SuperM is a South Korean idol boyband that consist of members from other SM Entertainment groups such as NCT 127, SHINee, and EXO. The groups debut album was released in America under Capital Records and debuted at number one on the Billboard Charts before slipping to number 11 the next week. South Korea also gave the band success for their first week sales until the album slipped to position #103. SuperM is the first Korean act to place at number one with their debut album in America.
Track List:
01. Jopping *Title
02. I Can’t Stand the Rain
03. 2 Fast
04. Super Car
05. No Manners
06. Jopping (Instrumental)
07. I Can’t Stand the Rain (Instrumental)
Alright then… I'm not sure where I want to start first with this group. I've got a lot of thoughts my head and I want to make sure that I communicate these thoughts in the best way possible. First of all, SuperM was introduced using a whole bunch of teasers to promote. Really this wasn't needed because most of the buyers of SuperM's CD were already fans on said so member from the other groups. Their concept was an Avengers concept that's a little childish in my opinion. I mean… you could make the concept more mature but SM did no such thing. We all saw that music video that looked like a sequel to an older Exo music video. Are those long introductions necessary? Jopping was a song that I wanted to like based on the sole fact that I knew I would buy an album to support if I ran across a copy in America.(which I did obviously.) Still, I ran straight for the hills after hearing Jopping for the first time. I didn't make it through the whole song after hearing the chorus. Parts leading up to the chorus actually had me hopeful. A blend of techno hip hop that feels confident as the guys rap on top of the beat. Mark is a king in his parts of the song and it's a damn shame that he went so hard just for this song to be another flop in the trash can. The chorus destroys the whole song, its weird loud electronica sound and misplaced edits on the guy's vocals make you wonder if the producer was high on weed when he thought this was a good song to debut in the USA. I Can't Stand The Rain can be digested a little better than Jopping. Maybe using this sing as the title would have been a better choice. Not that this song is a masterpiece or anything. It's just a bit more rememberable with some of the relaxed tones in the arrangement. 2 Fast was the second and last song on this Mini Album that I "kinda" liked. I wanted a solid rap song with Mark going off but settled for this dance pop hip hop number that would be the perfect song for me to learn English. They repeat the same phrase long enough. Mark really needs to have a solo where he can shine by himself….. No wait, Looking at this album and NCT 127's songs….. I would want Mark to release music outside of SM Entertainment. SuperM's debut was more of the same old wrapped in a new packaging. Same over used sound that a long time Korean music listener has heard many times before. SM doesn't even have the craft to make old formulas interesting for the American Market. Lord, NCT 127's Good Morning America appearance traumatized me to no end. That Clap Your Hands song was an embarrassment.
I got something else to say about SuperM's number one Billboard Chart position. SuperM is made up of very hard working guys. I would never take that away from any of them. So, what I'm about to say isn't really directed toward SuperM as a group. I'm addressing SM Entertainment and Capital Records for the scheme they used to CHEAT their way up to a number one spot on the Billboard Charts. Especially when the position should have gone to new artist, Summer Walker, who had more streams than SuperM and an overall bigger reception in American. None is saying that SuperM doesn't deserve a number one album in the west based on how hard they work to please their fans however, Their debut album's material wasn't worthy of #1 in my opinion. Let me also say that I have no bias between Summer Walker and SuperM either. I'm actually not a fan of Walker, to me she sounds like a lesser version of H.E.R which isn't appealing at all. That still doesn't change the fact that this girl was set for a number one spot before SM and Capital decided to create every bundle there is to sell SuperM's album. There was even a "pay later" option that was counted toward the charts. We as music consumers and music artists need to accept that doing bundles is apart of the music business to sell albums now. I don't mind this but when a group has sixty different bundles, don't you think that's a bit much? Summer Walker had a bundle too. Just not sixty different ones….. SM pulled a real fast one and made SuperM look bad to non Kpop fans as a result. If I was them, I wouldn't be too happy the way I got that number one placement. Maybe SM kept their dirty tactics from them. Some People will do anything to save face. Yes, SM entertainment tried to break into America years ago with BoA partly under Inerscope Records and failed.(I know because I bought her English album all those years ago.) Yes, They used the member from each group's fandoms to get a quick pay check that Capital Records also had their hand in. Y'all fell for it big time too while not realizing that you helped steal a chart placement from a black girl who doesn't have a big record company behind her. She had to work for every Stream that she has. SM Entertainment grants their artists immediate fame just for being with the label.. Even thought South Korea wasn't really here from SuperM after a week and NCT 127 has yet to crack into a stable Korean fanbase. BTS Army can actually talk smack right about now because BTS got to the top of the Billboard Charts on pure sales without any bundles. SM claim that the bundles were Capital Records's idea. I call BS on that. SM knew what was going on and I don't believe that SuperM didn't care what chart position they got. Those boys cared, most artists care so everyone involved can have a stadium full of seats. It was wrong how Summer Walker got cheated out of her number 1 and that SuperM's label had to cheat to get them there. What's the most saddest thing of all of is that this didn't gain SuperM new fans outside of Kpop fans nor did they earn any respect from the American music industry. I thought that one of the biggest reasons to bring a foreign artist to America was to introduce them to the the American public so that non Kpop fans can become fans of the artist. SuperM didn't create a connection with the American public like BTS did. Well, at least Baekhyun showed America his big vocal range on Ellen…….
I wouldn't recommend SuperM to anyone unless you're a mindless Kpop fan girl who likes everything your bias puts out good or bad.. This group just exists to say SM put out a group in the west that got number one on the Billboard Chart. I listened to an album by Melomance right after SuperM's and was shocked at how much better that album was.
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