Lee Soo Man’s New Business And Trainees See Large Divide In Reactions

SM Entertainment founder and former general producer Lee Soo Man revealed A2O Entertainment and its trainees with a “Zal-Dance Compilation V1” video on YouTube. The video mentioned it being “produced by S.M. Lee,” making clear his involvement in the new entertainment company and group(s).

SM Entertainment Founder Lee Soo Man Returns With New Company And “Zalpha-Pop”

The video has since garnered some reactions from K-Pop fans in Korea and around the world. Most of the comments under the video itself remained supportive, optimistic of the group and A2O Entertainment’s future as it is headed by “the father of K-Pop.”

• “Lee Soo Man is back!!!”
• “No one can stop Lee Soo Man’s passion. He’s so good at scoping out new talent. Congratulations to Lee Soo Man on the new batch of flowers in his garden.”
• “At this point, it’s clear that Lee Soo Man loves the entertainment business.”

On the other hand, online K-Pop communities like theqoo expressed a wider range of reactions to Lee Soo Man’s return, as well as the talent in the video.

• “Wow…  These trainees are so young.”
• “IDK. Gramps just might succeed…”
• “His passion is something else.”
• “Lee Soo Man is kind of fascinating. Like he probably has enough money, but he keeps working. At his age, too. Haha. If I were him, I’d quit and live life.”
• “LOL, what is this? He’s so out of touch now.”

• “What happened to the non-compete? Isn’t he not supposed to work for 3 years? Is this even allowed? Maybe, given none of the trainees have Korean names, it’s OK because he’s doing this outside Korea?”
• “Yeah, the non-compete has no meaning outside Korea.”
• “They’re such babies. What the heck is zalpha pop though? He’s back to his usual scheme of coming up with the weirdest things.”
• “Zalpha is apparently Gen Z + Gen Alpha… To me, Lee Soo Man is nothing but a criminal, so I don’t really want to see his stuff. But of course, he’s going to keep coming back. Ha.”
• “The video reminds me of old SM Entertainment stuff. Like 2nd-gen SM Entertainment.”
• “Lee Soo Man still got it, huh?”

Not a lot has been revealed about A2O Entertainment or the trainees other than what’s given in the descriptions of the video—but based on the ambitious goal of showcasing content across “cartoon, animation, webtoon, motion picture, avatar, and novel,” Lee Soo Man is, once again, keeping K-Pop fans waiting for more.

Check out the video here: