^ It makes sense. In Korea, she's pretty much the prototype for every modern-day girl singer -- from her dancing, to her look, to her style. She's quite well-respected there as a "legend" of sorts, from what I can tell.
In Japan, I loved her early in her career. Then I have loved bits and pieces through the years, but she's largely lost me because the music is a little too generic for my personal taste. She has a great voice, but the songs just don't do it for me. I think in Japan, she really lost her footing during the K-Pop invasion because she was already established, wasn't part of a girl group, and is in this weird in-between where she's clearly not Japanese...but she's also considered a Japanese artist (as opposed to just a Korean import). She's neither part of the "in group" nor is she foreign enough to be "exotic."
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