What's the secret to Sakura's decade long popularity?

Quote from Serendipity2000

.While we are at it any idea what wonyoung is up to? She was the only one I recognised and liked in izone. I hope she continues a career in the entertainment industry too.

wonyoung will debut in starship's new girl group with yujin and (possibly) ex sm trainee lami

She's very beautiful and you can drown in her eyes.

she's pretty...and her skills as a singer/dancer have improved over the years and whilst not great...she is charming as well

If she debut with hybe, that's going to be a long career for her, wow.

Cute face

One glance and you'll see her gentle visual.

Plus she's really nice life irl.

Basically every Japanese dream girlfriend (excluding waifus)

she's smart and knows what the fans wants

Quote from Serendipity2000

I like em both! So that's already quite a stellar lineup.

She got an A rank in Produce or sumn so I assume she must be quite talented! Ig the all rounder vibe plus an established fanbase is a major plus. It's translated so well into success in sk aswell.

Hmm i feel looks are hardly a leg up in an industry where everyone's Beautiful. Especially in produce groups. I think there's sumn about her aura plus her looks. She's not my cup of tea visually but I'm sure she's regarded as a beauty to many. She's quite in demand.

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I saw her performance in produce and with all due respect to her I didn't think it deserved an A but then again who am I to say one way or another...

dancing and singing wise...would you consider her above or below average (just within Izone)

yes she certainly does have a strong fanbase

Sakura is not the most talented in the technique sense but she just has a certain charisma I would say and that makes her stand out as she had to especially among hundreds of other female idols in her AKB48 days. I would say it's that charisma that is the root cause of her popularity, looks are a bonus.

It's not only her visuals but her personality that is appreciated.

Quote from Serendipity2000

This is a very very very important skill for any idol to have. I feel fandoms are a bit more important than the gp. Has her image changed or evolved since debut to suit changing trends or has the trend remained the same?

Yes her fandoms carried her since Nogi48 is more relevant than akb48 in JP nowadays.

I think she's good at keeping the images that her fans wants

Humble/down to earth (not really show wearing expensive brands), gamer (relatable to fans), hardworking (no dating scandal/focus on her work), good at fanservice (she knows what ship that her fans ships her with) and the most important trait,monitoring her fans on SNS so she knows what her fans are talking about and when there's something wrong she directly clarify it.

Combination of these.

Quote from Serendipity2000

Girlfriend?! Didn't she debut at 13 or 14 tho? i mean even in izone she still looks like she's in her teens. She gives a innocent younger sister vibe. Unless her fangirls and fanboys are also the same age the girlfriend image is a bit

Ahhh I didn't see her performance. Tbh idk much about produce! I have the attention span of a gnat. So I mostly rely on the kpop news sites and stuff when it comes to info. My bad.

Exactly! Looks I feel can help an idol get in the industry but after that they are on their own. Every idol especially produce groups are known for having gorgeous idols.

noted...lol

I always thought that Sakura gives off that "Main Protagonist" vibe. Like she's the pretty and hard working Next-Door-Neighbor type that you see in dramas where you can't help but root for her success.

(AND to beat that evil skanky rich side-bish who be tryin' to steal away the main man)

Also if anybody is curious about how much Sakura upgraded since Produce48, check out her and Eunbi's cover of Red Velvet's Monster

Simps

Quote from selfmate

I saw her performance in produce and with all due respect to her I didn't think it deserved an A but then again who am I to say one way or another...

dancing and singing wise...would you consider her above or below average (just within Izone)

yes she certainly does have a strong fanbase

She received an A because the judges changed up the "criteria".

IIRC from watching Produce 48, they realised that the Japanese trainees did not receive the same training as the Korean ones, hence why the Korean trainees were performing better and receiving higher grades - so they changed it up a bit and made it a bit easier for Japanese trainees to receive an A.

I don't think they ever explicitly stated this but it was implied because of above ^ (in the middle of evaluating all the trainees, the judges themselves acknowledged that the training was different blah blah).