KPop losing ground in Japan - the rise of HANA

    The Japanese producer SKY-HI , who is critical of KPop, had an audition , No no girls, which led to the group HANA.


    Its producer is a Chanmina, real name Otomonai Mina, who is said to have a Korean mother and she appears to know how KPop works pretty well.


    It is a 7 member act, and the leader is a Korean named a Lee Jisoo, said to be a former YG trainee . She is 25, too old to debut in Korea but was given a chance in Japan.


    While New Jeans has become moribund and acts like aespa, IVE, Le Sserafim, Illit and all these 4.5th gen acts are not really doing too well in Japan, HANA is gaining ground.


    KPop producers who could not make in Korea have moved to other countries to develop idols there, Lee Sooman, making idols in China, being the most famous of them.


    And, Japan, the most fertile 'colony' of KPop, is now leaving Korean hands.


    While Kora swoons for Huntri/x, an American group, KPop's basis is now being undermined everywhere. Newer acts will probably never enjoy the successes the major 3rd Gen acts had.

    Quote from WhyKnock

    While New Jeans has become moribund and acts like aespa, IVE, Le Sserafim, Illit and all these 4.5th gen acts are not really doing too well in Japan, HANA is gaining ground.

    Didn't IVE just break first week sale record in Japan for a Korean ggs?


    Thread
    IVE surpasses LE SSERAFIM, TWICE and Kep1er and have the highest 1st week sales on Oricon chart *still counting
    x.com/chartsive/status/1950866…8XRCYtI41BDZFOzUiTQA&s=19

    (Hidden Content)

    catzi
    Quote from vinslow4

    Didn't IVE just break first week sale record in Japan for a Korean ggs?


    Thread
    IVE surpasses LE SSERAFIM, TWICE and Kep1er and have the highest 1st week sales on Oricon chart *still counting
    x.com/chartsive/status/1950866…8XRCYtI41BDZFOzUiTQA&s=19

    (Hidden Content)

    catzi

    Yes


    You have to always reaad a WhyKnock thread with a few things in mind


    WhyKnock is delusional

    WhyKnock is almost always wrong

    WhyKnock is usually catastrophically wrong

    WhyKnock is cruel and inhuman in their views on how kpop idols should be

    WhyKnock is racist

    WhyKnock is bad

    WhyKnock is boring


    Once you start keeping them in mind, you can always safely discount any WhyKnock thread as complete nonsensical garbage.

  • AllKill VIP

    This is the group and song in question btw. It’s not quite my style but I heard it’s pretty popular in Japan right now


    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Quote from Bottles

    This is the group and song in question btw. It’s not quite my style but I heard it’s pretty popular in Japan right now


    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    I like this track, but I thought their other tracks were better . I think they do very good in rap sections of their song. I feel they're ahead of kpop groups in regard to that.


    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Are these true or are you joking?

  • AllKill VIP

    It's because Japan has excellent DRM. Their artists get paid and make a living. The Japanese music industry is the last one on earth that isn't a flaming mess. They control everything they can to make sure their content is on lock and rightfully so.

    Quote from tomoljo3

    It's because Japan has excellent DRM. Their artists get paid and make a living. The Japanese music industry is the last one on earth that isn't a flaming mess. They control everything they can to make sure their content is on lock and rightfully so.

    And it is hard for haphazard Korean management to beat that

    Quote from StanGIDLE

    I like this track, but I thought their other tracks were better . I think they do very good in rap sections of their song. I feel they're ahead of kpop groups in regard to that.


    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    i just found out about them recently and they are very talented. versatile too, seeing the songs that they have put out and all bops!


    they actually sing LIVE with basically no backtrack at all if you check out their live performances and this is while dancing too and still sounding really good. imo they are more talented than groups that come from kpop and i never follow any jpop artists, this is the first time. tbh i had the notion that they are untalented since the japanese members from kpop groups are usually not good at singing lol.


    and they were created from a survival show, no evil editing and all good vibes. kpop survival shows should take notes from it. even tho there's no evil editing, it's not boring at all. apparently the one who created them is a popular japanese-korean artist. you should watch it!


    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Edited 3 times, last by msmelon ().

    Like 1

    I was so impressed by them because I'm so used to kpop where rookies don't look that impressive from the start. I think they're doing everything right and they seem advanced when it comes to performance. It also helps that every song they've released so far is a bop. I think they should attempt to go global with them because I think they can benefit from that like XG did. However, I understand if they want to mainly focus on Japan


    Quote from msmelon

    how popular is chanmina in japan? or korea? i never heard of her before she made this group.

