Over the past decade, more and more and more Korean singers have crossed over to Japan to start a career in Japan. While some of them are notably more successful (BoA, Tohoshinki and SE7EN), many others have not been that lucky (SS501, John Hoon). That begs the question - do the Koreans really do it better? Or should they just stay in Korea and leave Japan alone?

Frankly, if I had my way, the Koreans will stay in Korea and do their own thing. The whole not-Japanese-singing-Japanese thing has always bothered me a little, which is probably why I refuse to like artistes like Crystal Kay and Leah Dizon (Whoopsie baby!). Firstly, the pronunciation is almost always off (except in really rare cases like Angela Aki and MONKEY MAJIK), and it just doesn't feel right to me. I'm a stubborn guy.

Before I go off topic, let me start off this post by saying that this is really just a personal opinion of mine. I don't really have good reasons for backing up any of the things I've mentioned above. Just like I don't have a good reason for not liking KAT-TUN (well actually I do, URGH JIN).

I've pondered about this issue for a really long time. And I've only brought it up now because in the past month or so, three sort of "permanently-in-Japan" Korean artistes have released PVs to their latest songs (two in the past week alone). It's the perfect time to discuss this!

I'll be comparing said three PVs to what I think is a relatively similar Japanese counterpart. I'll then decide who is better on three different factors: vocals/song, dance/impressiveness of instrument played (you'll see why later) and overall attractiveness (read: the sex-factor). I won't go into the whole pronunciation-sounds-wonky thing in this post, as I don't think it's a fair fight.

[BoA's EAT YOU UP vs Koda Kumi's TABOO]


Both are female vocalists that have only gotten popular in the past five or so years (ok, maybe BoA's been popular slightly longer). Both songs I've chosen are dance pop, which makes it a fair contest in my opinion.


[Vocals/song]

BoA vocals were a little nasal in this song, as it is with her other songs. It's quite alright at first, but at some point in the song I just went BAH! and muted the player while I watched the rest of the PV. The song was decent enough though. It's catchy, although the lyrics are a little silly, and good for dancing to I suppose. I don't really dance, so I wouldn't know.

Kumi undeniably had better vocals. She wasn't nasal and sounded seductive in all the right places. Kumi's vocals are consistently strong in all her songs, and this song is definitely no exception. The song is crazy addictive too, and could do well as a song to dance to or just bob along with. My kind of song.

Did the Korean do better?: No. Kumi's vocals and song stood out more.


[Dance]

BoA dance choreography in this PV was impressive and full of energy. She did every move perfectly in sync with her dancers, and did not look silly either. You know how some female singers look stupid dancing hip-hop, because they don't have the right attitude and all? Well BoA is not one of them. She does it with style. I love this PV because of the crazy dancing! Watch it, it's so good!

There wasn't much dancing in Kumi's PV however, and whatever little there was failed to impress me too. It looked like she was waving her hands frantically while staring hornily into the camera with a smile. Sexy yes, but the dancing is just... boring.

Did the Korean do better?: Obviously. Watch BoA's PV, you'd agree with me too.


[The sex-factor]

BoA looked amazingly sexy in this PV, maybe it's because of her long flowy hair and cool moves that she was flaunting throughout the PV. Plus, there was a whole wet scene with her dripping hair flung all over the place. Pretty damn sexy stuff.

However, Kumi is just unbeatable when it comes to sexing it up. Kissing a girl, suggestive postures, orgasmic faces, toilet scene, loads more girls on loads more beds.... How much else can she add before they ban it from National TV?

Did the Korean do better?: No. Kumi's queen of the sluts. Don't even bother trying.

Conclusion: I like BoA in this PV, I really do. But she really doesn't quite match up to Kuu. I've heard BoA's lives before and let's just say, she has really good producers. So in this case, nope, the Korean didn't do better.

[K's 552600min. ~Seasons of Love~ vs Hata Motohiro's Forever Song]

Both of them are relatively low-key male singers who play an instrument. Both of them aren't really going down the "idol" road either and are relatively less popular in Japan. Fair fight!

[Vocals/Song]

K's vocals are really whiny. It sounds like someone was busy clamping his balls while he was singing. The song was pretty good I must admit, but it'd definitely work better with another male singer with a stronger voice. It was basically piano pop, with little help from anything else to hide the flaws of a singer's voice. Bad choice he made. (The song title is stupid too.)

Hata Motohiro's voice is slightly better I suppose, he has the whole rough/husky thing going on. Half the time, I expected his voice to crack up or something, which made listening to him slightly unnerving. The song is typical Hata Motohiro too, guitar pop with a slightly slower melody. (Think a duller YUI, if it's even possible.) That is to say, the song is boring.

Did the Korean do better?: I'm honestly not too sure. K had the better song while Hata had a slightly better voice. I'll call this a draw.


[Impressiveness of instrument played]

Well, considering both of them didn't dance, I guess I'll just have to make do with how well they play their instruments.

I think K has the advantage here, because as long as you move your body while playing the piano, you'd look somewhat stylish and artsy and cool. If you move too much while playing the guitar (Hata Motohiro plays the guitar), you'd look like... an overly enthusiastic hippie. Or a farmer. Oh wait, they're roughly the same.

