entertainment

Susan Boyle to appear on 'Kohaku'

62 Comments

Scottish singer Susan Boyle, the breakout star of "Britain's Got Talent," will sing a song on ''Kohaku Uta Gassen,'' Japan's annual TV music show on New Year's Eve. Boyle, 48, shot to international fame in April after stunning judges and the audience on the British show, where her powerful singing voice contrasted sharply with her dowdy appearance.

She will sing as a guest on the music show, which was first aired in 1951, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said. The song she will perform has yet to be decided.

According to NHK sources, it is currently being negotiated whether the singer will come to Japan and perform or do so live from England. If Boyle comes to Japan, it will be the first time audiences here will be able to hear her sing live, and will be one of the biggest stars to appear on "Kohaku" in the program's history.

The show divides popular artists of the year into competing teams of red and white, with female artists forming the red team and male artists the white team.

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62 Comments
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Hopefully you can vote for her. Akagumi needs all the help they can get!

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Let's just hope Ms. Boyle is familiar enough with Japanese game shows that she won't be convinced to appear on one of those...

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How often has a non-Japanese artist performed on Kohaku?

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How often has a non-Japanese artist performed on Kohaku?

Yabits, I'm not sure but I believe Enya performed via satellite last year.

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unless she does another stones cover I'll be yawning my way to 2010.

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ruins the honour or pride of doing the show for the other serious artists.

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"will be one of the biggest stars to appear on Kohaku"

"biggest stars"... really!?

..part timer more like. "star" thats really lowering the bar

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If Enya has performed, how is Susan 'bigger' than Enya unless they mean it literally?

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I suppose she will (unknowingly-i'm sure) be performing then in or for the country that pioneered that type of tv singing/talent program decades prior to the current boom in the last decade that has made simon and the programs franchise et al a load of cash.

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DO NOT WANT

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I prefer her to Enya. Enya's songs sound always the same, Susan is still a newcomer and interesting to watch. I am happy for her because she comes from a poor background but was able to succeed and has an amazing voice. I am glad that this year NHK did not invite Enya.

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will be one of the biggest stars to appear on Kohaku in the program’s history

Bah. The Japanese have gone insane. Little Nozomi Ohashi beats this one hit wonder with her Konsome Punch.

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She comes from Blackburn in Scotland - a town so backward that her cover of the old Stones hit is re titled " Hey McCleod ,Get Off My Ewe"

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The ratings are doomed to go up this year then.

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Susan has a wonderful voice, the oldest of all musical instruments. She has become a symbol of regular people being able to live up to their dream. And I believe seeing her in NHK, Japanese people will realize that musicians don't need to wear skimpy dress and shake butt in the music videos to become a true singer.

Hats off to Susan. I hope she will be able to come to Japan, I'll be sitting in front of TV to watch.

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She comes from Blackburn in Scotland - a town so backward that her cover of the old Stones hit is re titled " Hey McCleod ,Get Off My Ewe"

hehe

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Fantastic! I hope she gets to come to Japan and perform on Kohaku! It would be a nice change...:)

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ruins the honour or pride of doing the show for the other serious artists.

Oh you mean like NYC BOYZ and Arashi? Yeah, these guys are real virtuosos huh.

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If they get Susan this year, they need to get Paul Potts for next year.

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This year's white team has got the greatest number of amateurs and nobodies listed along with Sabu-chan and Mikawa.

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They should have got a real entertainer, like Rolf Harris.

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Thankfully we have plans this year and I won't have to watch this. Have suffered through this enough in the past with my inlaws.

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I'll take an enka singer over her any day. That or AKB 48.

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"will be one of the biggest stars to appear on Kohaku"

Is She?

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I'll take an enka singer over her any day. That or AKB 48.

I'd take an AKB48 singer any day. Yuh-UUUM-eeeee!!!

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I just got a copy of her CD. It's not on the Celine Dion level, but in a way that makes it more interesting. I like the idea of her singing on the Kohaku. And I don't think she will look like in the picture shown here.

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gosh,I'm underwhelmed with excitement. Who watches this "show" anyway?? I thought it was just for the old farts??

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I thought it was just for the old farts??

It's for all farts, to speak your language, including yourself.

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presto345 I may be a fart mate, but I think I'd rather watch the "fighting" on the other channels. How about yourself??

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Could we have her duet with NYC Boys? I'd like to see her do the Volley Ball Support dance routine with Yamada and Chinen.

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gosh,I'm underwhelmed with excitement. Who watches this "show" anyway?? I thought it was just for the old farts??

Quite the opposite actually, your typical old fart cannot relate to even half of the 'competitors' on the show since the early 90s. Unfortunately there's very little other substitutes for them. Many of the familiar enka stars have met their early ends from drugs, suicide and so on.

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I hope that she teaches the Japanese music industry that voice rules over looks. You think they'll get the lesson? Somehow I doubt it. As much as T & A are nice to look at. Voice is a big thing too. I love to Look at Amuro-san but really don't care much for her singing. On the other hand I give it to Susan Boyle for slapping those shallow 'talent' judges in the face with reality when they looked at her as if what the hell could she do faces. Now she is being invited to a foreign country to appear on TV singing shows says far too much for them snobs to comprehend. Let's hope that the Japanese audience and industry people get the lesson as well.

