Breakup
of beloved boyband Smap shocks Japanese pop fans
Jan 14, 2016, theguardian
---Five members have topped Japan’s charts for more than two decades and
split will leave huge hole in country’s music scene---
They have crooned their way into the affections of millions and
provided the pop backdrop to generations of Japanese people for more than two
decades.
But on Wednesday, it was reported that Smap, one of Japan’s most
popular bands of all time, are to break up, leaving a gaping hole in the
country’s music scene.
Speculation that the boyband – now on the cusp of middle age – were
to split up came after the Nikkan Sports newspaper reported that four of its
five members had decided to leave Johnny and Associates, the powerful talent
agency headed by the octogenarian pop impresario Johnny Kitagawa.
The cause of the split is the decision by the band’s manager, Michi
Iijima, to resign from the agency and, it is rumoured, launch a rival company.
Four of Smap’s five members appeared ready to join Iijima, leaving
behind arguably the band’s most popular performer, Takuya Kimura.
Johnny and Associates confirmed the split in a brief statement
released on Wednesday, but refused to discuss the reason while the parties were
“still in the negotiation phase”.
Iijima, who has managed the band almost since it formed in 1988, has
reportedly been at loggerheads with Kitagawa’s sister, Mary Kitagawa, who is
said to be the financial brains behind the agency.
Fans were quick to voice their shock on social media. One said:
“What will we do without Smap?”, while another wrote: “All the talk at school
today has been about Smap. My head hurts.”
The band’s detractors expressed relief. “There is a god!” said a
commenter on the Japan Today website.
In the 25 years since their debut single, Can’t Stop!! Loving, Smap
– an acronym standing for Sports Music Assemble People – have become one of the
most popular boybands in Asia, selling more than 35m records.
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Kimura and the band’s other members – Masahiro Nakai, Goro Inagaki,
Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Shingo Katori – have released more than 50 singles and 20
studio albums, about half of which topped the Japanese charts.
They also found success in other parts of Asia, including China, the
location for their first overseas concert in 2011.
When they are not singing, the band’s members host their own TV
variety show, SmapxSmap, and have made numerous appearances in dramas and
films, helping Johnny and Associates to become the country’s most successful
talent agency.
While Nakai’s tone deafness has become a running joke in the
Japanese entertainment world, the band’s inoffensive lyrics and innocuous
musical style found audiences among all generations.
Their 2003 single Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana (The Only Flower in
the World) was selected as the wakeup call for Soichi Noguchi, a Japanese
astronaut on the Space Shuttle Discovery mission two years later.
Steve McClure, the former editor of Billboard magazine’s Asia bureau
who has followed Smap’s career for more than 20 years, said their best days
were probably behind them.
“For an idol group they have amazing staying power,” he said.
“They’re well past their sell-by date as an idol group, so you could say that
this is just a belated rite of passage.”
Smap performed last month on Kōhaku Uta Gassen (The Red and White
Song Battle), a fixture of Japanese New Year’s Eve TV, which drew the lowest
viewing figures in the show’s 65-year history.
“You could say, so goes Kōhaku, so goes Smap,” McClure said. “Smap are
from an era when everyone watched the same thing on TV and the market wasn’t
as fragmented as it is today. That’s why there probably won’t be another
Smap.
英メディアBBC：
SMAP解散間近との噂が広く報道され日本に衝撃が走っている。今でこそKpopがアジアで脚光を浴びているが、SMAPやその他のJpopグループがアジアでのボーイ・バンド人気の火付け役だった。芸能事務所は「交渉中」とのコメントを出しているが、分裂は日本に非常に大きなショックを与えるはずだ。
仏メディアFrance24：
SMAP解散、との報道に日本の音楽ファンは動揺を隠せない。30年にも渡り音楽業界のトップに君臨、アジアでも広くファンを獲得していたが、いま終わりを告げようとしている。週刊新潮によると、SMAPの年間売上高は250億円にものぼるという。
英紙ザ・ガーディアン：
衝撃的なSMAP解散は、日本の音楽シーンに大きな穴を開けることになりそうだ。「SMAPは全員がテレビで同じものを観て育った、今日のように市場が細分化されていない時代のグループです。その意味で、もうSMAPのような（誰しもが知るような）グループは出てこないでしょう」米音楽誌ビルボードの元編集長スティーブ・マクリュア氏は語っている。
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