"Mr. Simple" is a song recorded in two languages (Korean and Japanese) by South Korean boy band Super Junior. The Korean version was released as the lead single off their fifth studio album of the same name digitally on August 2, 2011, via SM Entertainment. In Japan, the single was made available via Avex Trax on December 7, 2011.
"Mr. Simple" became the 85th best-selling single of 2011 in Japan according to the Oricon charts and is certified Gold by the RIAJ for 100,000 units shipped to Japanese music stores. The song was additionally used as a commercial tie-up for Japanese satellite communication holding company SKY Perfect JSAT Group, and as the ending theme song of TBS's Tsubo Musume in January 2012.
Background
The song was released along with the rest of the album's tracks on August 2, 2011, and has topped online charts hours after its release. The song was written by Yoo Young-jin, which was also the writer of their previous lead singles "Twins (Knock Out)", "Don't Don", "Sorry, Sorry" and "Bonamana". SM Entertainment describes the song as:
The title song, 'Mr. Simple', is a 'SJ Funky' song created solely for Super Junior and it can be considered as the final version of 'SJ Funky' following 'Sorry, Sorry' and 'Bonamana' that swept the world. The lyric describes the reality where modern people living in a complicated world failing to achieve what they intended to and losing their love and dreams without the breadth of mind in a simple way with humorous and metaphorical words, meaning "There is no need for taking take everything very seriously. Simple and easy way can rather be a better choice for finding oneself" like the title, 'Mr. Simple.'
Japanese release
The Japanese version of the song was released as their second Japanese single on December 7, 2011, under Avex Trax. A b-side track of the single entitled "Snow White" was revealed via the group's official Japanese website on November 30, 2011. The single debuted at No. 2 in the Oricon Weekly Charts, selling 89,000 copies on its first week of release, outselling their previous Japanese single "Bijin (Bonamana)" which sold 59,000 on its first week and 67,000 on total sales, making it Super Junior's highest-selling Japanese release yet.
Commercial performance
The single debuted at number three in the Oricon Daily Singles Chart on December 6, 2011, selling 17,000 copies. It plunged down to number six for three days and later peaked at number one by December 10, 2011, the day on which the group's Super Show 4 Osaka leg commenced, selling 36,000 copies, beating AKB48's Ue kara Mariko which sold 23,000 copies, at number two. The latter marks Super Junior's first time to have a release to peak at number one since debut. By the end of 2011, the single was ranked as the 85th best-selling single of 2011 in Japan according to the Oricon charts.
Music video
The music video for the song was released on August 4, 2011, via SM Entertainment's official SMTOWN YouTube page while its Japanese version PV was released November 13, 2011, via Space Shower TV.
Track listing
Accolades
Charts
Sales and certifications
Credits
Credits adapted from album's liner notes.
Studio
- SM Booming System – recording, mixing
- Sonic Korea – mastering
Personnel
- SM Entertainment – executive producer
- Lee Soo-man – producer
- Super Junior – vocals, background vocals
- Yoo Young-jin – producer, Korean lyrics, composition, arrangement, vocal directing, background vocals, recording, mixing
- Goro Matsui – Japanese lyrics
- Jeon Hoon – mastering
Release history
References
External links
- (in Korean) SM Entertainment's Official Site
- (in Korean) Super Junior's Official Site Archived November 8, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
