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The story
Dance-and-vocal group M!LK is drawing attention over whether it can land a second straight appearance on NHK’s Kohaku Uta Gassen (Red and White Song Battle). The group made its Kohaku debut at the end of 2025, but according to Tokyo Sports, there was a moment during rehearsal that reportedly made staff frown. Some see a possible link to “Momoiro Uta Gassen,” the New Year’s Eve show hosted by labelmates Momoiro Clover Z, as part of the backdrop. On 5ch, comments split between questioning NHK’s attitude — letting a single rehearsal incident potentially decide the group’s fate — and debate over M!LK’s popularity and the appeal of their songs.
September 7, 2026, 5:00 AM
Will the five-member dance-and-vocal group M!LK land a second consecutive appearance on this year’s NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen? The group made its Kohaku debut on New Year’s Eve last year, but there reportedly was a moment during rehearsal that made staff frown. Perhaps because that “spark” is still smoldering, this year’s appearance looks uncertain. All eyes are on NHK’s judgment—
M!LK was formed in 2014. They debuted in March 2015 with the song “Coffee ga Nomemasen” (“I Can’t Drink Coffee”), but a slump followed. The tide turned last February, when their song “Ii Jan” (“It’s Fine, Isn’t It”) went viral on social media, and by October their track “Suki Sugite Metsu!” (“I Like You So Much It’s Destruction!”) had become a full-blown boom. So says an industry insider.
Source: tokyo-sports.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Of course they're gonna be on it.
Never once thought they were good songs, they're just not for me.
It's too funny that some old man's saying this first thing in the morning.
Who do they think they are?
and yet they act so high and mighty.
Put 'Tokyo Sports' in the thread title
reading this stuff as if it's straight news is a waste of time.
It appeals to every generation and it's a better song than 'Ii Jan'.
Bet EBiDAN (Johnny's boy-group collective) shows up too as part of some special segment.
Sounds like a dumb reason.
If that were really it, they wouldn't have been on last year.
Fair point about the kendama act,
but 'Tsugaru Kaikyo' and 'Amagi-goe' are songs NHK itself assigns, so it's not Ishikawa Sayuri's fault.
Nobody in any generation actually cares about that stuff
they're on because of industry politics
young enka singers are constantly popping up on BS channels too.
✕ 'chooses not to sing'
◯ 'isn't allowed to sing anything else'
Kohaku assigns the song, so Golden Bomber only ever gets to do 'Memeshikute' too
even if they did another song, nobody but the fans would recognize it anyway.
So does that mean they'd exclude every artist who does a countdown event?
Frowning over a missed rehearsal — are they saying 'This is Kohaku! Cancel whatever other work you've got and show up!'?
Same here.
They could cut the license fee by more than half.
But this is a network that plays public broadcaster while forcibly collecting license fees from the public, dealing with a for-profit outfit — and it's got the nerve to act high and mighty like that?
They're not 'letting' the group appear, they're the ones asking to have them on.
Guess inside NHK they still haven't realized Kohaku(lol) is already washed up.
Aren't a lot of the cute-image girl groups these days doing novelty songs too?
Yeah, and she's shown up on regular song contest shows too.
Background and Key Points of This Story
M!LK was formed in 2014 and, after a long slump, broke through in 2025 with the hits “Ii Jan” and “Suki Sugite Metsu!,” leading to their first Kohaku appearance at the end of that year. The group belongs to Stardust Promotion, the same agency as Momoiro Clover Z, which hosts its own New Year’s Eve music program — a connection that became one focal point of the thread. It’s worth noting that the original article’s claim about staff “frowning” comes from an anonymous, secondhand account, with no specifics on what actually happened; much of the pushback in the thread targeted that thin evidentiary basis and NHK’s attitude itself. Meanwhile, opinions on the group’s popularity and the quality of their songs were split, running as a separate thread of debate alongside the question of their Kohaku appearance.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] M!LK’s Bid for a 2nd Straight ‘Kohaku’ Appearance Clouded… What Was the ‘Scene’ Where Staff Frowned During Last Year’s Rehearsal [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★].”
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