Oricon’s CEO discusses Girls’ Generation, B2ST, T-ara, & K-pop

CEO Koike Koh of the Oricon Corporation experienced something completely new on February 22nd. At the first ever Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards that took place in Seoul that night, Koike himself stepped onto the red carpet. How did it feel to be in front of 150 reporters and a combined number of 300 Korean & Japanese fans?
It was the first time in my life I felt like that,” he said.”I said to myself,So this is what it feels like for the stars who step out on the red carpet.’ I was also surprised at the loud cheers of the Korean fans.”
Oricon is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. The Oricon chart is a respectable and reliable source, and can be compared to the UK Chart in England, as well as the US Billboard.
Launched in 1968, the Oricon also served as the model when the format for the Korean Gaon Chart was created.
As someone who has closely observed the influence of K-pop grow over the years, CEO Koike sat down for an interview, and discussed what he sees as the charm of the fast growing world of K-pop, as well as the philosophy behind the well-respected Oricon chart.
Q. At the Gaon K-pop awards, you presented Girls’ Generation with the ‘Oricon Special Award’. What do you think is the secret to Girls’ Generation’s success in Japan?
A. Girls’ Generation debuted in Japan with their showcase at the Tokyo Ariake Colosseum. Although it was just a mini live performance for the fans who had purchased their CD, I was very surprised at how intensely young Japanese women responded to Girls’ Generation. None of other industry professionals, nor I, had ever imagined that young women could respond to a girl group like that. The marketing strategy of SM Entertainment and Universal Japan that targeted young female fans, was very effective.
Q. Between Taeyeon, who was the MC of the ceremony, and YoonA, who was the award presenter, do you like more?
A. For me, it would be YoonA (laughs). However, all nine members possess the talent and looks. It’s something I had felt before at their mini live performance, but I once again asked myself, ‘How were they able to bring together members like these into one group?’ It’s very surprising. In Japan, it would be no easy task bringing together nine people like them. To be honest, I met Lee Soo Man of SM Entertainment in Japan two years ago and pondered, ‘How much of this would become reality?’ as he explained to me about the concept of Girls’ Generation. It seems that dream has been achieved now.

Q. Besides Korean artists who are already well known in Japan like Girls’ Generation, TVXQ, KARA, and BoA, are there any artists or groups that you are anticipating?
A. I was so surprised at last night’s ceremony. It seems artists possessing a variety of talents are being born endlessly in Korea. I was able to feel the depth of K-pop. Specifically, I saw B2ST‘s live performance for the first time yesterday, and felt that their performance level was very high. It was very memorable how the members used [every part of their body] down to the tips of their fingers to express themselves. T-ara‘s visual concept and techno pop dance tracks were unique. I believe that T-ara will continue to gain much popularity in Japan.
Q. Japan’s representative girl group is AKB48. What is something that AKB48 possesses that Korean girl groups do not?
A. Even during their debut period, they were still amateurs. However, Japan has a unique culture in that we enjoy watching idols grow and improve [with time]. I’m referring to the enjoyment of watching each member’s dance or vocal skills, or visuals improve gradually. Also fans [in Japan] hold an election once a year, in which they participate in determining the  next activities of the artists. Through this kind of process, the amount of fans grow as well. AKB48′s producer explained that the beginning concept was ‘an idol you feel as if you can meet up with anytime’. Even now, if you buy seven of their CDs, you can shake hands and talk with the girls for 10 seconds.
Q. Oricon Chart is one that is respected and reported about almost daily by the Korean media. It is one that lives up to the name it stands for (‘Original Confidence’). What is the secret?
A. ‘Oricon’ has one more meaning, which is ‘Consumer Oriented’. It means to look at things from the consumer’s perspective, and help them see things that they weren’t able to before. ‘Accurately investigating into the overflooding and distortion of information to provide reliable data’ – this is Oricon’s philosophy.
Source & Image : MoneyToday StarNews via Nate

Girls’ Generation Contributes to the Success of K-pop in Japan


On February 16th, Oricon, a company which reports music sales in Japan, announced that Korean music CD and DVD products have seen the largest market scale increase in Japan yet. Though sales in the music disc marketplace have been continually decreasing the past five years, sales of Japanese music discs by Korean artists rapidly increased in 2011 and reached a record high of 24,470,000,000 yen.

The total sales from Girls’ Generation’s album, “Girls’ Generation” (sales in 2011: 2,960,000,000 yen), and KARA’s album, “Super Girl” (sales in 2011: 2,080,000,000 yen), were a drastic 22.3% increase compared to last year’s sales during the same months. Since the survey began in 2008, sales by Korean artists have increased each year. From 2009 (before the advance of KARA and Girls’ Generation to Japan) to 2011, the sales share of Korean artists in the Japanese market rose by 4.8% and increased the sales base by 2.3 times. In 2010 alone, the market share grew from 6% to 7.8%.

