COEX Artium SMTOWN: A Must For Kpop Fans

One of the reasons why I came to Korea was because I’m an avid listener of Korean pop music. So, when I found out that CIEE would be doing a K-pop tour and would be going to SM’s Artium at the Coex Mall I could barely contain my excitement.   

As a SM fan, I really enjoyed the tour of the museum. It was very interesting to see the setup of the different levels.

On the first floor of the museum—which would be the third floor of the actual building—is the SM Archive. All the artists’ albums were there and a sitting area where you can sit down and listen to your favorite songs. The sections for each of the artist showed the different concepts and artwork for albums, music videos as well. Like for EXO they had the storyboards for the Pathcode teasers from “Call Me Baby” along with the comic sketches and complete comic from The Power of Music album and a few other storyboards from other music videos. A lot of the concept work was mostly for the outfits that the artist would wear in the music videos and storyboards for some.  They also included props from some of the music videos, like the apple from Girl’s Generation’s “Mr.Mr” music video, the snap bracelets from Red Velvet’s “Dumb Dumb” and a lightsaber from EXO’s “Lightsaber.”

Also, on this floor there was a photo gallery showing behind the scene and on-stage pictures of the artists at SMTown in Dubai. (This was special exhibition so when you visit it might have changed by then.)

Up to the next floor was the Artist Gallery where they had clothing from music videos and other props as well. They had all of Girl’s Generations outfits from Into the New World to their Phantasia Concert. Some artist, like f(x), sadly had small sections within the gallery and EXO’s was somewhat small as well, not as big as Girl’s Generation, SHINee, Super Junior, and TVXQ. Some of the rooms were a little outdated, album wise at least, like for Super Junior they didn’t have any of the most recent albums or anything, they still had MAMACITA themed roomed with their outfits around the room but that was it. I hope they try to update some of the areas as it would be nice to see more recent outfits and such.

Once you come out of the museum there’s a small museum shop where you can buy small acrylic stands, bookmarks, stickers and a few other things as well along with getting unreleased photos from concerts and music videos and even photocards.

Outside of the museum store is the café and market. The market has artist themed snacks and drinks along with a few household items. There’s also a section that has all the albums from the artists that you can buy.

There’s also a giftshop on the second floor where you can buy merchandise like lightsticks, posters, stickers, postcards, and much more!

I know I’m forgetting somethings but one thing is that if you want to buy some merchandise while you’re there during the tour I suggest you grab what you want and get in line fast because when our group went the place was packed—probably because it was Girl’s Generation member Taeyeon’s birthday—and I wasn’t able to get any of the things I wanted.

If you can’t buy anything you can always go again! It’s about an hour bus ride from SK Global house to Gangnam and the giftshop’s line will still be long but you’ll be in and out really quick!

Fans of K-pop, I suggest you go on the tour and even if you’re not a K-pop fan I think it’ll still be interesting for you. The whole tour itself was entertaining with the dance class, going to COEX Mall, and the indie concert there’s something for everyone to enjoy!