Unexpected Changes and Unusual Rules at the Record Awards

Suddenly, there are more slots for newcomer awards!

The awards for the 66th Japan Record Awards (known as “Reco Taisho”) to be broadcast live on TBS on December 30th were announced. Among them, the newcomer award was changed from the usual four groups to five. “Shukan Bunshun” reported in its December 5th issue that the producers at TBS involved in the “Reco Taisho” had altered the rule to allow the girl group “ME:I,” which debuted this year, to win.

According to the article, “ME:I” initially lost in the final vote for the fourth slot. However, TBS suddenly changed the newcomer award from four to five slots, allowing “ME:I” to make a comeback and secure a spot.

“ME:I” was formed from TBS’s audition program “PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS,” and their affiliation with major talent agencies, similar to boy groups like “JO1” and “INI,” may have played a role in their victory. On the 30th, among the five groups that won the newcomer award, there’s a possibility that “ME:I” could even take home the Best New Artist Award.

Although the change in the rule is hard to understand for many, it turns out that the criteria for the songs considered for the grand prize in the “Reco Taisho” have undergone changes over time.

Originally, the criteria for the grand prize candidates required the songs to be “Japanese songs,” and the selection typically focused on domestic artists. Even foreign artists like BoA (38) and TVXQ were treated similarly to Japanese artists since they primarily worked in Japan and had Japanese record labels.

However, with the rise of the K-POP boom, songs by “BIGBANG,” who were already popular in Korea and emerging in Japan, were considered for the grand prize in 2010. Subsequently, groups like “KARA” (2011) and “TWICE” (2018) were also nominated. This year, as with last year, songs from “New Jeans” are part of the nominees. If a song is popular in Japan, even if it’s not a “Japanese song,” it has been accepted, albeit informally.

The most unusual rule, however, has been in place for the past 30 years as an unspoken rule that is never to be broken.

 

Some awards seem to dispel the black history of the awards

“The Japan Record Awards should originally honor the best song of the year, but there’s an unspoken rule that the artist must be able to appear live on the day of the broadcast,” explains an insider. This rule dates back to 1994.

That year, the grand prize was awarded to “Mr. Children” for their hit song innocent world, but the band did not attend the ceremony because they were filming a music video. As a result, the unprecedented situation of the grand prize winner being absent occurred.

From the following year, the unspoken rule was established: the grand prize winner must appear live. Thanks to careful pre-arrangements regarding live appearances, such situations like Mr. Children’s absence have not happened again. Even Mr. Children, when they won again in 2004 with “Sign,” made sure to appear live and perform, with industry insiders whispering that it was a way to erase the black history of their previous absence.

Once considered a major year-end event alongside the NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen, the Record Awards has seen its influence fade over time. Last year, it recorded a historic low rating of 9.6%, the first single-digit audience share since records began in 1962.

“For years, the Record Awards has faced criticism for not being fairly judged. Recently, the influence of entertainment agencies seems to have weakened, but now it appears the TBS producers have taken over. Within the network, there has long been talk of abolishing the awards altogether. With ratings continuing to plummet, the station’s upper management might soon take action,” said a TBS music program insider.

When the rules change unpredictably and without clear reasoning, it leaves viewers disillusioned and diminishes the credibility of the award race. The ongoing decline in viewership may make it even more difficult to recover the event’s former popularity.

 

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