After 2010′s whirlwind Japan debuts by Korean girl groups KARA and Girls’ Generation, 2011 saw many male artists making their Japan debut. These artists included 2PM, Jang Geunsuk, SHINee, Beast, and others. A total of ten singles and albums from Tohoshinki, Big Bang, Girls’ Generation, KARA, Jang Geunsuk, T-ara, 2NE1, and more reached number one on 2011′s weekly rankings for music sales. This was the highest number of first place rankings by Korean artists since the beginning of album rankings in 1970, exceeding the previous record of five in 2008.

Furthermore, in the ranking for yearly album sales, Girls’ Generation’s “Girls’ Generation” (642,000 copies sold) and KARA’s “Super Girl” (451,000 copies sold) both entered the top ten. Sales by artists also reached a new high, with KARA (4,930,000,000 yen, 4th), Girls’ Generation (4,050,000,000 yen, 5th), and Tohoshinki (2,660,000,000 yen, 9th) in the top ten of total yearly sales.

2011 Korean Artist Album Ranking Top Five

Rank

Copies Sold

Album Name

Artist

Sale Date

1

642,054

Girls’ Generation

Girls’ Generation

6/1/2011

2

450,595

Super Girl

KARA

11/23/2011

3

293,674

Tone

Tohoshinki

9/28/2011

4

277,306

Girl’s Talk

KARA

11/24/2010

5

148,761

Hoot

Girls’ Generation

12/22/2010

Source: Oricon, Soshified

Jessica Talks About Her First Attempt in Acting

Jessica expressed positive feelings on her first time acting in a drama.

Girls’ Generation’s Jessica is playing the role of Kang Jonghee in the KBS 2TV Wednesday/Thursday drama, “Wild Romance”. Although Jessica has starred in a musical before, this would be her first attempt in acting.

The Jessica we saw through the interview was a person who was nervous but overflowing with willpower. On the subject of new challenges, Jessica stated, “I am having fun with it. I wish there was more time, so I’m sad.” Jessica also said, “It is true that my appearance on ‘Wild Romance’ was decided in a rush. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare because there was also a lot of overseas schedules for Girls’ Generation. I feel a bit sad that I couldn’t focus on just the drama. However, I’m really happy that I could experience something new.”

Girls’ Generation is currently active not only in Korea, but also in Asia, as well as the United States and Europe. Despite all the activities they had, it did not change during the filming of “Wild Romance”. Jessica even had to return to Korea first, alone, after completing schedules overseas. Jessica, who usually sleeps a lot, had to continue on acting with barely any sleep. Jessica said, “I could not get a lot of sleep. I was worried I would look tired in the drama. It is true that I was physically exhausted.” She laughed and added, “However, there were a lot of things that I learned through this drama.”

In the drama, Jessica had to cry in many scenes. This is difficult for a first drama attempt. On this, Jessica stated, “Emotional scenes were actually the most fun for me. I like myself focusing and immersing myself in an emotion.”

Recently, Jessica was “dumped” by the male lead in the drama, Park Mooyeol, who is played by Lee Dongwook. When asked about how it felt to be “dumped”, her cheeky personality showed and Jessica laughed.

Jessica also reminisced on her kiss scene with Lee Dongwook.

Through a recent interview with NewsEn, Jessica talked about her kiss scene with Lee Dongwook that garnered much attention not too long ago. Jessica recalled, “I acted out a kiss scene elsewhere before. But at that time I ‘acted’ like I did, so I was really nervous about this one.”

She laughed and said, “Before we started filming, I was told, ‘You really have to do this kiss scene,’ and I got nervous.” Jessica seemed shy about it and also added, “I shot the kiss scene comfortably by just going along with Lee Dongwook sunbae’s lead.”

When asked, “Were there any NGs?” she answered, “There were NGs… There were lesser NGs than I thought. But, there were a lot of cut scenes, so we had to shoot a lot.”

Source: NewsEn 1 , NewsEn2, Soshified

Jay Park & Girls’ Generation rank in Top 5 on Billboard World Album chart

Jay Park recently unveiled his first full length Korean album ‘New Breed‘ and made his comeback performance earlier today on Mnet’s M! Countdown with “Know Your Name“.

The album has been performing well on the charts in Korea, and now has placed 4th on Billboard’sWorld Album Chart!

Additionally, Girls’ Generation hit album “The Boys” placed 5th this week and this is their 4th overall appearance on the chart.

Congratulations to both Jay Park & Girls’ Generation.

Source: Billboard.com, allkpop

Wild Romance: Jong Hee(SNSD’s Jessica) blames Moo Yul (Lee Dong Wook), saying “You ruined everything

On 14th episode of KBS2’s Wild Romance, which aired on February 16, Jong Hee (SNSD’s Jessica) is portrayed blaming Moo Yul (Lee Dong Wook).

Feeling frustrated by Moo Yul’s rejection of her romantic confession, Jong Hee feels devastated prior to a drawing exhibition.

It is because all the drawings for the exhibition are severely damaged by someone.

Getting shocked at seeing the damaged drawings, Jong Hee gets angry at Moo Yul, saying all the bad things happened because of him, like the death of her pet cat and the damage of the drawings.

