It’s that point of yr once more! Whereas December is crammed with year-end countdowns, I like to have a look again at a few of Ok-pop’s greatest companies throughout November. Earlier than studying (particularly in the event you’re new to the weblog), it’s useful to know that my grading focuses most closely on music releases and the way comebacks are managed and delivered to followers. Scandals and non-musical components can definitely influence an company’s grade, however the greatest standards will at all times be the music itself.

As typical, the ideas under are my very own and aren’t aware about any insider info. There can be loads of subjective critique. 

The Good

Commercially, SM has had a really robust yr. To me, this was highlighted most clearly by two acts: aespa and RIIZE.

Whereas I really feel like SM sort of stumbled into successful with aespa’s Supernova (they had been clearly not anticipating it to do in addition to it did), the track has grow to be one among 2024’s defining moments. Hit songs usually are not unfamiliar to aespa, however this seems like an entire new stage and has buoyed a trajectory that was already in ascent. I don’t love all the pieces the group releases (principally the b-sides, tbh), however they’re clearly doing what they should do.

RIIZE’s music has been extremely stable this yr and every single appeared to hit it off with the listening public – a feat SM boy teams aren’t at all times capable of obtain. After a promising debut in 2023, they proved themselves masters at vastly completely different genres whereas nonetheless managing to forge an identification that felt distinct. I haven’t been this excited for an SM boy group since SHINee, and the company has achieved an excellent job distinguishing their sound from NCT’s. In fact, there are non-musical considerations for this group… however extra on that later.

This yr marked the purpose the place NCT members started to enlist. That places the core group in one thing of a holding sample, although their sheer variety of members ensures we’ll in all probability get new music nicely into the longer term. None of their group or solo tracks hit massive with me this yr, however they had been definitely prolific. We had new albums (of various high quality) from 127, Dream and WayV and a bevy of solo debuts. It’s clear they’ve constructed a really secure fan base that’s desirous to help quite a lot of sounds and codecs so long as the members are concerned.

Newly arrived within the NCT universe are NCT Want, and SM has gone all in on them. The blokes have been extremely lively in each Korea and Japan, releasing a ton of music and straddling the road between the 2 markets fairly nicely. They appear to be an out-of-the-gate success and I’m glad the company has determined to offer them a sound completely different from the core NCT fashion.

As anticipated, SM’s veteran acts weren’t fairly as lively as their youthful counterparts – at the very least in terms of new music. Most of this work centered on solo efforts, with all 4 SHINee members releasing albums, Tremendous Junior principally being lively when and the place they need underneath their very own label and solely a pair Women’ Era members releasing new music. Equally, EXO’s 2024 slate included solely solo albums. Then again, we did get a really well-received Crimson Velvet comeback and TVXQ simply launched an anniversary album in Japan. BoA additionally gave us a single. However for me, none of those veteran acts launched work that actually moved the needle. There have been many nice songs however few that lived as much as their full potential.

Musically, I feel SM did a greater job than most companies at avoiding the beige, “easy-listening” pattern at present sweeping via the trade. Their output was fairly various and lots of the music retained the distinctive contact we affiliate with SM acts. In reality, I feel they’ll be the company to guide total developments within the coming yr. I think about many producers are attempting to prepare dinner up their very own Supernova, for instance.

To sum it up, SM Leisure’s 2024 strengths had been primarily connected to their newer acts. The corporate appears well-positioned for the longer term with loads of public-appealing expertise to usher within the subsequent wave of their historical past. And with trot group Mytro and a brand new lady group ready within the wings, they could even have the ability to increase their attain in 2025.

The Dangerous

Okay, let’s get this out of the best way first. In terms of SM in 2024, the elephant within the room must be the scenario with RIIZE’s Seunghan. In reality, I think about many would give the company an “F” for the yr merely resulting from this single problem. I couldn’t argue with that, although it’s not the best way my evaluations work.

Briefly, SM dealt with the “controversy” round Seunghan’s previous extremely poorly. It was a mistake to have him go on hiatus in 2023, however even that couldn’t have ready followers for the way badly SM bungled his “return” (and later, elimination) throughout these previous few weeks. Their incapacity to face behind their artist units an terrible precedent, kowtowing to the worst instincts of fan tradition. However past the ethical shortcomings, this about-face was an absolute communications nightmare. I’m shocked an company of their caliber messed this up so badly. It has put a significant stain on RIIZE’s trajectory and doesn’t bode nicely for future points that will come up within the company.

Musically, my gripes with SM Leisure are the identical as they’ve been over the previous few years. My favourite eras for the company are usually pushed by one or two visionary producers, giving their line-up of artists a definite sound. For a very long time, that fell to veteran producer Yoo Younger-Jin. However after SM’s administration transition in 2023, he left the company and no single particular person has stepped as much as fill that position. Kenzie involves thoughts as SM’s most long-standing inventive power and her work was reliably stable this yr. Other than that, SM fell strongly into the outsourced track camp strategy. The company has lengthy outsourced their music, however with no central cohesion these songs can generally really feel a bit generic. As I discussed earlier, SM largely averted what I name the “beige” music pattern, however additionally they didn’t supply something significantly new or visionary.

What I’d prefer to see in 2025:

• A brand new lady group with the lighter, extra melodic sound of SNSD (it is a holdover from 2023…)
• The stabilization of RIIZE in no matter formation they transfer ahead with
• One or two top quality composers steering the overall sound of the company
• Comebacks from veteran artists (SHINee, TVXQ, SNSD (?))

Earlier years: 2023 // 2022 // 2021 // 2020 // 2019 // 2018 // 2017 // 2016