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adevyishAs some of you may know, Avex has a Japanese-American boyband called Intersection which debuted in late 2017. I’ve been lowkey following them since autumn 2018 because I thought their marketing was interesting. Japan Times has a good interview with them from early 2020, which some of this post is based on.
I. Japan
Intersection are trying to fill the gap One Direction left in the Japanese market, as mentioned in Japan Times and evident from their live videos and the Little Things cover. 1D achieved popularity in Japan in a very standard way: a massive PR blast lifted from the Beatles’ arrival in Japan with Beatlemania-style coverage on major morning shows, additional appearances on Music Station, and covers on major teen magazines, all spearheaded by Sony Japan. I don’t think Intersection have been on Music Station, but they debuted with a Spotify feature and have had good exposure opportunities including a major anime theme and a Summer Sonic stage. They also, as of 2020, had great music video views (500k+) for a Japanese boyband.¹
Unlike 1D, Intersection have settled on a more R&B, electronic sound, which does well enough in Japan but not as well as pop rock right now. Compare Gen’in wa Jibun ni Aru (f.k.a. Battle Street), a boyband that debuted in late 2018 with EDM and rebranded to pop rock a year later. That said, electronic rap and sing-rap both are doing quite well in Japan, so what’s a genre if you have good marketing and viral buzz?
II. America
Intersection want to parlay their native English speakers into a Western fandom. If this sounds familiar, Faky, an Avex Rhythm Zone girl group, has had multiple native English speakers, has been around since 2013 with three different line-ups, and has no album yet.
Alluded to in Japan Times is that Avex doesn’t know how to handle their social media (Caelan: “I think one thing they struggle with is understanding what things could trend globally, like TikTok for example”). 1D predated the concept of a social media brand, and they more-or-less spearheaded their own social media strategy as early adopters of Twitcam, Instagram, and Vine; it gave them a chaotic authenticity that’s difficult to match. Chai is a great example of a band adopting this strategy,² Bangtan pre-2015 is another. Intersection’s cool aloof image and their tightly produced behind-the-scenes videos are a high barrier to establishing this kind of fandom connection.
III. China
Recently 75% of Intersection joined the latest season of China’s Produce 101, 創造營 / Produce Camp / Chuang 2021. I’ve been thinking about this since I found out, and I cannot help but think this is a terrible decision. I watched 偶像練習生 / Idol Producer and a bit of the first season of 青春有你 / Youth With You as they came out, and I also watched highlights from season 2 of Korea’s Produce 101 as that was subbed.³
Out of 99 competitors, Idol Producer had one competitor that did not speak Mandarin fluently. As nice as the show and the contestants seemed to be to him, the language barrier translated into an inability to highlight him in interviews, product placements, and comedy skits that meant that he never really got a fandom and was voted off fairly early. I imagine as English speakers (Intersection) and as a show in its effective 4th season (Chuang) the language barrier is not as dire, but I cannot imagine Intersection will get the kind of Chinese fandom Avex is imagining in its fever dreams. Especially given the geopolitics.
Furthermore, competition shows form solo fandoms. Produce 101 and Idol Producer both bare this out. Pop markets where the only promotion mode is competition shows only have solo fandoms. Outside of Idol Producer, I only really follow Mainland Chinese music peripherally (i.e. when it’s on TV), but the main mode of music promotion in Mainland China seems to be competition shows. A newbie idol needs to promote their latest single? They go on a competition show. A veteran singer needs to promote their latest single? They also go on a competition show. This leads to the sort of fandom that is very focused on “winning” (see: gaming Idol Producer winner Cai Xukun’s first single to the top of the American iTunes chart).
Which doesn’t seem too bad, as the Oricon chart is based on physical sales, but I don’t think Avex has any idea how to market or handle this sort of fandom.⁴ All of their successful idol groups are other agencies’, they just do the music promotion. Worse, I suspect that the gap Japanese male idol fandom norms and Mainland Chinese male idol fandom norms is more of a chasm, and if Avex successfully pull off making Intersection a thing in China, they might have shot themselves in the foot with Japan and the West.
If they don’t? Well, they’ve just done a Pledis and wasted half a year to a year promoting in a country they end up pulling out of.
IV. Intersection
Of model, fashion writer, and one-time Harvard student Kazuma, the Japan Times interviewer mentioned that “he seemed very…hesitant about all showbiz stuff”. Not all quotes made it into the article, but we do read:
“A lot of the things in the industry are numbers. […] It doesn’t sound romantic … to be able to do what we want, we have to get a certain amount of numbers, and present that to our company.”
Of the music process, he says:
“We all like different types of music, and we’re trying to combine all of those into a genre that can be interesting but appeal to a lot of people. […] So we’re just trying to see what works in Japan.”
and
“It’s definitely more interesting for us when we are the ones who are getting involved in the writing process[.]”
It sounds like someone who has ideas about what Intersection should be and alternatives outside Intersection. I wonder, if this is the turn Intersection has chosen, is he staying?
¹ View numbers are from 2020 via archive.org, to prevent Chuang from biasing results. I’m judging how good numbers are by comparing with successful boybands like Choutokkyuu / Bullet Train.
² Chai were signed to Sony Japan in 2016 and developed by their indie rock arm. They’re an all-girl band that play instruments and have a normal girl, anti-idol image — which is a very idol strategy (Wink, 5572320). They post quirky and relatable videos and send-ups of Americana, both very familiar things to any 1D fan.
³ Idol Producer, and its successor Youth With You, are copycat versions of Korea’s Produce 101, but came out before China’s official Produce 101. In my opinion they are also more humane as reality shows, lacking judges yelling until contestants cry (season one of China’s Produce 101).
⁴ I still do not understand how they did not manage to translate Aiba Hiroki’s 2006 popularity into anything tangible.
