Did SM Entertainment “Sabotage” Red Velvet And EXO? Fans Believe So, Naming This Reason
When thinking of K-Pop entertainment companies, there’s no doubt that SM Entertainment is one of the first to come to mind. First established in 1995 by Lee Soo Man, SM is credited for leading the massive Hallyu wave.
Over the years, SM Entertainment has debuted several male and female groups, including Red Velvet. Though the group saw enormous popularity, becoming the K-Pop first girl group to hit 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify, among other accolades…
…fans always felt SM fell short in promoting the group. For example, on more than one occasion, the group’s physical albums had stocking issues, and fans were unsatisfied with SM’s promotion.
this is insane… soo a quick recap is
– we officially now have 12 versions of birthday + unknown smart ver (?)
– no album details
– cake version is still out of stock
– lack of promoand the release is in 5 days 😭 sm expect reveluvs to save their sales for 2022 lmao
— shei 🤍 (@psychoqueendom) November 23, 2022
Angered fans even sent protest trust to the company to express their anger over the fact Red Velvet have only released two studio albums in their nearly decade-long history.
Recently, fans were both disappointed and angered that Irene was rumored not to be renewing her contract with the label, despite SM’s alleged efforts to “force” her into doing so.
Fans online discussed this massive “fumble” of Red Velvet’s talent, also mentioning EXO’s mistreatment, which has been well-documented.
Talk about sinking the ship. pic.twitter.com/C1I4ueX7ga
— T. (@TOHBADDI) September 14, 2023
kpop stans don't realize how big exo was in korea and generally in asia during their peak days but SM is just sooo dumb cz they gatekeep them https://t.co/WWzGHEBkt3
— NEGEGIPI 🐤 (@mbapsehun) September 15, 2023
They wasted their talent and potential https://t.co/MtEEIMvR0i
— (눈‸눈) (@sniperpopo_) September 15, 2023
One fan pointed out that the mismanagement may have been done on purpose by SM Entertainment to avoid the groups gaining too much popularity, referencing the lawsuit of former DBSK members Jaejoong, Junsu, and Yoochun.
According to fans, the goal is to keep groups from becoming big enough to leave the company despite mistreatment.
i’ve long accepted that sm never wants a tvxq/jyj situation happening again so they actively work against their artists to make sure that they become big but not *too big* https://t.co/6Vwi22yOyn
— 🧠 (@itchbowl) September 14, 2023
seeing this happen again and again throughout the years is the worst thing about being a sm group stan https://t.co/S6sdtmf3ea
— sanni ♡ (@poutbyun) September 15, 2023
the way they fumbled (in terms of the western market) snsd shinee f(x) exo red velvet and now aespa/127 gets me so mad like ?@??$?%# all of them could've been massive globally if they were managed right https://t.co/9aWmmOlwWT
— nico is good and great (@taemology) September 15, 2023
What do you think of the situation?
