Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
When the concept of SuperM was announced, I originally felt frustrated at the realization that this amalgamation of talent, this collection of the best of the best of the last few generations of SM boy groups, was going to rob me of a Taemin solo tour. A tiny little flicker in my cold dead heart grew into a grudge. I stopped brushing my hair, moved into a spacious studio abandoned well in the valley, and traveled via climbing out of TVs.
But once I got my hands on the SuperM mini album, I realized this was the gourmet meal I never knew I craved. We’re talking hand picked super talents from across the current popular wave of SM groups. You’ve got Baekhyun, Kai, Taeyong, Lucas, Mark, Ten and Taemin … all in one room. On one stage. Blowing the collective minds of tens of thousands of fans in one night.
When I say I was not prepared, I mean I WAS NOT PREPARED! The forum is everyone’s first major goal as a performer in LA and Super M didn’t even bother showing up at smaller venues as a collective group, though some did make rare appearances at places like The Novo back when it was Club Nokia for my locals. Rather, they immediately went for the massive arena and then proceeded to sell it out quick. And when I say fans turned up and turned out … they really did it big.
Every lightstick was clearly in representation and in (bluetooth) sync! NCT, SHINEE, EXO, I mean from the big block shaped bongs to the tiny exo planet lightsticks from Exo’s first tour. This was a gathering of diehard SM stans from around the world to experience SuperM in all their glory. And experience them we did. With Capitol Records and Lee Soo Man in house for this tour stop, I felt like LA really got the most explosive show possible. There was no holding back from every member and we realized that the moment the show started.
Bare in mind, SuperM only has one mini album with a whopping 5 songs on it. However, collectively we are looking at way too many songs for one night. This night however, was a showcase of talent, not only as one unit but as individuals and sub units, as young men who have quite a bit more to offer.
The night was a smattering of track songs from the EP and solo stages that drove fans into a frenzy as they screamed, danced, sang, and lost themselves into the hive that is the SuperM fandom experience. We started with I Can’t Stand The Rain, rolled into Taemin’s solos Danger and Goodbye. Taeyong brought that hardcore hiphop with GTA and the group kept the hype going with Super Car. Ten hypnotized the entire Forum with his fluid movements to Dream in a Dream and the absolutely stunning New Heroes. Lucas brought back the funk with When The Bass Go Boom and Baekhyun devastated our collective hearts with Betcha and then UN Village. We got the sexy and fun Dangerous Woman as a group followed by 2 Fast which was a crowd favorite. Ten and Taeyong then performed Baby Don’t Stop which was an absolute blast live, and Mark gave us Talk About.
Kai… gave me heartburn. Just kidding (No he really did though)… Kai performed a chocolate ab loaded insane performance of Confession… leaving us all in desperate need of contrition. As a finale, we were gifted with my personal favorite, No Manners, With You, and of course the oddly catchy and strangely addictive lead track, Jopping.
There were so many highlights but really… Danger live is everything I’ve ever wanted it to be. I’m not kidding when I say I damn near cried and the only thing that stopped me was my desperate need to scream those lyrics as loud as I could, bad Korean pronunciation be damned!
Ten was also a massive highlight as many NCT fans had waited so long for the chance to not only see Ten live but to support him face to face. He changed up the choreography to New Heroes for the LA stop only and it was absolutely beautiful, a balm to our soul.
Lucas was the charismatic surprise of the night with When The Bass Go Boom with his cute upbeat sweet personality as he hyped the crowd. Mark is hysterical live, Taeyong is mischievously funny, Baekhyun and Kai can easily flirt with an entire arena of 20 thousand fans.
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All in all, every member really did give us everything they had and the crowd was incredibly receptive for it. Even more so during the stage breaks while each member greeted fans, thanked the audience for attending and supporting, laughing at each other on stage and doing their best to bust out that English which is always so endearing and heartwarming to see and hear.
My grudge has been satisfied. My opinions have changed. SuperM isn’t just a collaborative group, they’re a breath of fresh air. A Super Group, like the Justice League with no Wonder Woman (BoA? Are you there!?). They gave these idols a chance to take on a challenge and explore the world in a new pair of shoes.
Now that I’ve seen them live, I really hope SuperM continues to bring us the pure fire they did with with debut release and subsequent tour. I look forward to what they do next!
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Thank you to Capitol Records and SM Entertainment for allowing Asian Junkie to participate in this event!
