CROSS GENE accused of being "not K-Pop"

[qummydino.livejournal.com]

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



precious Takuya thanks u for ur time

Comments

[kazu-kumaguro.livejournal.com]

ngl they are all attractive in their own ways and Shin is much better than my expectation so idc (I don't really like the group/song though)

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

All I can think of is how EXO M keeps getting called a Korean group.

Anyway wasn't the original UKiss like this too?

One of the Korean members is acting in Big right now too so that will help them...Japan is a bigger market for them anyway

[the-erotomanic.livejournal.com]

they sing in korean. and they're mostly koreans. those are reasons enough for me to think they're kpop. lol!

and shin and takuya are giants.

[gashinenai.livejournal.com]

forgive me for being so simple minded but if it's a pop song with Korean lyrics, isn't that kpop?
and if it's a pop song with Japanese lyrics, isn't that Jpop?
frankly who the hell cares who sings it then?

[kami-angel.livejournal.com]

(http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s300/Kami_angel_bucket/fav%20gifs/?action=view&current=tumblr_lt44izjUPg1qlsuza.gif)
really? really, thats what you're going to say just because a band is not purely 100% korean in every aspect?
(http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s300/Kami_angel_bucket/fav%20gifs/?action=view&current=tumblr_ltk0qtluhZ1qiwmsgo1_500.gif)
seriously, cannot believe this is being published especially after the bi-racial couple controversy of late

[cc9095.livejournal.com]

Will bulldozing their way into the market work out?

Without such promotion we would have much less bands, doesn't really matter if it's Korean or Japanese or any other bands and artists.

It's pseudo-K-POP
I wonder how they call Korean bands and artist who sing and promote in Chinese.

[charlieu.livejournal.com]

You even called them Korean bands. SNSD and KARA aren't considered Japanese and seen as foreign artists too.

[miuratenshi.livejournal.com]

This is the same shit people say to EXO-M in China and I hate dislike it. Cross Gene is K-Pop. Period.

[lee-chikin.livejournal.com]

THIS.

[blkjck.livejournal.com]

their mini was a bunch of american pop b-sides imo

[blkjck.livejournal.com]

not really relevant to he post it seems w/e

[aleash1989.livejournal.com]

I've been waiting for someone to talk about the nationalities of the members.

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

"Chuo Nippou"??

lol you mean "Joong Ang ilbo", literally "Central Times".

[xxmannequin.livejournal.com]

Just yesterday I read how UKiss had issues upon their debut because they had members of different nationalities, and now this.

[turtles-tszx.livejournal.com]

Having a different nationalities is not a problem seeing how group that has khun, victoria, jia, fei etc are doing really well. The problem was that alexander is a mixed korean who doesn't look like your typical east asian looking.

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

It's a problem of people being unable to relate to them because they didn't grow up in Korea, or had Korean parents, but..

If Koreans knew how similar childhood is in China and Japan and Korea compared to Korea VS Germany or Korea VS the US, they would feel a lot of compassion.

[uledy.livejournal.com]

oh. cyzo. I petition we ban this source. Can we not turn omona into a trashy/gossip comm like arama?

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

Who's bulldozing what? Article sounds stupid.

[o-o-mai-o-o.livejournal.com]

What makes it k-pop is the music, ffs. They sing in Korean and it's pop music.

[xcoca-mochax.livejournal.com]

I knew there was going to be an article like this -.-

[lee-chikin.livejournal.com]

Takuya gif, you are the best thing out of this article.
I don't care what they are as long as they get out of the nugu-zone. They deserve recognition imo.

[maximumtimo.livejournal.com]

grasping at straws

[xredada.livejournal.com]

Bullshit! I can't believe such an article was even published. Regardless of the leader's nationally they are still a Kpop group and are marketed as one. For a second i thought this aritcle was judging them due to their songs being produced 'foreignly' (if you hear their album the songs sound very western/euro pop) and i was about to lose my shit cos hypocrisy lmao.

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

so miss a isn't a kpop group either, seeig that they are half chinese half korean.

[iznanassi.livejournal.com]

No it is k-pop because the song is bad but catchy

[gashinenai.livejournal.com]

[lovemail321.livejournal.com]

(http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa206/marie-antonette/?action=view&current=tumblr_m5gts68pGz1rvbu08o2_500.gif)

[nnejck.livejournal.com]

RAMOOOOS<3

[opal.livejournal.com]

so is cyzo like the media take out of korea/china/japan or some shit?

[sisterjune.livejournal.com]

its a japanese gossip mag. and its p notorious for hating idols. but i dunno how they feel about korean idols, most of their hate is directed to the local idols.

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

This just seems like xenophobia to me. Honestly it's not right to say kpop is big in Japan or China, and then turn around and make songs in Chinese or Japanese. Because people use different songwriters and composers from different countries, the main thing that defines what is kpop, jpop, american pop, or cpop is the language and the culture. TVXQ and BOA got so huge because they assimilated with the Japanese culture, became almost if not fluent in Japanese, made jpop songs with sounds that were hot in Japan, promoted with Jpop hairstyles, etc etc. If they went to Japan and only sang in Korean, and didn't learn Japanese cutoms/manners, they would've gone nowhere.

In America if, say 2NE1 gets big, general fans will just here it as another pop song. If they become big fans, they'll eventually find out that 'oh' this groups is actually a bunch of Korean chicks.

Point is, AJAX is kpop because they are promoting and concentrating in Korea. Nationality has nothing to do with it.

[kohaku-chuu.livejournal.com]

I always felt it was called KPop because the main language of the lyrics (apart from random english) is korean, not because of the ethnicity of the peope who sing it.....?*shrugs*