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The story
The announcement of performers for the FNS Music Festival sparked discussion on 5ch after fans noticed that Hello! Project acts — Juice=Juice in particular — were missing from the list. Thread posters pointed out scheduling conflicts with other events on December 2nd and 9th that would make appearances difficult, while others argued that the lineup skews heavily toward acts signed to Universal, Warner, and Sony, hinting at label politics at play. The discussion also spilled over into predictions for the Kohaku Uta Gassen year-end special, with growing attention on the rise of overseas acts like BABYMONSTER and aespa.
What people said
Well, good work everyone (a sarcastic 'that's a wrap' send-off).
saw it posted in the =LOVE thread
Yeah, no way Nogizaka gets cut from Kohaku.
With Akimoto Yasushi still in the picture, Burning Production's ties with Fuji TV stay solid.
For something like Best Hit Music Festival or FNS, there's zero reason they'd get dropped.
Hello! Project's schedule on the FNS broadcast days:
Wed 12/2 — ANGERME autumn tour at Pia Arena
Wed 12/2 — M-line Asakura calendar online event
Wed 12/9 — Juice=Juice Christmas event in Chiba
Wed 12/9 — M-line Satō at Rimista
So Juice's locked in for night one then
Every girl idol group that's landed an AERA magazine cover has gone on to appear on Kohaku.
Juice=Juice is not appearing at the FNS Music Festival.
To put it simply: it's confirmed Juice=Juice won't be on FNS.
In summary:
Juice=Juice is not on FNS
Every show looks the same these days
so it might be a tough squeeze
They run record-company ads during the broadcast, so indie labels don't get a slot.
ILLIT (Universal), aespa (Warner), Nogizaka (Sony), Sakurazaka (Sony), =LOVE (Sony), BABYMONSTER (Sony), HANA (Sony)
Meanwhile in-house-label acts like Juice=Juice and Kawaii Lab get left out, right?
Artists who were on last year and are on again this year:
ILLIT, =LOVE, JO1, Snow Man, DOMOTO, Number_i, Nogizaka46, HANA, Hey! Say! JUMP, IMP., aiko, King & Prince, Sakurazaka46, SixTONES, timelesz, Chou Tokkyu (Bullet Train)
Artists who weren't on last year but are this year:
Chiikawa the Movie (the hit cute-character franchise), CORTIS, GENERATIONS, Stray Kids, DA PUMP, Naniwa Danshi, Fo'u, BABYMONSTER, M!LK, Yuzu, Ryokuoushoku Shakai, INI, EXILE, aespa, NCT DREAM, EBiDAN, &TEAM, Puppet Sun Sun, Monaki, RIIZE
Who was on last year but isn't this year?
They're not the type of act that gets saved for a dramatic reveal.
That kills my motivation to watch
In the end it's just the old Johnny's acts again
Hoping for the second-wave announcement.
They probably made enemies and aren't getting invited back
but once the FNS offer came in, they scrambled to swap it over to ANGERME instead
The agency should do whatever it takes to rule the industry —
even if it means selling Morning Musume to Pony Canyon as the price
So you're saying Juice is on a whole different level — Nogizaka and =LOVE wouldn't even be competition?
It was a short dream
The first batch of performers was ILLIT, King & Prince, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, NiziU, FRUITS ZIPPER, IMP., aiko, Erika Ikuta, CANDY TUNE, CUTIE STREET, Sakurazaka46, THE RAMPAGE, JO1, Superfly, SixTONES, Snow Man, Da-iCE, Chō Tokimeki♡Sendenbu, TWS, DOMOTO, Hideaki Tokunaga, TREASURE, Number_i, Nogizaka46, HANA, Yurina Hirate, Hey! Say! JUMP, and Perfume — 29 acts in total.
Looks like a lot of first-time Kohaku appearances got picked out of that batch
Even Tokisen (short for Chō Tokimeki♡Sendenbu) got picked back then and still didn't get the call.
Guess they'll disband without ever being invited again
Background and Key Points
The FNS Music Festival is an annual two-night music special broadcast on Fuji TV every December, with performers traditionally revealed in several waves of announcements. Since Hello! Project acts were missing from this round’s first-wave list, thread posters speculated that “the lineup skews toward the major labels — Universal, Warner, and Sony — that buy ad space during the broadcast,” but the actual selection criteria have never been disclosed by the show itself, so this remains fan speculation rather than confirmed fact. The same goes for predictions about the Kohaku Uta Gassen lineup: these picks are drawn from past appearances and buzz, and NHK’s official announcement is still well off. Readers should keep in mind that none of these names are “confirmed” information — they’re just predictions from thread posters based on perceived trends.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “FNS Music Festival — from the Hello! Project thread.”
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