Make Believe Mailer Vol. 7: Complicated And Dirty
Editor's Note -- Late on this one due to lots of work! Great way to follow up a piece that got a ton of response!
Last week, a report emerged that beloved J-pop singer Utada Hikaru was finally coming back in spring 2016 after a six-year hiatus. This piece of news was reported by plenty of media outlets, ranging from Yomiuri Shimbun-affiliated dailies to Yahoo! News. A few things might have raised eyebrows -- like, say, lack of official confirmation from Utada's camp in favor of "sources say," gee who would be dumb enough to just share this without thinking about it -- yet naturally this story immediately spread across Twitter, with "Utada Hikaru" becoming a top trend with the same force as every "sources say Urkel died" rumor.
And just like most internet-born hearsay, this turned out to be false. Utada's father took to Twitter to deny it, and then Utada's side released a statement. Everyone stepped back and Utada's dedicated team of journalists wiped their brows, knowing that only they would be reporting about her imminent comeback.
Hot scoop, straight from my boss!
There's no way to simply brush away everyone screwing this up, though it was hardly the biggest music-related journalism doof of the week. Something something the need to post news now (even if it's not, uh, true) something something first first clicks Bill Murray lol. Japanese online media is just as guilty as everyone else at this, and the Utada story was a fine example of relatively trusted news sources trying to get the scoop.
Yet, as many who didn't jump the gun pointed out later, no music websites reported this story. Gold star for these online publications obviously, but I think another story from last week shows the opposite (but just as rampant) problem that affects Japanese music sites, which is a total reliance on narrative regardless of context.
Plenty of danger signs existed in that Utada story, but at the same time it felt believable. Again, red card get out psssss pssssss facts always win, but I see why people would think it seemed true. Utada already said she was aiming to come back this summer, while the nixed report even mentioned she was working on music...it just wasn't ready yet. The date was the only botched bit here, but it was also the only thing the people salivating over her really latched on to.
Compare that to a story announced last week about AKB48 becoming the best-selling singles act in Japanese music history. Music sites reported this as they should, but every post had the same angle, which was "hey look at that!" It's all true, but with the context of how it happened (quantity quantity quantity over quality) zapped out. Getting facts wrong is bad, but I think propping up fake narratives* is equally bad when it results in a distortion of the truth. How they did this -- sales gimmicks galore -- go unmentioned. Maybe just a bad week all around.
*counterpoint: the entire history of music journalism/criticism. Bon Iver lived in a cabin!
Japanese Music Highlights From The Past Week
Things to look forward to in 2016 -- new Fraqsea, more Special Favorite Music but maybe region unblocked?, another garbage new year.
I am always uncertain why I like '80s throwback groups exactly, and why other ones really annoy me. But I like Satellite Young!
This post about i-fls was initially a 500 word entry that was more like therapy, uhhhhh just get the album.
FAKY is back! FAKY was mega-label Avex's bid at a girl group that had more in common with K-pop than Akihabara, a formula they perfected with E-Girls. FAKY sorta vanished for a while, but released "Afterglow," which has a great video about fandom gone too far (one good thing about Japanese media...lack of thinkpieces) and maybe the first faux-Mustard beat in a J-pop song? Please tell me if I'm wrong.
News And Views
The actual biggest real news of the week was that Ryuichi Sakamoto earned a Golden Globe nomination for The Revenant score. Right before that, The Fader interviewed him. It's a great read, but the quote below really stands out for me.
Babymetal keep on keepin' on, with a new album set for an April 1st (hmmmm) release and a subsequent world tour.
How not to write about Japanese music, volume ($*&#(&$@(@# [nothing against Radwimps here, but that opening paragraph is a nice admission of "yeah no idea about J-pop beyond that 'Panpanpan' video"]
Huh, interesting, actual music writers wrote some good stories this week, crazy.
Me this week
Oricon Trail For The Week Of Nov. 30 - Dec. 6
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.
#1 Kanjani Eight "Samurai Song" (147, 943 Copies Sold)
Hurray, my least favorite boy band doing an acoustic guitar ballad about samurai that sounds terrible, yeah we need to renovate this section in 2016, just for my well being.
Look At Me!
I don't even remember what I did last week, uhhh I wrote about Hokkaido music.
Next Time: lol actual year-end awards plus a thoughtful update on last week's mail about vaporwave/tags/etc! Preview, everyone is generally cool!
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
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Header by Alan Castree (AC Galaga)