[Global Times] Nine Percent's lack of unity causing it to fall far behind K-pop's Wanna One, EXO and BTS

[5201314]

 

Seven out of nine members of Nine Percent pose for picture at an autograph event in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, on November 24, 2018. Photo: VCG

 

 

Source: http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1145388.shtml

By Liu Zhongyin

 

 

 

 

 

During Saturday's final episode of the second season of Chinese streaming platform iQiyi's reality show Qing Chun You Ni, nine finalists were chosen by fan vote to become China's newest boy band, UNINE. 

 

"UNINE suggests that the nine members will be unified and progress together through producing their own music pieces and building up their stage fame step by step," explained Chinese pop star Zhang Yixing, one of the show's two hosts that night.

 

The winners of season one, Nine Percent, also appeared in the episode to witness the formation of the new team that day, which was also their one year anniversary. However, one member of Nine Percent in particular was notably absent. Cai Xukun, the team leader and most popular member of the band, was unable to make it as he is currently touring in the US. 

 

 

Together as one? 

 

Chinese boy bands like Nine Percent and UNINE were inspired by similar groups in South Korea, which act as role models for them and also act as the standard to which they are held. Considered temporary bands, the members come from different entertainment companies and only take part in activities as a group for a limited period of time.    

 

However, while these boy bands follow the South Korean model, when it comes to the number of original music pieces, concerts and how tight-knit they are, Chinese boy bands still fall far behind. 

 

South Korean boy band Wanna One, which was formed from the 11 winners of South Korean show Produce 101 season two in 2017, reached the same level of popularity as K-pop's BTS and EXO despite being together for only one and a half years. Their farewell concerts between January 24 and 27 were incredibly popular, so popular in fact that tickets were being scalped for prices equivalent to $18,000.

 

Popular songs are what set these idol groups apart. Wanna One released five albums in total. Their song "Energetic" had more than 100 million views on YouTube. They also held dozens of concerts at home and abroad. Even their album names, such as To Be One, Nothing Without You and Undivided, suggested a strong desire to remain and act as one.

 

Although they have been together for a year now, Nine Percent have only produced one album and haven't held any concerts at all, instead only holding fan meets and autograph sessions. 

 

On the whole, individual development within the team has been prioritized over the progression of the entire group. Most members are currently recording their own albums, performing and taking on spokesperson contracts as individuals. This focus on the individual can be seen from the group's participation in Zhejiang Satellite TV's New Year Gala on December 30, 2018. Although several group members took part in the event, they performed separately.   

 

 

Temporary troubles

 

In August and October 2018, many netizens criticized iQiyi for failing to provide more opportunities to their favorite members of the group. The lack of group performances and members' tendency to work on their own led fans to suspect the group Nine Percent might exist in name only. 

 

Marketing for the group only strengthens this suspicion.

 

There were no special celebratory events held on the idol group's anniversary save for some videos posted to Sina Weibo reviewing the growth of the band. Posted itineraries only cover individual members instead of the whole group. Some members have also started to film TV series. 

 

The group's main problem seems to be a lack of focus, instead of producing music and performing concerts, members have been busy with other activities such as filming TV series and appearing on variety shows.  

 

Even He Jiong, the other host of Saturday's episode, once joked on reality show Who's the Murderer that it's very common in China for boy bands to spend a lot of time appearing on food shows.

 

Wei Ping, an entertainment manager for a British singer, told the Global Times that in his opinion idol groups like Nine Percent need to be given opportunities to perform.  He noted that, unlike South Korea, in China there is no mature platform or system to encourage Chinese idol groups to present their music or seek a satisfying rank for it, which in return can increase the exposure of their music.  

 

In the end, if UNINE truly wants to achieve long-lasting success as a boy band, then its nine members should adhere to the spirit of the group's name and unite together as one.

[blossoms]

ahh, what a well written article, I completely agree
i love the nine percent boys so much but it would have been nice to see them together more and for them to release more music together too

[Feary]

It's true they can make a lot of money individual if they continue as they are, which is indeed good for them, but it does defeat the whole point of being a "group". If I was a fan of the group, I would be super annoyed, but then again, I guess akgaes are satisfied (I don't know why either when I think seeing group members interact together is some of the best part of stanning an idol group?)? Still looking at the whole idol market in China, this was an opportunity for them to lead the Chinese idol industry in a brand new direction and gain popularity for Chinese idol groups all across China and maybe internationally. 

[________________]

ahh, what a well written article, I completely agree

i love the nine percent boys so much but it would have been nice to see them together more and for them to release more music together too

Lmao. 

 

Let's hope UNINE actually releases stuff..

[金彩媛]

these c-pop groups are a whole mess, they can't even be promoted as a full team

[Jollux]

Shed some light:

https://gbtimes.com/chinas-music-market-rose-to-us50bn-in-2017

 

https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8475779/touring-china-government-western-artists-music-festivals-dua-lipa

[kookcarl27]

That's just sad.

[waycrispy1]

CHINA has never been about group unity

[Halcyon Days~]

Tragic.

 

Must suck for the fans.

[Drama Drama Drama]

Nine Percent is a good business. 9 solo stans joining forces but not a conventional group as BTS or EXO where unity is important to sell group image.

But China is diferent. Groups fans are individual solo stan joining to stan a group. Personalities, visual and charisma to catch audience fans first.

Sounds shady the article.

