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The story
It was revealed on the 8th that the 8-member girl group CUTIE STREET (Kyuusuto) will make its first appearance on NHK’s 77th Kohaku Uta Gassen (Red & White Song Festival). Their September 2024 single “Is It Not Enough to Just Be Cute?” went viral on TikTok in 2025, racking up over 7 billion views across related videos and winning the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist — but they missed out on a Kohaku slot last year. This year, with their popularity spreading to South Korea as well, they finally landed their first appearance after a two-year wait. On 5ch, reactions ranged from surprise at the group’s unusual setup — with members belonging to different talent agencies — to speculation about how they’d split a slot with fellow “Kawaii Lab” group Fruits Zipper.
CUTIE STREET Confirmed for First Kohaku Appearance — Korean-Language Video of “Is It Not Enough to Just Be Cute?” Goes Viral Online, Sparking Huge Buzz
It was learned on the 8th that the 8-member girl group CUTIE STREET (Kyuusuto) has been confirmed for its first appearance on NHK’s 77th Kohaku Uta Gassen, airing New Year’s Eve.
Their debut single “Is It Not Enough to Just Be Cute?,” released in September two years ago, went massively viral last year, mainly on TikTok, pushing related video views past 7 billion. They won the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist, but had to swallow their disappointment when they missed out on Kohaku. Turning that frustration into fuel, they broke through in South Korea this year too — finally making their dream come true after a two-year wait.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Felt like they gave up their spot to another unit from the same agency.
CUTIE STREET is a multi-agency coalition group, so
Asobisystem had "grown-up reasons" for pushing CANDY TUNE instead since it's more profitable — that's why CUTIE STREET got cut.
They gave way to their seniors.
The Pikachu song.
Isn't it more like a swap — one in, one out?
Even so, it felt like they crammed two groups into the time slot for one.
They totally whiffed their "ice cream" prediction last year.
Alright, thread's done here.
All of CUTIE STREET is Asobisystem — what are you talking about with this "multi-agency coalition" stuff?
Surprising how many people don't know this.
CUTIE STREET's members actually belong to different agencies.
Sano Aika (Frave), for instance, is with an AKB-affiliated agency.
https://imgur.com/WVh0b62.jpg
Idol groups with members split across different agencies are rare.
About the only other examples are AKB and Idoling.
If they're popular in Korea, why not just go on a Korean music awards show instead?
Is being a hit in Korea some kind of Kohaku requirement now?
Why now, all of a sudden?
NHK does that kind of thing a lot.
Check the end of the article.
Says Furuppa (Fruits Zipper) is confirmed too.
Yeah, even Fruits Zipper's free YouTube livestream yesterday only pulled 14,000 concurrent viewers.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Worth noting as a premise: CUTIE STREET’s structure differs from a typical idol group. Rather than belonging to a single talent agency, its members are drawn from several different agencies — including, as mentioned in the thread, one member from an AKB-affiliated agency. “Kawaii Lab” is the brand name for an event/project that brings together idols from these various agencies — it is not itself a single talent agency. The thread floated a popular theory that the group “deferred to a senior group and missed out last year,” but it’s worth flagging that this is just posters’ speculation — NHK has not publicly stated its selection reasoning. It’s also worth noting the song won the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist and racked up 7 billion TikTok views, and a roughly two-year gap between a hit and a Kohaku appearance isn’t unusual in itself — it’s one example of how the selection process doesn’t always move in lockstep with buzz.
*This article was compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Idols] CUTIE STREET Lands First Kohaku Appearance, “Is It Not Enough to Just Be Cute?” a Hit.”
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