A year’s worth of singles came to a close Thursday (Feb. 2) with the release of EXO member Suho’s “Curtain.”
The K-pop idol collaborated with Korean jazz musician Song Youngjoo on the track. With a gentle piano melody courtesy of Song, Suho’s sentimental vocals relay the earnest emotions of the neo-soul love song. The music video for “Curtain” featured Suho in an Inception-inspired altered reality as he moved toward his reluctant love interest, played by Korean actress Kang Sora.
While he has collaborated on several tracks in the past and performed individually at EXO’s concerts, “Curtain” is Suho’s first single as a lone vocalist. Another solo by him, “The First Moment,” is part the soundtrack for the currently-airing Korean webseries The Universe’s Star, which he also stars in.
“Curtain” is the 52nd single produced by SM Entertainment as part of the agency’s SM Station project. Since last February, SM Station introduced a new single each week that offered diversity from the brand’s typical K-pop sound and ventured into a variety of music styles, such as soul, heavy metal and EDM.
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Many SM-signed acts were featured throughout the project, but other Korean and international artists also partook in the year-long experiment. Several songs, including EXO’s collaboration with comedian Yoo Jae Suk “Dancing King” and f(x)’s “All Mine” (both No. 2), appeared in the top 10 spots on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart. Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon‘s smooth R&B single “Rain” — the inaugural SM Station song — and the November ballad “Sweet Dream” by Super Junior’s Kim Heechul’s and soloist Min Kyunghoon both topped Korean music charts.
And while Suho’s single appeared to be the final release of SM Station, SM Entertainment clarified on Wednesday that its weekly release project will continue on, ensuring a lot of new music from the agency in 2017.