BELIFT LAB Distorts Facts Regarding Japan Record Awards ‘Excellent Work Award’ Win

My Daily’s report described the win as “the first time a K-pop group’s Japanese original song has received this award,” but this claim is factually incorrect.

There are already multiple precedents of K-pop groups winning the Japan Record Awards Excellent Work Award with Japanese original songs. TVXQ (SM Entertainment) won the Excellent Work Award twice: at the 50th ceremony (2008, “どうして君を好きになってしまったんだろう？”) and at the 51st (2009, “Stand by U”). KARA (DSP Media) also won at the 53rd ceremony (2011, “Go Go Summer!”). All of these were Japanese-language singles released for the Japanese market, meaning precedents for winning the Excellent Work Award already exist.

Some argue that what sets “Almond Chocolate” apart is that it is the OST (Original Soundtrack) of a Japanese film, and that what My Daily meant by “original song” was an OST — making it the first time a K-pop group’s Japanese local media OST has won the Excellent Work Award. However, this claim is also factually incorrect.

First, the term “Japanese original song” as used in My Daily’s article and BELIFT LAB’s promotional materials conventionally refers to a new song created for the Japanese market — not a Korean song adapted into Japanese. It is not used to mean an OST. The “original” in “Japanese original song” and the “Original” in “OST (Original Soundtrack)” happen to share the same English word, but their actual contexts and meanings differ. Equating the two simply because they contain the same English word is a confusion of terminology.

Second, even if the criteria were narrowed to “a K-pop group’s Japanese local media tie-up song,” precedents already exist. TVXQ’s “Stand by U” (51st ceremony, 2009) is known as the theme song for the Japanese drama *Sweet Room*. Just as “Almond Chocolate” is the theme song for the Japanese film *顔だけじゃ好きになりません*, “Stand by U” is connected to Japanese local video content in the same way, and TVXQ had already won the Excellent Work Award with that song.

Third, even if “Almond Chocolate” is regarded as a theme song created from scratch for the film rather than a simple after-the-fact tie-up, that alone does not constitute a separate “first.” The expression used in the actual article is not “first OST made for a film” but “first Japanese original song by a K-pop group.” Furthermore, the Japan Record Awards does not distinguish OST status as a separate criterion for awards. The claim that “it qualifies as a first because it was made for a film” is therefore nothing more than a retroactively added interpretation based on a standard that does not exist in the original article.

Fourth, the Japan Record Awards does not use tie-up status or OST status as separate award criteria. In the Japanese music market, having a single tied to a drama, film, commercial, or anime is a standard promotional practice, meaning there is no basis for establishing a separate category on the grounds of OST status and then claiming a “first” on that basis.

Even limiting the scope to more recent examples, NewJeans’ (ADOR) Japanese debut single “Supernatural,” released on June 21, 2024, was the only overseas artist’s song to win the Excellent Work Award at the 66th Shining! The Japan Record Awards.

Looking at a broader scope beyond Japanese original songs, NewJeans’ “Ditto” won the Excellent Work Award at the 65th Shining! The Japan Record Awards — a historically unprecedented case of a non-Japanese song being nominated for the Excellent Work Award and Grand Prix in the ceremony’s 65-year history.

Therefore, regardless of how it is interpreted, My Daily’s reporting that this was “the first win by a K-pop group’s Japanese original song” does not hold up factually.