classic. With the use of the color red highlighted in the background and the chosen props in the video, it all catches the viewers’ eyes.

The concept that is used for the video does not have very much originality to it, because Super Junior is well known for doing boxed-in sets for their music video. Their fans don’t have very high expectations when Super Junior releases a new music video.

With the video having no plotline, it is confusing, considering that they are singing about being in love with a girl. The lyrics “myeot chomyeon ichyeojyeo gal / gandanhan saramdeul sok / dareun neoreul ara / jeo byeoldeulcheoreom Love, Love / geudaeroin Love, Love / neowa na, na, dan duriseo” translate to “Out of the plain people who will be / forgotten in a matter of seconds / I know you’re different / Like the stars, love love / Just the way it is, love love / You and me / Just us two.” That would have achieved a greater impact if the director had incorporated female dancers to perform a couples’ dance. This would have given a higher value to the lyrics that the members are singing.