#wayv summer package

[yeoli-tranbolie]

NCT +wayv summer kit.(pt.1 of my haul)

...............

I know I said I was going to do a videos but the videos I took were pretty bad since I was trying to film by hand and unbox them, but if you still want the videos let me know.

[princenoctisaf]

[symphonyoongi]

So uh does somebody want to take my bank card away from me? Because I've really spent almost $200 on albums and merch in literally under 4 days ✌✌✌

[fyexo]

191014 SuperM Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart With 'The 1st Mini Album'

K-pop supergroup SuperM debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as the act’s first effort, SuperM: The 1st Mini Album, enters atop the tally. The set, which was released via SM/Capitol Records on Oct. 4, launches with 168,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 10, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 164,000 were in album sales.

Elsewhere in the top 10, R&B singer Summer Walker bows at No. 2 with her debut studio album, Over It, and country singer Brantley Gilbert starts at No. 9 with Fire & Brimstone.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Oct. 19-dated chart (where SuperM debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard's websites on Oct. 15.

SuperM’s existence was announced on Aug. 7, and the act comprises seven members from established pop acts that have had some success already on Billboard’s various charts: one from SHINee, and two each from EXO, NCT 127 and WayV. None of those groups have claimed a top 10 effort on the all-genre Billboard 200, though. (The highest charting album from any of the non-SuperM acts is NCT 127’s NCT #127 We Are Superhuman: The 4th Mini Album, which debuted and peaked at No. 11 earlier this year.)

SuperM’s The 1st Mini Album starts with 168,000 units, and of that sum, 164,000 were in album sales. The rest of the album’s first-week comprised less than 1,000 TEA units, and a little over 3,000 SEA units. The latter sum equates to 4.9 million on-demand audio streams during the tracking week for the seven tracks on the album. (The album has seven tracks in total, but only five distinct songs. The additional two tracks are instrumental versions of songs on the album.)

SuperM’s handsome start was encouraged mightily by an array of permutations in which to purchase the album, which was likely very appealing to the group’s fans, since K-pop fans are often passionate about buying collectible physical packages of an album. The 1st Mini Album had more than 60 merchandise/album bundles available to purchase through their official web stores, a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with their upcoming arena tour and eight different CD variants of the album (seven with a different cover for each member, along with a group edition). The act also staged a week-long pop-up shop in Los Angeles during street week, where fans could buy the CD (as well as oodles of individual merch items).

At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200, Summer Walker’s debut studio effort, Over It, launches with 134,000 equivalent album units earned — the biggest week for an R&B album by a female artist in over three years. The last R&B album by a woman to notch a bigger week was Beyoncé with Lemonade, which tallied 202,000 units in its third week on the list (May 28, 2016; at No. 2) after previously bowing at No. 1.

Over It’s starting sum of 134,000 units was largely powered by streaming activity, as the set garnered 14,000 album sales, 1,000 TEA units and 119,000 SEA units. The latter figure translates to a big 154.7 million on-demand audio streams for the album’s songs — marking the largest streaming week ever for an R&B album by a woman in terms of on-demand audio streams (surpassing the debut week of Beyoncé’s Lemonade, with 115.2 million). It also scores the second-largest streaming week for an R&B album among all acts (trailing only the debut week of The Weeknd’s Starboy, with 175.2 million).

Previous to the debut of Over It, Walker earned four top 25-charting hits on the Hot R&B Songs chart, including the top five hit “Playing Games.”

A quintet of former No. 1s are next on Billboard 200, as Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding slips 2-3 (108,000 units; down 13%), DaBaby’s Kirk falls 1-4 in its second week (75,000 units; down 49%), Taylor Swift’s Lover is steady at No. 5 (51,000 units; down 11%), Chris Brown’s Indigo bolts 13-6 (39,000 units; up 24% after the album was reissued with bonus tracks) and Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a non-mover at No. 7 (38,000 units; down 4%).

Kevin Gates’ I’m Him falls 4-8 in its second week, tallying just over 36,000 equivalent album units (down 52%).

Brantley Gilbert earns his fourth top 10 effort, as Fire & Brimstone debuts at No. 9 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, 28,000 were in album sales. He previously visited the top 10 with The Devil Don’t Sleep (No. 2 in 2017), Just As I Am (No. 2, 2014) and Halfway to Heaven (No. 4, 2011).

