Wonder Girls' Japanese debut receiving doubts, criticism

[qummydino.livejournal.com]

Another girl group is passing themselves off as "the last big-shot" from K-Pop to debut in Japan. This time it's 5-member group, Wonder Girls with their album "Nobody for Everybody" (7/25) whose debut has been made public.

"Wonder Girls debuted in 2007 in Korea. Their single 'Tell Me' was a major hit, and they quickly rose to stardom. They debuted at the same time as Shojojidai, who are at the top of the domestic market in Korea, and KARA, who are popular in Japan, but since then their popularity has fallen. In 2009 they made full-blown advances into the American market, and they became the first Korean singer to chart on Billboard's Hot 100 with 'Nobody' (#76). They continued promotions there until last year when they came back after a two year absence to the Korean market and reached #1 with a new song there," said one Korean entertainment reporter.

Wonder Girls have been promoted in the Japanese media as, "The last important K-Pop artist [to come to Japan]" and "K-Pop's ultimate weapon," heralding their coming with great fanfare, and these claims must be true, right? "Truthfully, I don't think so," said one K-Pop entertainment writer.

"In short, they advanced into the American market, but they weren't able to sell. And when they came back to Korea, in the time that they were away from their homeland, their status had fallen and it was Shojojidai's big break. They definitely got a #1 single after a 2-year absence, but compared with Shojojidai, they didn't have much power on the charts. In the end, it seems they've already passed their peak in Korea, and are looking at Japanese promotions as a means of survival. However, doesn't it seem like it's too late for that?"

They were rejected by America, then rejected by their homeland, and so they've had to try their hand in Japan, even with the K-Pop boom losing steam. We wonder what will happen when these "former big-shots" come to Japan with K-Pop already in its final days in Japan.

Source - Cyzo
Translation - qummydino

im really interested to see how they sell in Japan, Wonder Party was so good n I was missin them a lot!

Comments

[molly-hime.livejournal.com]

This article is just trying to start unnecessary wank, and being Omona, I'm sure it'll happen. Are they going to top the Oricon? Probably not. Are Japanese Wonderfuls going to be extremely happy and have one of the greatest kpop songs of all time in their own language to enjoy, yes.
Are the girls going to get to see their Japanese fans, yes. Are they happy? Yes.
Mmk, sounds good to me. Also I've not seen one article bragging about them going to Japan, nor have the girls bragged. To quote Yoobin "We don't care about topping the charts, we just want them to hear our songs." If money is JYP's main objective (which it probably isn't) it's certainly not the girls main objective.

[molly-hime.livejournal.com]

Also, the girls look stunning in the album shots.

[ionizable.livejournal.com]

ia with everything you said, but lbr jype is pretty desperate these days to make some bank. the girls are probably thrilled to get to go interact with their japanese fans, but they're also probably aware that they need to chip in and do their part to make money for the past few years since they haven't been as profitable as the standard idol group.

[molly-hime.livejournal.com]

Is it really that bad? I don't really pay much attention to companies themselves, but I always thought JYP groups did pretty well.

[ionizable.livejournal.com]

i haven't been paying attention to the numbers in the past few years, but i'm pretty sure jype is still nearly always at the bottom of the big three. i know a couple years ago jype had a net loss of a few billion won, mostly thanks to the american venture but also the chinese market too i think? as opposed to yge which made a few billion in net profit.

[molly-hime.livejournal.com]

Hmm never realized it was that bad. I knew they were nowhere near SM cause SJ and SNSD rake in the dough.
I can only imagine if WG had never gone to America, JYP would be rolling in it right now. Dropping the top group of the planet when they've just hit the peak? Not a great idea.

[hpn88.livejournal.com]

Dream high saved the company IMO. That and 2cf's revenue.

[pivotandsway.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's that bad. Early last year yeah, JYPE was arguably in a dire financial situation (which he admitted was due to promoting artists overseas) but I think the success of their releases since then has them doing fine. Yes they would of course want to recoup the potential sales from when they were gone but it's not like they're dead weight or about to go bankrupt.

[akaich0u.livejournal.com]

IA. Money was a major factor in this move but the worst has passed for JYPE.

[zoetheslacker.livejournal.com]

how's 2PM faring in Japan? they seem to be quite popular with advertisers and i dunno, the current IT k-pop group to be mentioned when talking about the japanese market. though i believe that their record sales are no where near SM's roaster.

[hpn88.livejournal.com]

not that badly, but they crossed 150k for their latest single plus selling out 8 concerts (though Chinese and K-fans contributed greatly to those I think). They're not flopping and I think their Japanese management actually knows what they are doing.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

They're doing well enough, they're being promoted more as idols than music but they've got a decent sized fanbase for a debuting male idol group which rarely happens. Help that they've released original songs.

[zoetheslacker.livejournal.com]

ngl, i had actually enjoyed I'm Your Man more than their Korean releases

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

I actually liked their JPN releases way more than their emo/try hard stuff from Korea.

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Your coment is perfect.

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

"This article is just trying to start unnecessary wank"

*looks at who's the OP*
Yep, you're right

And perfect comment is perfect

[pivotandsway.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad this is the first comment

[akaich0u.livejournal.com]

Very true.

