SM Entertainment Accused Of “Forgetting” To Add The Drums To EXO’s B-Side Track “Cinderella”

There has been no shortage of criticisms for SM Entertainment‘s treatment towards the members of EXO recently, from their legal battle with Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin to their unexpected announcement that Kai would be enlisting in the military prior to the group’s comeback.

Now that EXO has released their highly anticipated album, EXIST, the label has once again received criticism after one of the producers of the album claimed SM Entertainment “forgot” to include part of the background music in their B-side track “Cinderella”.

The song has quickly become a fan-favorite among the tracks on EXO’s new album, and there aren’t any glaring issues with its production.

However, Producer Marz (Paul Thompson), whose team was credited in “Cinderella” as well as “Private Party”, recently went on a livestream and accused SM Entertainment of “forgetting” to add drums to the song. He played a snippet of the demo version with the drums included.

it’s crazy how mzmc producer just confirmed there should have been added drums in Cinderella and played a demo version. he said SM “forgot” to put the drums. the sm’s attitude towards exo is so disappointing. no promo, nothing to support exo now they messing up their music. wtf. pic.twitter.com/iN2e4iO4gg

— allkpop exist ✴︎ (@allllkpop_) July 12, 2023

With everything else that has been going on between EXO and SM Entertainment lately, many fans took this as just another sign that the company is intentionally mismanaging and mistreating the K-Pop group.

disappointed but not surprised.
We’re talking about SM after all. pic.twitter.com/R4mVJWQFfV

— sunny day 🇵🇸 (@Lightsa29028068) July 12, 2023

Proves what we’ve known about SM when it comes to EXO. I’m positive during the power struggle they fail to file deferment papers for Kai. Considering all the hype about “the whole group comeback”.

— Robbye Hamilton (@miss_hammie_1) July 12, 2023

How can smet forget? That’s how bad the sment is. Really bad

— da ❄️ (@spesiliel) July 12, 2023

Just i think i couldn’t be more dissapointed in SM…

— shotofsoothe (@shotofsoothe) July 12, 2023

I’m so tired of it 😔 Exo shd have left SM instead of undergoing all this sabotage 😭😭

— Indian___Exol (@IndianExol88) July 12, 2023

The topic was even discussed on an online forum post, where similar sentiments were shared in the comments section.

However, not everyone agrees with this narrative.

While EXO fans aren’t eager to support SM Entertainment, some have suggested that the decision to leave the drums out of the song was intentional. “Cinderella” is already a great song, so some think that it doesn’t need any changes to how it is now.

I think rather than forgetting, they got rid of it on purpose for some reason. We havent heard the original so cant say it’s good or bad decision

— Dumbo (@AungpaingWin5) July 12, 2023

The song didn’t need drums. Cinderella is pretty good as it is

— NCT Tokyo Wing (@nct_tokyo_wing) July 12, 2023

they probably didn’t “forget” they just didnt want the drums. These things are not done on a whim, its intentional. Whether we agree it sounds better or not is merely opinion. 🙃 Still weird they dont let the producers know about the changes they make in the final version tho

— wordless-expressions (@wordlessexpress) July 12, 2023

Cinderella is a banging track! As it currently is!

— Chapter0_WITH JINYOUNG 💚 SEASONAL HIATUS 💙GOT7 (@Denijin24) July 12, 2023

um. ok but did mzmc participate on this album? we don’t need any neg. energy. the album just released and lot of people like it the way it is. so don’t let him or anyone influence you and change your minds

— BaekYeon (@BaekluvTae) July 12, 2023

Not to mention, Producer Marz is a somewhat controversial figure in the K-Pop industry. He’s been criticized for his comments towards BTS and Steve Aoki in the past, which gave many K-Pop fans a poor impression of him. On the other hand, he and his team, MZMC, have credits in some major hits like EXO’s “Love Shot” and NCT DOJAEJUNG‘s “Perfume”, among many others.

 

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A post shared by Paul Thompson (@mzmc)

Regardless of the reason the drums weren’t included in “Cinderella”, the members of EXO made it an incredible track along with all the rest on EXIST!