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On Monday, March 4, NCT Taeyong's behind-the-scenes for the jacket and music video filming of his latest mini album, TAP, was released, and fans naturally rushed into tune for the same. While fans were excited to see the creative process behind the idol's second solo album, they were rather disappointed by the treatment he received from his agency's staff.
During the first few minutes of the video, the idol was seated with some staff members to discuss the narrative of TAP's music video. As the staff members laid down the theme that the music video would follow, Taeyong suggested that since most of the shots were placed indoors, he'd like a shot of him in an open public space.
While the agency agreed to the idea, they stated that no one would be accompanying him for the particular shot. They added that his manager won't be available, so he can either choose to go with another person or alone. Though the idol brushed off the issue by stating that it doesn't matter if staff accompanies or not, fans were enraged by the incident and called out SM Entertainment for its poor management of the idol.
Fans enraged following revelation that NCT's Taeyong was not accompanied by SM Entertainment staff for outdoor filming of his TAP music video
On February 26, NCT's Taeyong rolled out his second solo mini-album, TAP, and fans immediately fell in love with the eponymous title track. As fans continued to look forward to the promotions and other related content that would follow the album release, they were hit with the release of the jacket and behind the scenes video for TAP.
Given that the song intrigued several fans and also left them pondering the idol's style as a soloist, they naturally swarmed in to get a glimpse of what went down while creating the song. During one part of the video, the idol was seen seated at a round table with some SM Entertainment staff members and other individuals who worked on the album's intricacies.
As they went around discussing the music video's narrative and details, Taeyong noticed that most of the scenes were shot indoors. Therefore, he suggested that a few outdoor shots in a spacious locality would be a good addition to the music video's visuals.
"So almost all of them (the filming locations) are indoors. I wanted just a scene where it looked very spacious."
To this, the staff replied that the shot could be done but that no supporting staff members would be provided for him, including his personal manager.
"(For the shoot) you can go with one other person or alone. Your manager won't be there, no one to do your hair or makeup. No one will be there for you."
Taeyong replied,
"Right, it doesn't matter."
When the clip landed on the internet, fans were frustrated and angry. Given that the idol's album TAP was already completely self-produced, fans were enraged that the agency was unwilling to provide supporting staff for the MV filming. They also stated that it was disrespectful of them to add the clip of them discussing their lack of support for Taeyong in the behind-the-scenes video.
Fans also believe that SM Entertainment's mistreatment rises due to its bias since other artists are often provided with sufficient supporting staff at times of need. Following the incident, fans have even begun to hope for the idol's departure from SM Entertainment since his consistent mistreatment at the hands of the agency is unfair to him.