So yes, K came off as cool, like the rich kid just having fun with his bunch of similarly cool friends and all. Hata Motohiro, in order to not look like a hippie, just stood there and played while standing still and shifting his head around a bit. He looks like a dead fish.

Did the Korean do better?: I'll give this one to K. There are a select few in Jpop who can pull off the guitar playing thing while looking lively and yet not look like a country bumpkin. If Ryota (of Remioromen) and YUI can do it, Hata has no excuse.


[The sex-factor]

K looks cute from some angles (emphasis on SOME), and the whole tortured-piano-player look goes well with him. He's dressed decently too, so that's a plus. He does look a bit odd in quite a few shots though (the whole jaw-jutting-out thing is not working dearie) so that was a bit unsettling.

Hata looks consistently boring in all the shots. He just has the "hi, I'm singing, look at me" face throughout the whole PV. His clothes look cheap and honestly, if the PV wasn't shot in such a beautiful place, it'd look pretty damn homemade.

Did the Korean do better?: Yes he did. K's cuter, if he knows how to work it. Hata needs a new stylist. And a new personality.

Conclusion: The Korean did better, just slightly. Had it been another song for both of them, the tables could be totally turned.

[Tohoshinki's Jumon -MIROTIC- vs. EXILE's SUPER SHINE]

Both are male groups well-known for their dance prowess and great vocals. Admittedly, EXILE is insanely popular in Japan and while Tohoshinki isn't there yet, Tohoshinki has the advantage of a worldwide fanbase (and by worldwide, I don't mean a few fans in each country either, their fans are scary). So I'm guessing this is a fair enough fight?


[Vocals/song]

Tohoshinki's vocals were slightly on the nasal side, but it's also dependent on which member is singing (one of them sounds quite decent, I think it's Yuchun). I was hooked to the song after a few listens though, which was quite surprising. It's a great dance-pop number, and it's worth a listen.

EXILE's vocals were definitely much better, they ARE EXILE after all. Both of them had smooth and high voices, which helps any pop song sound bright and "refreshing" as the Japanese would put it. But, the song was mindlessly monotonous and boring, so that was a little disappointing. Would have done better with fuller music. It sounded bare in parts.

Did the Koreans do better?: Draw. Tohoshinki had the better song. EXILE had better voices.


[Dance]

Tohoshinki's dance for this number looked insanely complicated and difficult to get in sync, which they did surprisingly. It was over-the-top macho and sexy, which no doubt caters to their fanbase very well. I also liked how they switched the front and center member flawlessly and frequently to allow every one of them to be the center of attention at some point in the PV. It was smooth and very clever on the choreographer's part.

EXILE however.... Well, let's just say I'm getting real tired of this whole locking/popping thing they have going on. Is it just me or are the EXILE dances getting more and more similar from song to song? The format is always very similar too. Simple group dance (so the two vocalists can dance too) - solo freestyle - group dance (complicated one without the vocalists) - solo freestyle and so on. It's nothing new. And the group dances were not as neat as Tohoshinki's either (you can look at the screencaps). Not very entertaining or impressive.

Did the Koreans do better?: Yep, they did. All Korean singers seem to dance very well though, it's a Korean thing.



Oh ho ho. Tohoshinki really went all out this time to make their PV as hot and steamy as possible. Yunho got bound by black ribbons, Yuchun got locked in a glassbox struggling to get out, Changmin was wet wet wet, Junsu was in a tank top and dancing all macho-ly and finally, Jaejoong got tied with ropes to a freaking wall. How much more sexy do you need it to be?

But wait! All of them wore some form of revealing top so it was FLESH FLESH FLESH NIPPLES ABS everywhere throughout the group dances. If I were a Tohoshinki fangirl (or boy), I'd very much faint on my keyboard.

EXILE in comparison was..... meh. I mean, I know they HAVE taken their shirts off for other PVs (like 24 Karats), but it was mostly just showing off testosterone-inspired moves with their oil-slicked bodies. I don't think they've done anything quite as sexual suggestive as Tohoshinki did.

Back to the PV. It was well, stylish, spiffy, classy and expensive I suppose. They wore nice clothes. Errr... I like Atsushi's shades? I don't know. I think I fell asleep halfway through. Not sexy whatsoever. Cool, yes (in parts). Sexy..... well try harder. A lot harder.

Did the Koreans do better?: Undeniably. If Tohoshinki keeps this up, they'll be the Kumi of Jpop/Kpop boybands.

Conclusion: The Koreans did better. Korean boybands have always been very impressive in terms of vocals and dance, so EXILE really had no chance against them. Besides, EXILE is getting a little too old to be a boyband. They're more like a manband, which all of us know doesn't sound as hot.

So yes, the Koreans really does it better most of the time. I still don't approve though, so don't even try to make me like them. I'm just biased that way. *Runs away screaming "JAPAN IS GOOD JAPAN IS GOOD JAPAN IS GOOD JAPAN IS GOOD"*

Labels: BoA, EXILE, Hata Motohiro, K, Koda Kumi, Tohoshinki