Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Over a week ago now, the Tokyo concert of SNSD‘s Taeyeon was abruptly cancelled two days before it was set to go on. The two-day set, called The TENSE, was to commemorate her 10th anniversary, but fans were left scrambling and SM Entertainment‘s explanation was baffling to many.
The agency explained, “The equipment used for [Taeyeon’s] Asia tour is currently being transported to Japan, but it has not yet arrived in Japan, making it extremely difficult to sufficiently prepare for the concert. We’ve held discussions with the parties involved and explored every single possibility, but we ultimately determined that it would be difficult to hold the concert.”
“We apologize deeply for inconveniencing those who have waited for the concert,” continued SM Entertainment. “We are also discussing the possibility of rescheduling the concert. Further details and information on how this [cancellation] will be handled will be announced as they are decided.”
Things happen, but equipment not being transported from South Korea to Japan, something that’s done obviously quite regularly seems like absurd negligence and threw the plans of many fans into disarray.
Taeyeon herself had to take to Bubble and apologize, not sounding too happy with SME. She made clear it wasn’t something that popped up, it involved mistakes.
After hearing about the Japan concert cancellation, I was so worried about SONEs that I didn’t know what to say. I hate this entire situation, and I am so sorry to SONEs. It feels like everyone’s efforts and expectations for my concert flew away instantly, like it was stolen. I don’t know how to express how empty and desolate I feel.
This whole situation….the repeated mistakes, the whole process is so disappointing and frustrating that I can’t believe it. But I know SONE must be even more shocked than I. Thank you for comforting me during this ridiculous situation.
SME has seemingly been struggling lately, with more and more veteran artists expressing their displeasure at how things are being run (including Taeyeon), and this seemingly caused things to boil over yet again.
In the aftermath, the DC Inside Taeyeon Gallery made a statement, and fans doing that is one thing, but Taeyeon herself reposted it on Instagram.
The statement asks for clarification about the cancellation, the lack of communication to fans, the lack of response and/or apology from SME (as mentioned, Taeyeon was left to address it), and demanding compensation from the company.
Despite literally Taeyeon reposting it, SME didn’t really seem to give a fuck, responding curtly with a “nah”.
We are not preparing a separate statement on our position.
Fans getting the middle finger is pretty common, and frequently deserved, but in this scenario it’s rather bizarre, as even under normal circumstances this is a shitty way for the company to handle it, and it’s also almost like they’re extending the middle finger to Taeyeon as well. No idea what the fuck they’re doing recently, man.
