The traditional ‘K-Pop Empire’ SM Entertainment and the ‘Emerging Powers’ Big Hit Entertainment celebrate the new year by holding performances one after another. This year, due to COVID-19, they will hold online concerts instead of offline.
Big Hit will broadcast ‘2021 NEW YEAR’S EVE LIVE’ for a fee on the 31st. It is the first concert in which singers from Big Hit’s Labels such as Big Hit, Pledis, Source Music, and Billip Lab gather all together. Idol groups with powerful fandoms such as BTS, Tomorrow by Together (TXT), GFRIEND, NU’EST, and Enhypen will all come out and perform on the stage. Only Seventeen, a boy group belonging to Pledis, will not attend this performance due to a different schedule. BTS’ Suga, who has ceased activities for rehabilitation after shoulder surgery, is also planning to appear.
On the first day of the year, SM broadcasts its brand performance ‘SM Town Live’ online to meet K-pop fans around the world. ‘SM Town Live’ is a performance that SM has been performing in major cities around the world since 2008, and will be held after one year and four months since the Tokyo concert in Japan last year. SM presents the performance for about 4 hours for free. From teams that have been active for more than 10 years with a loyal fandom around the world, such as TVXQ! and Super Junior, to Girls’ Generation Taeyeon, SHINee Taemin, EXO Baekhyun and Kai, Red Velvet, and rookie girl group Aespa will attend the concert. NCT, which is prominent in the North American market, and Super M, a project group called ‘K-Pop Avengers’, are also planning to be on stage.
Big Hit and SM gained lots of experiences of non-face-to-face online concerts through BTS’s ‘Bang Bang Con: The Live’, and ‘Beyond Live’ serveral times. These performances will also use the latest technologies such as AR and 3D graphics.
