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Hello from LA where I’m nearly wiped out from this packed weekend but running on fumes of seeing lots of great friends, writers, colleagues and artists. Here’s my quick take on these past few days.

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The Winners and Losers From a K-Poppin’ Weekend in Los Angeles

The Winners

• NMIXX: The girl group further solidified themselves as next-level performers with a fully live opening set at Wango Tango, complete with a four-person backing band accompanying them, on Saturday, May 10. The sextet barely utilized their backing tracks (which K-pop performers can embrace quite generously). Instead, they let their talents do the talking — a perfect performance to engage the Huntington Beach crowd.
  Plus, while several Wango Tango performers were linking up with other talent on the roster, NMIXX seemed to lead the way in connecting with artists like Doja Cat and Meghan Trainor, looking genuinely down to chat and film TikToks, some of which will post soon.

• RIIZE: The rising boy band got the ideal chance to hype up their forthcoming Odyssey album (out May 19) with one of the best sets of the night at the SMTOWN Live concert on Sunday, May 11. Not only did they nail the kick-spinning choreography for a song like “Impossible,” but they emphasized their live vocals throughout the track during a night when several performers leaned heavily on backing tracks. The group teased that they filmed “one of” their new music videos in Los Angeles (so, expect multiple visuals), and that they haven’t announced all the dates of their new tour and they may be back in town soon (consider a U.S. leg in their latest tour confirmed). Very good night for performing and promo.

  While RIIZE is my pick for the biggest winner of SMTOWN, here are my best moments for every artist that performed on Billboard:

• Lee Soo Man: Even after the fallout of being ousted from the company he founded, the former SM Entertainment producer gets a win from the newly released Lee Soo Man: King of K-Pop documentary and its premiere on Monday, May 12. Not only does the doc do a good job at humanizing and sharing a relatively unseen warm side of the 72-year-old, but it manages to address some of his controversies through the years to leave him unscathed. The cherry on top of the premiere was that several former and current SM Entertainment artists came to Los Angeles to show support for Lee. There was Girls’ Generation members Sunny and Tiffany Young, as well as Taemin of SHINee, all opted not to re-sign their solo contracts with SM but are still a part of group activities under the label (SHINee will release a new single this month and Tiffany recently shared that GG is preparing a comeback). Meanwhile, Super Junior’s Siwon Choi and Hyoyeon of Girls’ Generation (still under contract and managed by SM) came to the premiere as well. While Siwon was in town after just performing the previous night at the SMTOWN Live 2025 concert, Hyoeon seemingly opted instead to use her LA trip to support Lee’s premiere and even deliver a live set as DJ HYO at the afterparty.

  Those optics are all the more interesting considering a source told me some U.S. outlets chose not to cover the Lee Soo Man documentary to curry good favor with SM (unclear whether they were explicitly told to stay away from it or if it’s an assumption on the outlet).

The Losers*

• Leeteuk: Despite the drama leading up to the SMTOWN Live concert, the night was essentially drama free until the very final moments as all of the 60+ artists came back to the stage for a final bow and goodbye to audience members that Super Junior leader Leeteuk decided to shout at the top of his lungs about several things he “loves.” He shouted that he loves In-N-Out, Five Guys, and the USA…but also decided it was the time to shout “I love Trump” and “I love Elon Musk.” While the K-pop industry is notoriously shy about wading into anything political or controversial, many felt Leeteuk decided to politicize an otherwise celebratory moment. Not to mention his yelling it as 67 of his colleagues are on stage with him comes off almost like a co-sign for the other acts and label as a whole. You can watch clips from the moments via Twitter.

