Well, we are going into the middle of November which means in Japan that it's time for the announcement of the lineup of both the Red and White teams for the annual Kohaku Utagassen on NHK scheduled for December 31st 2023 from 7:20 pm. The venue will be NHK Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Anyways, here is the lineup for the 74th edition:
Red Team
Artist No. of Appearances
Aimyon 5
Atarashii Gakko no Leaders 1
Ado 1
ano 1
Sayuri Ishikawa 46
Ran Ito 1
Fuyumi Sakamoto 35
Sakurazaka 46 3
Ringo Shiina 8
JUJU 2
Superfly 7
Yoshimi Tendo 28
NiziU 4
Nogizaka 46 9
Perfume 16
Misia 8
MISAMO 1
Kaori Mizumori 21
milet 4
YOASOBI 3
Ryokuoushoku Shakai 2
LE SSERAFIM 2
White Team
Elephant Kashimashi 2
Yo Oizumi 1
Official Hige Dandism 4
Tatsuya Kitani 1
Hiromi Go 36
Masashi Sada 22
JO1 2
Junretsu 6
Masayuki Suzuki 6
Strawberry Prince 1
SEVENTEEN 1
10-FEET 1
BE:FIRST 2
Masaharu Fukuyama 16
Fumiya Fujii 6
Gen Hoshino 9
MAN WITH A MISSION 1
Mrs. GREEN APPLE 1
Hiroshi Miyama 9
Keisuke Yamauchi 9
Yuzu 14
Your congenial hosts will be comedian Hiroiki Ariyoshi（有吉弘行）, actress Kanna Hashimoto（橋本環奈）, actress Minami Hamabe（浜辺美波）and NHK announcer Kozo Takase（高瀬耕造）.
As usual, there is the mix of the veterans and newbies. Atarashii Gakko no Leaders（新しい学校のリーダーズ）getting invited was a foregone conclusion considering the year they had with "Otonablue"（オトナブルー）, and when they made their appearance on "Uta Con"（うたコン）some weeks ago, it was pretty much a lock for that invitation. Ran Ito（伊藤蘭）was a surprise since she hadn't appeared on the Kohaku since the 1970s when she was part of aidoru group Candies but recently she's been on a solo tour, and her daughter, actress and singer Shuri（趣里）, is currently the star in the morning serial drama "Boogie Woogie"（ブギウギ）. Also, nice to see Fumiya Fujii（藤井フミヤ）of the 80s rock n' roll band Checkers come back onto the Shibuya stage. Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）and Misia are back as well so I'm assuming that they will be finishing up the special as they have in the past.
What everyone will be singing probably won't be announced until December. And as has often been the case, there will be changes in the lineup through additions most likely. If any of you have any thoughts on the lineup thus far, let us know below.
November 13 2023: Considering the artists that we lost over this year so far: Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）, Yoshinori Monta（もんたよしのり）and Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）at the very least, I was wondering whether there may be a special tribute medley to them via their most famous works.
November 29 2023: Queen + Adam Lambert have been confirmed as special guests in commemoration of the band's 50th anniversary.
December 7: There will be a special segment commemorating 70 years of television in Japan which will feature some of the big hits that were relayed through the medium. Former Kohaku Utagassen and "The Best 10" host Tetsuko Kuroyanagi（黒柳徹子）will be the special guest.
December 15: As a part of that special segment above, actor-singer Akira Terao（寺尾聰）will be making an appearance.
December 16: As a part of that special segment above, the bands Pocket Biscuits and Black Biscuits will be making an appearance.
December 21: As a part of that special segment above, actor-singer Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）will be making an appearance.
December 22: The full song lineup has been released although it's the Japanese-language version thus far.
December 23: Host Hiroiki Ariyoshi（有吉弘行）and singer Fumiya Fujii（藤井フミヤ）will do a duet for "Shiroi Kumo no you ni"（白い雲のように...Like White Clouds） and there will be a special segment devoted to the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Disney brand. I'm personally worried about that latter development since TV Japan has had a penchant over the past year to not show anything related to Disney on Japanese TV shows, especially "Uta Con"（うたコン）due to copyright issues.
December 26: NHK has announced the order in which the performers will sing in both the first and second halves of the special. Looks like even the red-white-red-white order has gone the way of the dodo.
Oh hey Oizumi's in the lineup for real now!
ReplyDeleteThat's two more folks than last year but at this point I shouldn't be surprised. Sort of interesting to see that they're bringing back those who can be considered veterans, and I'm counting the ones from the Heisei era.
Hello, Jenard. Yes, I guess after Yo had a brief taste behind the mike either last year or the year before as host, he's decided to perform his own whole song.
DeleteAlso it does seem that as it's going there's still some settling still going on regarding what could be called regulars. Like will we be seeing names shift more often than before?
DeleteNot sure, Jenard. But from what I can see of the lineup and the number of times that each act has appeared, it looks like about a quarter of the participants are first-timers. It's possible that a few of the vets may opt to retire after No. 74 or some of the newbies will be asked back for No. 75.
DeleteI think the biggest thing about this lineup is that for the first time in 44 years, no artists from the agency formerly known as Johnny's was invited. I understand why, considering what happened this year but I thought they would just cut down on the number of acts from the agency. Snow Man and King & Prince would have definitely been there. Makes me wonder if they'll be invited next year.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think the big elephant in the room for the Kohaku was the uninviting of the Johnny's groups. Depending on how well and fast the new company, SMILE-UP, redeems the brand, I'm fairly confident that Snow Man and others can return for the 75th edition.
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