What happens when you’re the largest reigning boyband in Korea with 13 whooping members on a really tight schedule? You make history for having the shortest stopover in Singapore for half-a-day (yes, you got that right, half-a-day), and jet home to Korea immediately after the showcase is over.
One of Korea’s hottest boybands, Super Junior, was in town yesterday to promote SingTel’s launch of Samsung’s GALAXY S mobile phone, the first operator in the world to launch the phone.
The entourage of nine members which consisted of Lee Teuk, Si Won, Hee Chul, Ye Sung, Shin Dong, Sung Min, Eun Hyuk, Dong Hae, and Ryeo Wook, arrived in Singapore on Sunday afternoon to the delight of both local and overseas fans. The boys and their entourage opted for the exclusive VIP passageway instead of making a splashy entrance at the arrival halls of Changi Airport, depriving fans of the chance to catch a glimpse of them.
The boys made a quickie appearance later at the press conference and captured the hearts of 2,000 fans with a mini music showcase later in the night at Marina Bay Sands’ expo center — before catching a return flight to Korea — on the very same day. It was a highly-exclusive event and access to the event was only through one of the 800 passes distributed with the purchase of the Samsung GALAXY S phone from SingTel.
Looking sleek and stylish in their all-black attires from their latest music single, Bonamana, the all-star group’s entrance at the press conference sparked off a wave of frenzied flashbulbs, earmarked by raucous cheering and deafening screams throughout the room.
And that wasn’t the end of it, folks. Everyone wanted to snag a piece of the elusive boys and Super Junior’s star-studded presence sparked off a media circus with many even resorting to standing on chairs during the photocall session, clamouring for a good shot of the group.After the earlier commotion fizzled out, the band members who are also active users of social media platforms like Twitter and Cyworld, gave a well-informed introduction of the phone’s various functions and complimented the GALAXY S for its “very light and cool design.”
Through the help of a translator, the boys were quizzed on their “secret” behind their leading position in the country. As leader of the band, Lee Teuk spoke up and replied that it all boils down to passion, “Our secret is that all members are very passionate.”
In response to the leader’s statement, an enthusiastic Eun Hyuk, the group’s lead rapper and dancer, proceeded to put on a short dance number from ‘Bonamana’ — which he felt, was a good representation of what “passion onstage” means to Super Junior.
As mega stars with a public image to protect, the boys are unperturbed about their celebrity statuses and forthrightly shared that they are “not afraid or scared to do everything” on Korean variety shows.
In fact, they self-depreciatingly mocked themselves for having done “almost everything” even to the extent of disguising themselves as women.
“We seem to have done too much. Sometimes we even joke amongst ourselves of plans to make our own variety show.
“We even splash each other with water! Google for us on youtube and you can watch it later,” chuckled the media-savvy Shin Dong, who was visibly enraptured by the phone like a kid in a candy store. Sporting a little moustache, he fiddled around with the phone’s voice-recording functions and amused both the press and his fellow mates with the playback function of his recorded clip.
Despite their tight schedule in Singapore, the happy troopers reassured that they “aren’t tired at all” and are instead feeling “excited and happy to be present at the launch show.”
As this marks their first official visit to Singapore, the boys explained that they haven’t had the time to explore the island and proclaimed that they would love to visit again. To sum it up in the words of their cheeky leader Lee Teuk, “Ask or call us. We’ll be happy to come back again!”