• Ting Poo: When the trailer for the Ting Poo–directed Lee Soo Man: King of K-Pop documentary dropped, there was some heavy criticism for a moment when one of the talking heads spoke about “the dark side of K-pop” over footage from the funeral of the late SM Entertainment artist and SHINee member Jonghyun. The reaction was so intense that the actual commentator, Dr. Stephanie Jiyun Choi, released a long statement criticizing the edit and that she “contacted the producer [Poo] regarding the matter.” While the documentary is a win for Lee (see above), the full documentary unfortunately wades into more questionable editing, cuts, and online commentators that don’t include context or tell the whole story.
  
  There’s also a strange section that discusses SM’s controversial legal battle when three members of boy band TVXQ! who argued in 2009 that being locked into their “13-year contracts” were unfair. Lee nor the documentary argue the contracts were 13 years, with Mr. SM himself saying “the contracts we created with them are the ones we still use today.” But in 2010, Korea’s Fair Trade Commission created the rule that limited entertainment contracts to seven years, so, who didn’t factcheck?
  
  Don’t get me wrong, here are some great names and friends you will see on your screen who sat down to talk for King of K-Pop, and there are no issues in those sections. Poo has been open that she’s a newcomer to K-pop so naturally her and team will want to find any clip that can best tell the narrative they’re creating. But with chunks of the story told by questionable YouTubers, some big question marks around facts, and the aforementioned misleading clipping/editing, ultimately makes this a loss for the sake of this newsletter’s focus on truth-telling in the K-pop media.

The TBDs

• SM Entertainment: While the SMTOWN Live concert mainly went off without a hitch, even as visa delays barred boy band NCT WISH from performing, where does the label stand when one of its artists go all the way to LA not to perform at the massive concert they’re throwing, but to support its perceived threat? SM has been known to be a label where artists stay loyal and tend to re-sign with the company for several years, but I wonder if more exits are on the way following eight departures from members of SHINee and Red Velvet and in the past year.

*Disclaimer that “Loser” sounds like a very harsh word. Winners and losers are the best way to describe “who I think had great moments and who had some troublesome moments” (which doesn’t really roll off the tongue), but any perceived losers are probably also winning in many ways too.

—Jay Park dropped the music video to his Ty Dolla $ign collaboration “Mayday”: “The video includes cameos from Jay’s closest friends and collaborators, including Bay Area rapper P-Lo, rising stars Karri and sunkis, Korean rapper Okasian and Jay’s right hand producer, Cha Cha Malone.” (Press Release)

—K-Pop Rookies to Watch MEOVV dropped their first EP, MY EYES OPEN VVIDE, led by the single “Drop Top” and buzz track “Hands Up.” “The six-track EP overseen by mega-producer TEDDY (BIGBANG, G-Dragon, 2NE1, BLACKPINK) - delivers an intimate yet expansive sound that captures MEOVV’s core duality: at times razor sharp, at others effortlessly smooth” (Press Release)

ALSO: In MEOVV’s first announced U.S. visit, the group will take part in KCON LA 2025. The girl group was announced in the May 12 lineup update that included Monsta X, NCT 127, aespa, Hwasa, SHINee's KEY, YUQI of i-dle, KISS OF LIFE, NOWADAYS, RIIZE and more.

—Here’s what a 24-member girl group looks like: tripleS released their second album with all 24 ladies in tow all featured on the single “Are You Alive.” Glitter Magazine writes, “By marrying cutting-edge sound with emotionally realistic storytelling, the group continues solidifying their place as a voice for a generation navigating darkness and light. Through their bold concept and unflinching message, tripleS reminds listeners that even in the depths of struggle, you are not alone, and yes, you are alive.”

Big release day this Friday, May 16

• BTS member Jin drops his second EP, Echo, that will face big competition from the new Morgan Wallen LP dropping the same day

• MEOVV will release the physical version of MY EYES OPEN VVIDE, giving the group big potential to chart on the Billboard 200

• BOYNEXTDOOR (HYBE/KOZ Entertainment/Geffen Records) release the physical version of their No Genre EP, which follows their September release, 19.99, that reached No. 40 on the Billboard 200. Can they reach higher?