I wasn’t that crazy about the 2022 version, 2022 WINTER SMTOWN: SMCU PALACE. My favorite and only saved song from that one is “Priority” with Changmin, Taeyeon, and Winter. I did like that they had different SM artists you don’t normally see perform together. But overall, the songs didn’t hit for me.
So when I saw the 2025 version was mostly groups and soloists covering other SM artists’ songs, I was intrigued. I like the changing of concepts with these albums. I didn’t watch the live stream, but I saw some of the performances that were posted on to Twitter. And I believe they are all live on YouTube now. So let’s see what the studio version entails.
The album starts off with “Thank You” with pretty much everyone actively with SM on the song, and of course, Mark kicks the song off. When I think of the younger artists that I associate so strongly with SM, it’s Mark and Taeyong.
Any Kpoppie with many SM faves will recognize easily who’s all on the song, despite the ‘artist’ being labeled as SMTOWN. And in the music video we see clips of practice videos, vlogs, music videos, and other SM artist content over the years something years. Very sweet. Treat your talent better SM ๐ก.
I’m not including the screenshot this time of the credits because most of the songs on here are covers, but I’ll link it here. I love that Jonghyun is still getting his flowers and acknowledgement for his impact within the label. Sulli was briefly shown in the “Thank You” music video with f(x). And we know SM gives less than crumbs to f(x) and any mention of them legacy wise, but it was nice to see that in the video, despite all the members having left SM. And rightfully have nothing to do with them anymore.
Speaking of f(x), let’s jump ahead a few songs and talk about aespa’s cover of “Rum Pum Pum”. They kept it pretty close to the original. I think that was a great choice considering there’s so much going on in the original version. It gets to the point where you’d have to strip it down, and I don’t think that’s needed. There’s a balance of covering and making something new when it comes to covers. And this album definitely tests those limits.
I think there is a general agreement among the (SM) girl group stans that both Red Velvet and aespa are f(x)’s daughter groups. I strongly agree and see it. Another thing about aespa as I’ve been listening to more of their music lately, but I’m really impressed with their vocals. I feel like they’ve improved greatly since debut, and I like we’re getting more instrumentals and beats that showcase their voices more. Not that they couldn’t sing at debut, I just feel like there’s been a shift in music direction for the group, and that includes letting them do different things. Love that for them.
Going back in order, NCT WISH with their cover of Super Junior’s “Miracle” was good. I liked their interpretation, and it felt very NCT DREAM like. So I love the brand synergy. There’s always something about an NCT song that sounds like something another subunit could have made that keeps the brand so unique and specific.
When someone says xyz sounds like an NCT song, I know exactly what they mean. It’s like trying to describe chocolate, you know it when you taste it, but without prompt, there are certain things that instantly come to mind. Did this make me want to check out NCT WISH further? Not really, but I’m not totally against it either.
RIIZE is next with “Hug” originally by TVXQ!. It was fine as well. I liked their spin, but RIIZE is very hit or miss with me. I except for “Impossible”, I almost always hate like half of the song. And I also felt a bit bored with “Hug” despite it not even being their song. I felt the same, unfortunately, with Suho and Chanyeol’s version of H.O.T.’s “Git It Up!”.
Red Velvet’s cover of Girls’ Generation’s “Run Devil Run”. I liked it, I wish they leaned more into the jazzy vibe. But they did a great job with it. I still wish Wendy was there, lol. NCT DREAM’s cover of “Love Me Right” by EXO left me wanting more. I loved the inclusion of their own rap, but idk, there was something missing. Perhaps they played it too safe compared to 127’s cover of Hyun Jin Young’s “You In Vague Memory”. That was the perfect balance of NCT’s ‘weird’ (affectionate) and the original version.
WayV did a wonderful job with “Juliette”. That’s a difficult one to cover. And I think they choose the best NCT subunit to give it to. WayV’s charisma and charm always shines, regardless of what song they sing. They played it pretty safe as well, but vocally it feels like there was great care in technique. They knew people were going to have a microscope on them, especially considering this is the ‘Chinese’ group covering a Korean song. Many layers going on. But I love it.
