"Sorry, Sorry" is a song performed by South Korean boy band Super Junior. It was released as a digital single on March 9, 2009, and was later included as the title single in the group's third studio album, Sorry, Sorry, released on March 12, 2009. This song was Super Junior's comeback single as a complete group since their subgroup activities in Mainland China and South Korea in 2008. It was Super Junior's most successful single on the music charts, winning a total of 10 recognitions during the song's promotional period.
Music
"Sorry, Sorry" was written by Yoo Young-jin, who wrote "Don't Don", the title track of Super Junior's second album Don't Don. Yoo reportedly wanted create a song which is both equally fun and easy to listen. The song is a "polished and trendy" dance song, with influences of American funk and contemporary R&B, stimulated with a heavy electronic beat that is the genre of "urban minimal funky".
Music video
The music video was filmed from February 28 to March 1, 2009. A 30-second teaser of the video was released on Super Junior's official iple site on March 6, 2009, and the complete video was released on March 13, the same day as Super Junior's comeback performance on KBS's Music Bank. The video was SM Entertainment's first anamorphic formatted music video with an aspect ratio of. Throughout most of the video, only eleven members are seen dancing to most of the choreography, although the video does include all thirteen members of Super Junior. Heechul appears to be in the dance towards the end of the video, and Kibum only appears in solo shots. The video starts off with an experimental scene, a woman's eye peeping through a key hole. She then pulls up her skirt, exposing her legs, and Super Junior member Kibum blindfolds himself; a small flame is burning an enclosed envelope, which is sealed with sealing wax. The woman then touches her lips and pulls off her pearl necklace. This scene is then engulfed to blackness and zooms to Super Junior, who are seen posing side-by-side in front of a white screen. Han Geng leads the group into a gentle sliding pose, and then they start dancing. In the song's dance bridge the members are tutting, with Eunhyuk in the lead. The whole music video is in black and white. The dance is choreographed by Nick Bass as well as Trent Dickens, who is known for working with international stars like Usher and Justin Timberlake. As of April 2019, the "Sorry, Sorry" music video has over 100 million views on YouTube, while the dance version has over 20 million views.
Promotion and reception
Promotional performances lasted for two full months, starting on March 13, 2009. Super Junior performed "Sorry, Sorry" on the music programs Music Bank, Music Core, and Popular Songs three times a week. The last performance was on May 16, 2009, on Music Core. The first overseas performance of "Sorry, Sorry" was in Beijing, China, on May 1, 2009, at the Beijing National Stadium. The single was also featured on Perez Hilton's blog. "Sorry, Sorry" peaked at #1 on M.NET's M!Countdown chart in just a week. "Sorry, Sorry" achieved its first recognition as the #1 song of KBS's Music Bank monthly pop chart on March 27, 2009, after only two weeks in the charts. The single won again for the April pop chart, and had two consecutive wins on the weekly pop chart in the first two weeks of May. "Sorry, Sorry" also won Mutizen song at SBS's Popular Songs for three consecutive weeks, earning a "Triple Crown" for the first time in the group's career. The single also became a song of the week on Mnet's M! Countdown on April 9 and April 23, although Super Junior was not present at the program to receive their awards. "Sorry, Sorry" remained within the top 10 in Mnet's music chart for another 12 weeks. The song was also successful in the Philippines; peaking at #6 in an international countdown by MYX Philippines. It was influential in increasing sales of 50 Cent's "Many Men" single. Super Junior also dominated Taiwan´s radio channel 'Hit Fm' released the 100 singles chart for 2009, ranking #1.
Following the success of Super Junior's 2nd Asia Tour – "Super Show 2", a live album titled Super Show 2 Tour Concert Album was recorded at the concerts held in Seoul from July 17–19, 2009, and released on December 10, 2009. Included in the album is a studio version of "Sorry Sorry-Answer", a R&B remix of "Sorry, Sorry". A music video for "Sorry Sorry-Answer", was also released on the same day.
Covers
"Sorry, Sorry" has been covered multiple times by other K-Pop groups, including on Korean television during special stages and at concerts:
* By the entire group on the August 8, 2009, edition of Show! Music Core.
* By Jessica and Tiffany, who covered Heechul's and Kangin's dance parts respectively in a video sketch called The Secret of "Gee", shown before Super Junior's "Gee" cover at Super Show 2.