Rounding out the new top 10 is Young Thug’s So Much Fun, at No. 10. The former No. 1 dips 8-10 in its eighth week on the list, with 35,000 units (down 10%).

source: Keith Caulfield @ Billboard

[dailyexo]

[INTERVIEW] Baekhyun, Kai - 200128 Time: “Meet SuperM, the K-Pop Supergroup That Skyrocketed to the Top of the Billboard Charts”

"A palette of hair colors — aquamarine, silver, shades of gold — popped against monochrome clothing as the seven members of SuperM filed into a backstage room at Madison Square Garden. In a matter of minutes, the group from South Korea would take the stage for the first time at one of the biggest venues in the biggest city in the U.S. Outside on this Tuesday evening in November, enthusiasm buzzed for the newly formed K-pop supergroup, comprised of artists considered to be some of the best performers in the industry. Within two months of their debut, they had already hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart — the only K-pop act other than BTS to have topped the list — and attracted thousands at their shows from Forth Worth to Chicago.

The group’s ongoing North American tour, “We Are the Future,” began in November and continues through February, hitting 10 cities. In the moments before the group’s concert at the Garden, SuperM sat down with TIME to discuss, via a translator, their experience since the group’s launch in October.

“I feel like how we’re assembled itself is a very futuristic step that K-pop hasn’t ever seen before,” says Mark, the rapper from Canada and youngest member of SuperM. “Who knows what kind of road this may pave, but we just wanted to show how we can bring different elements together in one — and have that be expressed onstage in a powerful way.”

Assembling the “Avengers of K-pop”

Last summer, SM Entertainment, one of South Korea’s largest entertainment companies, and Capitol Records joined forces to announce the formation of what they referred to as “the Avengers of K-pop,” a group named SuperM. The act would feature members from SM’s boy groups SHINee, EXO, NCT 127 and WayV — each of which boasts a legion of fans that have powered them to the top of Asia’s music scene. “We keep describing them as ‘Avengers’ because I think that’s the best conceptual analogy that will immediately be understood by others,” SM’s A&R executive Chris Lee told Billboard at the time of the group’s launch. “Each Avenger has their own group and Iron Man has his own movie and Thor has his own but together they have an even greater synergy.”

The founder of SM, Lee Soo-man, selected the seven members himself. Taemin is a seasoned artist who debuted in his original group, SHINee, 11 years ago at the age of 14. Baekhyun and Kai hail from EXO — the first, a vocalist with an extensive range and a warm falsetto, and the second, an idol with tantalizing dance moves and even more tantalizing facial expressions. NCT 127’s leader Taeyong is joined by groupmate Mark, both of whom are powerhouse rappers with a knack for performing complex choreography. The lineup also includes two members from Chinese group WayV: Ten, the quadrilingual Thai artist with a honeyed tone, and Lucas, the deep-voiced rapper born in Hong Kong.

The seven artists hold one or more of the positions of “main dancer,” “main vocalist” or “main rapper” — terms used in K-pop to signal members with a central role in their respective specialties. As one team, they bring not only a vast armory of technical skills but distinctly charismatic personas honed through years of performing onstage — a major advantage for a “rookie” group.

Landing a No. 1 Album

The merging of fanbases played a substantial role in driving SuperM: The 1st Mini Album to the top of the Billboard 200. “All of us come from different teams that are already established and we already have our own careers, but us coming together on this album created this new synergy that was that much more attractive to not only our fans but also fans outside of our regular fanbases,” group leader Baekhyun explains. “They all came together in support of this album.”

The initial announcement of SuperM’s formation drew mixed reactions — some fans of individual acts expressed concern that this new project would lead to fewer resources dedicated to the existing groups. But those concerns were soon dwarfed by the significant wave of K-pop listeners across the fandoms of SHINee, EXO, NCT 127 and WayV whose enthusiasm was on display as they attended the tour and purchased the album in droves.

SM and Capitol released eight versions of the EP — one with each artist on the cover, plus one with the group — a packaging strategy often used in K-pop to incentivize album collection in the era of streaming. Besides the EP, a collection of merchandise was designed, each item with seven individualized versions. Each of the products was bundled with a digital album which fans could redeem, a move that would contribute to album sales counted toward Billboard charts. In total, more than 60 SuperM merchandise and album bundles were available. Bundling is nothing new in the American music scene — artists from Taylor Swift to Kanye West have taken the approach in past releases. But the high number of SuperM products that were offered was unusual, reflecting the marketing savvy of labels intent on getting their artists to the top.

