Se7en, “straight” to the US from Japan on the 23rd!

“since the song received a good reaction”?

p’shaw.

i thought the reaction was rather more like, “Se7en honey, you’re quite good-looking and you sure can dance and I still love you, but man that song fucking blows and you’d better do something about it before you try to break into the American music industry, which will chew you up and spit you out with no shred of compassion or decency!”

but, you know, maybe shortened to something more like, “Oh, hay-ell naw!”

hahahhahahhhaha Holla at our love Javabeans!

Girl that man YG is well dreaming for a successful debut with that song! and it’s not one or two people are saying this! It’s a pure madness if he is not aware of this … something tells me he is well aware, this is just acting! …. that’s why ever since the song leaked we had him announcing multiple times in the media about how Se7en’ will succeed in the US market and blah blah I swear we have been begging him to shut up! Cuz it only brought the public expectations up! Then later when it bored him … he came out with his ultimate super duper plan of making the guy gain 10kgs to fit the US market?! …. Then made Lexy announce the same thing?! Over the past couple months we rarely even had his pic up in the news … but with his constant blabbering, damn it I even ended up made a category for his face!

with all due respect for supporting this man Se7en all through this years *rolling eyes* ( how much does it cost Se7en for breaking his contract? LOL!) Though the problem lies in the kinda guy YG is, I don’t blame him for being cheap! It’s just that with that attitude he is bringing that guy’s career under line! Someone slap him out of this! Who told him to debut the guy before JYP? JYP was the one came with the idea in the first place! Let him go first! … reality is he has more connections “owns the STAR of Asia! blah blah* and yet after Madison Square garden Concert he didn’t dare to go any further!!

why bother to break it through with all this rush! to fail it big? Can you imagine a debut for him in summer? as much as i wanna see that guy in US i don’t wanna see him depressed yet with another failure! this time I’m telling you people! he can’t take it! and I’m dead serious! mark my word!

Don’t believe me eh? Go make a slide show of his pictures after that Goong S ending party just follow for fun see where you end up! Was that the guy we knew in 747 concert? To sob on the stage? Was that him? To keep loosing weight in matter of seconds? Can’t you see the sorrow in those eyes?

I used to think that Se7en would have a better chance of breaking into the US market, before Rain would (judging on the kind of music then), but Se7en’s ‘leaked’ song is kinda disappointing, it being to meshed up that I can’t tell when exactly is he singing, vs Rain’s leaked one.

I’d rather Se7en not rush to try and be the ‘first’ to break into the states and coming back with lack-lustre results. It’s like he’s emulating and trying to achieve much more in a shorter time, lesser prep than Rain that I feel sad for him.

I just looked at the pic I chose for this post again … at first I wasn’t really happy with it but a second thought … it says NO on his T-shirt like “don’t send me to US!!!” that goes well with the title LOL! Isn’t it? Se7enFan and Anne?! Hanging out with ya’ll I’m getting quite artistic LOL! Heck had to put ya’ll in the list of influential people too! at least you two speak Engish *rolling eyes*

Can he sing in English? Where will he perform? Will he be working with a large record company? Just because he announced that he is coming to the U.S. will not automatically guarantee his success. Best of luck to Se7en but it will be a tough struggle to make it here. I’d bet on Rain before Se7en.

Well its Official…Se7en’s entry into the US market can be called a failure. It might not be a complete failure but I doubt he will hardly make a splash….YG *shakes head. Se7en should’ve signed with JYP…LOL! Who cares if Rain is on the same label. Rain will definitely be the winner.

Frankly, I think things look pretty grim for both Rain AND Seven… The American industry is BRUTAL. Heartless. They have no reason to be forgiving and they won’t be.

Koreans are WAY too optimistic about their chances at crossing over. Hallyu’s a big phenomenon… in Asia. The US mainstream still has no idea what the term “Korean Wave” means. Will they care that a star who’s “big in Asia” is coming here if they’ve never heard of them? No. They even made fun of it on The O.C. Furthermore, attaching a US producer means little if the music sounds like that leaked song. Producers are paid by the hour — unless you’ve got a HUGE name attached, like Diddy or Missy Elliot or Russell Simmons, it doesn’t mean a whole lot.

When all’s said and done, the product is key. You can have all the success and backing in the world, but if your product sucks, you’re not going to make it here (see: Utada Hikaru). And if you want any shot at making it, you’ve got to be operating on a level of quality that surpasses the competition, not imitates it. Who wants to see another pale imitator of American hip-hop?

I used to think Rain had a much better shot at breaking in — I find his image, his look, his voice, his music better suited for Western audiences — but honestly, his English is a huge problem. It’s like he’s trying so hard not to sound like a typical fob that he’s morphed his speech into some weird ghetto fob. If he were talking normally, as himself, there’d be a cute charm to his accent, but he’s trying so hard to affect a strange new accent on top of his existing one that it’s embarrassing.

