by Zunu » Fri Aug 04, 2017 12:31 pm
Soloists and group leads are completely different -- I don't believe you can infer loss of relevance of the latter from that of the former. The evidence says otherwise. The top selling girl idol groups by far are the top Akimoto spawn groups. Nobody else is even close. Generally even though they have zillions of members who only hardcore fans can keep straight, they still have a few front girls who are pushed forward and recognizable by almost everyone. Then there are other popular groups like Babymetal, Perfume, Momoiro Clover Z, E-Girls, Dempagumi, Inc, all of whom have one or more highly recognizable members strongly pushed by their agencies. (well, not so much E-Girls any longer but that's a recent development.) Sure there are groups who can sell ok without known faces (Ebichu?) but my feeling is that having a known face helps greatly. That front girl helps to keep the group in the public eye between song releases. When songs do come out, she can go on more shows to pimp the single, not just music shows but talk/variety type shows. Having her face featured in the CM will help to move more units. A well-known face helps retain brand loyalty.
tending to put ~ on song titles since 2002