This year, two of SM Entertainment’s popular artists will be skipping 2025 SMTOWN LIVE, which kicks off on Saturday.
Girls’ Generation Taeyeon and Red Velvet’s Wendy will not perform at SMTOWN LIVE. While Taeyeon’s absence was announced on December 11, the announcement about Wendy not being part of the show was made by Melon on January 6.
Both took to Bubble to update fans and share the reason for their absence. Wendy criticized SM Entertainment for not announcing her absence sooner when she informed the agency one month in advance.
On the other hand, Taeyeon had a different reason for not participating in this year’s SMTOWN Live. the “To. X” singer expressed, “I was very enthusiastic and wanted to sing two or three songs, so I told the company I was preparing and was waiting… but to tell you, they didn’t prepare anything, so I could not do it in the end.”
She added, “It’s not that I did not want to do it or because I lack enthusiasm… I am passionate when it comes to performing, and want to give my best, but they haven’t been very supportive, which has made me seriously think about what is going on. I’m sharing this with you, SONE (fans), because I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings about me, even a little.”
Fans are criticizing SM Entertainment for poorly handling the situation, resulting in two major artists being absent from the special show celebrating SM Entertainment’s 30th anniversary.
The ‘SMTOWN Live’ concert is scheduled to be held at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul this weekend. This event will feature an impressive lineup of SM artists, including BoA, TVXQ, Super Junior, SNSD’s Hyoyeon, SHINee’s Key and Minho, EXO’s Suho and Chanyeol, Red Velvet, NCT 127, NCT Dream, and aespa.
In addition, fans can look forward to performances from RIIZE, NCT WISH, virtual artist nævis, SMTR25 (a group of 25 trainees), and the SM Jazz Trio.