Growing as Artists Through ‘We Are the Future’ Tour

The “We Are the Future” concert is a testament to SuperM’s ability to deliver cohesive performances as a new team, while holding their own as individual players. “In addition to our group stages as SuperM, we also showcase our solo stages,” says Baekhyun. “That’s when each member’s distinct music styles and performance aspects shine.” Later in the evening, for the group leader’s individual stage, he sang the groovy tracks “UN Village” and “Betcha” from his solo album. A smooth flick of the jacket and snapping of the fingers every few measures accentuated the vocalist’s relaxed gait, as Baekhyun found the groove in the rhythms of the R&B melodies.

“When I watch him sing and how he vocalizes, his breathing patterns — I feel like I’m taking a vocal lesson,” says Taemin of his bandmate. Mark nods enthusiastically. “Vocal instructor,” he chimes in, gesturing toward Baekhyun with his arm as the singer timidly mouths “thank you.” But it’s not just the SuperM leader’s individual performance that offers instructional value. As the seven artists prepared for the “We Are the Future” concert, a teacher-student relationship was layered onto their brotherhood.

“Me, Taemin hyung and everyone here have different styles of dancing and how we represent ourselves on stage, so when I look at them on stage, I get the tips and tricks,” Ten says, referring to Taemin with the term for “older brother” in Korean. SuperM includes some of the dancers widely acknowledged to be the best in K-pop, but each has a distinct way of executing choreography and freestyling, as displayed through their individual performances. Ten, in a mostly white ensemble, elegantly spun and glided onto the floor while dancing to his songs “Dream in a Dream” and “New Heroes.” Meanwhile, Taemin, dressed in all black with a mesh button-down shirt , sharply hit and twisted his body to the electronic beats of “Danger” and “Goodbye.” Kai, another highly skilled dancer, delivered a combination of soft body rolls and hard pops as animated flames lit up in the backdrop during the rapper-vocalist’s hip-hop solo “Confession.”

“I’ve learned a variety of traits from them and I combine them to create new techniques,” Lucas says, in Chinese, of the group’s senior members. For his solo performance, the Hong-Kong born artist confidently swayed to the drumbeats of the whimsical track “Bass Go Boom.” Although his speciality is rap, Lucas is simultaneously sharpening his vocal skills. “Baekhyun hyung sometimes teaches me to sing,” he says. Mark, grinning from ear to ear as he watched Lucas communicate in Chinese, jumps in and repeats “chang ge!” the Chinese word for “sing.”

On stage, Mark shed his youthful energy in favor of a more mature persona as he performed his solo rap “Talk About.” With whoops and claps, the rapper engaged the crowd and displayed the poise of someone who, at just 20 years old, has spent years making the stage his home. The other main rapper, Taeyong, exhibited his captivating stage presence in the track “GTA.” Wearing a glittery mask for the first segment, Taeyong showcased his ability to pack drama in his rap with vocal intonations and body movements alone.

Their Future as a Supergroup

In the months between the two legs of the tour, the seven members traveled globally for activities outside of SuperM. Baekhyun and Kai returned to Seoul for the release of their group EXO’s new album. Taeyong and Mark left New York after the November concert, only to fly back the next week to perform in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as NCT 127. Ten and Lucas visited cities from Bangkok, Thailand to Shenzhen, China for WayV’s “fan meetings.” Taemin, whose SHINee bandmates are in the military, is working on a solo album scheduled to drop in March.

On Jan. 30, the artists will come together once again as SuperM and tour cities from San Diego to Vancouver. All eyes, no doubt, will remain on the act as it strives to become a major player in the music scene beyond South Korea.

Photo links: 1

Credit: Time.

[brokemultidotexe]

After seeing my bank account weep for over the last few years I’ve decided to cut down what groups/members to collect. I plan to trade or sell what I can. This is cross posted to Facebook groups but i am actively doing my best to keep the imgur album up to date on what has sold.

Kpop Sell/Trade Album

** I have not uploaded everything (like the signed albums because all i have are dark photos but I will most definitely be uploading the rest today. If you see something you would like then just DM me here and we can go from there. If you want to trade please have past trade proofs readily available.

List of Groups available:

BTS

EXO

NCT 127

NCT Dream

ASTRO (!)

Dreamcatcher

SF9 (!)

Day6 (!)

SuperM

WayV

Park Jihoon

TXT

Got7

Suho

Stray Kids (!)

