Make Believe Mailer Vol. 13: Handle With Care
Sometimes my wife and I put on a playlist from Apple Music while we are doing weekend chores, exciting stuff like cleaning the floors or doing the dishes. Save for a Haim or St. Vincent radio show, most of these sets veer towards contemporary J-pop, and one song in particularly gets a lot of rotation. That would be Kana Nishino's "Torisetsu," one of 2015's biggest hits in Japan. Thanks to "Kana Nishino Lover's Indonesia" for having the full video.
On one level, it's hardly a surprise. Kana Nishino has, somewhat quietly, been among J-pop's biggest acts since 2010, moving thousands upon thousands of albums and branching out into Asia. Yet she broke big in the middle of Japan's idol boom, a phenomena sucking up all media attention and allowing her to sail a bit under the radar. She built up a huge fan base still going strong in 2016, so it isn't shocking to see her have a massive hit.
But "Torisetsu" is different, and a different kind of hit for Nishino. Musically, it falls in line with the folk-tinged pop she's been dabbling in since 2014, all violins and piano and a marching beat. The title translates to "Instruction Manual," and the lyrics run with that idea, the narrator telling a new love how to maintain her. These include sometimes mentioning how nice her nails look and not mentioning any weight gain. It's the sort of single that would never fly in the U.S. without at least a dozen thinkpieces about it -- the closest modern equivalent I can think of is Meghan Trainor's "Dear Future Husband," and woo boy this is just the tip of the iceberg -- but given how the past five years of Japanese pop were dominated by 60-year-old men writing songs where they pretended to be 15-year-old girls, it's actually refreshing (Nishino herself wrote the lyrics). It's pleasant, catchy and a clever idea, nothing incredible but something you wouldn't feel bad humming along to.
And one that resonates with a younger generation of listeners. "Torisetsu" sold a solid 64,000 physical copies -- the highest for any of her singles since 2011 -- but really shined online, where the video (the video clip -- only half the song) racked up over 24 million clicks, making it the eight-most-watched video in Japan according to YouTube. It's another example of something I wrote about at the end of the year, how a new wave of music fans are starting to establish what they like to hear and how they hear it. "Torisetsu" is kind of a hat trick in this regard: like Gesu No Kiwami Otome, it thrived thanks to YouTube; like E-girls, it was music actually marketed to young women; and like Sekai No Owari, it's earnest as hell.
I recognize he only scored two goals, not three
Yet "Torisetsu" actually introduce one more -- actually getting listeners involved, and morphing it into a meme. Many online have covered the song, but changed the lyrics to be about their "instruction manual," which morphed into some very specific stuff, such as the "Hokkaido Women Version," and then men started doing their version of the song, ranging from "Okinawan Version" to a more Hiroshima-centric take. And then it went hyper. Otaku, B-blood type, foreigner, left-handed person, muscular person wearing women's clothing...pretty much every possible category received the "Torisetsu." User takes on popular songs aren't new in Japan -- lest we forget every single government body making a "Koisuru Fortune Cookie" video -- but "Torisetsu" tapped into a younger audiences desire and ability to create content all their own, and the bare-bones nature of the song left it open to be transformed into...well, anything.
Japanese Music Highlights From The Past Week
Lots of really good electronic music, though the highlight personally was juke maker Boogie Mann's new EP.
Hokkaido-based pop project Yunomi shared a new song, "Robotic Girl."
In The Japan Times recently, Ryotaro Aoki talked to the band Cairo, who just put out a great album. What struck me about reading the piece...and hearing the music...was how much it reminded me of the Japanese indie rock scene when I first came to Japan, the hey-day of Hotel Mexico, the CUZ ME PAIN scene, Moscow Club and many more great bands. These were groups who weren't concerned about Japanese mainstream success, and kind of just did their thing...sometimes resulting in attention from Gorilla Vs. Bear or Pitchfork. It was great, and it's interesting to see Cairo and I Saw You Yesterday moving away from the current band boom to just follow their whims.
Speaking of off in their own universe -- Boys Age has a new album!
I'm on the fence about them, but they get lots of attention so worth noting -- Charisma.com and Momoiro Clover Z have new videos.
News And Views
The City Pop revival might be reaching its climax, as the Johnny's group that isn't SMAP has recruited Tatsuro Yamashita and Takeuchi Mariya. The issue here isn't stylistic -- Arashi has songs that sound vaguely like this in the past -- but rather the decision to trump up who is writing them, two people practically synonymous with the genre. It's smart marketing, though it also means we are reaching a breaking point when Arashi are on the bandwagon. All that said, this is the best sounding Arashi song in like years.
Naturally, after I more or less tell myself "think I'll skip SXSW this year," the Japanese acts going get better and better (and more interesting to write about). Suiyoubi No Campanella announced she will be going this year, meaning she'll join De De Mouse, KOHH and many more (and more to come, methinks). Please feel free to Venmo me money for a plane ticket, thanks.
Me after I decide to be financially responsible
Great article about the changing face of Harajuku/Tokyo.
One of Avex's newest artists is Riyoko Takagi, who plays zany jazzy piano numbers, with a modern twist. Sounds strange, but then you watch the video and realize what the plan here really is.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of Jan. 25 - Jan. 31
Every week, I'll share the top-charting single from the Oricon Charts, a deeply flawed ranking system that favors groups who get fans to buy multiple copies of the same song, offering a warped view of what anyone actually listens to, unless no boy bands release anything, then it's just depressing.
#1 GLAY "G4" (39, 4438 Copies Sold)
I'm not sure how this, which features four songs total, counts as a "single" rather than an "EP," but whatever the case, long-running rock group GLAY scores with a frantic anime opening theme and mid-tempo ballad, among other songs. GLAY do not have to try anymore, and these all seem a bit phoned in, but could be worse.
This week features zero huge idol groups or boy bands, making for a stranger Oricon top ten. So what sneaks in when Johnny isn't looking? A pretty grating Generations song, some high-energy pop form the poorly named lol, and a lot of anime songs.
Look At Me!
I went to Osaka last week to ride the new Kyary Pamyu Pamyu XR ride at Universal Studios Japan, part of the "Cool Japan" special section that runs until the early summer. Wrote about it for The Japan Times. It also happens to be part of the celebrations around Kyary's fifth anniversary as a music act, which includes another world tour and special collaborations (will the songs she did with SOPHIE and Yelle finally emerge???). Probably will write more on it later!
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
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