How did SM Entertainment become the blueprint in building musical relations with Japan
Almost 21 years ago, SM Entertainment’s creative director BoA made her debut in Japan. She has pioneered in building bridges with the country musically ever since. Labelmate TVXQ had followed pace.
Kwon Boa, whose stage name is BoA, debuted in Korea in August 2000. But there’s a catch! SM Entertainment destined her to be a ‘global superstar’, starting with outdoing Japan.
As a trainee, BoA received Japanese language lessons before debuting in Japan in May 2001. She released a Japanese version of her Korean debut album ‘ID: peace B’. The single had sold 45,000 copies.
Saying BoA dominated Japan is an understatement; her first 2002 Japanese album, ‘Listen to My Heart’, was certified million-seller by RIAJ. The album stayed on Oricon charts for 93 weeks straight. BoA released her album ‘Valenti’ in the following year, which the RIAJ certified as platinum.
Aside from album sales, BoA had also left a cultural impact on the country. Her hit song ‘メリクリ (merikuri)’ is considered a classic Christmas winter song and is still relevant in Japan today. The song climbs back up in Oricon and Billboard charts every mid-November throughout December. Fans also put Merikuri on par as Japan’s version of Mariah Carey’s Christmas classic ‘All I Want For Christmas’.
BoA’s success came unexpectedly to SM Entertainment. They [SM] took the risk of venturing into Japan’s lucrative music industry. SM had spent a lot of money on BoA’s Japan debut, which was around 4 billion won, roughly 3 million US dollars. Making such investments at the time was unusual as Korea had just gone through the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997.
Thanks to BoA’s success, SM and Avex entertainment was incentivised to debut and sign TVXQ in Japan. From 2007–2009 onwards, they started getting recognition with their hit singles from ‘Summer’ to the Japanese version of ‘Mirotic’ being №1 on Oricon weekly charts. Eventually, NHK invited them to their prestigious annual, year-end music programme ‘NHK Uta Gassen’, where only artists successful in Japan are performing.
TVXQ has a respectable fanbase in Japan. No, they have the power of the Japanese general public as even older people follow them! They were also the first non-Japanese artist to perform at Japan’s largest stadium Yokohama’s Nissan Stadium, in 2013. `
Of course, their triumphs weren’t easy to achieve. In the case of TVXQ, they were ignored and were mere underground musicians in their early days in Japan. They are the epitome of artists who worked hard until they earned widespread recognition.
As Japan had ended their Heisei calendar in 2019, broadcaster Fuji TV aired a 4-hour special on their morning show “Mezamashi x Sanma’” presenting the most impactful artists in Japan throughout the Heisei era (1989–2019). TVXQ ranked 7th on the list, KARA as 11th and Girls’ Generation as 19th.
SM Entertainment and TVXQ had opened up the door of opportunity for other Korean acts in Japan. Groups like BIGBANG, Girls’ Generation and KARA continued the legacy BoA and TVXQ had built as they persisted in carrying on the influence of K-pop in Japan alive in the following years.
If BoA and TVXQ didn’t debut in Japan first, there might not have been well-established musical relations between politically tense Japan and South Korea. K-pop would have a different direction in the Japanese archipelago if it weren’t for them.
Korean acts may not do Japanese versions of their songs. There may be no contents (like merchandise, nationwide tours, etc.) explicitly made for Japan. More or less, if K-pop ever managed to penetrate Japan, promotions might’ve been similar to Western artists. They are mere visitors of Japan’s showbiz industry. They will only appear on TV programmes as part of the Japan leg of their world tour. Korean acts will not have regular appearances on Japanese television.
From the beginning, it was always SM Entertainment’s ambition to promote in foreign markets, in this case, Japan. With BoA and TVXQ’s proven success, SM Entertainment had built a framework for expanding K-pop — debuting its acts in profitable Japan. Indeed, SM is the blueprint for building K-pop in Japan, and others have only followed paths SM paved.
