SM Entertainment’s highly anticipated 30th anniversary concert, 'SMTOWN LIVE 2025 in Seoul,' has become a topic of debate after Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon and Red Velvet’s Wendy revealed to fans that they would not be participating due to internal miscommunication.

Now, SM employees have added more fuel to the fire by sharing their own perspectives on the situation through Blind, an anonymous community for company employees. SM Entertainment staff members are giving conflicting accounts of the incident.

Taeyeon recently took to Bubble, a fan communication platform, to express her disappointment. She revealed, "I wanted to put on an amazing performance and was eager to prepare two or even three songs, so I told the company and waited... But to put it simply, they didn’t make the preparations, so I ended up not being able to perform at all." Her candid statement left fans heartbroken, with many questioning how such a prominent artist could be excluded from an event of this scale due to poor planning.

What further angered fans was when Wendy also announced that she would be stepping out from performances but revealed that the decision was finalized a month before. Wendy explained, "You may have already seen the announcement, or maybe you haven’t yet... but the discussions with the company happened over a month ago, and the official notice only went up today (January 6)."

SM Entertainment staff members are now refuting Taeyeon's and Wendy's claims on Blind. 

Translation:

"Posting something like that on Bubble is a form of (abusing) power too. Wouldn’t their appearance on the poster lineup have been discussed with them beforehand? The whole situation is infuriating—everyone propped them up, and now they flip the narrative like this? It’s so exhausting. If they’re that dissatisfied, they should just leave."

"Sigh... Same feelings here. I’m beyond disappointed—it’s turned into anger now.
Everyone’s working tirelessly in the final stretch before the concert, and all they do is drop a single post on Bubble. Reading messy news articles, I have so much to say, but... as a senior artist, they should act like one. If you’re a veteran artist, think carefully before you speak."

Korean netizens commented:

"Anyone who’s followed SM idols for a while knows how messy SM’s management is. They’re just trying to pin this on the artists, but I’m not buying it."

"Because of this kind of fallout, the company and the artists should communicate well and coordinate consistently. Otherwise, they both end up getting hurt, people start spreading rumors, and everything turns into complete chaos."

"Is this the first time SM’s handled things like garbage?"

"Taeyeon wasn’t even referring to the people leaving those comments, so why are they taking it personally? LOL"

"Didn’t they say not to trust Blind? LOL"

"They’re not even revealing their names—it’s so cowardly. It’s like they’re setting the stage for the artists to take the blame."

"This is ridiculous. I’ve already been frustrated for ages by how poorly they handle things, and now they’re blaming the artists? Then why don’t they handle at least one album release properly? What makes them so entitled that they’re out there posting anonymously on Blind?

Honestly, even after reading what the employees said, I still don’t get what they’re so upset about. The delay in announcing the absence and other issues weren’t explained, but instead, they’re vague-posting, knowing the celebrities will get dragged. It’s convenient for them, huh?" 

"Everyone’s criticizing SM as a company, not pointing fingers at any specific staff member, but some of these employees act like they’ve completely aligned their identity with the company—just like during the HYBE situation."

"The real issue isn’t the absence itself but the failure to communicate things properly in between, isn’t it?"

"If they have something to say, they should just say it outright. Instead, they’re playing it safe for themselves. Tsk tsk."

"They posted the absence announcement late in the first place, so why would anyone trust their Blind posts? They’re fine staying quiet when the artists get bashed, but they can’t handle any criticism themselves. What a joke."

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