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One of the most famous? Does that imply all the rest from the past are not famous? I thought so all along. That show lways is so boring.

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As with the espresso coffee machine, I doubt anybody in Japan would appreciate Susan Boyle. She can sing but this is the country of manga, anime, Kumi Koda and Morning Musume, of looks over essence, so i wonder how she got selected to appear on Japanese TV. I am glad that she will be on tv though because she desrves her fame so much more than any Japanese "talento" of the sory of Ayumi or Kumi.

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As with the espresso coffee machine, I doubt anybody in Japan would appreciate Susan Boyle. She can sing but this is the country of manga, anime, Kumi Koda and Morning Musume, of looks over essence, so i wonder how she got selected to appear on Japanese TV. I am glad that she will be on tv though because she desrves her fame so much more than any Japanese "talento" of the sory of Ayumi or Kumi.

If you knew Wada Akiko, this should not be a surprise.

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I am a big fan of Susan Boyle and she really is the symbol of hope and honesty for so many people around the world. Yesterday, I have a visitor, a 75 year-old man, and he said that everytime he hears her sing, his stress just goes away. That's how magical Susan's Boyle voice is, it is healing.

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only marketing

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I watch Kohaku every year and have also sadly watched less and less enka and more and more J-PoP Shite as the years roll bye,i doubt that even the presense of such a talent as Ms. Boyle could inspire the idea of MUSICALITY in the younger set.I ask you programmers-Where would Kohaku be without ENKA Music???The short answer is LONG GONE!!!!

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I wonder if Susan Boyle is the only foreigner on Kohaku.

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Jero is another foreign singer on Kohaku but he is an enka singer. It seems Kohaku cannot do without enka. Enka may be this nation's undercurrent heritage of Tuguns tribes. Outcast vagabondism and unrequited love are its all-time favorite themes. For that matter I DREAMED A DREAM conveys a similar thing. But I think Nakamura Mitsuko sings a bit more miserably and self-deprecatingly than Susan Boyle in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctN-AfqYIdQ&feature=related

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I hope that she teaches the Japanese music industry that voice rules over looks.

Susan Boyle has learning difficulties. This fact went unspoken for ages in the UK until she cracked-up after losing in the final of 'X Factor', when suddenly the debate was "Is it right to allow people with learning difficulties endure this level of pressure".

Personally I'm sick of hearing about her and I'm glad she's been discovered in Japan - the Japanese can keep her. Were it not for her learning difficulties she'd be just another average singer. not even average. There's really nothing special about her at all, same as with every other X Factor contestant.

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This country likes cute. I think she would be a bigger hit is they had her wear a hello kitty outfit.

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I'll correct myself. It was Briatin's Got Talent that she appeared on, not X-Factor.

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How can you all be so mean. Kohaku is a nice tradition, and Susan Boyle is a lovely lady with a golden voice. That's it.

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I never watched Kohaku (aaarrghh!), but I will this year or will rec it. Love her voice and her grandma looks!

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good luck to him

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They should invite International artists who reside here, to join sometime. We are working professionals, too!

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Hopefully they'll let her sing a whole song. Last year the Blue Men were on and got a mere 30 sec of time to do something. The "so desu ne's" got more TV time.

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I wonder if Susan Boyle is the only foreigner on Kohaku.

she's not the only one, Tohoshinki's Korean and they're also performing. although they're practically Japanese already.

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She's supposed to arrive here Tuesday morning around 9 am so it will be an in-person appearance rather than a satellite appearance which was the other option.

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Squee! Susan Boyle? OMG! She is fantastic, sings like an angel! I adore her music! Can't wait to see her on Kohaku! :)

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i suppose in japan she'll be known as SuBo.

oh, hang on, that's what she gets called in the uk :/

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The Mirror called her "SushiBo" for now.

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One of the biggest stars to appear since 1951? Good God, thattells you something about the subterranean level of what passes for star quality in this burg.

I can think of a thousand ways in which I'd rather spend New Years Eve than watching this. Sitting alone in the dark, crying, for example.

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I'll correct myself. It was Briatin's Got Talent that she appeared on, not X-Factor.

Do you even know what you are talking about? Correct yourself and your spelling then, mate.

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I can think of a thousand ways in which I'd rather spend New Years Eve than watching this. Sitting alone in the dark, crying, for example.

Please tell us about the other 999 ways :-)

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Inspiring. Original. Funny. But that's why you are here.

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No, please, no, this is the beginning of the end, please don't bring her to Japan, please, please, please...

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She looks so lovely in that video taken on rehearsal day. Those who don't appreciate her and her music should just go and live under a rock...hehehe I love her and I love what is happening to her. Way to go, Susan! I just loooooooovvvvvvveeee your way!

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I heard she has a temper... if she isn't acustom to Japanese humor, she may walk off the show angry and fed up... aw

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I listened to her latest CD... very nice but all songs were sang with the same "tone" or "pitch" to her voice.. almost all sounded like the same song..kind of like "Stings" latest CD... aw

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She was dreadful and the public just lapped it up..

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