Face it, even if both Seven and Rain were perfectly fluent without a trace of accent, they’d be facing an uphill battle. But watering down their own music and rushing into a market that doesn’t care about them is not going to do them any favors. Honestly, I think a group like Epik High has much more chances of success at crossing over — not that I want them to — not merely because Tablo’s fluent in English but because they offer something fresh and innovative, musically.

(and oops, that was me ^^ i deleted my comment b/c it was under an old acct)

well said Javabeans … i agree with ur points …. i don’t understand their mentality behind the rush to us market myself! It all started after wrong-deed JYP came out with his plans for Rain and almost every one got into their pants ready to be the first one in line!

Se7enFan LOL i swear i always wanted to say this but kinda played around the bushes wasn’t sure if i can say it … but now that u mentioned.. LOL can JYP and YG at least work together? seriously they are coming from the same place at least they should have a little mercy on themselves LOL i sometimes really wish if JYP could buy Se7en too T___T that guy is getting wasted like that *crying out loud*

yes! I agree with you Shenyue — not that Seven should be on JYP’s label necessarily, but that YG and JYP are taking entirely the wrong approach in the rush to be “first.” They should slow down and WORK TOGETHER instead of pitting these guys against each other with no other reason than the fact that they’re on different domestic record labels.

They’re expending a lot of energy trying to differentiate Seven and Rain from each other, and losing sight of the fact that separating the two and making their debuts into a rivalry instead of a partnership is NOT the right strategy when only 4% of their target audience looks like them! Yeah, 4 freaking lousy percent is the Asian Am population. To appeal to the mainstream, you know what you’ve got to do? Find a way to make yourself accessible to the majority. You know, all those people who live in between LA and New York. Because no matter how popular you are in those two cities, you don’t have a chance if you can’t also appeal to the rest of the country. Dude, our last two presidential elections are proof of that. Can you see Seven’s album being bought at a Wal-mart in Colorado? Ohio? No? Then rethink your strategy.

Don’t be in such a rush to be “the first” to America! Because you know what that’ll end up being? The first to FAIL in America. I see nothing to lose by promoting Seven and Rain’s debuts in America TOGETHER — remember the “Latin explosion” of the early 2000s? All those singers benefited from breaking in at the same time — and nobody thought JLo and Shakira were the same person, or Ricky Martin and Marc Antony. Use your momentum together, and maybe you’ve got a shot. Try to fight each other and you’re cutting down your already-slim chances at survival.

I mean, doesn’t that just make sense???

(shenyue, i’m loving this discussion! you just can’t talk about stuff like this on soompi.)

Precisely. It’s like wasting energy fighting a battle without a clear strategy.

I got to know Se7en before Rain, and I liked his style of music, though back then, I understood nuts about whatever he’s singing.

But right now, he seems to be too much too commercialised, following the path of Rain too closely, ala starring in a drama (that bombed), going for the same market (Japan/China/US) when neither is good enough in the language except to pseudo-carry a tune in it.

I wouldn’t mind the differentiation if we’re talking about establishing themselves already with a position in the market, but as an entry strategy, it should go for the mass market, and that is to cater to as wide an audience with a product, an image, a sound, that delivers to them. Their brand of target marketing narrows themselves to a market that is already enclosed in itself.

Javabeans hahhaha I’m glad you enjoy our discussions here I love to have you here too Yeah, we are kinda known for being over blunt LOL! But that is the nature of the beast … my initial purpose here was to be able to say what’s on my mind without being worried to get others pleased the whole time or try to make everyone love me! Being constantly under attack here, I guess it’s a proof I have achieved the later LOL!

Just like you guys, I really wish YG and JYP could get together .. the way things goes that’s the only way i can have a little hope on the outcome!

But I donno why I don’t think like some of you, who still think Rain has a better chance or even has a chance! Well, the kinda hatred his die-hard created in Times website in the past 24 hours or so is a true evidence that all those non kpopers who had not a single clue about him till yesterday already started bashing on the message boards voting him off on the 16th place with over 206,000 total votes?! That was why Laura and I wanted him to stay off the first place! See? We didn’t hate him?! We just wanted to avoid the after math embarrassment for us all! It’s a bloodbath war in that voting website … and in jpop forum T__T I really feel bad for those girls being under this much pressure cuz of that … But the way it goes I’m sure the outcome wouldn’t be in Rain’s favor … Have you read some of those hatred comments people, wrote him there?they sure are not even familar with Kpop! it’s Scary!!!!!! There goes his chance of his first impression to America people! maybe this all has a reason to it .. you know? maybe this will make JYP think twice, call YG and get together and there goes the happy ending!