Review: Super Junior - House Party

While I have often talked about how influential TVXQ were over my formative years of music listening, Super Junior have been nearly as influential. If I made a list of my favorite K-Pop songs of all time, there would be a lot of Super Junior.

Weirdly enough, my top Super Junior songs list disagrees a lot with the most iconic and commercially successful songs from the boy band. I think the reason for this is that Super Junior have jumped from style to style a lot, and their discography varies a lot. They have done edgy metal rap rock, Latin pop, emotional self-written ballads, goofy fun songs, and party starter tracks. Of those, the last one is usually where most of their hits are, and while I enjoy them, Super Junior's music can be more than party-starters, they can be art. This is something people tend to forget, including Super Junior and their songwriters as well.

Enter their new album, The Renaissance. Minus December song Burn The Floor (finally getting its official release), the album is oddly empty. The best songs have already been performed or released, or are re-writes of Suju classics.

Enter title track House Party. If one were to describe the song, it actually sounds great. A song about hope and life in the quarantine, driven by a funky party beat, with several changes to the formulas including an electric-guitar-driven break-down.

In reality, the song seems so over-the-top it feels like a spoof of modern music trends. First things first, a clever listener can tell that vocal processing was used to 'fix' the vocals. Some members like Ryewook's voices sound oddly muted, which does not work.

Next, the lyrics. I have seen a theory that the lyrics were initially a normal party track, but were changed last minute due to potential backlash for a party track in the middle of a pandemic. The verses can prove oddly wordy as if the members have to stress their voices to make it through the lines. The lyrics are a tad preachy but terribly timed. It basically is another COVID-19 restriction song, but comes just a while after label-mate (and friend) Yunho of TVXQ has gotten into a controversy, part of which involves him going out against COVID restrictions. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the point, but there are much cleverer ways to show it.

The worst part of it is that the line "Everyone is connected without physical contact" is paired in the choreography with the members dancing in a conga line. I know they have safety precautions taken, but it does come off as slightly insensitive. Maybe I am over-reading it, though.

The funky beat is good. While I can think of many better examples (many from Super Junior themselves), it is good nonetheless.

Then, we get the trap breakdown. It actually is my favorite moment of the song (minus, the terrible, terrible "skrrt skrrt"), but it feels out of place, and would work much better as its own song.

Don't get me wrong, I like House Party, I get that it kind of is intended as a spoof of current trends, but it feels somewhat weaker than its parts. At least Burn the Floor is great.

Rating: 7/10

Image Source: K-Magazine