Make Believe Melodies For February 7, 2022
Will You Choose Tax-Return Idols Or Crypto Idols???
Miyuna — “Chodai”
It takes real talent to turn a world like “itadakimasu” into pure pop candy, yet Miyuna makes it sound so natural.
“Chodai” features a just-right mix of elements — pizzicato notes opening the song, ample use of vocal effects especially a particularly tasty talk box in the back, and extended food metaphors / just a celebration of culinary delights, Miyuna just sounds legitimately hungry at times. Anyone of these decisions could have probably carried a song, but Miyuna blends them all together into something subtly delirious…and secretly heavy, as the guitar-assisted breakdown reveals. That’s just another layer balanced just right. Listen above.
@onefive — “Lalala Lucky”
J-pop has been trying to figure out what makes K-pop tick for the better part of a decade now, and recently have done much better at figuring out what that actually is (assisted by…Korean companies themselves). The truth, though, is the bungled interpretations usually sound better. “Lalala Lucky” tries to recreate NiziU (which is to say…it’s trying to recreate TWICE), evidence both in the hop-scotching music and the video (the give being a scene where women eat American snacks, a K-pop trope). They get it all wrong…reciting the entire ABCs is ungapatchka even in the TikTok era, while transitions between sections feel off (plus, the clip is all over the place stylistically). Yet! This is way weirder and more interesting than anything NiziU has done to date, with whatever miscalculations present offering their own charm and odd details (sudden French? the breakdown? the warped vocals in the back?). Listen above.
MEZZ — “Gyal Drill”
As MEZZ explained to PRKS9, she wanted to revive ‘90s “gal” culture while also merging U.K. Drill with J-pop. Not sure how much it really reflects any drill community, but “Gyal Drill” definitely works as a melodic bit of rap with lots of great details lurking in the production. It’s also nice to hear something so structured at a time when most independent creators are opting for something more disjointed. Love the chaos, but happy to hear alternatives too. Listen above.
rirugiliyangugili — “I’MNeutral”
Speaking of chaos…new rirugiliyangugili!
Cuffboi — “Naminori Ri Denpa”
Busy in the best way, and backed by a buzzy backdrop that brings out all the electric energy Cuffboi can spark. Listen above.
ZEUS —ZEUS
The top ten of 2021 list will…fingers crossed!…come out at the end of this week. That said, gems from last year continue to emerge, with the debut solo effort from Nona Reeves’ member Kensuke Okuda being a recent personal discovery that’s charming to the max. It’s a set tightroping between city pop revival and Shibuya-kei memories, Okuda touching on sonic elements from both (plus guest appearances from the likes of Hitomitoi and Bonnie Pink, with the latter offering an album highlight with the chin-up strut of “Little Bit Better”) without ever sinking too far into one side. Helping spike any nostalgia traps are splashes of now, courtesy of laid-back verses from You Irie and, most surprisingly, a member of Dos Monos swinging by to offer some punchiness. Listen above.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of January 24, 2022 To January 30, 2022
Back in the day, the Oricon Music Charts were the go-to path to music stardom in Japan. Acts of all sorts traversed these lands, trying to sell as many CDs as possible in order to land a good ranking on a chart choosing to only count physical sales, even as the Internet came to be and the number of versions offered for sale got ridiculous. Today, with the country finally in on digital, these roads are more barren and only looked at by the most fanatic of supporters needing something to celebrate. Yet every week, a new song sells enough plastic to take the top spot. So let’s take a trip down…the Oricon Trail.
Golden Child — “A WOO!!” (11,756 Copies Sold)
This should be a moment of triumph for Golden Child. They are a K-pop group serving as a walking reminder of how the gap between that industry’s top dogs and pups is massive. They’ve never topped a chart or won anything worthwhile. Until now, hooray! They’ve topped Oricon! Years of hard work, and things are going their way via a Japanese debut!
But…wait…where are Golden Child on the combined chart? You know, the one that takes into account streams and YouTube plays and all the ways people actually listen to music in Japan in 2022? Not just CDs gobbled up by hardcore supporters?
I mean, that’s just the top five, and look at those names! I’m sure if I scroll down a little…
Oh no, oh no no no no no. Beaten by Kep1er??? Poor, sweet Golden Child…
Here’s the first week of 2022 where the physical chart exists in its own, sad little universe, a star system where Girls Planet overshadows it all despite producing only grating singles up to this point. There’s a lot you could unpack with this disconnect, though what sticks out to my cold mind is…maybe people overvalue K-pop acts “debuting” in Japan, at least as a marketing strategy? The country’s music market has gone digital, and that means K-pop fans keep up with K-pop in real time. They don’t have to wait for the Japanese version of a year-old single anymore, and the charts reflect it. Now, “debuting” in Japan is basically entering a race between C-tier idol groups and niche animated pop projects to see who has the most passionate fanbase. There’s value and beauty in that close connection, but as business…perhaps this corner of Japan isn’t quite as welcoming to mid-levelers as it once was.
News And Views
It’s always delightful to see the moment when Japanese music fandom intersects with…non-Japanese Japanese music fandom. Popular music YouTuber Mino Music devoted a recent upload to…Japanese music “icebergs” shared to communities like Reddit. Shout out Harry Bossert, whose own creation appears first.
Fans of academia and/or folk songs and/or interesting developments, here’s a neat one about how Japanese and American folk songs evolved in roughly the same way.
Intro to Gorge, always a share.
Entertainment scandal of the week is…only slightly related to music, but linked up closely enough to highlight. Cotoh Tsumi, an illustrator best known for doing artwork for YOASOBI, was accussed of tracing pictures in the past. Tsumi denies it.
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu…supporting local business.
Hatsune Miku…welcome to the world of Magic: The Gathering. (Also…Kero Kero Bonito?!?)
James Hadfield with some great music recs for the early part of the year.
Odds are, the overlap of people reading this who also checked out the lovely story about Hiroko Okuda and how she created the “Sleng Teng” riddim over at Nippon.com is high. Great piece that also does something I’m desperate to see more writing on Japanese pop culture…both in English and Japanese…do, which is look at how pop culture shapes both inbound and outbound. Nobody subscribes to this newsletter or clicks over for “media thoughts,” but a bonus pair for fellow depraved folks — one, this is a great example of packaging a story, seeing as it has actually been told (with interview) before and, two, someone tell the higher ups at Japanese publications that culture stories do well, thanks.
One area doing the first point mentioned above well…Japanese TV! At least one morning show, which did a deep dive into how city pop has been embraced in Asia.
I don’t want to get into it, but I came across the official Spotify Russian HyperPop playlist the other day and…all of the artwork is anime. Then you go on YouTube, and groups are putting out official AMVs for their songs. This transcends cool, Japan!
Let’s wrap up with two sides of idol culture. In Japan, idols have been recruited to promote filing one’s taxes…
Do idols make filling in your tax return more appealing? Three members of =LOVE promoted the ease of using e-Tax at a PR event at the Kanda Tax Office on February 4. natalie.mu/music/news/464… Previously, the group had released a vid about using e-Tax. youtu.be/4guTwkWGIik
…while in Thailand, AKB48 sister group BNK48 is going the other way (I think), by launching “BNK Token” which appears to have been made for their annual election (!?!?) and sharing videos educating viewers on the blockchain.
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies