SM Entertainment CEO Lee Sung Soo Talks About aespa, Red Velvet, at “Comeup 2020”

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

On November 21, SM Entertainment CEO Lee Sung Soo gave a keynote address at the global start-up festival “COMEUP 2020.”

Shared Universe + aespa
Lee Sung Soo said that SM’s “culture technology” would be divided into three steps: culture creation, culture development, and culture expansion. Culture creation includes casting, training, producing, and management. Producing is the most important part of this process, and as an example, Lee Sung Soo cited EXO, which debuted with its own unique “worldview.”

Some of the article is under a cut to save space:


Lee Sung Soo said, “A worldview isn’t just a storyline but the climax of culture technology. It’s intellectual property (IP) that gives fans something to connect to. Worldbuilding is now an essential part of K-pop. SM’s worldview is no longer restricted to a single team and all its past and present artists share one big world together. We’re in the process of creating that culture. Internally, we call it the ‘SM culture universe.'” As an example of this, aespa’s logo was teased in the ending of SuperM’s music video.

Culture development involves crossovers where singers can move into other fields of entertainment such as movies, variety shows, and musicals. This also includes technology such as holograms, augmented reality (AR), games, SM’s collaboration with Marvel, and SM’s collaboration with classical orchestras. Culture expansion includes SM’s planned entertainment complex in Los Angeles and developing new platforms like Beyond Live.


Lee Sung Soo said, “It might sound like SM is pursuing these steps in order, but culture expansion goes right back to culture creation. For instance, the girl group aespa made their debut this week. This is a group with a brand new composition. There are eight members: four are human, and four are avatars. The group was born from the connection between real members and avatar technology. This group has garnered a lot of attention from its debut, recording 21 million views on their debut MV in the first 24 hours. Through virtual reality, aespa’s worldview can connect to the worldview of other teams and artists, including BoA from 20 years ago.”

Red Velvet
At one point during his keynote, Lee Sung Soo also addressed Red Velvet’s future. He said, “There was a slight controversy recently, but we have sincerely apologized for that incident, and Red Velvet will soon return with a more mature image.”

Source: C.Hong at Soompi, nate, Platum

How soon do you think RV’s comeback will be? Also can we get an aespa tag soon?

Comments

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

How soon do you think RV’s comeback will be?

Rumors say January.

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

Yea that’s what I was assuming too. I’m looking forward to Jan 2021. January 2019 had some fantastic releases but January 2020 was such a bore.

But with Chungha making another January comeback again, Red Velvet rumored, I know Itzy was talked about making another comeback and I’m hoping it’s January and not December (* I was wrong they debuted in February 2019). Depending on who else is rumored, it can be a good month for releases.

[vintage-boom.livejournal.com]

they've always kind of played at the idea of all groups being interconnected, at least with the space/interstellar theme that plays in their tour naming, so I guess this isn't too much of a surprise to see them trying to do it. With exo not being active as a full group they don't have that giant powerhouse group (NCT is getting there) so having everyone kind of move together branding wise and putting Easter eggs in different artists vids keeps fans engaged and checking out content they might have skipped since it wasn't there fave. Explains BoA at the end of the black mamba video. It's not just going to be hints at debuting groups like in the past.

random aside but man I miss the yearly exo holiday album T_T this year especially. I know baekhyun's about to comeback but idt it's going to be holiday themed.

[pikapika217.livejournal.com]

I mean, truly, does Aespa deserve a tag yet?

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

Itzy had one pretty fast 🤷♀️

Also big 3 companies groups get posts for the most part, I understand why we have to see if a nugu group will get enough attention to receive one but it’s also a given with the big 3, as part of their privilege

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

I know I said big 3 but I probably should add big 4 and include big hit. TXT got a tag fairly quickly too

[pikapika217.livejournal.com]

No I was being shady about this comeback not being good and them kind've flopping LOLOL

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

Oh ok we’re all good lol, I’ve shown I’m not the biggest fan of this debut but I like having proper tags haha instead of using SM Entertainment all the time (it works here but not in other posts)

[frequency.livejournal.com]

There was a slight controversy recently

that's one way of putting it, lol. i wonder how the comeback will be received after that.

