SM Station Season 1

''SM Station Season 1'' is a compilation album recorded by various artists under SM Entertainment and outside the agency. The compilation album contains 52 songs and five bonus tracks recorded during the first season of SM Station, a digital music project. The album was released physically by SM Entertainment and distributed by KT Music on April 6, 2017, while the tracks that were already released are available to be downloaded digitally. It contains songs recorded throughout the course of Season 1 which spans from February 3, 2016, to February 3, 2017.

Background

On January 27, 2016, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man revealed the company's new projects for Hallyu wave during an SMTown event where he formally established new boy band NCT and formed a digital musical channel called ''SM Station'' where SM artists will release digital tracks every Friday. He envisioned various artists, songwriters, and producers to collaborate with SM artists for this platform. On the same day, it was revealed that Girls' Generation's Taeyeon would be the first to release a material by dropping a teaser video for "Rain." On March 30, 2017, SM Entertainment announced that all the songs from the first season will be compiled into an album scheduled to be released on April 6. The album featured all the 52 songs with five additional bonus tracks, a photobook, and a behind-the-scenes cuts of the participating artists.

Composition

Disc one

On February 3, Taeyeon officially released "Rain", a jazz- R&B song and the first under ''Station'' banner. On February 19, D.O. and SM's in-house record producer Yoo Young-jin released an R&B song "Tell Me (What Is Love)", a reworked version of the original song that previously appeared in Exo's first live album. Yoon Mi-rae became the first non-SM artist to release a ''Station'' track by releasing ballad song "Because of You" on February 26, with collaborations from Kenzie and Matthew Tishler.

On March 4, Eric Nam and Red Velvet's Wendy released an acoustic song "Spring Love." Yoona and 10cm released "Deoksugung Stonewall Walkway" on March 11. Jonghyun and vocal quintet Heritage released an acoustic pop song "Your Voice" on March 18. Amber released an English synth hip-hop song "Borders" on March 25, where she actively participated in the song's lyrics, music, and arrangements.

On April 1, ''Station'' had its first classical release through the release of "Regrets and Resolutions" by pianist Moon Jung-jae and flutist Kim Il-ji. The song itself was a cover of the original by Gary Schocker which was released in 2014. On April 8, Chen, Heize, and Vibe released dance-funk song "Lil' Something". Medium-tempo rock-ballad "Narcissus" was released on April 15 by M&D featuring Wheein from Mamamoo. M&D members Heechul participated in penning the lyrics while Jungmo composed, arranged, and produced the song. The next Friday, Kim Bum-soo and Kenzie released Latin pop song "Pain Poem", in which the latter were responsible for the production. The Station released "Mindjack" on April 29, the first heavy metal instrumental for the project. It was recorded by progressive metal band Inlayer. The first CD concludes with "Wave", a progressive house song released on May 6 by R3hab featuring f(x) members Amber and Luna, and Xavi&Gi.

Disc two

The second disc begins with " The Day", a folk ballad song performed by K.Will and Baekhyun which was released on May 13. The song expressed regret and longing for a past love. On May 20, Dana released "Touch You", a sentimental ballad song with its lyrics narrating honest message about music and dreams. Lay made his solo debut through the release of "Monodrama" on May 27, where he actively took part in the production of the song. The song fell under R&B genre and was the first ''Station'' release in Mandarin.

On June 3, comedians Kim Sook and Yoon Jung-soo released "You're the Boss", the first trot song on the digital project. Tiffany and rapper Simon Dominic released "Heartbreak Hotel" on June 10. The track featured Tifanny's vocal and Dominic's rap as they capture the feelings of an old couple in the process of breaking up. BoA and Beenzino released house song "No Matter What" on June 17. Both BoA and Beenzino wrote the lyrics of the song, conveying the desire to be with a lover together in any kind of situation. The last ''Station'' material for the month of June came with the release of "Definition of Love" by Lee Dong-woo and Swedish musician and songwriter Orphée Noah on June 24. The song is the first neo soul-jazz song of the project and was written, composed, and arranged by Noah himself.

On July 1, Cho Yeon-su, Kassy, Leeteuk, and Suho released "My Hero" in the eve of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The lyrics expressed hope that the struggles, the sweat, and tears by the South Korean athletes will serve as a foundation for victory. The proceeds of the song was donated to the Korea National Athletes Association. On July 8, J-Min and Sim Eun-jee released acoustic ballad, "Way Back Home". The song was entirely written, composed, and arranged by Sim. The music video features Red Velvet's Yeri. On July 15, Cha Ji-yeon teamed up LDN Noise to release "My Show", Cha's first EDM song. It is described as a cheerful song to get out of the summer heat. On July 22, f(x) released " All Mine", an EDM song that remains the group's last Korean single as a quartet to date. NCT 127 partnered with Coca-Cola to release the Korean version of "Taste the Feeling" on July 29. The second disc concludes with Girls' Generation's "Sailing (0805)" which was released on August 5 to celebrate the group's ninth anniversary.

Disc three

"Starry Night" by Lee Jin-ah and Onew is the opening track for the third disc. This jazz-pop song accompanied with its fairytale-like message was released on August 12. On August 18, Seohyun and Yuri collborated with Pantene, as they released "Secret", a dance-pop song with a focus on its strong drum and bass. On August 26, Kim Hyo-yeon, Jo Kwon, Min, and Park Jin-young released "Born to be Wild". Jo stated that it is great to have SM and JYP collaborating.

Hitchhiker released EDM song "$10" on September 2. The song was entirely composed by Hitchhiker himself. On September 9, DJ 250 released a remixed version of BoA's "Pit-A-Pat". This particular song was created in collaboration between SM and Beasts & Natives (BANA). On September 17, Exo and Yoo Jae-suk released dance-pop song "Dancing King". The song is released for the latter's series, ''Infinite Challenge'' and the proceeds were donated to charity. On September 23, Bada and Ryeowook released "Cosmic", a pop song with a mysterious and dreamy atmosphere.

The first release for October is "Heartbeat" by Amber and Luna featuring Ferry Corsten and Kago Pengchi. The electro-trance song was released on October 2 during the Spectrum Dance Music Festival. On October 7, Alesso and Chen released the Korean version of "Years", an emotional piano melody with a beat drum sound. On October 14, Henry Lau and Soyou released "Runnin'", an R&B song that compares the excitement between a man and a woman by comparing it to coffee. Henry is involved in penning and compsoing the track alongside American production team The Stereotypes and Brother Su. On October 19, BeatBurger and BoA released "Music is Wonderful", a progressive EDM song which BoA herself wrote and composed. The song was originally released on October 1 during the Spectrum Dance Music Festival. The last release for October is "Nightmare" on October 28 by rocker Yoon Do-hyun, rappers Reddy and G2, and SM Rookie Johnny who appears as the DJ. The song is described as an experimental crossover between hip-hop and heavy metal as it interprets the words "villain" and "nightmare."

Track listing

Chart

Weekly chart

Release history

References

{{SM Town

2017 compilation albums
Albums produced by Lee Soo-man
Albums produced by LDN Noise
Electronic dance music compilation albums
Genie Music compilation albums
Jazz-pop compilation albums
K-pop compilation albums
Contemporary R&B compilation albums
SM Entertainment compilation albums