Single Hinatazaka46 1st [Kyun] [2019/03/27]

That's messed up that Koda Kumi would copy Hinatachans like that.

But really, they're only superficially similar like the way Kaze Ni is to High Tension.

 

Some people noticed that too but Kuu-chan (Koda Kumi-san) has not spoken about that. Could she do it? Yes, it is possible. Hopefully this doesn't affect the girls.

Let's wait for what Sony and Akimoto-sensei could say.

 

Oricon first week 476,000 (the news item only gives those round numbers). Billboard first week 474,893. High platform to start from or not, those are great numbers. Best first week ever for a new female group debuting, succeeding SaiMajo.

I love the comparisons, but they don't mean one song or one group is better than the other. They're just a point of pride for the newer group, and an indication of how far they've come. Just as Nogi created a high platform for Keyaki to start from, Nogi and Keyaki and Hiragana have now created an even higher platform for Hinata to start from.

And Hinatazaka is not a "new" group, really. It's had 2-3 years to polish itself into the professional machine it is now. And it's had 2-3 years to gather a strong but not huge following (I've been a fan since the Showroom auditions in late April 2016).

Now the following could get huge, as people realize just how amazing a group this is: in beauty, in performance, in variety, in personality overall. I've even seen people saying Nao-chan is the new Shiraishi Mai. Now that is a comparison, lol. Time will tell.

As for the Lady Go comparison, to me it doesn't seem as if there is any significant similarity. (But unlike the next poster, I have no music education, lol.) Music is a huge world, and slight similarities of bits of melodies are unavoidable: maybe the first phrase is similar, but isn't the second different? Anyway, Sony probably now has musico-legal specialists comparing the songs to make sure they fall outside any Japanese legal definition of plagiarism. I hope and believe this is "a tempest in a teapot," as the old saying goes (i.e., something much less significant than we might fear).

 

I haven’t kept up with my music education but I’m certain if I were to jot the notes down from each of the melodies both would be 100% matching. Sorry to say but this is blatant plagiarism and the composer of Kyun should be ashamed of himself. The girls are just the performers so they don’t deserve any criticism whatsoever.

 

Takahiro sensei enjoying kyun in mezamashi.

https://twitter.com/onisushihank/status/1112858164888723456?s=20

 

Well what’s clear is that that composer is never working for Hinata ever again

 

Just like it's pointless to compare Keyaki's debut sales to Nogi's debut sales, so it goes for comparing Hinata's debut sales to Keyaki's debut sales. 2018 was a great year for Hiragana Keyaki (as great of a year it can be without a debut/independence) and their first album sold very well (one person already predicted the first day sales of Kyun based on their album sales before Kyun was released). So Kyun's sales don't surprise me at all. They'll grow even more now and perhaps comparisons can stop now, especially between Keyaki and Hinata (I've seen a recent spat surrounding Keyavids; I don't think Keya/Hinata fans realize how lucky they are to have a site like that, I wish Nogi had its own version of Keyavids).

As for the plagiarism accusations, I hear the similarity but oh well it wouldn't be a first. I don't think it's gaining any kind of traction in Japan.

 

By the way, didn't Iz*One already have best debut single sales since February? So they technically surpassed their record, not Keyaki's

 

Who composed it anyway? I thought it was Aki P.

 

Aki-P is the lyricist.

 

So why are the blaming the girls for plagiarism? The composer should be blamed.

 

The composer is probably blamed. Knowing Sony he will never get to compose more songs for Sony Music in the future.

 

No, just trying to explain that you missed ours Everything else in your post is 100% right, but I haven't seen anyone anywhere claim they were massively popular before the name change.

 

I don't think anyone is blaming the girls.

 

I only said that because the quote their names. Like, Hinatazaka46 plagiarised Koda Kumi

 

People who know anything aren't blaming Hinatazaka, but the media, in its normal take-the-shortcut way, uses their name to give the story punch. And I'm not sure it's avoidable: stories have to get people's attention. Hopefully it's true that the story isn't getting much traction in Japan.