Monsta X

JJ Project

ATEEZ

A.C.E

*any groups with (!) by their name have one or more signed albums for sale

NON-ALBUM ITEMS (all are QYOP unless listed otherwise)

NCT 127 Seasons Greetings 2020 (Everything included but PCs. PCs are being sold separate but can be included as a set or whatever is left for an additional fee)

BTS Seasons Greetings 2020  (Everything included but PCs. PCs are being sold separate but can be included as a set or whatever is left for an additional fee)

EXO Seasons Greetings 2020  (Everything included but some PCs and Calendar Postcards are missing. PCs and Postcards are being sold separate but what's left can be included if desired)

NCTzen Welcome Kit 2019  (Everything included but PCs and membership card. PCs are being sold separate but can be included as a set or whatever is left for an additional fee)

ARMY Welcome Kit 2019  (Everything included but PCs and membership card. PCs are being sold separate but can be included as a set or whatever is left for an additional fee)

ARMY Welcome Kit Magazine 2018

WayV Summer Package 2019  (Everything included)

NCT 127 Photobook (I have the PCs in a binder...i just have to find the binder. If I do find it the PCs will be included)

JAPANESE ALBUMS

EXO Coming Over (Sehun Ver.) - QYOP (no inclusions)

[nctinfo]

[INFO] WayV to release a Summer Vacation Kit!

The pre-order for 2019 WayV SUMMER VACATION KIT will be available from April 22nd 2PM (CST). The Summer Vacation Kit will include:

Package

Summer notebook

Vacation notebook

Stickers and transparent pouch

Summer bottle

Mini clear fan

A4 Poster

DVD

Frame + Film set

Source: Wayv’s Official Ttwitter 

[neodreamwaves]

Seeing that WayV tweeted about their summer package literally made me scream in my room at 5am

[yourghastlycloseness]

today’s date with myself has yet to happen. checked my inbox last night and i finally got a reply from my partner, so i woke up early this morning to settle some stuff. now it’s 10.30am and i can’t decide if i should still make time for this masturdate because i have to come home and prepare for the programme tomorrow + finish creating content for this package by 15 dec

so yes, tomorrow i’ll be facilitating an online prog. i’m nervous, worried about technical issues, whether i can resolve them. maybe i’ll stutter so badly that no one can hear a thing i’m saying. i’ll blame it on the tech issues? ‘sorry seems like my mic isn’t working’ lol. in jan next year, i’ll be conducting an online workshop on my own and subsequently be taking up many in-person public speaking assignments again

if there’s one thing i hate about this job, it’s the public speaking and lack of a proper off/rest day because we work shifts. it’s especially hard when all your partners work mon-fri hours and you’re off on a weekday but can’t catch a break. there’s a lot of good with this job too (reasonable bosses, essentially meaningful work, not too much micromanagement). so i shouldn’t complain. or at least i think complaining about work is so unattractive. i’ve listened to friends’ rant about work for 2-3 hours straight and i actually thought how awful it must be to marry them or be their parents and have to sit through that shit everyday

i hate work. i imagine that i will always need to be employed on some level, but i never want to be busy and anxious 24/7, even if the pay’s good and the work, meaningful. yet when i think about my past ‘summer’ jobs, where simple-minded full-timers with secondary school qualifications just stayed in one position all their lives, reported to the workplace just for a monthly paycheck, and watched part-timers like me come and go with every school holiday season -- i can’t stand the thought of being trapped in a life like that forever. maybe i need to get back on my anxiety meds. but i also hate how these meds make me feel all fucked up inside. so what do i want really? shit i’m panicking lmao i was just supposed to type 3 sentences and shut my laptop

panic aside, i’ve been watching NCT/WayV stuff

ten’s so relatable at the end here where he talks about having to emcee a show on his own and speaking being his fear but

TEN IS A CHAMP AND IS DOING SO WELL YOU HAVE ALL OUR SUPPORT ALWAYS

[yeoli-tranbolie]

NCT +WayV (pt.2 of my haul)

[foreverxdaydreaming]

Girls’ Generation

Gee (jp. single)

Hits remix cd

Girls & Peace

Lion Heart (LH ver)

Holiday Night (All Night ver)

TaeTiSeo: Holler

Taeyeon: I, Something New

Tiffany: I Just Wanna Dance

bonus: some smtown GG stationery set (it’s the thing next to the clc album ok)

CLC: No.1

After School: Flashback, First Love

Orange Caramel: Catallena

AOA: Like a Cat

UKISS: Only One, Neverland

NU'EST: Face, Action, Hello

EXO: XOXO

A.C.E: Adventures in Wonderland (bonus: 2019 Season’s Greetings)

GOT7: If You Do (yellow ver)

NCT

NCT 127: Limitless, Cherry Bomb, Regular Irregular (regular ver), Regulate (Jungwoo ver), We Are Superhuman

NCT DREAM: We Young, We Go Up, We Boom (both vers)

WAYV: Take Off, Take Over The Moon

NCT 2018: Empathy (dream ver)

BTS

2 Cool 4 Skool

O!RUL82?

