Today the International Johnny's newsletter came out with some announcements.
The first announcement was that Domoto Tsuyoshi's upcoming album NIPPON will be released in various countries in Europe. The news about this had been out for a while but the newsletter confirms which countries should be releasing the album; Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, UK,
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. According to the newsletter the album will be out October 21st.
I will confess that at first I was surprised that Tsuyoshi was getting this kind of release but after thinking about I think Johnny's knows what they're doing. Even if there isn't demand for him in those countries the kind of music Tsuyoshi writes for his solo work would probably fit better with the European music scene than other Johnny's. Especially as it's some of the most un-idol music that comes from a member of Johnny's.
The next is that they are letting international fans ballot for tickets for A.B.C-Z's upcoming concert. And while that in itself probably isn't too noteworthy as a good deal of Johnny's concerts are open for this it's the way the group was promoted. Most notable was the fact that they mentioned how A.B.C-Z toured with Yamashita Tomohisa when he did his Asia tour and how they are, and I will directly quote, "Their popularity around Asia is growing!".
It's rather interesting as one of the things that felt like a sign that Kis-My-Ft2 were being prepared for debut was the fact they were the only Juniors going with KAT-TUN when they did their most recent Asia tour. Especially as they were even put on the marquee with KAT-TUN as if they were also headlining with them for some of those concerts. I don't think A.B.C-Z was featured that prominently with Yamapi's tour but I would not be surprised if part of the reason they were taken to tour with him was to help get people outside of Japan to know that they exist. And going back to the A.B.C-xyZ announcement if the group debuts they'll be heading to Asia soon after debut so maybe Asian Johnny's fans should start figuring out if they'll be a group they would like to become a fan of.
It really surprises me that Domoto Tsuyoshi sho got chosen to release in Europe, out of all Johnnys. Since I don´t live in Europe , I don´t know how many fans he has there but I could imagne that bands like KAT-TUN for ex. have more fans.
ReplyDeleteWell, still I really hope the CD´s will sell well, so JE will continue to expand in the foreign countries as well .
It would be so cool if there will be a Johnny´s concert someday in the USA.
To be honest, I´ve also already thought of the possibility of ABC-Z to go to Asia as well.
The J-ticket international could be one of the signs for it.
Well I live in Europe but couldn´t someone like Arashi, JUMP, KAT-TUN release a single here?!
ReplyDeleteBut on the other hand it´s great to see a Johnnys release in my country. Even if I won´t buy it (sorry, not a fan of Tsuyoshi and his music), I´ll go to the music store and see if his CD really will be there XD
@ Jackie
ReplyDeleteI have the feeling the release isn't based on how many fans there are in Europe but which Johnny's could bring in new fans and I can see Tsuyoshi being able to fit in with a nitch market in Europe with other music that is similar to his.
It's just hard to tell what's going on with that, especially with the new unit announcement that just came out.
@ Anonymous
Well at least with this Johnny's proves that they realize that there are Johnny's fans in Europe. I think it'll be some time still before the big names may start doing more outside of Japan as it's only become a more standard thing for Johnny's to tour Asia even though they've been in those markets for decades.