IZ*ONE's Breakup.. Sakura Miyawaki has no choice but to "return to Korea" to play an active role in the world
IZ*ONE's Breakup : Sakura Miyawaki has no choice but to "return to Korea" to play an active role in the world
IZ*ONE's 12 members future
In the first part we look back to IZ*ONE's activities with comparisons between in Korea and Japan, in the second one we will look into the members futures.
These 12 persons are borrowed from 8 different companies in South Korea and Japan and are expected to return to their respective company.
After this they will go on different paths. The four most likely are (1) Join a new group (2) Join another group (3) Become a solo singer (4) Become an actress
(T/N I will skip some parts that I think is unnecessary for the topic or summarize it because this article has 6 pages)
IZ*ONE's Korean members may or may not have expired their contracts with their respective company depending on the contract length. But if there is a member who had their contract expired they will be flooded with contract offers from various of entertainment companies.
Possibility of forming a new group:
The members Ahn Yujin and IZ*ONE's center Jang Wonyoung both belong to Starship. Since they are only 16~17 there's a big chance they will debut in a new group. It a good timing for Starship, their company because they have not had a new girl group since 2016 with Cosmic Girls.
Wonyoung the youngest has been a consistent center until the very end, and is one of K-POP's most talented members in every way. Even in academics and is fluent in english. She's like the Othani Shohei of K-POP. On the other hand Yujin is a very good performer and have good mc skills, so only with them two this new group has hit potenial.
After them is the oldest Kwon Eunbi and Kim Chaewon who belongs to Wollim. IZ*ONE was Eunbi's second debut in a group and considering her age she will probably debut as a solo singer.
On the other hand Chaewon has a possibility to be added into Rocket Punch, a girl group that debuted from that agency 2 year ago. But their popularity has been a bit down so it would be no surprised if Wollim wants to add one of the most popular members of IZ*ONE to this group.
The rappper, Choi Yena belong to the chinese agency Yuehua. For her there's many possibilities. One is that she joins popular Everglow from the same agency to boost the popularity even further. Another is that if Starship and Yuehua still has the same relationship as they did when they created cosmic girls she can debut in a joint group with starship members. Maybe she can also work in china because of her popularity.
Jo yuri, the main vocalist of the group. She belongs to stone music a subsidiary of CJ ENM. With her voice she's expected to debut as solo but since CJ ENM is one of the biggest production companies in Korea she can probably join several projects in the future.
Lee Chaeyeon was the center of dancing in IZ*ONE. Her agency hasn't debuted a group since 2015 with Oh my girl. In K-POP it's common for groups to disband because of disagreements or recently bullying, so it's good to have a capable leader.
Kim Minju and Kang Hyewon was known for their good looks. Even if they didn't excel in their perfomances they worked hard in IZ*ONE. Both will probably go into acting, in korea it's common for idols to become actors.
Just as sport sport athletes change teams sometimes that happens in K-POP too, Hyuna who's currently a solo singer started out in Wonder girls but hit her peak in her 2nd group 4MINUTE.
On April 29, Miyawaki Sakura (HKT48), Yabuki Nako (HKT48), and Honda Hitomi (AKB48), who was in IZ*ONE, left for home after a year and a half. While the future of the nine Korean members can be predicted in various ways, it is difficult to see the path of the three members from 48 groups.
For the time being, the girls are expected to return to HKT48 and AKB48, but the 48 groups they will be returning to have experienced a significant decline in popularity over the past two and a half years. The reasons for this can be summarized into four main categories.
(1) Changing ways of counting CDs on oricon since 2017
(2) Loses of famous members as Sashihara Rino and Miyawaki Sakura
(3) The NGT48 scandal
(4) Because of Covid 19 they can't hold handshake events or concerts
Also for the first time in 10 years AKB48 couldn't appear on NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen
HKT48 is set to release their next single on May 12th while AKB48 hasn't released one since march last year. They still do theater performances but can't do handshake events which is the biggest selling point for 48 groups.
There's also a big "girl crush" moment led by Blackpink, Mamamoo and Itzy that japanese idols don't have. K-POP has always been about making good music compared to the concept of AKB48 who is supposed to sell your personality during handshake events rather than the music.
It's not only AKB group and sakamichi series but many female idols in japan still tries to appeal to old men.
Now that entertainment is shared globally japanese groups falls out of favour and K-POP and groups like NiziU is thriving because of their skills and shows dreams and hope to their fans without selling it to middle aged men.
K-POP has upgraded the idea of idols and unless we become aware of this japanese idols will continue to decline.
Within AKB48 there is almost no place to show their talents, even in Japan it's hard so they might return to Korea. E-girls have disbanded and only NiziU (JYP) and JO1 (CJ ENM, Yoshimoto) can reach their level currently so it's hard to say if they will return to Korea or not. But after all now thanks to media you can work in Seoul, Tokyo or shanghai and please your fans.
Original post: Yahoo! Japan news
[+429, -84] There's no career path that will satisfy all of her fans and if we look at her as an idol she don't have very much time left. That's why I hope she follows the path she wants to take. I think the charm of idol-Miyawaki Sakura is that she can always shine the brightest in whatever situation she is put into.
[+401, -109] No, no there's no guarantee that her success remains the same in korea. In korea groups debut one after one, and many dissapear after just a year. Groups are pushed so hard that only a few induviduals can stay in front. And if they talk about japan she will get made fun of, so I think staying in her job with your potenial is most stable. But if she dare to take on a challange Korea is also an option.
[+319, 92] AKB groups who has been relying on selling handshake tickets in their CDs has been put down due covid 19 and lost it's false image as "national popularity" and revealed themselves to be an handshake idols surrounded by otakus. The only thing they can do is wait for covid 19 to be over but I don't know for how long a group with a collapsing business model can last. So I feel like finding a way for themselves to survive is better.
[+191, -73] When AKB sings on TV it's either "365 nichi no Kamihikouki" from 2015 or Koisuru fortune cookie from 2014. To put it in other words they haven't had a hit song in almost 6 years
With the same conditions as oricon's change and covid 19 outbreak, Sakamichi groups are still selling well. So it's natural to say AKB have lost it's charm.
By placing Sashihara that's not idol like, but multi talented as the top of AKB for long made it seem like no one knew what center image they should aim for. On top of that all scandals involving AKB's center candidates, Suto Ririka ruining the general election and NGT's crimes has totally weakened the group
I think the only way they can survive is to concentrate on the theater and take care of the current fans first, but for the three of them who were in the limelight of the flashy and glamorous IZ*ONE, the dark and small theater may seem to be an unattractive place.
[+143, -55] If you look at the Korean idols of the past, they could become world famous if they become a hit, but their lifespans are short. There are no groups or individuals that have been successful for 10-20 years.
[+116, -24] The level in Japan is just awful. The problem is that no one in the Japanese production industry seems to see it as a problem.
[+103, -26] I don't think she'll be able to dance like HKT now, so she'll just show her face for a while and then graduate.