SM Entertainment has released its annual end-of-year compilation album, ‘2022 Winter SMTOWN: SMCU Palace’.
The album features a diverse mix of artists and groups from across the label, including Red Velvet, EXO, Girls’ Generation, aespa, NCT, SHINee, Super Junior, TVXQ, Kangta and BoA.
The compilation album’s title track ‘The Cure’ carries a strong message of solidarity with the global movement to combat climate change. The main vocalists on the track include soloists and group leaders Kangta, BoA, TVXQ’s U-Know, Super Junior’s Leeteuk, Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon, SHINee’s Onew, EXO’s Suho, Red Velvet’s Irene, NCT’s Taeyong, Mark and Kun, and aespa’s Karina.
In addition to ‘The Cure’, the album features ‘Beautiful Christmas’, a collaboration track between Red Velvet and aespa, as well as ‘Hot & Cold’, a pop-dance song starring EXO’s Kai, Red Velvet’s Seulgi, NCT’s Jeno and aespa’s Karina. A “stage video” has been released for the latter, which sees the four artists performing the song in a grand palace setting.
SM Entertainment has also announced that the artists will be holding a free livestream concert, ‘2023 SMTOWN LIVE: SMCU Palace @Kwangya’, on January 1, 2021. During the show, they will be performing songs from the album. It will be available to stream on SMTOWN’s YouTube channel and Beyond Live.