[article] The next J-pop queen?

[nmskalmn]

CALL it the battle of the 1982 girls.

By sheer coincidence, the three young singers vying for the J-pop queen throne are all born in 1982.

But their personalities and appeals are vastly different.

Kumi Koda is the voluptuous sex goddess with a brazen attitude to match.

Ami Suzuki is the comeback sweetie-pie who is still immensely likeable after a four-year break.

Ai Otsuka is the cute girl with wild musical ideas.

The three 23-year-olds do share one thing in common, though - the uncanny ability to sway consumer behaviour and give reigning queens like Ayumi Hamasaki, Hikaru Utada and Mika Nakashima a run for their yen.

So, who will be the next in line to the throne?

Of the trio, Kumi comes across as the strongest contender.

Recently voted best artiste by the Oricon chart, this sex bomb follows closely in Ayumi's royal footsteps.

Her offering of dance-pop is trendy, though not especially striking. But she knows how to grab eyeballs with her chameleon image.

Flaunting her ample cleavage on a gigantic poster hung prominently in the streets of Tokyo certainly helped her to achieve the feat of selling over 1.2 million copies of her first album of singles, Best - First Things.

Now, she is tackling a new challenge - to release a single once a week for 12 weeks, from 7 Dec.

Each CD cover bears a stunning ethnic look, ranging from Native American Indian and Chinese to Japanese, Hawaiian and Indian, and fans are supposed to collect all 12 to form a big picture.

If all the singles make it to the Top 5 on the Oricon chart, Kumi has promised to be a professional wrestler for a day.

But she may not have to, since her second single, Birthday Eve, only made it to No 6. Her first and fourth singles, however, debuted at No 1, and her third at No 5.

Meanwhile, Ai and Ami are not about to let Kumi ascend the throne without a fight.

For Ai, it is her cutesy girlish powers that appeal to the throngs of fans who snap up her albums - all of which come with collectible photo books or bonus DVDs.

While the career of Mika Nakashima (above, left, with actor Ryuhei Matsuda) is big news in J-pop land, the top showbiz story right now is whether Manabu Oshio and Akiko Yada (below right, in a TV drama) have secretly tied the knot.

Her latest album, Love Cook, beat Mika's Best to debut at No 1 on the Oricon chart two weeks ago, and sold 335,000 copies within a week.

This talented singer-songwriter is also ranked fourth on Oricon's overall CD sales chart this year, boasting total sales worth 38 billion yen ($539m).

Ami, however, has no staggering figures to show off. But she did achieve the mean feat of bouncing back with aplomb in March.

Four years of silence due to contract problems did little to dent her popularity.

She has since released five singles and an album, and completed a sell-out concert tour on Saturday.

Only time will tell if she will be able to regain the music clout she used to wield at the height of her career in 2000.

While Ami and her 1982 contemporaries are scaling their way up, reigning queens Ayumi, Mika and Hikaru are showing no signs of sliding.

Mika, 22, has been fast expanding her career out of Japan and looks set to keep up the momentum.

Besides headlining the hit manga-adapted movie, Nana, and going to Hong Kong for promotions, the mysterious diva also debuted in South Korea and performed to thousands of fans during a concert in Seoul.

At the other end is Hikaru, 22, who looks set to focus on the Japanese market after her valiant but failed attempt to break into Hollywood and Europe with an English album.

As for Ayumi, 27, she proves once again with her new No 1 album, (miss)understood, that she still reigns supreme on the Oricon chart.

All eyes are also on whether she will finally wed her long-time boyfriend, Tomoya Nagase, this year, with speculations rife in recent months.

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/st...,99786,00.html

[micster]

hmmmm interesting

im sure that the next person to become a Jpop Queen after Ayu would be Koda Kumi

the other artists are meh in my opininion

[Princess_Of_Roses]

Yea...I agree..*no its not because i like kumi more than those artsits, I adore Ai otsuka*
I just believe Kumi like Ayumi Give the fans all they want lol

[ayu_fan929]

"Her latest album, Love Cook, beat Mika's Best to debut at No 1 on the Oricon chart two weeks ago, and sold 335,000 copies within a week."
thats such a dumb sentence. obviously LOVE COOK beat out mika's best for the wk of 12/14-12/20, cos mika's best was released a wk b4.

i think age/time is the only thing these 3 artists r competing with. i mean, when ayu was 23 (2001) she was at her height of her career, releasing A BEST etc. rite now, these 3 r still in the early steps of the popularity. after a few yrs, when they do get older (ie: 25+) mayb not a lot of ppl will like them as more younger singers mite take over. i dont really think suzuki ami can b even nominated as the next jpop queen, it seems the japanese public have lost interest in her...(declining sales it seems each release sells less than the 1 b4)

[miracleofsuzaku]

Originally Posted by ayu_fan929

"Her latest album, Love Cook, beat Mika's Best to debut at No 1 on the Oricon chart two weeks ago, and sold 335,000 copies within a week."
thats such a dumb sentence. obviously LOVE COOK beat out mika's best for the wk of 12/14-12/20, cos mika's best was released a wk b4.

Exactly, Mika's Best album debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Chart during the debut week if I do I recall .

[Nirvana]

Originally Posted by micster

hmmmm interesting

im sure that the next person to become a Jpop Queen after Ayu would be Koda Kumi

the other artists are meh in my opininion

Thanks for the article.. quite interesting indeed. But I agree with you, that out of Ai, Ami and Koda; Koda would be the most likely one to become the next Jpop queen and i'm not a fan of Ai or Ami.. Ai just drives me insane with her cute-sy image and that annoying childish voice of hers..