She says harsh things to Moo Yul and gives him a bash with her bag, blaming him for all the unfortunate things that happened to her.

Meanwhile, Soo Young is portrayed not remembering the fact she has ruined the drawings of Jong Hee even though she actually did it.

Source: Xportsnews, Korea.com

SNSD’s Sunny is small but she has a perfect figure

SNSD’s Sunny is drawing a lot of attention for her perfectly proportioned figure.

An online community posted several pictures with the caption, “Even though Sunny is small, she has a perfectly proportioned figure.”

In the pictures, Sunny is showing off her fabulous small-framed figure. Her small face and long beautiful legs make up for her height.

In one picture, she is wearing a tight top and shorts, which complement her glamorous figure.

People responded: “She is not even 160 centimeters tall but she has a perfect figure! I envy her.” “She is the cutest member of SNSD. You are the best!” “I’m small too but my body is not even close to her body.”

Source: Starnews, Korea.com

SNSD gives a great comfort to actor Lee Joongi in the military

Actor Lee Joongi pointed SNSD out as the greatest comfort during his military service.

On February 16, an event was held to celebrate Lee Joongi to be discharged from his military service in downtown Seoul.

On the day, when asked what has been the greatest comfort during his two-year military service, he said, “I want to thank all of SNSD’s members.”

“In the military, the most favored girl group is SNSD, right followed by A Pink and 2NE1. Especially new recruits are concentrating on such girl groups to distract themselves from the unfamiliar military life.

The event was packed with people, attracting about 2,000 fans and 100 reporters.

Source: TV Report, Korea.com

SM Entertainment slams doctored photos of Girls’ Generation

Provided by CompanyThe agency of worldwide sensation Girls’ Generation has promised to take legal action against the person who posted online doctored photos of nude women who were supposedly members of the girl group.

“We will take all steps necessary to right this wrong,” a representative from SM Entertainment said on Feb. 16. “The person should not just be held responsible for creating the phony picture but also for uploading it and spreading it online.”

On Feb. 15, a picture described as a nude picture of the girl group began circulating on an adult Web site. The faces of the Girls’ Generation singers were pasted onto naked female bodies in the picture.

This isn’t the first time that the girl group has been involved in a nude photo scandal. In a similar case in 2010, a photo appeared online with the girls’ faces pasted onto models’ bodies. Police investigated but dropped the case when they discovered that the perpetrator was a teenager.

SM Entertainment has asked police to investigate the new case on possible charges of defamation.

February has been a busy month for creepy fans with Photoshop skills. Trot singer Jang Yoon-jung and actress Kim Min-jung have also seen fake nude photos of themselves uploaded to the Internet in the past few weeks.

By Carla Sunwoo [carlasunwoo@joongang.co.kr]

Source: Korea Joongang daily, Korea.com

On Violent Romance, Lee Dong Wook rejects Jessica

Lee Dong Wook rejected Jessica (of SNSD).

In the 13th episode of KBS 2TV’s Violent Romance that aired on February 15, Moo Yeol (played by Lee Dong Wook) rejected Jong Hee (played by SNSD’s Jessica).

Jong Hee wanted to become Moo Yeol’s girlfriend again, but Moo Yeol couldn’t answer right away. He thought about becoming her boyfriend again because Jong Hee was suffering depression because of the death of her cat at that time; however, he was already in love with Eun Jae (played by Lee Si Young).

Moo Yeol thought he couldn’t put off his answer to Jong Hee anymore, so he went to see her and said, “I still love you. I don’t know who I’m going to meet in the future and how much I’m going to love her, but I won’t be able to love her like I loved you.”

He continued to say, “I thought my love would never change even if everything else changes because there would be nothing if that changes. So I was obsessed about you. I tried not to forget about you because I didn’t want it to change. I didn’t want to admit that it could change.”

Jong Hee said she didn’t understand, but Moo Yeol said, “I’ve missed you for a long time, but I guess that’s it. I’m sorry,” insinuating that he should reject her.

In the episode, Go Ki Ja (played by Lee Hee Jun) and Mr. Kim (Kang Dong Ho) guessed that Moo Yeol’s anti-fan might be someone close to him.

Source: Xportsnews, Korea.com

SM Entertainment requests for investigation behind Girls’ Generations’ composite nude photos

SM Entertainment has issued a firm stance against the individuals responsible for the photoshopped nude photos of Girls’ Generation.

According to a source within the agency, composite nude photos of the girls were found circulating around various online sites on February 15th. In response, the agency requested the police to investigate into the matter.

The SM Entertainment representative stated, “We will be taking legal actions against the creator of the composite photographs, the original poster, and the distributor of the photos.”

The girls are no stranger to such issues as they have previously went through a similar ordeal back in 2010. At the time, the agency had shown leniency towards the 97 individuals who were found to have participated in the distribution of the photos, for a majority of them had been found to be minors and first time offenders.

Source: Star In via Nate, allkpop