Recently, Korea's leading paper, "Chuo Nippou" wrote an odd article titled, "The Golden Age of K-POP: Various Idol Groups Debuting in Succession."
In the article, one of the acts the writer touched on the most was Cross Gene, who recently held their showcase in Seoul. The band features one Japanese member, two Chinese and three Koreans. The
leader is the uniquely Japanese TAKUYA, who has been featured in JUNON
magazine's "Super Boy Contest" for beautiful boys in Japan. Incidentally,their management company is Amuse, a Japanese corporation. As is well-know, Amuse is a major company, home to such music legends as Kuwata Keisuke, Fukuyama Masaharu, etc.
Certainly
there are Korean members, and they make up the majority. But with a
Japanese leader and Japanese management, is this really K-Pop?
"Cross
Gene is a collaboration project between Universal Music's Asia division
and Amuse. Amuse's Korean branch trained these boys, and held their
debut stage in Korea. After gaining popularity in Korea, they will go to
Japan and China for promotion it seems. The manager, Hon HyonJyon has
experience at some of the major labels in Korea, and his reputation on
idol training is well-respected.
However,
while the Korean press has been straining to claim Cross Gene for their
own in their reports, the truth is its an effort on Amuse's part to
trail-blaze in Asia. "It's pseudo-K-POP," said one entertainment
reporter.
In the past, mixed Japanese-Korean groups like the band Y2K (hew) have
debuted in the past, but they never garnered good results. Netizens
said, "There hasn't been a multinational group hit it big yet," and
"Because of the rampant illegal downloading from Korea to China, it'll
be hard for them to sell well," among other negative comments.
"This
is a serious step for Amuse in advancing in Asia. Because of their
status as one of the top entertainment companies in Japan, they will be
able to do their promotions by force and bulldoze through the K-Pop
environment. Amuse has already gotten their song in CMs in Macau and
Hong Kong even before their debut, as well as having two members, SHIN
and TAKUYA cast in a drama in Japan, RUN60. They've also done the
opening theme. Honestly I don't think they'll hit it big in Japan, but
Amuse wants them to sell in Korea and China and other Asian nations so
they will be attacking at full force."
Are they taking advantage of the K-POP boom? Will bulldozing their way into the market work out?
Source - Cyzo
Translation - qummydino
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