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