With some exceptions, SM Entertainment has become known for keeping its roster of artists around for the long haul. Super Junior are currently their second-longest running group and celebrate their twentieth (!) anniversary today with a new album. SM’s anniversary projects tend to be great (SNSD’s Forever 1, SHINee’s The Story Of Light series, SuJu’s own Devil), honoring past work while breathing new life into the artists’ signature sound. Express Mode attempts just this but suffers a due to its lack of strong melody.
In the late 2000’s, Super Junior perfected a sort of jagged, hyper-rhythmic dance music on songs like Sorry Sorry and Bonamana, powered by the iconic production style of Yoo Young-Jin. I would’ve given anything to have Young-Jin return for this track, but given his leave from SM Entertainment that was always going to be a difficult proposition. His gift for a great hook is sorely missed on Express Mode. The song chugs along as you’d hope a great club track would, but stakes much of its claim on a chanted centerpiece that doesn’t elicit many sparks. While the K-pop industry is definitely exploring club beats this year, they seem to be allergic to doing anything more than talking charismatically over them. Come to think of it, rookie group ALL(H)OURS’s Gimme Gimme from earlier this year felt like more of a Super Junior tribute than Express Mode.
With this said, I’ll always be biased toward a song that brings the energy. Express Mode never goes off the way I’d hope and I don’t think it’s the “100% certified slapper” Siwon dryly claims at its outset, but there are moments of liftoff that are quite fun. Any time we get to hear the group’s powerful vocals is a treat and the rugged electro production supporting the chorus comes closest to recapturing past Super Junior glories. It’s probably my own fault for expecting this to be an easy “9,” making even a mid-8’s ranking disappointing.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 8.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Their 20th anniversary isn’t until November 6, but this album is a nice early gift from Super Junior to ELFs. The song’s fine, but it reminds me a bit of NCT.
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They start the 20th anniversary tour in late August, so this is the album released 6 weeks before tour.
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Thanks for the information!
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It’s their Gnarly (especially with that spoken intro), except, these are people that have been in the industry for years so the novelty of a wacky track kinda goes astray. Haven’t listened to the album, but I hope it will have a highlight ala TRHM. I frankly don’t know how to rate it. An 7.75?. Under different hands, it could’ve been a Sexy, Free, & Single, a nonsensical but fun track. As another commenter said, it does remind me of NCT, especially some of their b-sides whenever the group chants in unison. Would love to know how long the song was in the dungeon for before it was given to SJ.
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Something about it reminds me of NCT as the others said and my first reaction wasn’t “oh what a bop” in spite of the many elements I do like about it, but “uuuuggggh, another changed chorus???”, so maybe it’s not the song but the underwhelming 2025 we seem to be having.
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This is clearly a nct demo that was given to suju. Don’t hate it but I don’t think it suits them
With that said I’m glad they still very much active for almost 20 years
It always brings me joy seeing a 2nd gen group make a comeback
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just the fact that they took the famous keyboard squeal from benny benassi’s satisfaction and actually built on it and made it into a real song instead of turning to the really easy desire to put out pure eurodance cheese is somewhat admirable. sure i would have loved it but still it’s more effect than has been put into super junior comebacks since what like 2013? anyway good song.
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the song is good, but some b-sides definitely tower the title.
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As the resident ELF, I have thoughts.
I think Super Clap is seriously underrated. Darling daughter played House Party a lot, I mean a whole lot. Burn the Floor is superb. Mango was meh, as was I think I. 2YA2YAO is a moment to forget.
This song here sounds like the wrong production. Super Junior were part of the YYJ SM peak monotone era along with SHINee. Think Sorry Sorry and Lucifer. Also, SuJu do the chorus as a chorus more than most may realize – almost all lead singles. It is how they could go through 10 years of rotating military service down one or two people – just rotate all the parts around.
Here the chorus monotone is not compelling enough. A low big fat wahhh bass with deep vocal is just not enough to craft that tension. It is a short cut that should have been worked on more. Worse, those same few lines repeat as copy-paste, so it just repeats the mistake. It sounds like it was crafted in the studio, and no one took an early draft out to the car or lobby to hear how it hears outside the studio.
Once you get past that, the verses are actually kind of nice. At 1:14 Leeteuk and Ryeowook’s parts are very very nice.
For ranking, I’d start at mid-8 and see how it ages. The other album track teasers sounded good, so there may be other goodies. Remember that Burn the Floor was technically a B side until they filmed the art school-style dance and performed it a few times on the music shows.
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I can’t believe it! A K-pop song with an actual bridge and pre-chorus. Thank you SJ and Happy Anniversary!!!!
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As the resident ELF can you give your thoughts and the fandom’s thoughts on Siwon’s facial hair? Do ELFs generally want him clean-shaven or is there a team stubble or team beard?
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Oh goodness, I don’t follow that level of detail very much. At this point, almost every member has had every hair style possible. Eunhyuk in particular has had every hair color possible. There are even gifs for this.
Siwon’s beard to me was a quarantine-era style. It was nice while it lasted.
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Super Clap slaps. I also love 2YA2YAO, but I know I’m in the minority.
As for Express Mode, I like it better than House Party, but it’s below Mango for SuJu title tracks this decade.
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Pretty good.
Hook needs work.
It ain’t no Mango.
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I’m never going to prefer a chanted chorus over a sung chorus, and I’m not a big fan of all of the processing on their voices either (consistent gripe of mine throughout the album), but I will admit that it’s catchy! And all of the sung bits are really nice! I wish it was more of a knockout title track for their 20th anniversary, but hey, with as much music as they have in their discography, there are bound to be titles I like less than others. I’m really happy they’re still active and making music, and I don’t dislike this at all, so I’ll take it!!
I’m going to go listen to Air on repeat now! I think that’s my favorite off the new album, though I also enjoyed Say Less, Finale, and Stuck With You. I think Delight, I Know, and D.N.A. will probably be growers, too.
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I am a sucker for Delight as it sounds the most fan service, and SuJu give good fan service.
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They really do! Yeah, I like Delight a lot now, too. The first time I listened, the chorus and the first part of the bridge both threw me off because I wasn’t expecting it to go where it did, but now that I know what’s coming, I’m all in!
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I love it! A spoken chorus works well with techno. Whiplash is another example. It’s cohesive, it keeps momentum, it’s got tons of variety in the verses. I hereby co-sign the SLAPPER certification!
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