Make Believe Mailer Vol. 60: The "I'm Still Debating If I Should Watch Kohaku" Edition
It's New Year's Eve in Japan, and I'm out in the Tochigi countryside sitting under the kotatsu and writing this, the final newsletter of 2018. It was -- a year, alright! I've written more than enough look-back pieces by now -- here's one for The Japan Times, and here is my list of the best 50 Japanese albums from the last 12 months (50 - 41, 40 - 31, 30 - 21, 20 - 11, 10 - 01). At this point, getting a little rest before 2019 really gets going should be a priority for all of us. So this week, let's just hit the usual sections and take it easy from there.
Thanks so much again for subscribing to this newsletter, and for all your many kind words, thoughts and more over this past year!
News And Views
The 60th Annual Japan Record Awards were held yesterday, and the winner of the event's biggest honor (basically "song of the year") was Nogizaka46's "Synchronicity." It's a pretty uncontroversial choice within the context of this specific ceremony -- since 2010, AKB48 and EXILE-related groups have basically gone on mini-runs of taking it, with only a Nishino Kana number breaking it up. Nogizaka46 won this same exact trophy last year! So, given that few actually put stock in this event, this shouldn't be seen as a shock.
And yet, the people aren't happy! Online reaction to Nogizaka46's triumph has been a mix of people declaring they've never heard this song, so how could it win!?!?! and a greater number wondering why DA PUMP's "U.S.A." didn't get it. Just take a look at this one matome site, and note how many netizens on 2chan talked about DA PUMP or their year-defining song. In theory, awards shouldn't be simple popularity contests...but they probably also shouldn't be dictated by physical sales, which might be what's going on here. But this is all a nice microcosm of the last decade of Japanese music, where niche acts appealing to a very specific set of hardcores get attention over more mainstream tunes...and leave many baffled and angry. But at least DA PUMP got to perform and...do the YMCA in the middle of it?A viral tweet highlighted a quote from Nishino Kana wherein she looked back on her early songs -- often about relationships with complicated men -- and came to the conclusion she would be better off not getting involved with such types.
The "Plastic Love" YouTube drama carries on -- basically, the photographer behind the photo that helped make the number go viral isn't budging, prompting original uploader Plastic Lover to put up a new one with a different pic. And in the wake of the original 24-million-plus upload going down, others have sprung up trying to preserve (or capitalize) on this sudden void.
Kohaku happens tonight, and the big development was that Kenshi Yonezu agreed to perform live from Tokushima. Always good to have one of the artists that defined the year performing on your show honoring the artists defining the year.
Kizuna AI -- the virtual YouTuber -- made her live debut two days ago in Tokyo. The main takeaway for me is intrigue (and, like, a little dread) seeing how this whole project seems to include only netlabel and netlabel-adjacent creators. So...what comes next with this kind of thing?
Speaking of YouTube as new frontier for J-pop...perhaps you've run into a recent content deposit from Asian Boss about the "fattest" idol group going, Big Angel. That got aggregated, like half the things that channel makes. But at the same time, a popular Japanese YouTuber team also interviewed them shortly after. Good PR team! But what stands out to me...this is a group with not much actual buzz in the music corner. And looking at their YouTube page I get why...they seem like YouTubers first. Which is the smart move, especially for idols, where fantasy intimacy is vital (and at a time when many corners of pop culture globally feel very idol-ish, none does it quite like the realm of influencers).
The real takeaway from this -- Chubbiness should get on Twitch or something.Image of the day -- Nocchi of Perfume taking a selfie with a Minion.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of December 17, 2018 To December 23, 2018
Singles side -- Kinki Kids, OK. Album side -- Hoshino Gen's Pop Virus, moving a legit impressive 278,000-plus in its first week. He's still go it! I still need to listen to this one, maybe after all this New Years-ing comes to a close.
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. I'm not getting rid of this until I get another book deal down, bug all publishers you know if you want this to go away.
Look At Me!
Wrote about the year online for The Japan Times. I'm sorry to report I'm an optimist (at least about a few things).
Blog highlights: Let's just show that top ten one more time.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
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