[News] SME defends "inappropriate" SM The Ballad lyrics

SM Entertainment has filed a lawsuit against the unfair judgment which deemed S.M The Ballad’s album as ‘inappropriate for youths’.

According to the Seoul Administrative Court, SM Entertainment filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Gender, Equality, & Family, stating, ”We cannot accept the judgment which was made with imprecise standards.”

The Ministry of Gender, Equality, & Family deemed S.M The Ballad’s track, “Another Day“, as inappropriate for anyone under legal age due to the lyrics’ references to alcohol (“Drunk on alcohol so that I don’t miss you” and “If you fall asleep drunk, you dream“).

Yet representatives of SM Entertainment are claiming this judgment to be ridiculous. One particular representative expressed their opinion to Star News, saying “We don’t understand why they would flag it for inappropriate content based on references to alcohol. They didn’t consider the charm of the song as a whole. Judging by specific words impedes the writers’ freedom of expression.”

Last November, Super Junior’s Kyuhyun, SHINee’s Jonghyun, TRAX’s Jay and Jino worked together for a project group named ‘S.M The Ballad’. However, since the album was deemed as inappropriate for youths, fans under 19 years old was unable to purchase the album.