| SM Station | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type of project | Music |
| Owner | SM Entertainment |
| Country | South Korea |
| Established | February 3, 2016 (2016-02-03) |
| Website | smtown.com/production/sm-station |
SM Station is a digital music project by South Korean record labelSM Entertainment. It undertook to release one digitalsingle every Friday starting from February 3, 2016.[1] The project's first season ended on February 3, 2017, with 52 songs. Its second season began on March 31, 2017, and concluded on April 6, 2018, with a total of 57 songs. In 2022, it introducedNCT Lab, a sub-project dedicated to individual projects forNCT members.
SM Station's purpose was to showcase SM Entertainment's artists and producers, while also including collaborations with artists outside of the label.[2] The project began on February 3, 2016, with the release of its first single "Rain" byTaeyeon.[3] The song proved successful, topping the South KoreanGaon Digital Chart and winning first place on the weekly music showInkigayo.[4][5] Subsequent singles that entered top 10 on the Gaon Digital Chart include "Spring Love" byWendy andEric Nam, "The Day" byBaekhyun andK.Will, "No Matter What" byBoA andBeenzino, "Dancing King" byExo andYoo Jae-suk, "Always in My Heart" byJoy andSeulong, and "Sweet Dream" byKim Hee-chul andMin Kyung-hoon. "Rain" and "Spring Love" received various nominations at year-end music awards, among which "Rain" won a Digital Bonsang at the31st Golden Disk Awards and "Sweet Dream" won a Best Rock Song at theMelOn Music Awards. The first season ended on February 3, 2017, with the 52nd single "Curtain" bySuho.
Station's second season was to feature collaborations with foreign musicians, besides past projects.[6] It began on March 31, 2017, with the first single "Would U" byRed Velvet. On April 6, 2017, SM Entertainment released a compilation album titledSM Station Season 1 which contains the first season's 52 singles and five bonus tracks.[7] The second season concluded on April 6, 2018, with "New Heroes" byNCT memberTen.[8]
In August 2018, SM Entertainment announced a special season titledStation X 0 (Station Young), in collaboration withSK Telecom's "0 (Young)" mobile brand.[a] According to the label,Station X 0 is a cultural project for the young generation.[10] The season ended on October 19, 2018, with "Written in the Stars" by Wendy andJohn Legend. A project girl group, Station Young, consisting of Red Velvet'sSeulgi,(G)I-dle'sSoyeon,GFriend's SinB and soloistChungha was formed for the single "Wow Thing" for the album.
A third season was announced in November 2018.[11] The first single would be released byLucas and Jonah Nilsson of Swedish bandDirty Loops.[12] The season ended with "Long Flight" byTaeyong, released on July 18, 2019.
On November 15, 2019, SM Entertainment uploaded a trailer featuringJaehyun, announcing the fourth season titledStation X.[13] The season began on November 20 with a collaboration single withUNICEF "This is Your Day (for every child, UNICEF)", by BoA,Siwon,J-Min,Sunny,Taemin, Suho, Wendy, andDoyoung.[14]
On July 27, 2020, SM Entertainment announced a special project titledOur Beloved BoA featuring covers of BoA's top hits to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her debut. It began on July 31, with the first single "Garden in the Air" by Baekhyun, from BoA's fifth Korean studio albumGirls on Top.[15]
On January 28, 2022, SM Entertainment announced a special project titledNCT Lab, which will feature solo or unit songs made by NCT members. It began on February 4, with the release ofMark's first single, "Child".[16] The second single, "Conextion (Age of Light)", sung by Doyoung, Mark andHaechan,[17] was released on March 20 as a collaboration with theMinistry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, who used it as the theme song for their "Gwanghwa Era" project. It features modern instruments and traditional Korean instruments including thegayageum,janggu,taepyeongso andgong. The performance video features Shotaro as a dancer.[18][19] As of July 2023, there have been a total of six singles released underNCT Lab, including "Forever Only" by Jaehyun,[20] "Birthday" by Ten,[21] "Rain Day" by Kun, Taeil, and Yangyang,[22] and "Golden Hour" by Mark.[23]
In August 2023, it was announced thatNCT Lab would continue as a separate project from SM Station.[24] It began with a solo single by Jaehyun titled "Horizon", released on August 8.[25][26]
| Award ceremony | Year | Category | Nominee / work | Artist | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards | 2017 | Song of the Year - February | "Rain" | Taeyeon | Nominated | [citation needed] |
| Song of the Year - September | "Dancing King" | Yoo Jae-suk andEXO | Nominated | |||
| Song of the Year - November | "Sweet Dream" | Kim Hee-chul andMin Kyung-hoon | Nominated | |||
| Golden Disc Awards | Digital Bonsang Award | "Rain" | Taeyeon | Won | ||
| Korean Music Awards | Best Dance and Electronic Song Award | "$10" | Hitchhiker | Won | ||
| MelOn Music Awards | 2016 | Best Ballad Song | "Rain" | Taeyeon | Nominated | |
| Song of the Year | Nominated | |||||
| 2017 | Best Rock Song | "Sweet Dream" | Kim Hee-chul and Min Kyung-hoon | Won | [27] | |
| Mnet Asian Music Awards | 2016 | Best Vocal Performance Female Solo | "Rain" | Taeyeon | Nominated | [citation needed] |
| HotelsCombined Song of the Year | Nominated | |||||
| "Spring Love" | Eric Nam andWendy | Nominated | ||||
| Best Collaboration | Nominated | |||||
| "No Matter What" | BoA andBeenzino | Nominated |