wavenovel Chapter 1251 Music Show
Chapter 1251 Music Show
Chapter 1251 Music Show
After returning to Seoul, the company gave EXO a half-day off, but they quickly regrouped and got busy again.
Although their work as tourism ambassadors in Osaka has ended, their trip to Japan is far from over; in fact, it's still in a very hot phase. SM Entertainment can't afford to give up, and EXO will need to travel back and forth between the two countries for a considerable period of time to accommodate this demand.
Meanwhile, matters concerning the release of the album in the United States are also in full swing. Coupled with Ji Kyung-won's various endorsements and advertisements, things are no easier than they were in Japan.
…………
On Thursday, August 17th at 8 PM, the most crucial part of "M! Countdown" was broadcast.
Summer is traditionally a peak season for song releases, and the K-pop scene has been particularly lively lately. First, there was a fierce summer battle among a group of girl groups, then there was the resurgent resurgence of veteran girl group Girls' Generation and the super monster rookie Wanna One, who became a top-tier group even before their debut. In between, there were also various first, second, and third-tier boy and girl groups, giving viewers and fans a real treat for gossip.
Although several girl groups that competed in last month's show, such as Red Velvet, Blackpink, and MAMAMOO, have already stopped participating, the lineup for today's episode of "M! Countdown" is quite impressive.
There's Gfriend, whose transformation was a complete failure but who listened to advice and returned to a pure and innocent style, chair and all; there's JJ Project, a duo from GOT7 that's hard to define as a sub-unit; and there's NCT DREAM, the maknae of the SM family, who released their first mini-album since their debut.
They are all very popular top-tier groups.
However, the most anticipated event of today's episode is the first-ever competition for the top spot on a major TV network between Girls' Generation and Wanna One.
Since their simultaneous comebacks on August 7th, the two groups, though belonging to different boy and girl groups respectively, have been fiercely competing in various fields.
Wanna One's sales exploded, their popularity soared, their fans were incredibly supportive, and their music was also excellent.
Girls' Generation's music charts exploded, sales soared, they generated a huge buzz, and they gained immense popularity among the general public.
These veteran girl groups and rookie boy groups have basically monopolized all the recent hot topics and discussions in the music industry, with fans on both sides constantly engaged in fierce competition.
Although Girls' Generation fans say things like "It's good enough that they can make a comeback," "They're tired of being the top seniors, let's give it to the juniors," "We never thought about competing with newcomers," and "Gift album" to comfort themselves, they are actually still watching Wanna One's performance every day, secretly encouraging themselves to show them how amazing their seniors are.
Wanna One's fans were furious. Before the comeback, they looked down on Girls' Generation, thinking they were just an outdated, washed-up group that had been swept into the trash heap. But after actually getting to know them, they realized that while Girls' Generation was indeed old, they just wouldn't leave and would try to annoy them before they went. This made them even more furious, and they wanted to suppress Girls' Generation's arrogance and make them go to their graves so that their own oppa could completely overshadow them.
In terms of data, both sides have their advantages. Although Wanna One clearly has the upper hand in many areas, Girls' Generation's explosive performance on music charts is also something to boast about. Neither side can compete with the other, so the winner of the music show award is very convincing at this moment.
After entering the second week, the two sides began to compete for the first place. However, the two smaller channels, The Show and Show Champion, were suspended for the first two days, and Girls' Generation, proud of their senior status, did not attend Show Champion. Therefore, even though Wanna One won the first trophy, the fans were not very happy.
The platform is really arrogant; no matter how popular you are, they won't give you a number one spot if you don't come... which results in the award's prestige being rather low, with nothing to brag about.
Today's episode of "M! Countdown" marks the first time these two groups have competed on the same music show, so the episode has garnered a lot of attention, with online communities buzzing with discussion for days beforehand.
In terms of fan support and data capabilities, Wanna One almost completely outclasses Girls' Generation. They hold a significant advantage in various trending topics, and their sales are far ahead. Their album has only been released for a week, but its total sales are already close to 900,000 copies. It looks like they are on their way to the epic achievement of 'breaking one million copies of their debut album'.
While Girls' Generation's sales were much lower, their album quality and positive word-of-mouth spread after their hit songs, and their sales have now reached the 300,000 level, catching up with their peak period. In addition, their digital music sales are so high that they have firmly occupied the top spot on the charts for two consecutive weeks. Coupled with their high level of popularity and national recognition, they are not without competitive strength.