[drownanddive.livejournal.com]

Great first comment. IA.

[tomtom28.livejournal.com]

neither are funny though

[uledy.livejournal.com]

Well, the source, cyzo, is complete trash and littered with endless piles of wank… you only really post things from that site if you want to create drama and scandal...

[yasmine2009.livejournal.com]

This. The person that wrote this article can take many seats.

[tugtugbeds.livejournal.com]

"They were rejected by America, then rejected by their homeland"

Y'ouch..

[oncloud999.livejournal.com]

ouch that last paragraph is harsh. certainly they've missed some golden opportunities where the korean market's concerned. they fared ok in the us, so i wouldn't say they're "rejected". as for their japanese debut, it's hard to say. i can't say their style is very suitable for the japanese market, like kara. and yeah, with kpop losing it's steam, i don't know whether it's a good idea. i don't know why jype isn't pushing them towards the chinese market, since they seem quite popular there already. is it because china is suppose to be miss a's market?

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Well it seems to me that this article was written only to bash them so... Don't even want to reply. I'm just glad the girls are having fun and meeting their fans, also in Japan. Be My Baby (and the whole album) is still my jam, I hope they'll make great song in Japan (even if I don't really see them happening there) and go on having fun like they seem to do.
And they were not that "rejected" in America, right ?

[molly-hime.livejournal.com]

Considering they had their own television movie, and are in the talks to get their own show, I'd hardly say rejected. Kpop fans expect success overnight, which rarely happens in the US. They've come a long way, and they have a long way to go, but they have the determination to keep going. And they've certainly gone farther than any other kpop group.

[izabera.livejournal.com]

mte
They built and retained a small but solid fanbase in a smart way, targeted the right audience, became fluent enough in English to do interviews etc...
This is why they didn't flop like BoA or Se7en.

[odd-fish-stick.livejournal.com]

no, i think it made the right kind of impact. not huge as maybe they (and the rest of the korean media) were hoping, but starting to enter the general target market's consciousness is never bad. It sucks they lost popularity in Korea, but oh well.

[odd-fish-stick.livejournal.com]

who is this "writer"? WG are not as popular as SNSD but they are not on their last breath either, wtf. They are just releasing a Japanese EP, and I think It'll do okay. Japanese people will be able to sing Nobody in Karaoke now :P

[deazaskia.livejournal.com]

i don't think they're debuting in Japan as in doing real activities and to promote the song properly. they said they wanted for Japanese people to listen to their music. well, something along those lines... ^__^;;

[tomtom28.livejournal.com]

Lol rejected in their homeland? I'm sure some girl groups would love to be in WG's position in Korea right now tbh

[supplanter.livejournal.com]

I actually think WG are probably pretty lucky. Maybe girlgroups don't get the same stalker fans as boygroups, but I kind of imagine going off the radar could have caused them to lose some of the crazies. If the majority of Wonderfuls are kind of slacker fans, great, no need to be embarrassed or worse by delusional stans. ~.~

[xxmannequin.livejournal.com]

They were rejected by America, then rejected by their homeland, and so they've had to try their hand in Japan, even with the K-Pop boom losing steam. We wonder what will happen when these "former big-shots" come to Japan with K-Pop already in its final days in Japan.

whoa.. isn't this a little bit exaggerated?? haha.
Anway, I love Wonder Party. I had low expectations as I found the last mini utterly boring, this one is great.

[pinky-fairy10.livejournal.com]

Have they heard the album? It was great. It actually exceeded my expectations since Be My Baby was not that strong.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

WG's last album was one of the best girl group records in ages, people can bitch but they're still doing well on Instiz and have good sales. Ofcourse their popularity has dropped but people are going overboard with their demise.

[miyozari.livejournal.com]

I feel like bitch slapping this article's author.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

There's only way that you can get more popular girls:

STOP RELEASING YOUR SONGS IN A GAZILLION DIFFERENT LANGUAGES!

[sweet16een.livejournal.com]

as long as the wonder girls are happy
who cares about being popular and as long as they fans willing to buy their albums. I think they'll be ok and I don't think that they failed in America they did way more them them then any other k pop stars that came to America.

[shortysc22.livejournal.com]

I think the biggest problem with their American debut was that their songs never really got airtime on the radio. If they had more airtime, even once a day, it'd make a big difference. Say what you will about people listening to the radio, but it still happens here.

That and they haven't been as active as most American artists trying to break through. It's all about touring and getting your name out there CONSTANTLY.

The best thing they did was the tour with the Jonas Brothers because that was their target audience.

[sadistic-dance.livejournal.com]

lol @ making it seem like Wonder Girls ain't shit but aside from that no one is here for another version of Nobody.

Stop it.

[devilsatin.livejournal.com]

I'll never get sick of nobody!!

flop post full of misinformation and falsifications tho. OP needs a new shtick cos the anti kpop thing is rly old :-(

[itskimbitches.livejournal.com]

cyzo is so not credible but this article is spilling that tea! lbr the wg are digging their own grave when it comes to the kpop game. jyp knows what kind of music they need to release to stay relevant against other groups but he's trying to make them different. it's not working.

[adyaby.livejournal.com]