    She's popular in Japan. I think she has some popularity in Korea because she is half korean and married to a korean rapper. You should check out her music, it's very good


    Here is doing a first take with hana for one of her popular songs


    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    Here are some popular tracks

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    Korean single

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    def! i think they have the potential to be popular outside of japan with their songs, talent and live performances. like even the ones who are in charge with rapping can sing too. no shade but some of them might not fit the traditional "visual" standard but their charisma is strong that i think ppl wouldn't mind and would be drawn to them regardless.


    and their english seems good too? i know it might be different if they sing fully in english but their pronunciation is great in their songs. one thing they don't do tho is put subtitles for their youtube vlogs but they put eng subs for the survival show. wouldn't putting eng subs for their survival show an indication that they want to go global?


    btw have you watched their survival show? i'm about to finish it and i'm in the episode where each contestant has to sing a song by chanmina and you're right her songs are really nice. i like the whole premise of the show, it's so wholesome and a lot of focus on talent. you should watch their solo stage performances, they don't look like rookies at all and can actually stand on their own! chanmina seems super hardworking, she was creating the group and coaching them while pregnant.


    i've seen that first take, it's so good! i didn't know sad song is her song. i thought it was made for the show. i love it!

    Sad song was released in 2019, and they killed it on first take.


    I didn't watch the survival show but I should probably check it out.


    The tricky thing about jpop, it's not accessible like kpop. So you will find many content that doesn't have subtitles because Japan gatekeeps their content. Things have improved over the years because it used to be much worse and there's many songs people outside of Japan doesn't have access to.


    That's why I'm not shocked they don't put subtitles in their vlogs because Japanese music industry still gatekeeps content. I think they should be less restrictive with this group because I think they're doing a lot of stuff that kpop fans are missing with kpop.I think if they were to go global they wouldn't have any issue about fitting certain visual standards because I think globally people are more accepting. I think if you have talent which they do, then it won't matter much. If you look at XG for example they don't have the look of a typical kpop group, and that's okay because people became fans of them because of their music and performance. I think this group can do that too because you don't need kpop type of visuals to have success.


    Chanmina is awesome, and she filmed the MV for NG while pregnant. She kind of reminds me of Soyeon. Both started out with rap background but they're very versatile and can make many songs work. I think both are underrated as vocalist and they have a certain attitude that goes against what society expects for a singer in these industries.

    they did! i'm so impressed with their live performances. they're also good at interacting with the crowd. i see a lot of potential if they decide to go global. their trainers seem really good too if you watch the show. some of them couldn't even sing that well when they first started the show. kpop companies could learn from their training system. with kpop groups esp these days they are always either lip syncing or relying on loud backtracks. they really need to put more focus on vocal training and try to adjust the choreo so it's managebale for live performances. like we don't need to see them doing back flips while singing lol.


    yeah they really shouldn't be gatekeeping. i'm glad that the survival show had eng subs on youtube. i tried getting into xg but they don't click with me. their style leans too much into cringe/cultural appropriation. i think hana balances it pretty well with their hip-hop leaning song drip. i also watched their coachella live performance and it's like those typical kpop performance these days, loud backtrack/lipsync + lack of crowd interaction. what do you think of xg?


    true, inspiring! i can see how ppl look up to the both of them.

    Quote from draggehz

    me too i was shocked to see how many views she got on the first take

    yeah i had no idea how popular she is! tbf that first take performance is really good. like compare that one to this one lol


    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    you should check out these performances too:


    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    lol my group's the first take wasnt very good either. even though tft touches up stuff you can tell the artist's skill level


    actually i checked out hana tbh theyre just not my thing. obviously talented though

    Not only delusional, I think he might be schizophrenic or something similar


    He wakes up seeing IU laughing at him from the sky

    Quote from draggehz

    lol my group's the first take wasnt very good either. even though tft touches up stuff you can tell the artist's skill level


    actually i checked out hana tbh theyre just not my thing. obviously talented though

    lol which group? true, they def do post-production edits but yeah you can tell!


    ohhh are they too girl crush?

    Is Hana a k-pop adjacent group? (like NiziU, INI, JO1, AndTeam, ME:I, NEXZ, NCT Wish etc)

    Quote from GWSN-Puzzle

    Is Hana a k-pop adjacent group? (like NiziU, INI, JO1, AndTeam, ME:I, NEXZ, NCT Wish etc)


    Quote from BIGnorBANG

    Think so. I think it is similar to Sky-Hi's other groups, Mazzel and Be:First.

    Nah , I don't consider them kpop adjacent. I don't think think they really had anybody with a kpop background involved. If you look at groups like ME:I, NizIU, IS:SUE. and a few others they had some people in the kpop industry involved. Even if you look at XG, they trained within the kpop system and they advertise to kpop audience.