But NPC is a business and it's better for business make solo activities.

But in this issue solo stans wins.

And respect the group music: before disband they should be make other album.

[waycrispy1]

For a visual, this is not just Nine Percent, but the state of most Chinese groups...they each address their own fans anyway

 

Click here to view the Tweet

 

What even is the point of applying one industry's standards to another completely different industry? that's just bullshit

[NTS]

China has always all about solo stan/ akgae

Even the C-fandom for KPOP groups, the individual stan >>>> group stan

 

But they should establish the group a bit at the beginning before focusing on solo job, somehow it would make both group fandom & individual fandom stronger, look at TFBoys & S.H.E 

Just Nine Percent is a project group, so they will disband soon anw lol

[haruko]

Sad but true. I intend to stan them actually but can't get with them since they rarely perform together

[Briana]

I mean it s not just nine percent though, it s always been like this for chinese idols.They always turn to acting and become acting-dols. It s like, their singing career was an intership to become an acting dols (rarely one could become a recpectable award winning actors though). But even if they turned into acting, they usually still release some single every now and then. But it s true that it s more acceptable in China for idols to turn career path to become acting dols than Korean idols.

[namidaone]

Solo stan/akgaes are a problem in Kpop too, esp when it comes to Produce groups. 

The difference is Kpop learned to harness the akgaes/solo stans to benefit the group by selling individual member/subunit versions of the same album.  

 

Also the demand for group music activities in China is there. Nine Percent may have only released one full album  but that album managed to be the 3rd bestselling digital album of China in 2018,  beaten only by Lay's Namanana and Eminem's Kamikaze. [x] 

[Gilraen92]

Comparing cpop groups with kpop groups is not fair imo, because cpop idol group industry (at least in mainland China) is just blooming now, compared with Kpop industry that literally has YEARS of experience and where idols are basically mainstream.

 

Also, I see 9% as an "experiment" for being the first idol group coming from all the produce-esque shows. Afaik iQiyi had zero experience managing an idol group before, starting for how messy the contracts were and how they let some members' companies dominate over them. Now it seems iQiyi got more determined this year to promote the winning group (UNINE) as a legit group and they've been giving them group stuff since the first day. So yeah, 9% was basically used to test the waters, just like IOI being the first group in the Korean produce was experimental in a way too.

 

Not to mention that in general, cpop industry is different. Even TFBoys do more solo stuff than group stuff. Even Rocket Girls being from Tencent do a lot of solo stuff lately (they're obviously more pushed as a group than 9% but compared with a Kpop girl group they do way more individual stuff).

[Gilraen92]

For a visual, this is not just Nine Percent, but the state of most Chinese groups...they each address their own fans anyway

 

Click here to view the Tweet

 

What even is the point of applying one industry's standards to another completely different industry? that's just bullshit

 

It's pretty much what I said. Idk why they're using kpop standards in cpop. Like I said, even RG that's much more pushed as a group by Tencent that iQiyi has never pushed 9%, still does a lot of solo activities and they have to rely in pandering to solo stans to get big sales so...

[jeong jaehyuns boyfriend]

Same goes for rocket girls. Although rocket girls has done a lot more group activities and has more unity as a whole

[peperoni]

lol I know 9percent is in global standard but for me they need to suprass TFboys first

[Drama Drama Drama]

lol I know 9percent is in global standard but for me they need to suprass TFboys first

NPC are so successful but not reached the TFBOYS status named the chinese nation's sons.

[lumimochi]

ahh, what a well written article, I completely agree

i love the nine percent boys so much but it would have been nice to see them together more and for them to release more music together too

100%

[byutoful]

First, I'm just happy for Wanna One to set as an example as one of the project groups that got successful. Indeed, they showed unity and friendship within their promotion period.

 

I was kinda hoping before that Nine Percent will be as successful as Rocket Girls.

 

Hope they can promote UNINE very well this time

[________________]

Comparing cpop groups with kpop groups is not fair imo, because cpop idol group industry (at least in mainland China) is just blooming now, compared with Kpop industry that literally has YEARS of experience and where idols are basically mainstream.

 

Also, I see 9% as an "experiment" for being the first idol group coming from all the produce-esque shows. Afaik iQiyi had zero experience managing an idol group before, starting for how messy the contracts were and how they let some members' companies dominate over them. Now it seems iQiyi got more determined this year to promote the winning group (UNINE) as a legit group and they've been giving them group stuff since the first day. So yeah, 9% was basically used to test the waters, just like IOI being the first group in the Korean produce was experimental in a way too.

 

Not to mention that in general, cpop industry is different. Even TFBoys do more solo stuff than group stuff. Even Rocket Girls being from Tencent do a lot of solo stuff lately (they're obviously more pushed as a group than 9% but compared with a Kpop girl group they do way more individual stuff).

UNINE <3 

[meis]

If you do not include the conflicts between their respective original companies and the companies that host the programs/shows (Tencent & iQiyi, in this case), then the article and the opinions here are not being honest.

Solo works = more profits for the boys/girls' respective original companies. Do not blame this as if this is a Cpop idol/group culture thingy.

 

SING女团 had lots of group activities, fyi. And they do not have the 'middle man' to interfere them, unlike Nine Percent and Rocket Girls.

 

So, this is a battle for their original companies and '2nd companies' (whatever you like to call it).

 

I still prefer group activities in any day. Cheers.