The surprising background of the intensifying battle between Johnny’s groups to participate in Kohaku

The 72nd NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen (New Year’s Eve) contestants were announced on November 19 at NHK in Shibuya, Tokyo, and KAT-TUN from Johnny’s agency, which celebrated its 15th anniversary this year, was chosen to participate for the first time. KAT-TUN, which celebrated its 15th anniversary this year, was chosen to participate in the event for the first time.

The other five groups from Johnny’s will be Kanjani Eight, King&Prince, Sixtones, and Snow Man.

Snow Man was scheduled to participate in the festival for the first time last year, but they had to give it up when they found out that one of their members was infected with the new coronavirus. Therefore, this year will be their “first time” to participate.

Last year, seven groups from Johnny’s were selected to participate in this year’s event, but this year, “Arashi”, “Kis-My-Ft2”, and “Hey!

KAT-TUN, which made its CD debut in ’06 with “Real Face,” was so popular that it performed at the Tokyo Dome before its debut, and could have participated in Kohaku at any time. However, at that time, there were only two slots for Johnny’s in Kohaku, and they were dominated by “SMAP” and “TOKIO”. Even “Arashi” was able to participate in Kohaku for the first time in 2009.

In addition, there were six members at the beginning, but Jin Akanishi, Sei Tanaka, and Junnosuke Taguchi left one after another, and these three were ‘problem children’ and had many scandals, so the agency could not easily push them to participate in Kohaku. (A major record company insider)

This year, one of the members, Kazuya Kamenashi (35), played the role of a former surgeon and lawyer in the drama series “The Balance of Justice,” which aired on NHK from September. This also seems to have encouraged him to participate in Kohaku for the first time.

Looking around at the past CD debut groups of Johnny’s, V6, which broke up on November 1 this year, the anniversary of their debut, participated in Kohaku for three consecutive years from ’14 to ’16, and KinKi Kids participated for the first time in ’16. V6, which broke up on November 1 this year, participated for three consecutive years from ’14 to ’16.

Naniwa Dango”, which just made its CD debut on November 12, did not make its first appearance this year, but is expected to make an appearance next year.

As a result, the only groups that made their CD debut before “Naniwa Dango” and have not participated in Kohaku are the already disbanded duo of Hideaki Takizawa (39) and Tsubasa Imai (40), “Tacky & Tsubasa” (Takitsuba), NEWS, A.B.C-Z, and Johnny’s West. This was the first time that a duo had ever performed together.

Takitsuba and NEWS debuted in 2002 and 2004, respectively, but at the time there were only two groups in the Johnny’s quota for Kohaku. Takitsuba was not blessed with hit songs, and NEWS had nine members when it was formed, but one member left, and then another, and then the main members Tomohisa Yamashita and Ryo Nishikido, who doubled as a member of Kanjani, left, and scandals broke out among the members.

Just when I thought the group had stabilized with four members, Yuya Tegoshi also left the group. In the meantime, more and more junior groups have emerged.

A.B.C-Z and West made their debuts in 2012 and 2014, respectively, and at that point, Johnny’s quota for Kohaku was greatly expanded. At that point, Johnny’s quota for Kohaku was greatly expanded, and they should have had a good chance to participate. ……

Both groups have had a string of No. 1 singles and albums on the Oricon charts since their debuts, but there is no denying that this is due in part to Johnny’s signature “coordination” ability to avoid conflicting release dates with other leading artists. It is undeniable that this is partly due to the “coordination” power of Johnny’s, which is their specialty. Although the members are gradually becoming more and more active as actors and celebrities on their own, there are still no songs released by the group that have gained wide popularity.

If they can produce such hit songs in the future, they will have a chance to participate in the show, but for now, it is said that young groups within the East and West Johnny’s Jr. are given priority under the leadership of Vice President Takizawa. Given this situation, it is unlikely that “A.B.C-Z” and “West” will make it to Kohaku at all costs. I don’t think that’s going to happen.

The other three groups, except for Takitsuba, seem to have lost their timing for their first appearance, but there was one “exception” that the three groups should be envious of.

Yuma Nakayama, who is currently working as a solo actor, was said to be Janie Kitagawa’s special favorite, or “Speoki. So, for Nakayama, JUMP members Ryosuke Yamada and Yuuri Chinen were added to the group “NYC boys”, which debuted in 2009 and made their first appearance in Kohaku that year. The following year, in 2010, they debuted again as a unit called “NYC” with Yamada and Chinen, and from that year, they participated in Kohaku for the third year in a row. It was a ‘tour de force’ that only Janie could pull off.

This year, the number of slots for Johnny’s in Kohaku was reduced by two from last year. This year, the number of Johnny’s slots in Kohaku has been reduced by two since last year, so what kind of performances will the participating groups give us?