HYYH pt.1 (pink ver)

HYYH pt.2 (blue ver)

Young Forever (night ver)

YNWA (pink ver)

LY: HER (ver E)

bonus: 2014 summer package (not pictured)

MONSTA X

Rush (secret ver)

Clan pt.1 (Lost ver)

Clan pt.2 (Guilty ver)

Clan 2.5 Beautiful (white ver)

Shine Forever (SF ver)

The Code (DE:CODE ver)

The Connect (ver 1)

Are You There? (ver 2)

VIXX

Super Hero

Rock Ur Body

On & On

Hyde

Jekyll

Voodoo Doll

Eternity

Error

Boys’ Record

Chained Up (both vers)

Zelos (x2; signed)

Hades (signed)

Kratos (signed)

Shangri-La (both vers)

Eau de Vixx (red ver)

bonus: 2015 Season’s Greetings + Fantasia: Utopia live concert dvd

Kpop Album Collection

[serendipitous-syzygy]

I’m gonna surprise my sister with a Cherry Bomb album if they have it and a Regular-Irregular album since she really likes (and only really knows) 127 and if I can imma get her the summer package; if not I’ll get her the Hello! Seoul photobook

I’m gonna get We Boom Boom ver and Empathy Reality ver if they have it (if not then I’ll get Dream; i like both but I like Reality a little more) and the WayV summer package if they don’t restock online (idk when it’ll sell out but I really want it but the packages are so biiig)

God I’m gonna have to carry this shit with me PLUS whatever I get at the exhibit and the line store (for both me AND my sis) all the way back from LA on the train i’m gonna get fucking robbed lmao

[fyexo]

191009 New K-pop Band SuperM: ‘We Don’t Want to Step on Other Groups to Get to the Top’

With K-pop firmly entrenched in the mainstream, SuperM say it’s time to start raising the bar

The well-coiffed guys from the new K-pop supergroup, SuperM, are sitting around a conference room at the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles, and feeling like they may have left something on the table.

Two days earlier, the seven-piece unit — put together using members from four established K-pop boy bands — had shut down an intersection in the heart of Hollywood and made their live debut before more than 5,000 frenzied fans, some of whom had lined up for days just to get a prime spot to see the guys perform.

For SuperM, the outdoor show — which was also streamed live worldwide on YouTube — served as their official group debut as well, with the boy band finally being introduced to the world after months of secrecy.

“Going in front of our fans and performing as SuperM was nerve-wracking, and it’s not something we usually feel because we’ve all been in this industry for a while now,” says Kai, the pretty, pouty-mouthed singer who was chosen to join SuperM from the band EXO. “There were some members that felt like maybe we could’ve done better with this or stronger with that, but it’s okay,” he says, smiling. “More than anything, I was just proud that we could finally show everyone what we’ve been preparing for.”

SuperM is the latest creation of Korean management company, SM Entertainment (the band’s name is not exactly subtle). Founded in 1995 by Lee Soo-man, a man so famous in Korea he’s just known as “Mr. Lee,” SM is regarded as one of the pioneers of the global K-pop movement, having first brought Korean artists to North America in the early 2000s at the height of the teen pop craze.

SuperM is the company’s latest attempt to make a dent in the U.S. market. After years of breaking all sorts of records in Asia but remaining relatively unknown in the States, the crossover success of bands like BTS and Blackpink have given entertainment companies like SM a renewed interest in reaching the international market, with the U.S. as a pivotal launching pad.

For SuperM, it wasn’t about starting from scratch, but rather starting from the top. SuperM culled its members from some of SM’s most popular groups, who collectively have sold more than 14 million adjusted albums combined, and amassed nearly four billion views of their music videos online. SuperM’s fans lovingly refer to them as “the Avengers of K-pop,” stemming from the belief that the group features the most talented and popular members from each of the individual bands.

Baekhyun and Kai are from EXO, a stylish and well-packaged boy band that, as of 2018, had actually sold more records than BTS in Korea (the release of BTS’ Map of the Soul: Persona this past April have tipped the scales back in the latter group’s favor). At 27, Baekhyun is the oldest member of SuperM, and has unofficially acquired the title of group leader.

