Something weird about SM idols.....

    As someone who grew up to SM artist's content for the past decade, I would say they're very much the most relatable and approachable to me. But I get what you mean. I think it is because the creation of SM groups are always laced with intricacy. It's not the same as other groups who are debuted directly with a marketable image and personalities to somewhat relate to the general audience. Even if other groups are also created with the thought of distinguishing them from the crowd, it's not as profound and intricate as the way SM do with their groups. For sm groups, there's always something that makes that difference very sharp. It could be the lore, the concept, the song structure, the group system etc. Suju and Soshi debuted when large group is not the norm in kpop. F(x) became a revelation with their experimental sound and image. Exo debuted with a very intricate and well thought lore. Red velvet became the representative of dual sound and concept at the time when most of the idol girl groups are into sexy concepts. NCT debuted with a very complicated system that made people think they will never be successful for at most four years. And now Aespa with the whole SMCU lore going on and lyrics that will make any casual listener think their lyrical direction will be the hindrance to their success. Add to that, the complex story lines and theories going on in each of their artist's comebacks and the way the idols embodied those theories. There is an air of mystery and weirdness that is unique to SM groups. There's always something that is thought provokingly weird and different going on and to most people who are only here for the entertainment, musical and visual part of kpop, that "something" is intimidating and made them look unapproachable.


    When we look at the individual idols and their personalities, they are definitely relatable and approachable (ex. Chenle and Ningning's unapologetic dolphin laugh or Taeyeon's ajumma laugh or even how I see a whole "she would be a cool bff" with Giselle or how my ladies SNSD, to me, are the most relatable and funny dorks ever ). But when we look at them as the groups/artists sm have created in them, they became complicated. I personally dig both the relatable and complicated aspect of SM artists.

    that's the stereotyped image of big 3 companies that still exists since 2nd gen but with some changes


    People claimed SM idols were too robotic and elegant unlike relatable and nice jyp idols and cool and badass YG idols.

    Fans who actually follow them can see why all these claims are fake and how each group and each member have different characteristics which can't be trapped into a company box.


    Any SM group stan could give you examples of their idols being actually very real and relatable. If you only meant their music and concepts, well that's another story. I think SM's brand is about going really big for any of their projects, if they pick a concept they go 100% for it, not minding the cost and trying to make it look the most perfect/expensive possible?

    That's how we got the nct yearbooks, aespa's existence, exo's concept specially during early years, snsd's mvs like The Boys that screamed money, etc


    YG is also all about luxury and money for their idols but with a more badass and cool approach, maybe that's why they aren't seen as "perfect and unrelatable" as SM.

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