Thursday, October 22, 2009

Jpop Brutally Thrases Kpop in Channel V Battle of Bands

When I first learned Channel V pitted (Japanese Pop) Jpop vs Kpop (Korean Pop), I was hesitant for I thought Southeast Asia is Kpop country. Every success Kpop has in Southeast Asia is reported religiously.

To my shock, Jpop artists thrashed their Kpop opponents in voting. Wow, it's unbelievable! I didn't expect that since Jpop isn't exactly the toast of most Asian entertainment sites (they usually concentrate on Cantopop and Kpop). The number of websites devoted to Kpop alone are many and regularly updated compared to Jpop ones. So, it's a great achievement as far as I'm concerned. The voting wasn't even close (with the exception of TVXQ, the only Kpop band who won), the margin of victory is about 3,000 (I'm too lazy to compute it this is an estimate). Of course, this is not an accurate measure of popularity in the region, but at least with Channel V audience it is.


Scandal defeated Girls Generation 10251 vs 8729. A very unlikely victory by Jrock chicks known for the opening song of Bleach

Yui beat Wonder Girls 12024 vs 7456. The margin of victory is astonishing. I'm starting to be a big fan of Yui anyway. The girl never seems to run of out of great songs.

Ayumi Hamasaki vs Boa 9859 vs 6945.

Mika Nakashima vs Rain 10253 vs 6542. The biggest surprise of them all. For some people, Rain rules Asia so I didn't expect this.

W-inds vs SHINEE 10639 vs 9276. Just look at W-inds and you know why they are popular with girls. They are also dressed up rather nicely.

Kat tun vs BigBang 14346 vs 10986. Battle of Boy Bands with Unique Fashion Sense. Whoever thought of pairing them is a genius!

Arashi vs Super Junior 37171 vs 33464 - This is probably the biggest match in the series. Arashi fans promised to make themselves known and they have succeeded. Congratulations! Make no mistake, Super Junior fans shouldn't be underestimated - they are many and loyal. They recently propelled their idols to top a music channel daily charts. However, this time they got beat.

In the leaderboard, Japanese boybands, Arashi and Kat-Tun place first and second in overall voting over TVXQ. Wait a minute, is this for real? Yes, it is. The fans of the two Jpop bands feel strongly enough to vote for their idols.

What is the moral of the story? Don't underestimate Jpop, just because it doesn't make much noise doesn't mean it's dying. Silent water runs deep, as they say.

I conclude Jpop is still strong in Southeast Asia (or wherever the scope of Channel V is) and has many loyal fans, capable of amassing together and influence online popularity voting.





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3 comments:

syue m said...

hey first time reading here. I'm an Arashi's fan and yeahh I'm happyy! :D

thanks for posting. :)

miss.yuuka said...

Very true.

I would have to agree with you. Thought that K-pop would beat J-pop, but to my pleasant surprise, J-pop topped the charts! Phew!

I'm a Big fan on Arashi, Yui, and other Japanese artists like Angela Aki, and Hirai Ken. It's refreshing to hear this for a change.

Don't get me wrong, I do listen to K-pop, but J-pop stuck to me.

BTW, Scandal rocks!

Oresama Baganihan said...

...Japanese music also has variety unlike others which consist mostly of bubblegum pop acts with despicable fashion sense, or sweet acting girls singing with vulgar lyrics.