[evolution105]

I love Ai's music! as well as ami! I would definately have to go with kumi if i had to choose who would outbeat ayu, but to me ayu is still going strong and only time will tell who's going to be the next reigning queen. so other than who is being promoted more [ayu with (m)u all over shibuya, and koda's 12 singles], ayu is still ruling IMO.

[lotusoka]

I think it will be Kumi...

I don't want to sound bias, but none of them really seem as though they can make an impact on Japanese culture like Hamasaki did. Atleast how they currently are.

[se7entheaven]

kumi is flying so high like a rocket

[Calico]

I have to agree, that out of those three, Kumi would probably be the queen, although I love all of them. BUT, I don't really see Ayu sliding down the ladder anytime in the near future.

[bulmasman]

It's hard to tell really. Although i see Kumi being massive in the future i just can't see her becoming the reigning queen of Jpop. Otsuka Ai is remarkably talented and i could see her holding the title in future, but only time will tell. As for Ami, though i haven't really listened to her, i don't know if she can really make the full recovery that everyone thinks. Look at Namie, though going strong i haven't seen her to have the kind of fandom she once had.

[ayu_fan929]

id like to c if koda can break the million mark w/her next album, n also otsuka ai to (but w/LOVE COOK).

[ExodusUK]

No one can take over Ayumi!! They'll never be another Ayu. ><

[BanFan]

Ai's too cool to do something dumb like be the Queen of J-pop. She's doing her own thing (Which includes writing her lyrics, music, and co-arranging it, as well as plenty of other things).

She really seems like the type who could care less about what's in and does what she wants to do. Many people tend to look at what's in and popular, not necessarily what's really good. She's like Shiina Ringo and RURUTIA, but she desperately needs to switch labels. I think avex is evil.

Ai has the best, natural, but often spunky-sounding music of the three, but she seems like the type who'd refuse the queen spot even if it was handed to her.

[emi♡]

I also don't think there'll be another Ayu, Kuu is extremely popular though. I think that if Ayu was gone, sad, I would support Kumi out of the other 3, I think she will be the best choice...but none of the other artists will ever have the impact that Ayu did, I've never even heard of an artist like Ayu. It was really surprising for me, when I first got into her music. Not only has she had a huge impact in Japan, by think of all her international fans, everyone on this forum. We all love her, which is a lot more than I can say for artists everywhere else.

[lilithberi]

Judging on the range of their music style.. Kuu seem to have the widest.. from ballad to R&B... and her image could stir up those teenage boy and girls heart...

I agreed that Ai dun give a damna bout the queen of j-pop.. but one thing, her music cant always be this cutish..... she will grow old eventualy.. but maybe her voice will change like ayu's

[[AHS]MortalSex]

seems interesting thanks for the article! *thinks on.....*

[Raleigh]

Insightful and really interesting.

Honestly since listening to some of the 12 singles I've concluded that it's pretty impossible to become queen of pop unless she releases at an insane rate each and every year. I like Kumi but most of her releases are a hit and miss. Especially these 12 singles. Some were awesome (you, D.D.D), others were ok (birthday eve, lies) and others were simply awful (Lies, Shake It Up). I think she'll remain big but personally I don't think she can maintain this kind of popularity. Other artists were sexy in the past - Namie, hitomi but that didn't secure a permanent place as queen from what I've seen. In a couple of years her sexy act will get old and she'll have to reinvent a new image.

Also sure it was the 2nd week for Mika's album but I must remind you guys that it was a best compilation and usually best compilations sell at an insane level and there was also the NANA hype. I imagined Ai's and Mika's albums would struggle a bit for #1 but Ai easily got #1 for weeky.

Ai Otsuka has a huge chance imo. Since her debut she's been climbing up the JPop scene and she does produce the highest quality material per single even if LOVE COOK disappointed me. She also manages to create concepts for each and every single for example Neko Ni Fuusen - cats and loneliness, Planetarium - stars, memories. I am always curious to see what she comes up with since it's usually she does not release something just to have something on the market but she does give a lot of attention and care to her releases. The firstpress edition also gets me to buy her singles. However her cute act also cannot go on forever but from what I've noticed she also manages to portray a serious image of herself to the public.

As with regards to Ami well look at it this way - it's amazing enough that she came back with a huge label (avex). I don't think she will become queen but I have a feeling she'll be a pretty strong competitor for the future. She's talented, writes her lyrics, dances and is charismatic. I am waiting for a release which will skyrocket her popularity. Ami is a talented artist and I do hope she will have some attention given on her because she deserves it.

However right now Ayu will still be the queen. No one can beat her list of achievements and no one can really replace her unless she decides to retire. Plus the best releases are still by Ayu imo. Also I haven't yet seen Koda or Ai breaking a million copies in a regular album though LOVE COOK has a high probability to do so.

[natalaxie]

nice article i never knew about ami suzuki

[elepop]

Urgh. More "Who's gonna be the next J-Pop queen after Ayu and Hikki?" article.

Personally, I'm sick of people wondering who's gonna beat who. I don't think any artists is ready to outsell or become bigger than Ayu and Hikki. Although Hikki sales are now really low, she's still quite powerful and for someone to outsell her biggest sale, it's not gonna be easy at all. As for Ayu, yes... her sales are lower and lower, but she's still very popular and still sale really good. Her image is still popular even though she's not considered as "young" anymore.

I'm sorry, but even though Koda and Ai are big right now, I really but really doubt any of those girls are gonna reach as far as Ayu and Hikki has. Just looking at there sales number, they aren't that high.