Again, NCT 127 killed it with “You In Vague Memory”, another favorite of mine that I’ll be going back to regularly. SNSD (Girls’ Generation) absolutely killed “My Everything” by The Grace. This, like Hyun Jin Young’s song, I wasn’t familiar with the original, and now I’m kinda scared to check them out. I love SNSD and 127’s versions so much, lol. I need a full group GG comeback BAD.
I want to hate SUJU so much (they know what they did, lol), but the talent check clears EVERY TIME. They will always have my respect for their longevity and S tier catalog, lmao. What’s there to dislike about their “I Pray 4 U”? I like SHINHWA’s newer songs, but I wasn’t familiar with “I Pray 4 U”. I know them from their 2015 album WE and “Alright”. Banger song and album. That’s also having a 10-year anniversary tomorrow as I write this. Damn. Anyway, Super Junior also has such a unique tone and sound to them, you know when you’re listening to them even if you don’t know the song name. They ate ๐๐พโโ๏ธ. They consistently show why they have the longevity they have. Nuff said.
Ah, TVXQ!’s (I’m realizing I never use the ! when talking about them, lol) version of “Psycho”. Oh mannnnn they ate down with this. This is easily my favorite cover on the entire album. I don’t usually like these ‘male’ perspective song covers, but TVXQ! understood the assignment. I love that they didn’t just give the older groups/soloist older acts to cover. They left it open to all SM artists, and I’d love to see more older acts cover younger groups/soloists songs like this for the next SMTOWN album. It feels like TVXQ! had a blast performing and recording it. 10s across the board.
Kangta’s cover of S.E.S.’s “Just A Feeling”. Sidenote, I need to do a deep dive into their music because every time I hear a cover of one of their songs, I’m obsessed with it. He did a great job with this. Another instance where now I’m like, “well damn, I gotta check out the original’s acts catalog more. I’m sold”. I don’t usually check for Kangta’s work. No real reason. But I should probably change my ways.
I saw a tweet talking about someone needs to unplug her, naevis. I laughed when I read it, but yikes, this song was bad. Hatsune Miku has no competition here, lol. This song (BoA’s “Game”) was only like three minutes long, but it made me mad. At one point, maybe 1:40 in I was like, “how is this still on??? I can’t do this anymore.” And I jumped to the next song. It just made me viscerally angry out of nowhere.
And omgggggg no one told me we got a “View” remix in the year of our Lord 2025.
What a wonderful surprise, and an excellent remix. I immediately added it to multiple playlists I have. I’m not playing around, this will be one of my most played songs this year, I already know it. Shout out to IMLAY, Mar Vista, and 2Spade for arranging this gem. I’m assuming they’re the ones behind ‘ScreaM Records’.
SM Classic’s covered BoA’s “My Name” in the most epic way. It was giving Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I was living for every moment it.
And to close the album about was BoA’s beautiful cover of Jonghyun’s “End Of A Day” and you’re lying if you said you didn’t get teary-eyed listening to this. Here’s the full playlist here on YouTube to check out. And here’s the Reddit post again that has all the streaming links (Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music).
I’m pretty impressed with this album. There was much more for me to come back to this time around. It sucks that we’ve got so many greats enlisted at the moment, and then we have artists like Baekhyun (and all CBX really), Taeyeon, Wendy, who either didn’t participate or were limited by what they were able to contribute. All things considered, I think this was a great album and the concert looked fun.
Again, I need SM Entertainment to get their shit together. 9 times out of 10 if you talk to an older Kpoppie, their first group that introduced them to Kpop is an SM group or soloist. They (especially with Lee Soo Man, will all the good and bad you get with him, lol) built Kpop to be where it is now in 2025.
So, what are y’alls thoughts on this album? What are your favorite songs/performances? Tell me everything in the comments. Next up is Jennie and Doechii’s “ExtraL”. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, & BlueSky.
-Ash๐ซ