SM Entertainment and Capitol Music Group reveal the "Avengers of K-pop" with new supergroup, Super M
SM Entertainment and Capitol Records have taken an aggressive step in the continued globalization of K-pop as they announced on August 7 the formation of Super M (not to be confused with Super Junior M), a supergroup consisting of various member from some of SM’s biggest boy groups. Per Forbes, the group was unveiled with a visual presentation during the 2019 Capitol Congress, where new music from Katy Perry and Niall Horan was also showcased. Dubbed the “Avengers of K-pop,” Super M will feature Taemin of SHINee, Taeyong and Mark of NCT, Lucas and Ten of NCT/Chinese pop band WayV, and Baekhyun and Kai of EXO. The group will officially launch in America sometime in October.
Promotional images of Super M leaked earlier in the month, causing concern among some fans of the individual groups and artists who were already in the middle of promoting solo careers, like Baekhyun and Taemin. Chris Lee, an A&R executive at SM who also sits on the company’s board of directors, addressed that concern with Forbes, assuring that the members’ individual and primary group plans are still very much intact:“We’re maintaining their groups, their solo careers, and on top of this we have this ‘Avengers’ group to pull them together.”
While the dedicated U.S. promotion of a new(ish) band is a risk, this does seem like a decent enough time to vie for the attention of the American market. Aside from the obvious success of BTS, NCT just wrapped a hugely successful world tour that included sold out stops in the States, SHINee and EXO have well-established global popularity, and WayV recently experienced a record-breaking debut in China. We’ll have to wait and see how individual careers (and mandatory military enlistments—two of EXO’s members, Xiumin and D.O., are currently completing their service) will ultimately affect the success of the group.
So which company will take on the responsibility of creating the next girl k-pop supergroup? Aren’t we long overdue?