SM ENTERTAINMENT | YG ENTERTAINMENT

Rival Companies

Rival Fandoms

Rival Artists

Love?

The tragic masterpiece that is Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (that old hooligan didn’t actually create the story, it started with a narrative poem by Arthur Brooke – my English teacher lied!) comes to life in this fanfiction as narrated by Lexi.

In the fast growing entertainment industry, there are three companies known as the Big 3. The Big 3 consists of Korea’s top three record labels: YG, SM and JYP.

The biggest of the three, SM Entertainment, was founded by Lee Soo Man in 1989. It houses some of the biggest names in the KPOP Industry: Super Junior, Girl’s Generation, SHINee, EXO and f(x). SM’s groups boasts of their fandom power, as well as album sales. Unfortunately, SM is often looked down upon because of their “slave contracts” issue and the number of controversies emerged from the past decade. SM Entertainment’s project group is called “SM Town”.

Next is JYP Entertainment, founded by Park Jin Young in 1998. Their artists include 2PM, 2AM, Wonder Girls, miss A, and JYP himself. Despite the number of artist being less than SM’s, JYP Entertainment is one of the most successful companies in the business. Park Jin Young is said to be quite harsh and strict to his artists during training but is said to be like a father to the artists. The name for JYPE’s project group is “JYP Nation”.

Last but certainly not the least is YG Entertainment, founded by Yang Hyun-suk in 1996. YG Entertainment is home to many artists such as BIGBANG, 2NE1, PSY, Epik High and AKMU. Three of its artists – BIGBANG, PSY and 2NE1 are considered the most internationally known kpop artists. PSY’s hit song “Gangnam Style” was a huge international success that threw kpop into global recognition. Despite the scandals and issues it has encountered in the recent years, YG’s success continues to grow and facing SM head-to-head in various categories. The name for YGE’s project group is “YG Family”.

(Credits: Paraphrased and copied some of the content from manducheeks.hubpages.com/hub/The-Big-3-Kpop-Entertainment-Agencies)

In the recent years, the number of kpop fans has doubled. More individuals are catching the “Hallyu wave” and turning into fans of various Korean artist and idols. Due to the number of fans, fanwars have become more prominent in the industry – both local and internationally. One of the most known fanwars is between SM stans, those who support artists from SM Entertainment, and YG stans, who support artists from YG Entertainment.

The fandom wars have escalated and branched out to situations uncontrollable by the management, thus dividing the kpop industry into ‘companies before relationships’ stigma enforced by pressed fans. With this growing issue at hand, what will happen when a SM artist falls for a YG artist?

This is not a tragic love story. It’s tragic, and a love story. But with comedy and an occasional dose of bubble tea.