Taemin, the second oldest member at 26, is from SHINee, considered one of the veterans of K-pop, after having debuted in 2008. The group made news in 2017 after founding member, Jonghyun, died from an apparent suicide, which sparked a debate over working conditions and unreasonably high expectations for these young performers, many of whom are pulled from school to begin “training” for their debut.

The last four members of SuperM were culled from subunits of the massive 21-person K-pop group, NCT (Mr. Lee calls them the first “unlimited” boy band, with a constantly rotating roster of new members). Taeyong and Mark are from NCT 127, and Ten and Lucas are from NCT’s Chinese subset, WayV.

The idea for an all-star group was first discussed last year, though the seven members didn’t actually come together to record until earlier this spring. While the guys had met before — SM organizes an annual “SM Town” concert tour, similar to say, when Diddy took his Bad Boy artists on the road — they had never actually worked together until SuperM was formed.

The group’s debut EP, The 1st Mini Album, hit stores last week. The five-song set opens with lead single, “Jopping,” a turbo-charged track whose name comes from a combination of the words, “jumping” and “popping” (a publicist sighed that the name was both crazy yet catchy at the same time). The song mixes hip-hop with EDM, with the members trading verses in both English and Korean. The video for “Jopping,” meantime, was filmed in Dubai over the summer and has already amassed more than 22 million views online. Fueled by massive buzz for the song and album, SuperM announced this week that they will be hitting the road for a North American tour, kicking off November 11th in Fort Worth, Texas.

While BTS have blasted into the mainstream, with number one albums, appearances on all the late-night talk shows and even Grammy buzz, the guys in SuperM are motivated to find success on their own terms.

“Yes, the competition exists and we can’t ignore that,” says Taemin, “but we don’t want to step on other groups to get to the top. We want to stand alone as a group and bring something fresh and new to this K-pop scene.”

To that end, the group has been working on carving out a more signature sound for their debut LP, which will still sit comfortably in the hip-hop/pop/R&B arena, but also see them weaving in and out of different genres within a single song. While other groups — such as Blackpink and BTS — primarily perform in Korean, SuperM could also be releasing more English language tracks. (Though Mark was born in Canada and speaks fluent English, the band’s publicist confirms the rest of the group’s members have been taking English lessons.)

They’ve been doing their homework too, listening to the radio while they’re in Los Angeles and streaming an eclectic mix of artists like H.E.R., Ella Mai, Daniel Caesar and Billie Eilish (“Let’s get that collabo!” Taemin hollers).

And while Korean management companies are notorious for controlling their groups’ images and keeping their artists on a short leash (I once arrived to meet EXO in Seoul and was told I couldn’t interview the guys in person because they didn’t have their makeup on), from this perspective, SuperM feels a lot… looser.

On this recent swing through L.A., the young men reveal that their first stop after landing at LAX wasn’t straight to their hotel, but rather to In-N-Out. Though they’ve booked dinners in Malibu, the members also rave about the traditional Korean tofu stew at BCD Tofu House, a 24-hour Southern California chain of cheap eats (“It’s honestly better than Korea,” Taeyong says). During the interview, the guys are decked out in leather jackets and oversized sweats, sipping on iced coffees from Starbucks, and fidgeting with their phones like any other twenty-something, as they dish about trying to take a group vacation after their tour is over. They travel with a translator, but all of them try valiantly to respond to questions in English before they crumble in laughter when they lose their words. If their original groups gave them a crash course in making it in the music business, it seems SuperM will give these guys a chance to be themselves — and in doing so, a chance to grow.

“If I said I didn’t feel any pressure that would be a lie,” says Kai. “We all come from successful, established careers, but in a way, we are still unknowns, at least when it comes to this formation. But with that pressure comes this new level of excitement,” he continues, “because there’s so much more we can try and do, and the possibilities are endless.”

“There are a lot of groups out there and a lot of competition,” Taeyong admits, “but our goal is to make K-pop shine even brighter. The spirit of competition is not necessarily bad, because it pushes us to want to put out better things.”

Kai is more specific: “SuperM is here to level up the K-pop genre,” he asserts. “We are ready for K-pop to start raising the bar.”

source: Tim Chan @ Rolling Stone

[jaehyukiee]

I want wayv’s summer package but like...I can feel sm’s price tag on it and my bank account is gonna cry