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 Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 12:32 am Post subject: Kumi Koda & Masahiro Nakai |
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Kumi Koda & Masahiro Nakai getting intimate while SMAP and Avex just flirt
Kumi Koda
News that Masahiro Nakai is dating pop queen Kumi Koda has also lifted the lid on speculation that the front man of the "fast-approaching-middle-age" boy band SMAP may be looking at some major changes, according to Sunday Mainichi (9/2).
Nakai, 35, has been SMAP's front man since it first burst onto Japan's showbiz scene in the early '90s. But the band is now facing a crisis, as its record label throughout that time, Victor Entertainment, is about to be swallowed up by parent company Victor Japan due to cash flow problems.
"What all that means is that record companies across the country are fighting to try and get SMAP to sign with them," a music company's top boss tells Sunday Mainichi on condition of anonymity. "Giving a few names, there's the foreign-funded Universal Music, but also powerful Avex; where, of course, Koda is signed up."
Masahiro Nakai
While Nakai and Koda are apparently snuggling up, it looks like their respective record companies may be in the same process.
"Avex has a deal with SMAP's agency Joy Dream to produce and distribute anime movies," the boss says. "And Hisahiko Iida, who looked after SMAP at Victor when they were still a group of unknowns, has just been appointed as a director at Avex."
SMAP is also rumored to be looking to break away from Johnny & Associates, Japan's most famous talent agency and renowned for its ability to churn out pretty boy bands. But Johnny's is having plenty of input in who SMAP signs up with, and it's not really looking in Avex's direction.
Kumi Koda
"Julie Fujishima, who's said to be most likely to take over Johnny & Associates, is often called SMAP's creator. She doesn't want SMAP to break off the links it has to Johnny's, so she's looking to get the band to sign up with Universal, not Avex," a music producer says. "SMAP's members will make the final decision on where the band goes, though."
Even though the creator may be looking in a different direction, SMAP's members are definitely gazing in the direction of Avex. Whispers are floating about that Takuya Kimura, the band's biggest name, is poised to sign up as the star of a movie to celebrate Avex's 20th anniversary next year. And, of course, there's the Nakai link to Koda, a performer closely associated with the Avex label.
Sunday Mainichi (9/2)
"All the talk about record companies has come about because of news about Nakai and Koda supposedly being madly in love. I don't know whether all that stuff is true, but there is no doubt that they are very, very close," a manager at a foreign-owned music company tells Sunday Mainichi. "SMAP being highly likely to move to a new label is probably what sparked all the stories about the singers' love lives." (By Ryann Connell)
August 24, 2007
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