In this somewhat stalemate, the voting scores for music shows become quite important.
So whether it's Wanna One fans or SONEs, they've been organizing various activities for the past few days, all for today's vote.
However, under normal circumstances, since most of Girls' Generation's fans are male, and most of them are older, SONEs are certainly no match for Wanna One, whose fans are extremely crazy. It's already considered that the fans are very supportive if they don't lose 9 to 1.
However, perhaps Wanna One's debut momentum was too strong these past few days, and their fans were too arrogant. Within a week of their debut, they started to make various comparisons with EXO and even tried to climb to the top. This made EXO-Ls very unhappy. After a brief test and some online arguments, Wanna One directly replaced Big Bang, who had already enlisted in the military, and became EXO-Ls' newest and biggest rival.
In addition, Ji Kyung-won served as the producer and wrote the title track, so due to the connection between them, EXO-Ls are voting wildly for Girls' Generation today.
...It wasn't to help Girls' Generation, it was just to annoy Wanna One.
With the help of EXO-Ls, Girls' Generation managed to tie with Wanna One in voting, a field where boy groups have a natural advantage, keeping the suspense alive until the very last moment.
At this point, the broadcast of "M! Countdown" had reached its second half, and the highly anticipated super rookie boy group Wanan One was the third to last to perform on stage.
Their title track, "Energetic," immediately debuted at number one upon release, achieving the epic feat of 'PAK' in just two days. It then remained at number two on the Melon live chart for ten consecutive days, attracting 6 million listeners in its first week...
The data is astonishing. If it weren't for Girls' Generation's "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter" suddenly becoming a huge hit and the music charts being tightly suppressed, resulting in Wanna One's ranking at number two in a week, Wanna One's performance could have been even better.
Their stage presence is also very energetic. After being trained and nurtured by "Produce 101", even though they have just debuted, their stage presence, expressions, and skills are already very impressive.
It has to be said that although they are a limited-time group formed by trainees from various companies, their overall strength is very strong. Even with Ji Kyung-won's perspective, he thinks Wanna One has a very promising future. Although their overall looks are not as good as EXO's, their skills are really good, especially in dancing.
...He even thought their dancing was more synchronized than EXO's.
Gfriend was the second to last to appear after Wanna One.
After a failed attempt to reinvent herself and returning to a more innocent image, she has returned to her comfort zone. This new album is actually quite good, and her popularity has rebounded somewhat.
Unfortunately, being sandwiched between the two major trends of Girls' Generation and Wanna One, its popularity and attention were reduced by half, leaving many fans anxious and disappointed.
Finally, when Girls' Generation, dressed in their finest attire, appeared on stage, both the longtime fans in the audience and those watching on television were suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia and the joy of a long-awaited reunion.
Seriously, it's been so long since we've seen Girls' Generation on music show stages.
After Ji Kyung-won got involved, SM Entertainment, which was originally unwilling to invest resources, had no choice but to change its mind and start supporting him. Moreover, they seemed to have given up and decided to support him to the end. In addition to investing a lot in the album, the budget for music show promotions was also quite large.
A quick glance at this music show reveals that a lot of effort was put into the stage setup, the members' makeup and costumes, and the costumes are even better than the aristocratic dresses from the surprising "Lion Heart" performance in 15.
So even though it was a ballad with little dance, the audience response was very strong... After the first week's results came out, SM chose "Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter," one of the two title tracks, as the main title track.
At the end of the Girls' Generation dance performance, all the groups and music videos came on stage. Girls' Generation, the two nominees for first place, stood to the left of the MC, while Wanna One stood to the right of the MC, with a large group of about ten boy and girl groups standing behind them.
He hadn't felt anything before, but now that all the groups were standing on the same stage, Ji Kyung-won, who was watching the live stream, felt something was off...
Girls' Generation... they really do stand out among all these idols.
It wasn't her appearance or clothing that were striking, but rather her age.
At first glance, it's almost instantly clear that they're not in the same age group as the idols around them.
The group of Wanna One members standing next to them were all pretty boys with delicate makeup and youthful expressions. Any one of them was much fairer than the members of Girls' Generation.
Gfriend, standing behind him, looked pure and lovely, wearing a pleated mini skirt, her youthful charm standing out even more in comparison.
Looking at Girls' Generation, almost all of them are approaching 30. Even the two youngest, Yoona and Seohyun, have long lost their youthful and innocent image. Yoona now leans towards elegance and approachability, which is somewhat out of place on the idol stage.