There are eight members: four are human, and four are avatars.

you know that shark tank gif where everyone's going "i'm out"? that's my reaction to this nonsense, lmao.

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

Yea I’m very intrigued how it will go tbh. I know diehard fans will be up for it but I’m curious if Irene’s behavior bothered casual fans or will have netizens loudly complaining in comment sections

I’m kinda conflicted too tbh, I loved Red Velvet but idk if I want to continue listening to them. I have my issues with Wendy and now Irene, that leaves 3 out of 5 members to root for and it feels weird. Maybe I’ll just do the YouTube method to check it out.

[1100003.livejournal.com]

Wendy the racist was the only reason I struggled to like them in the early years. I still don't like her, WHO repeats something like that years later? That is truly next level not sorry+don't care. And now Irene is revealed to be an asshole ;/

Maybe against all odds we get the 3 nice ones subunit, in which case I would be really interested. More interested than I've been in years tbh.

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

I’d easily take a Seulgi Joy Yeri subunit 👍 but yea it’s unlikely :/

I’m used to there being one member I don’t like in a group for more severe reasons (not for harmless stuff like not liking someone voice), I view them as a part not the whole sum of the group so I can still listen but not financially support at least. But now 2 members, idk my brains like that’s one too many lol

[1100003.livejournal.com]

SeulJoRi have always been my faves lol so I would be all over that. Added bonus of the personalities.

Lol yeah in my head I have a (very imperfect!) tier system, like misdemeanors on the one hand and bigoted fuck ups on the other. At some point there’s a red card in my head/heart lol and it just blocks any interest, which could also mean I miss apologies and growth. I might still follow the group if it’s just one member but even then I fall back on a superficial level of following. One of the hard parts of kpop since there are so many groups, so many members and so many fuck ups lmao, but also one of the good things is there’s always something or someone else too. Soloists messing up is what’s really broken my heart in the past.

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

I can definitely relate to you on the tier system lol, especially if it’s varying from a place of ignorance (which is unfortunately for a lot of idols especially regarding Native Americans) to repeat offender (like Wendy on stereotyping Black people)

It’s the worst with soloists since that’s it, they are literally the entire package lol. Like Amber comes to mind (...not that I was the biggest fan of her music but I wanted to give her career a chance since I liked her), but an an even more severe example would be the men in kpop lmaoooo surprise surprise.

There was one guy who was a former group idol, I liked his one song a lot, it was about saying goodbye to his 20s. I had a soft spot for it. Yea.....he was involved with Burning Sun scandal so I deleted his song so fast and now I don’t remember his name 🤷♀️ He doesn’t even exist in my books anymore lol

[1100003.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I also wanted Amber to thrive even though her music wasn't for me. But she made is abundantly clear who she is, and now I never check for her.

I've actually been surprised at how fast I can drop artists. I'm like you once I'm done I'm done, I even forget about them most of the time.

One of my I guess you could say favorite kppo artists of the last 5 years is AkMu, and while I don't hold Burning Sun to them personally when they signed to YG in 2013, I still can't support YG acts so I keep an eye on them from a distance and hope that next year when their contract is up they just walk straight out the door like many before them have. If not, they will not only show themselves to have questionable business sense (lol) but also moral failures, and that will be that, for me anyway but I'll probably be a bit sad about that one.

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

I feel the same on YG and Akmu! I know the duo is so talented but I avoid majority of YG releases now because of Burning Sun. Kpop companies are evil but YG really took that evil to another level with that scandal. I hope they leave soon with their contract expiring, but if they resign I’ll just continue passing on them tbh. I did the same to Lee Hi, but she was smart and left, and she gave me one of my favorite songs this year

[1100003.livejournal.com]

Hayi is one of the soloists that disappointed me so much in the past. But I love her music generally and I’m glad she had the brains to just leave. The thing about a lot of YG acts like her and AkMu is that they have so much public recognition that they don’t need the company for that at all.... oh well, here’s hoping the mass exodus continues 😅