Super Junior’s Donghae has released his first full album today, preceded by the lukewarm Good Day (which I thought sounded like a commercial jingle). However, the album’s highlight medley sounded more promising and the clip of title track HAErise (해 떴네) definitely caught my ears for its dancefloor-ready sound.

When the unit Super Junior-D&E first formed, they were churning out this kind of quicky club music regularly — especially in Japan. At its best, HAErise reminds me of this era, though it could benefit from bringing bandmate Eunhyuk along for the ride to offer a bit of tonal variety. Those old songs also boasted tremendous choruses, ensuring they became more than simple musical memes. HAErise leans further into catchphrasey meme territory than I’d like, framing itself around a spoken-word hook that isn’t particularly thrilling. The production is fun and bouncy, but even here the song doesn’t grow or change in any meaningful way. Apart from a bit of singing here and there, most of HAErise simply feels like Donghae speaking over a beat and we already have more than enough of that in today’s K-pop climate.

Grade: C