Make Believe Mailer Vol. 54: Life In The IZ*ONE
Welcome to the latest edition of the "checking in on AKB-adjacent idols" newsletter, which I'm sure is exactly what you signed up for.
Last week, I focused on how this summer's Produce 48 impacted AKB48, mostly by jacking the choreography difficulty up a level. One of the things I wrote was "a few months on, I'm still not sure it's possible to properly judge the impact this program had on either side of the arrangement." Big picture take-aways remain out of reach, but this week offered a snapshot of how the show's results are taking place on the other side. Monday, IZ*ONE shared their debut single...and it was a big success.
As a song, "La Vie en Rose" is solid, a good step forward above all else. A very respectable [7], and my enthusiasm for it is only dampened by the chorus, which squanders a fantastic build seemingly moving towards something really dramatic for...leftover trop-house vibes. But it's all fine and miles ahead of a lot of the more established K-pop girl groups — if this was TWICE's next single, it would be a welcome pivot from hyper-cheer and would bust the slump they've been on since "What Is Love?" And the Japanese members slide in perfectly for "La Vie en Rose."
Far more importantly, "La Vie en Rose" is performing really well both in terms of sales and clicks. It's outside my lane of expertise, but reports online and conversations I've had with people way more plugged into K-pop indicate it has been a big deal. Their debut beat out numbers posted by BLACKPINK and TWICE which...well, those are the top two right there. YouTube views should always be taken with a raised eyebrow, but IZ*ONE is doing well for a debut act, and has grabbed attention online in Japan. They are nominated for MAMA's Best New Female Artist award...but honestly we'd all be a lot happier and healthier if we cared less about music awards.
As mentioned, all of this is promising but really doesn't offer any ways to judge the impact Produce 48 has had (if anything, it probably says more about how groups coming out of that talent competition have evolved from the first season). But it points towards something very promising that will impact both K-pop and J-pop, even before IZ*ONE properly debut in Japan later this year.
News And Views
Well here's a weird one for ya. Rap-pop outfit RIP SLYME suddenly appeared to suspend activities this week, or at least had their official web page vanish from the internet. The reason appears to be because of member SU having an affair...which was actually reported earlier in the year, but he only took responsibility for it this week? Anyway, the twist to all of this is the other members of the group appear to not know what the hell is happening, with PES going on Twitter to basically say "you know as much as I do." Also, what is it with unBorde and infidelity? The curse of Enon Kawatani is real.
On the one hand, Johnny's getting with the year 2007 and getting on YouTube earlier this year showed they had lost some of their power, at least when it came to the tech world. On the other, seeing that their group SixTONES get to be part of some YouTube promo campaign makes me feel like they have found a way to use their noxious sway on a new platform.
Ikimonogakari is back, baby! J-pop is about to get even more rock-scented ballads in the rotation!
Double take of the week goes to this tweet, which made me think Dempagumi.inc had pivoted to Nine Inch Nails-core video style.
The Zepp chain of live houses will open a new hall in 2020...next to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Maybe they are thinking they can keep non-Japanese artists out of trouble by having them perform steps away from the terminal? On the plus side, Haneda has a great food court.
While nothing topped Shibuya Halloween Go Dumb 2018 in terms of online fretting, DJ Hello Kitty's decision to open her set with a big ol' "MOTHERFUCKER" grabbed a lot of attention on social media. As someone who went to this event in its first year of existence, just want to say...you haven't lived until you've seen Hello Kitty drop a Skrillex song to hundreds of confused people standing in a fairy forest.
Arama out here doing good work and gathering photos of J-pop stars in Halloween costumes.
Totally forgot to mention this last week but...I know one of my weak points is not following anime closely. So maybe the latest season of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure using Jodeci's "Freek'N You" in all of its glory ("every time I close my eyes / I end up feeling so horrrrrrny" as anime characters start floating into screen) makes sense in some context, but I sure don't get it. But this is the most interested I've been interested in an anime since Pop Team Epic wrapped up!
Oricon Trail For The Week Of October 22, 2018 To October 28, 2018
For anyone wanting to continue pretending that the Oricon singles chart offers an actual snapshot of how the Japanese music industry functions in 2018, this was a pretty good week! All of the top five entries — topped by Arashi — logged solid sales, with the first three getting in the six-digit range. Of course, this comes out at a time when Kenshi Yonezu's latest singles are killing it online, which is a reminder Oricon is still in its own weird little world.
Perfume's GAME (33 1/3)
My entry in the 33 1/3 Japan series is out now! Get a copy at Bloomsbury or Amazon. Or at Kinokuniya bookstores in the US. Perfume announced dates for a 2019 North American tour, so review your electro-pop history before hitting up a show.
Look At Me!
It isn't so much that Shibuya Halloween changed online opinion about biggie-sized gatherings in the streets as much as it gave netizens who were already against it the viral-ready images and videos that easily made their case for them. I wrote about it for this week's Pulse.
Blog highlights: DJ Pigeon, Haretokidoki, Spangle Call Lilli Line
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
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