    From what I know about Hana so far, they don't really market to the kpop audience, but I assume they'll eventually try to expand and market outside of Japan. At the moment they mainly market towards Japanese audience, and I don't think they're attempting to appeal to kpop. They do have a korean memebr, but I'm unsure if we can label them as kpop like the groups mentioned. Like someone mentioned in this thread all of their vlogs are in Japanese with no subs. I think if a group is trying to be kpop adjacent they will have more options for languages

    Quote from StanGIDLE

    From what I know about Hana so far, they don't really market to the kpop audience, but I assume they'll eventually try to expand and market outside of Japan. At the moment they mainly market towards Japanese audience, and I don't think they're attempting to appeal to kpop. They do have a korean memebr, but I'm unsure if we can label them as kpop like the groups mentioned. Like someone mentioned in this thread all of their vlogs are in Japanese with no subs. I think if a group is trying to be kpop adjacent they will have more options for languages

    Wait my baddd! I just checked their vlogs again and they do have eng subs! Only their recent blue jeans mv reaction doesn't have any sub. The rest of their videos have eng subs!

    I have been suprised that jpop have been a bit slow to add som more kpop influence to their groups or at least not tryed hard enough. At the end of the day groups like AKB48 and all similar "mega groups" probably will be replaced with groups that are more similar to kpop groups, even if the music maybe will be a bit more typical jpop.


    Not sure if it's only me, but feels likes jpop, at least the idol type of groups have been a bit boring last couple of years, few really good songs.

    Quote from patrik-k

    I have been suprised that jpop have been a bit slow to add som more kpop influence to their groups or at least not tryed hard enough. At the end of the day groups like AKB48 and all similar "mega groups" probably will be replaced with groups that are more similar to kpop groups, even if the music maybe will be a bit more typical jpop.


    Not sure if it's only me, but feels likes jpop, at least the idol type of groups have been a bit boring last couple of years, few really good songs.

    I think they’re trying to do the opposite, take on as little kpop influence as they can and preserve their unique jpop sound. At least, that’s what I have read.


    It might be for the better too, at least for now. While Japanese cultural power has been on the decline for the past 15 years and Korean cultural power on the rise, Japanese culture is becoming increasingly popular with the younger generations in Korea once more, and as Korea is quick to catch onto trends, that probably means a resurgence in Japanese culture in wider Asia and maybe globally.

    Quote from msmelon

    Wait my baddd! I just checked their vlogs again and they do have eng subs! Only their recent blue jeans mv reaction doesn't have any sub. The rest of their videos have eng subs!

    np :sweat:


    I'm still unsure if we can label this group as kpop adjacent like other groups mentioned. I don't think they're trying to market to kpop audience yet and I don't think they used kpop training system. With other groups mentioned in this thread, they used kpop training system and some marketing towards kpop fans.


    I don't think that term matters much anyways because they make good music and hopefully more people give them a chance. I think they have something special in their hands if they market them right and expand their market. I don't think they should restrict this group just for the Japanese audience. I think they can gain some lapse kpop fans because they're doing a lot of things that many are missing with current kpop.

    Quote from Bottles

    I think they’re trying to do the opposite, take on as little kpop influence as they can and preserve their unique jpop sound. At least, that’s what I have read.


    It might be for the better too, at least for now. While Japanese cultural power has been on the decline for the past 15 years and Korean cultural power on the rise, Japanese culture is becoming increasingly popular with the younger generations in Korea once more, and as Korea is quick to catch onto trends, that probably means a resurgence in Japanese culture in wider Asia and maybe globally.

    Well, I still think they would benefit from move away from the "AKB" type of mega groups and have groups more like kpop groups, but that don't mean they should change the rest.

    Quote from WhyKnock

    No . It was formed as a counter against KPop, using a Japanese producer with some Korean background and using a Korean trainee who reportedly trainged at YG

    yeah jisoo used to train in YG and momoka was a contestant in produce 101 japan (franchise created by CJ E&M). jisoo most likely auditioned for the show cuz the show had no age restrictions and she was too old for kpop companies. she auditioned when she was 23/24.


    i also think chanmina created this group with some intention of competing with kpop. found these about her:


    Moving to Nerima, Tokyo during her elementary school years, she discovered the song "Day by Day" (2008) by Korean band Big Bang, and felt moved by the song, inspiring her to become a rapper.


    Chanmina has also mentioned that K-pop was a source of comfort for her back when she was mocked for not being fluent in Japanese. “Actually, my first show ever was Bigbang at Budokan … I was just looking up in awe,” she told The Japan Times.


    they also post videos like relay dance which started in kpop:


    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Edited 2 times, last by msmelon ().

    Like 1
  • This thread contains 4 more posts that have been hidden for guests, please register yourself or login to continue reading.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

Register Yourself Login