As SM Entertainment prepares to bring its decades-spanning roster to London for SMTOWN LIVE IN LONDON at Allianz Twickenham Stadium on June 28, 2025, we’re tracing the moments that shaped its legacy as a K-pop powerhouse and blueprint builder for an entire industry. 

Welcome to the SM Legacy Series.

Before lightsticks lit up arenas or synchronised fan chants echoed through stadiums, K-pop’s idol system was still being engineered — an intersection of ambition, experimentation, and cultural reinvention. At the centre of that formative moment stood SM Entertainment, and with them, a group that would lay the foundation for what an idol could be: H.O.T.

Their 1996 single “Candy” wasn’t just a catchy follow-up to the grittier “Warrior’s Descendant” — it was a declaration of new possibilities. Released at a time when the Korean music scene still leaned heavily on trot, brooding ballads, and hip-hop influences, “Candy” arrived like a sugar rush: bright, bouncy, and defiantly upbeat. But beneath its candy-coloured exterior was a framework that would become a defining pillar of K-pop’s idol era for decades to come.

SM didn’t just release a song. They packaged an identity — oversized mittens, colour-blocked school-uniform styling, and choreography that fans could learn and emulate. This multi-layered approach invited fans to engage beyond passive listening. Early fan clubs like Club H.O.T organised around shared fashion and dance, marking a nascent form of immersive fandom that would explode in the following decades.

Musically, “Candy” was synth-heavy and melody-driven, featuring soft rap verses and gleaming harmonies. Its light, youthful sound aligned perfectly with the playful visuals, introducing a concept as much as a single. At the time, this was a clear departure from the dominant trot and ballad styles in Korean music. SM Entertainment’s decision to embrace bright, approachable sounds and visuals marked a deliberate and innovative pivot that pushed the industry forward. Far from following trends, SM shaped them, blending accessible pop with performance elements fans could actively engage with.

SM’s approach with H.O.T and “Candy” packaged the group as a multi-dimensional brand, creating a fully immersive experience that included visuals, choreography, and fan interaction, setting a template still central to K-pop today.

Similarly, the early fandom culture around H.O.T was a model they helped cultivate through intentional community-building elements, from fashion to dance. With “Candy,” SM pioneered the concept of the idol as a fully realised brand, designed to generate emotional cohesion, inviting fans to enter an immersive experience rather than just listen passively. By overseeing every element of the group’s presentation, SM created a product that fans could visually recognise and physically emulate, deepening their connection and investment.

“Candy” helped transform how fans interacted with idols, moving beyond simple admiration into deeper immersion. H.O.T’s carefully crafted personas — from their playful styling to their energetic choreography — gave fans tangible ways to connect. Early fan clubs didn’t just follow the music; they adopted the group’s fashion, learned the dance moves, and created community projects, laying the foundation for K-pop’s distinctive fan culture. The sweetness of the lyrics and the sincerity of their performances reinforced this intimacy, giving fans a reason to invest emotionally in the group’s world.

This ethos — emotionally resonant storytelling combined with a concept-first visual identity — became SM’s signature. The fact that groups like EXO and NCT Dream still revisit “Candy” underscores its lasting influence. Its endurance goes beyond nostalgia; it’s a testament to how SM’s early strategic choices laid the foundation for K-pop’s core mechanics: immersive narratives, multi-dimensional idols, and fan engagement that blends music with lifestyle.

In 1996, launching such a cohesive, concept-first idol group was forward-thinking and experimental in the context of the Korean music scene’s conservatism. SM didn’t blindly bet on unproven territory; instead, they methodically engineered what has since become an industry standard.

By building immersive artist worlds early on, SM established its legacy as a visionary agency not merely following the market but actively creating it. Nearly three decades later, “Candy” remains a testament to that legacy: a well-crafted foundation for K-pop’s global rise, where storytelling, emotional connection, and visual identity are inseparable from the music itself.

That’s what makes “Candy” pivotal. That this track continues to be covered signals recognition of a blueprint that still works. In a genre defined by reinvention, “Candy” is one of the rare constants: a bright, bouncy flashpoint that fused performance, emotion, and mass connection into something bigger than pop. It was SM’s early defining step and the beginning of their reign as K-pop’s most influential conceptual architects, and a company willing to build immersive worlds before the world was fully ready to receive them.

Nearly 30 years on, in “Candy,” we see the scaffolding of SM’s legacy: a belief in world-building, emotional clarity, and the idol not just as performer, but as a multi-faceted persona.  As the opening chapter in our SM Legacy Series, “Candy” stands as evidence that the future of K-pop was being invented – one playful hook at a time.