[Review] Super Junior - Magic

In natural S.M. tradition, Super Junior has returned with a repackage album. The album cover is absolutely atrocious, which frankly seems like they don't even care. But really, S.M. probably hasn't cared for a long, long time. "Magic" is like the late spiritual successor of "No Other" however many years ago, both in the sounds and the style of the MV. The audio is happy and energetic. In contrast to "Devil," Super Junior sounds more together and in sync. Perhaps that's what you want if all of your members are chasing after the same girl...again. Even though it's almost certainly not on purpose, the pronunciation of "girl" creates a utility phrase, where they could be heard saying either "magical" or "magic girl." Both make sense, so even if this was unintentional, well done.

The majority of the video is dominated by the basketball court scenes where tacky dancing, mediocre basketball skills, and a plethora of special effects come together. It's certainly eye-catching at first, but gets boring rather quickly, despite all the fancy moves the boys try to break out. Thankfully we're treated to Kyuhyun being downright hilarious at 1:59. He is probably the last member I would think of doing that move. The remainder of the MV revolves around the Super Junior team trying to show off and attract attention from the lovely lady. I was expecting the cliche Siwon pick but in the end Kangin wins. They should've had him at center for the ending shot. The magic tricks edited in throughout the video were quite the treat, both entertaining and effective at supporting the overlying theme of the song. Heechul and Eunhyuk handle the rapping and the former does a better job than the latter. Eunhyuk's voice was never really that suited to rapping so it's not surprising that Heechul sounds much better. He's been on the upswing with raps since "This Is Love" anyway. The English used is still a little suspect, but not quite as bad as those seen in "Dumb Dumb." As this is a project / celebratory release, I doubt we'll be seeing the full set of choreography anytime soon (save maybe for the major performances come the end of the year).

Comparing Super Junior to Big Bang this year comes down to a battle of quality vs. quantity. Big Bang certainly made more noise and waves with their months of releases, while SJ dropped "Devil" and "Magic." Super Junior's titles were simplistic in nature but very charming to the average listener, whereas the plethora of Big Bang songs could be used against them if people aren't prepared for what's coming. Big Bang also had a few misses, whereas both Super Junior songs are most certainly huge hits. I said in my "Devil" review that Super Junior have aged gracefully since debut, and this release doesn't alter my opinion in the slightest.

[ Overall: 87 / 100 ]