SM Entertainment’s End Of Year Schedule Draws Criticism From Fans

One group’s preorder albums sold out within the first day, but were not restocked.
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Kesha Bright
Kesha Bright

SM Entertainment is home to many talented artists and groups. These groups and solo artists range across all generations of K-Pop, giving fans a variety of talented artists to support; however, fans have recently had complaints about the scheduling of these group’s comebacks during the fall and winter this year.

SM Entertainment artists | @SMTOWNGLOBAL/Twitter

Fans have pointed out how packed in comebacks between members of the same group and other groups have become in the last few weeks. First up, BoA made her comeback on November 22, KST, with her third mini album, Forgive Me.

While teasers for BoA’s release were being shared, Red Velvet was the next to be announced as making a comeback just six days after BoA’s. Having two artists scheduled closely together would not usually cause any alarm, but more groups were shared to be making their comebacks during the same less than two-month timeframe.

Next, NCT Dream was announced to be making their comeback with a special winter album Candy, a remake of the H.O.T song. It is set to be released on December 19, giving a decent amount of time for fans to plan out their preordering of the album.

The next two comebacks announced were given a shorter time frame between the initial announcement and release date. SHINee Minho‘s first solo album, Chase, was officially shared on November 21, for release on December 12, while NCT subunit WAYV’s first comeback in more than a year was announced on November 22, for release on December 9.

With all of these comebacks happening at once, it is no surprise that there are complaints and issues.

Red Velvet’s fans have claimed that the comeback was rushed and called out SM for a lack of “Birthday” promotions, including the album’s preorders going out of stock early in the order process and album features not yet being shared with fans just five days before the comeback.

Fans of WAYV have been awaiting the group’s comeback for more than a year, while members of the group shared that even they were not aware of the exact date of their comeback until around the same time that fans found out, following many delays.

Fans have also pointed out that other groups like aespa have had minimal promotions during their comebacks this year, causing many to wonder what may be happening behind the scenes at SM. Other fans cite the alleged mismanagement of NCT 127‘s world tour, as well as the group’s repackage album being delayed to an unknown date, as another indicator of the overall issues. 

While SM has not responded to many of the complaints sent, fans hope the company will improve activities for all groups in the new year.

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