Sexy, Free and Single

Background

On June 21, 2012, the first teaser photo, showing the theme of 'Beautiful men' was released, showing Eunhyuk in a white shirt, blue jeans, styled with a mullet-like hairstyle and blindfolded with white and pink flowers. This was followed by Donghae's teaser photo on June 22, with him dressed in a black mesh shirt with a white lace veil over his head. On June 23, the teaser photos of Leeteuk, with platinum silver hair, a gold necklace and heavy black eye makeup; and Ryeowook with red hair and feathers, were released. The following day on June 24, Yesung's and Shindong's photos were released, in which Yesung is partially bare chested with a crown of branches on his head and Shindong is frozen with light blue highlights in his hair. The teasers continued on June 25, with the release of Kangin and Sungmin's photos, showing a slim downed Kangin with a frosty look and a net-like veil over his head; and a side-profiled Sungmin with a feminized look and long blonde hair holding a large bouquet of baby’s breath flowers. On the same day Leeteuk also tweeted another version of his teaser photo with the same outfit but in a different pose leaning on his hand looking as he was in a deep contemplation. The final teasers displaying Siwon and Kyuhyun were released on June 26, showing Siwon with long blonde hair under a dip-dyed hat that matches his green eyebrows; and lastly Kyuhyun in a side profile looking upwards with a pale white gold face.

Music and MV

Leeteuk expressed that they had wanted to try out different music and dance styles in this album, as the songs from their third to fifth albums have been similar. Sungmin further explained saying, "The songs on our previous albums mostly featured mechanical sounds effects and catchy rhythms, but this time we tried to diversify into various genres such as ballads, R&B, and covers of old songs, without relying on special audio effects as much".

The title track "Sexy, Free & Single", describes the sexy and free life of a single man in a soulful Eurohouse genre with an easy and infectious chorus. It is composed and arranged by Danish songwriters Daniel 'Obi' Klein, Thomas Sardorf and Lasse Lindorff. The second lead track is "From U", a med-tempo R&B track dedicated to their fans. It talks about their gratitude towards them and their bickering yet loving relationship. The third track "Now" is about taking a break away from everyday life and going to the beach and "Rockstar" is a club and electronic mixed track with hip hop. "Gulliver" is written by Eunhyuk and features rap by him, Leeteuk, Donghae and Shindong, with vocals by Ryeowook. The track "Someday" is a cover version of a Lee Sang-eun song, while "Bittersweet" is sung by Kyuhyun, Yesung, Sungmin and Ryeowook. On 30 June, SM Entertainment released a minute-and-a-half highlight medley of tracks from the album on YouTube featuring previously unreleased teaser photos.

The group reportedly filmed a music video in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, with a Devin Jamieson choreographed dance for title track, "Sexy, Free & Single", who had worked with artists such as BoA, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears and Hilary Duff. In addition, their performance also benefit from the support provided by other choreographers such as Lyle Beniga, Nick Baga and Devon Perri.

On 29 June, the teaser for the MV was released on their official YouTube channel, which was followed by the full music video on 3 July. Sexy, Free & Single MV achieved 1 000 000 views in only 12 hours.

Repackaged album

The repackaged edition, re-titled Spy includes four new tracks with follow-up single "Spy", an urban dance track. "Only U" was composed by Leeteuk and Lee Jae-myoung (who previously wrote for the group's tracks Marry U and Happy Together) with the lyrics by Leeteuk and Donghae. "Haru" was co-written by Donghae and Urban Zakapa's Kwon Sun-il while "Outsider" is a hip hop dance track. The MV teaser for "Spy" was released on 3 August, followed by the full MV on 13 August 2012. Super Junior repackage edition rank #1 on Gaon Weekly Album Chart in its first week of release, remaining in the top 3 for 5 weeks and rank #1 in Gaon Monthly Album Chart of August.

Japanese version

On 29 June, during the press conference at the Mnet 20's Choice Awards members of the group confirmed that they have recorded the Japanese version of title track, "Sexy, Free & Single", and an original Japanese MV, as well as other tracks. However, there are still no plans to conduct any promotional activities in Japan. On 17 July, SM Entertainment announced that the track will be released on 22 August 2012 as their fourth Japanese single. On August 22, Super Junior officially released their fourth Japanese single “Sexy Free & Single“. After first day of sales, the single placed 2nd on the Oricon Daily Chart by selling 63,813 units In next day, Super Junior Sexy, Free & Single Japanese version placed 2nd in Oricon Weekly Chart by selling 109,821 units and placed 6th in Oricon Monthly Chart by selling 118,902 units. Super Junior "Sexy, Free & Single" Japanese version become gold in Japan for selling over 100.000 copies.

Promotion and reception

A press conference, attended by the 10 active members, was held on 3 July to launch the album. It attracted media and international reporters from Taiwan, China, Japan and Kazakhstan. It also marks Kangin's first official activity since being discharged. They made their official comeback on Mnet's M! Countdown on July 5, performing "Sexy, Free & Single" and "From U". This marks the on-stage reunion with Kangin and his first performance in two years. Further proving their global popularity, Super Junior’s press conference for their sixth album was recently covered by a popular Polish news station.

The album managed to rank high in iTunes in several countries including Australia, France, Japan and Peru. It also ranked 3rd place in Billboard World Albums. Sexy, Free & Single managed rank 1st place in MYX Daily Top 10, MYX Hit Chart and MYX International Top 20. According to Hanteo Super Junior, had become the first artist to surpass the 200,000 mark for albums sold this year with their 6th album Sexy, Free & Single. With their impressive total album sales, the group has risen above other fellow K-Pop idol groups to reach the 1st spot on this chart. Super Junior Sexy, Free & Single managed to sell 335.744 albums in just one month by Gaon reaching 1st place on all albums charts. Super Junior rank 1st place on Hanteo's "Top 5 K-Pop Artists" 2012 winning Hanteo "Singer Award" and also rank 1st place in Hanteo "Album Award" 2012 also winning this award. Sexy, Free & Single achieve the top of Taiwan KKBOX Chart having all album songs charted. Also, 40.000 copies were sold in Taiwan according to the charts, making it the best sold K-pop album in the country. The Japanese version of "Sexy, Free & Single" song, which was released on August 22, has sold over 118,902 units so far and was considered Gold for selling over 100,000 albums. The album won the "Album of the Year" in the 14th Mnet Asian Music Awards and "Disk Daesang" in 27th Golden Disk Awards

Single chart

Others Songs Charted

"Sexy, Free & Single" - Japanese Version

Personnel