SM's H2 2026 comeback wave: Red Velvet, NCT 127, Taeyeon, aespa, WayV all in motion
Red Velvet's back after 2+ years. NCT 127 drops their 7th album on the 24th. Taeyeon returns with a studio album for the first time in ~4 years.
SM Entertainment's second half is stacked.
Red Velvet is back with mini-album Velvet Summer, their first release since June 2024 — a gap of 2 years and 2 months. The title track is Surfin' Boy, with lyrics credited to member Joy.
NCT 127 drops their 7th regular album on the 24th, roughly 2 years and 1 month after Walk. A new world tour follows in September.
Taeyeon of Girls' Generation is returning with a full-length studio album, her first in approximately 4 years. Three other Girls' Generation members—Hyoyeon, Yuri, and Sooyoung—have formed a new unit called 효리수 (Hyo-Ri-Soo), 19 years after the group's debut. The trio recently met with MBC Show! Music Core producers to arrange their debut stage, with footage posted to YouTube.
aespa held their first-ever solo concerts at Gocheok Sky Dome on July 7–8. The July 7 show was live-streamed to 146 movie theaters across 11 regions worldwide; the July 8 show streamed online. From Seoul, the group heads into a new world tour covering 25 regions including North America, South America, and Europe.
WayV kicks off their new tour Born This Way on September 12–13 at Seoul's KBS Arena, with a stop at Yokohama Arena in Japan scheduled for January next year.
(Tracking SM's H2 calendar is basically a full-time job at this point.)
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