SM Entertainment Reveals Their Vision About The "SM Culture Universe" And How It Connects Through Their Artists

Previously, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo Man revealed that new girl group aespa was the first project in the SM Culture Universe (SMCU). This new universe concept finally answered fans’ questions regarding the interesting connections they found throughout different SM Entertainment artists’ comebacks.

SM Entertainment’s CEO Lee Sung Soo recently held an opening key note speech at the global startup festival COMEUP 2020 to talk in detail about the new universe story line as well as what to expect from SM Entertainment in the near future.

He stated, “Our story line is now not just one team, but a universal story line that is shared by all our artists.”

[속보] SM 이성수 대표, "저희의 세계관은 이제 한 개의 팀이 아닌, 모든 아티스트들이 같이 공유하는 큰 세계관으로 펼쳐져 나간다" 공식언급 pic.twitter.com/KUNniNML0v

— 렷 (@I_Demeanor) November 21, 2020

Super Junior’s Siwon also attended the 2020 KOREA-WORLD CHINESE ENTREPRENEURS BUSINESS WEEK to talk about the vision and values of SM Entertainment.

During his lecture, he mentioned that Super Junior was able to continue to take on new challenges even after 16 years since debut, because of Lee Soo Man’s full support. “There is something that Lee Soo Man has been telling us for a long time. It is the importance of culture technology.”

Based off of this “culture technology,” SM Entertainment created the world’s first paid online contents called “Beyond LIVE”, and executed this concept through concerts. “Beyond LIVE” adds superior technology that could not be experienced in offline performances such as AR, digital interaction, artwork, etc. By broadcasting the concert live worldwide, fans are able to enjoy the performance without any spatial and physical restrictions.

In regards to SMCU, “SMCU is not simply a story line that is interpreted as a symbol or metaphor, but through storytelling contents that include attractive characters and stories through the artists’ music.”

They revealed that aespa was the start of this story line project and will continue throughout the other artists such as EXO, Red Velvet, NCT, etc.

Siwon concluded his speech asking everyone to continue to support and show interest in the new SM Entertainment content. “SM Entertainment has been presenting a vision for future entertainment for the past 25 years. Please continue to show interest in SM Entertainment, who will lead in promoting K-Pop around the world through our ‘made by SM’ contents.”

Lee Soo Man also delivered a speech at the 1^st World Cultural Industry Forum and revealed that he is one step closer to the future entertainment world through aespa and the SMCU.

Now I’m one step closer to the future entertainment world. This year again, through the new girl group aespa, I realized SMCU, the vision for the future entertainment world, and as before, newer, innovative, and more. I would like to ask for more interest in the future entertainment world that I and SM will continue to create, and for more support for the cultural industry, which is Korea’s core competitiveness. As a producer, I would like to move beyond Korea and Asia to the wider world, such as North America, South America, and Europe, based on music that has global competitiveness, and make K-POP known and grow further. I ask for your support and interest.

⁠— Lee Soo Man

Looks like we can expect more connections through upcoming SM Entertainment artist comebacks with this new culture universe story line!