Seohyun has long lost the chubby cheeks she once had, and she no longer plays the silly maknae character. Although she waves and smiles enthusiastically at the fans in the audience, her idol vibe has faded considerably.
The entire stage was filled with innocent young girls, energetic young boys, and even newly debuted groups. Almost all of them were fourth-generation and new-generation groups. Even the third-generation groups had basically disappeared. As a second-generation original group, they really seemed a bit out of place among them.
Ji Kyung-won even saw that there were many idols behind him, hiding behind people and looking at Girls' Generation in front of him with a very strange look, as if he was surprised to see his childhood idols appear in front of him.
This made Chi Jingyuan, who felt somewhat awkward, sigh inwardly.
Being an idol really is a career that relies on youth.
Girls' Generation is already very prominent on stage now, and in a few years, he might be the same.
As he reminisced, all the groups on stage stood in line, and the two MCs began their final introductions.
Coincidentally, the two temporary MCs for today's episode are both members of Wanna One: Ong Seong-wu and Kim Jae-hwan.
"Girls' Generation vs. Wanna One, who will take home today's number one trophy?"
Please release the final results!
"Today's final results: First, the digital music sales score: 5000 vs 3850."
Album sales score: 860 vs 1500
"Preference score..."
"Social media scores...Mnet broadcast scores..."
When the MC announced the scores, many Wanna One members, who were aware of the online fans' reactions, looked nervously at the screen in front of them. Putting everything else aside, this first number one on a major channel was very meaningful to them, and of course, they were all extremely eager for it.
Meanwhile, the members of Girls' Generation next to them... although the older members, such as Kim Tae-yeon and Kwon Yuri, seemed very calm and smiling. They not only didn't look at the screen, but also kept interacting with the fans in the audience with their expressions and smiles, displaying the demeanor of senior artists. Their whole bodies seemed to be full of nonchalant attitude, as if they didn't care about being number one at all.
...However, Chi Jingyuan keenly noticed that these people kept glancing at the screen in front of them, and a few even pursed their lips nervously, their hands holding the microphones seemed to tighten a little.
...This is truly unbecoming of a senior figure.
"Finally, the live SMS voting scores are added... the final result is..."
Girls' Generation 10854 VS Wanna One 9987
"Today's glorious winner is Girls' Generation, Zumida!"
As the ribbons fluttered, fans cheered, and younger members of the group clapped in support, the highly anticipated battle for the top spot finally came to an end.
...In that instant, countless curses and profanities were unleashed, accompanied by spittle that splattered onto the screen.
The members of Girls' Generation also looked surprised and delighted, and some even patted their chests in a show of relief.
The two Wanna One MCs forced a smile and personally handed one of the trophies to leader Kim Tae-yeon.
"Inside."
The confetti was still fluttering in the air. Kim Taeyeon stared blankly at the trophy in her hand for a second, then weighed it in her hand before realizing what was happening. However, the seasoned performer quickly put on a smile: "It's been such a long time since I've been on a music show stage, and I'm really grateful to receive this award today, um..."
He had only said a few words when, seemingly due to a surge of emotions, even though he had been in the industry for ten years and had won countless awards, he was momentarily speechless.
Just now, Ji Kyung-won noticed at a glance that Girls' Generation seemed out of place on stage with this group of newcomers. How could Girls' Generation themselves not feel it? It seems that Kim Tae-yeon knows that this may be the last number one trophy in her girl group career. There is so much she wants to say and express, but some words are not suitable to be said on this stage, nor are they suitable to be said by an idol.
As soon as she paused, Tiffany and Yoona immediately realized what was happening and reached out in perfect unison to take the microphone.
However, being a senior figure for many years, Kim Tae-yeon only paused for a second before quickly regaining her composure. She let out a soft breath, and even though this award might be somewhat special, she didn't say anything particularly noteworthy. As usual, she began her formal thanks:
"Thank you so much to SONE for your continued support and companionship. You've really worked hard lately."
"Thank you, Lee Soo-man, President Kim Young-min, and my manager Oppa who has been working so hard since the early hours of the morning, Cody Unnie, and all the staff, thank you..."
After thanking everyone, the speech segment usually ends at this point.
Kim Tae-yeon paused briefly, then looked at the camera, pursed her lips, and continued speaking:
"Also, thank you to Yuan xi for helping us complete this album, who was a great help to us..."
I'll update later tomorrow.