By the way, I'm seeing lots of reports of TAKAHIRO on MezamashiTV, and the reports seem to imply that he choreographed Kyun. I believe it was CRE8BOY, not TAKAHIRO. That's what CRE8BOY's site and ja.Wikipedia say, anyway. If anyone said Takahiro did it, it, it probably wasn't the man himself. In their Twitter CRE8BOY say they go "kyun" seeing "Takahiro-sensei" do the Hinata/Hiragana "hi" gesture. They have happily put Nao-chan's TikTok of the Kyun dance in their timeline, too.

 

Well my problem with that is Keyaki did not provide a platform for Hiragana in nearly the same why Nogi did for Keyaki. They dangled the idea of promotion in front of them but no matter much how much Kato/Kyoko sold or how well they performed they were still perceived as somehow worst. Labeling a bunch of girls as unders without reason does not really help.

Certainly they had access to Keyaki's fanbase and firmly had Neru's help for a time but they were basically anti-promoted for two years. Or maybe something like leftover promotion. Maybe if there was a rivalry like AKB vs Nogizaka it would have been more helpful. It's a major achievement to build this large a fanbase while exposed nearly solely to fans of Keyakizaka.

I'd be careful reading about Nao as it's mostly grossly exaggerated. The only clearly more popular members are Kyoko/Kato/Kosaka. Given they were the only ones with solo lanes. With, my guess being, Kosaka trailing. Based on glances at handshake sale rate, search trends, sns, etc. She seems to have clear lead in fan growth right now though I would say. But Hinano has strong growth too. This is all wota popularity though no breakthroughs yet as far I can tell.

Maybe he was talking about Tokimeki? That was him right?

 

Hinatazaka46's 1st Single (Kyun) (1st Week Sales)
Week 1: 476,362

Got some more numbers to pass along.
https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2132822/full/

• Combined ranking: 488,846 points. Of course, 476,362 of which are the CD sales itself.
• Digital downloads: 7,146 points. (x2.5 DL/pt = ~17,865 downloads)
• Digital streaming: 5,338 points. (x300 plays/pt = over 1.6 million plays!)

 

I thought that was the case, too, but was reporting what Oricon said. Now I've double-checked in Wikipedia and it shows Iz*one ending their first week of Suki to Awasetai at 221,640 units and reaching #2. I confirmed the #2 on Oricon, but couldn't find numbers there. So I'm going to continue to go with Keyaki being the record-holders until I see different numbers from Oricon. Maybe the Oricon numbers only include Japan and not Korea?

@plus1plus1 -- You mean performing in Keyaki lives and having songs on their singles is not promotion? "Access to their fanbase" is not nothing. No, they were not promoted as an independent act from the start. But being part of Keyaki did definitely give them a higher platform to start from.

The group's confused origins were definitely a problem, but at least they turn out not to have been stuck as "unders" forever. In the end, their problematic relationship with Keyaki did the members as a whole more good than a Nogi-like unders situation would have. But it took three years to get here.

Yes, Tokimekisou is the song Takahiro choreographed. I wasn't commenting on what he said, since I haven't seen him say it, but the reports and tweets seem to include pics of Kyun and congratulations to Takahiro. It's the implications of the reports that are a bit misleading, probably not the show itself.

I've just checked YouTube for the show and here's the longer of two clips. Takahiro agrees that he does choreography for both Keyaki and Hinata, adding that he has done all Keyaki's singles. He is asked about the difference between Keyaki and Hinata choreography and says, more or less, that the live audience watches Keyaki choreo and gets excited and active to Hinata choreo. He also made the point that live, MV and TV choreo are all a bit different. That seems to impress the hosts.


if the video does not show watch the video here

Whatever Takahiro said, CRE8BOY obviously wasn't bothered, since they said how kyun-inducing that final "hi" gesture was (see it here). But the BGM is Kyun. Wrong implications, but probably the best choice for promoting the release.