The King Of Collabs: 9 Song Collaborations From Yoo Jae Suk

Nation’s MC Yoo Jae Suk is the dude. He’s known for being hardworking, witty, generous, gracious… the list goes on. He’s also the only MC to have a program on each major network to last for over 10 years (“Infinite Challenge” on MBC, “Happy Together” on KBS, and “Running Man” on SBS). And thanks to his variety shows, we get to see Yoo Jae Suk venture out into the music industry and release (quite a few) tracks under his name. Most recently, Yoo Jae Suk debuted as part of a 90’s-themed co-ed dance group, and to celebrate this awesome feat, here are nine of his collaborations you should definitely check out!

The list, in chronological order, doesn’t include group numbers with all cast members, so apologies to “Yes, We Are Together,” and “I Like It” enthusiasts.

Yoon Mi Rae x Tiger JK x Yoo Jae Suk (Future Liger) – “Let’s Dance”

This is the second in the bi-annual Song Festival series on “Infinite Challenge,” but the first one that had the members collaborate with various artists. For this festival, Yoo Jae Suk teamed up with husband-wife combo Tiger JK and Yoon Mi Rae for a hot hip hop number with a Latin flavor.

Lee Juck x Yoo Jae Suk (Sagging Snail) – “Apgujeong Nallari” & “As I Say”

In 2011, the Song Festivals really took off, growing from a semi-casual performance on a small stage in front of a handful of people to a full-blown night-time concert complete with all sorts of stage effects. Yoo Jae Suk let out his inner “delinquent” in this funky disco number. The song remains a well-known one today and is also one of his highest charting songs (peaking at No. 2).

For this Song Festival, Lee Juck actually wrote “As I Say” first and intended to use “Apgujeong Nallari” as a ruse to confuse the other teams. However, “Apgujeong Nallari” turned out to be so good and fitting for the festival, they used that song to compete. “As I Say,” based on Yoo Jae Suk’s struggles in his 20s, was then performed as an end-of-show bonus. Then in 2015, the song was voted as the No. 1 song the viewers wanted to rewatch the most (with 32 percent of the votes), and the duo reunited again to perform the song again. Just hearing the audience singing along with the song, you can tell how much the song resonated with the public.

Yoo Hee Yeol x Yoo Jae Suk (feat. Kim Jo Han) (How Do You Dul) – “Please Don’t Go My Girl”

In 2013, Yoo Jae Suk teamed up with Yoo Hee Yeol for the R&B song “Please Don’t Go My Girl.” Yoo Jae Suk got to display his vocal skills on the song, even being in charge of a few of the high notes. The performance, complete with standing mics and synchronized simple moves (and 90’s R&B group “Solid” member Kim Jo Han), is such a throwback to ’90s R&B, you might just find yourself cuing up some Boyz II Men on your Spotify.

Park Jin Young x Yoo Jae Suk (Dancing Genome) – “I’m So Sexy”

After taking a more subdued route for 2013’s Song Festival, Yoo Jae Suk’s dancing genes were aching to manifest, and who better for him to team up with than the dance maestro himself, Park Jin Young. After finally convincing Park Jin Young to write a song with a fast BPM (beats per minute), the duo gets to fully unleash their dancing urges and yes, sexiness, in this brass-filled “I’m So Sexy.”

EXO x Yoo Jae Suk – “Dancing King”

Everyone, say thank you to Kwanghee for setting up this collaboration! In one of the “Infinite Challenge” episodes, the members had to deliver “future mail,” where the members wrote down stuff that had happened, but from a future standpoint. And for Kwanghee, he wrote about seeing Yoo Jae Suk’s amazing collaboration with EXO, and voila, this “future” came into fruition! This SM Station release is such a high energy, fun number, and Yoo Jae Suk totally keeps up with all the heavy, synchronized boy group choreography. And the concert clips you see in the MV? That’s Yoo Jae Suk performing with EXO on stage at one of their concerts in Thailand!

Dok2 x Yoo Jae Suk (feat. Lee Hi) – “Like”

This is another collaboration born from “Infinite Challenge,” in the Hip Hop x History special. Each member teamed up with a hip hop artist, and they then delved into Korean history with the help of lecturers. The members and hip hop artists then wrote these history-themed tracks in hopes to educate the younger Korean generation about their country’s rich history. We rarely see Yoo Jae Suk tackle pure rap, but it’s not surprising he can do so well. After all, what can’t the man do?

Take a trip down memory lane by watching an episode of “Infinite Challenge” here: 

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Soran x Jun So Min x Yoo Jae Suk – “Confess Already” (also known as “Confession of Your Love”)

With “Infinite Challenge” having ended, it’s super sad for us fans that we don’t get our bi-annual Song Festivals anymore. But thanks to “Running Man” and their nine-year anniversary concert, Yoo Jae Suk gave us another much-needed musical collaboration, this time with fellow member Jun So Min and band Soran, on a song inspired by Jun So Min’s own experiences.

Watch the latest episode of “Running Man” here: 

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Song Ga In x Yoo San Seul – “Farewell Bus Stop”

In 2019, Yoo Jae Suk and Kim Tae Ho (the producing director of “Infinite Challenge”) teamed up again for a new variety show, “How Do You Play?” In one of the episodes, Yoo Jae Suk was tasked to challenge the trot genre and thus adopted the persona of Yoo San Seul. He’s released his own album and even collaborated with the winner of the 2019 show “Miss Trot,” Song Ga In, on the song “Farewell Bus Stop”. Check out the video to see a harp-playing Yoo Jae Suk, a trot-singing Yoo San Seul, and two of Yoo Jae Suk’s ex-duet partners!

Lee Hyori x Rain x Yoo Jae Suk (SSAK3) – “Beach Again”

This 90’s style co-ed dance group is another venture born from “How Do You Play?” It’s absolutely impressive that Yoo Jae Suk managed to convince legendary solo artists Lee Hyori and Rain to form a group with him, and it’s obvious all three of them are having a blast while taking a trip down the 90’s memory lane together. Their first single “Beach Again” achieved a perfect all-kill after being released on July 18, fully living up to their group name (SSAK3 is pronounced ssak-sseu-ri, which means “to sweep”). They performed the track live on “Music Core” on July 25, the same day the official music video was released.

Enjoy the music video!

Watch the latest episode of “How Do You Play?” here: 

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Bonus: Yoo Jae Suk – Taeyang’s “Eyes, Nose, Lips”

Okay, so this “apology” parody (there was a little broadcast accident the previous week on “Infinite Challenge”) isn’t an actual collaboration, but given how much he was channeling Taeyang in this video, it’s as if Taeyang was right there with him, no? Either way, it’s too amazing to leave out, so enjoy!

Which of these collaborations is your favorite? And are you amazed by the caliber of artists Yoo Jae Suk has worked with? Let us know in the comments below! 

Belinda_C really misses “Infinite Challenge”. She’s going to go rewatch some episodes now. Talk SEVENTEEN and Shinhwa with her on Twitter!

Currently watching: “I-LAND,” “Train”
All-time favorite: “Kill Me Heal Me,” “Defendant,” “Hotel Del Luna”
Looking forward to: Any recommendations