Song of the day: IZ*ONE, "Suki to Iwasetai"
Feb. 18th, 2019 03:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
This is a really interesting song to me, not so much the song itself (which sounds kind of like something Erasure might have produced in the late 80s/early 90s[1]) but the choices surrounding it. You see, IZ*ONE was one of the hot new groups that debuted last year. Their debut song, "La Vie en Rose," was recently featured as SOTD here. Given the success of "La Vie en Rose," I think it's an interesting and somewhat risky choice that their second single is a Japanese release, as are their third and fourth music videos (which weren't released as singles). If it pays off, it will have been good for them to get into the Japanese market early in their career, but it has the potential to backfire. Korean fans can be very sensitive about the international markets, and they're quick to turn on an artist that they perceive as devoting too much attention to international markets at the expense of the Korean market. I hope that doesn't happen to IZ*ONE. I think the best thing they can do to prevent it happening would be to have a Korean comeback soon, preferably with an original song, not a Korean version of "Suki to Iwasetai." [2]
[1] Which I mean as a compliment.
[2] "Suki no Iwasetai" doesn't even necessarily have to have a Korean language release - Twice and Red Velvet have each released any number of Japanese songs that were never released in a Korean version, and it doesn't seem to have hurt they're career. Korean fans understand the necessity of foreign markets, and they don't insist on having everything. They just think they should have the most and the best things. (I imagine Canadian fans feel much the same way about Canadian artists promoting in the US.)
[1] Which I mean as a compliment.
[2] "Suki no Iwasetai" doesn't even necessarily have to have a Korean language release - Twice and Red Velvet have each released any number of Japanese songs that were never released in a Korean version, and it doesn't seem to have hurt they're career. Korean fans understand the necessity of foreign markets, and they don't insist on having everything. They just think they should have the most and the best things. (I imagine Canadian fans feel much the same way about Canadian artists promoting in the US.)