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The story
A thread went up on 5ch’s Hello! Project board about a TikTok clip of NCT WISH member Johee singing X Japan’s “ENDLESS RAIN” that’s been making the rounds online. The poster admitted, “If you’re into K-pop this is probably common knowledge,” but still voiced shock at the vocal skill on display, asking “Isn’t that just not normal?” Replies ranged from amused reactions like “lol, that’s kind of heartwarming” to comments arguing that K-pop idols have strong live-vocal chops dating back to their trainee days, which spun off into comparisons with the Japanese vocal-ability showcase “Hamada Kayousai.” The back half of the thread, though, is mostly buried under unrelated spam ads, so the real discussion is limited to a few posts up front.
If you’re into K-pop, this is probably common knowledge,
but I only stan a specific 5 groups so I had no idea
Isn’t that just not normal? Johee
Source: t;iktok.com / original post here
What people said
Lol, that got me a little — kinda heartwarming
Hello! fans who don't know K-pop are kidding themselves, but
even Korean agency trainees who haven't debuted yet can sing circles around Hello! members
Exactly
I only stan K-pop by rooting for the agency itself
which, when you think about it, is the exact same way people stan Hello! Project domestically
Still, Korea's honestly on a level Japan just can't compete with
Any talented Japanese kid aged 0-15 should straight-up go to Korea instead
Context and Talking Points
NCT WISH is a multinational boy group under SM Entertainment, and X Japan’s “ENDLESS RAIN” is a J-rock ballad frequently covered by other artists. The thread’s central disagreement was over how to judge “live vocal ability”: some argued K-pop idols rack up extensive vocal training during their trainee period, though no concrete comparison points or supporting data were offered — it remains a matter of personal impression rather than hard evidence. The fact that a vocal-skill-testing TV show like “Hamada Kayousai” got cited also shows these comparisons keep resurfacing not just on social media but in existing TV programming too. It’s also worth noting that the link in the original post doesn’t match the standard TikTok URL format, so the source’s reliability deserves some caution. The latter half of the thread is dominated by a run of unrelated promotional spam, leaving the actual discussion confined to a handful of posts near the start.
*This article excerpts and summarizes the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Just trust me and watch this once? Takahashi Ai’s nephew Riku-kun says NCT WISH’s Johee sings so well it’ll kill you. X Japan’s “ENDLESS RAIN”.”
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