Frank Kogan

Thanks for the name-drop, Frank, although my own livejournal is more of a place for me to express my frustrations about the undervaluing Jpop vs. Kpop.(Although the opposite definitely happens, too. But Jpop was my second love after Golden Age of Film idols, so undervaluing Kpop vs. Jpop doesn't irritate me as much)

And it works in another way that's interpersonal too:
iacus at snsd_ffa linked me to this.
I wonder if the crowdsourcing trend that the Rock Critic Roundtable talked about is more effective in terms of numbers (more people have listened to/recommended this) or from that interpersonal angle.(this person I trust has recommended this) Because I do have friends where I know that we have different tastes, so that when they like something it may sometimes have the opposite effect on my anticipation. Then again, just recommendations are different from exposure.

Regarding aegyo: there is indeed something more going on. Perhaps it's just my love of semantics, but I associate "aegyo" with the Japanese term "burikko", that is, unnatural cutesiness. I also find a difference between cuteness and cutesiness, in that the former is not necessarily intentional and the latter is.
Whenever someone is asked to do aegyo on TV shows, the majority of the scenarios performed involve the girl attempting to get the guy to do/buy something for her by acting more cutesy than normal.
I was only able to enjoy the overwhelming because 1) enough genuine cuteness was mixed in to endear me to them,(like Hyuna screaming at chickens) and 2) because I became a smark, and some girls play up to that. I love the aegyo when it's clear that the girl doing it herself is kind of treating it like a satire on aegyo. SNSD's Sooyoung was notorious for this, and Sunny went from doing regular aegyo displays(but still always always the manipulation of guys) to "aegyo that calls for a punch", taking the gimmick from Sooyoung's example. No coincidence that these two are my favorites.

But yes, in general cuteness is seen as something to be outgrown in America. However, artists like Nicki and Katy, who have acknowldged the asian influence, are starting to phase cuteness back in as a source of quirky humor, and is it any wonder that my generation, bombarded with anime during our childhood years, has also been the one to embrace the newest "My Little Pony" series and shake off that "cute is childish!" stigma?

Authenticity with regards to Jpop, although I feel like cuteness culture does apply to the whole of contemporary urban East Asia.
In some ways this article is the ideal answer to those complaints about pop manufacturing, and somewhat goes back to that matter of being a smark: we can have our "fake" and eat "real" too, because in Apop they're all just facets in the Apop idol's image, and not really in conflict.