Make Believe Melodies For March 22, 2022
Make Believe Melodies For March 22, 2022
Let's Go Pop! Checking In With What's Bubbling Up In J-pop
Fujii Kaze — “Matsuri”
It was inevitable that Fujii Kaze would be the bearer of a vibe shift in J-pop. The past two years have leaned towards the glum, though those feelings have been thawing for months now — YOASOBI sound more chipper in recent singles, Ado flexed emotional variety on her debut and the whole K-pop-derived side of the industry was smiling through whatever the horrors had in store for the world. Still, Kaze’s just-released album Love All Serve All offers a convenient moment of change from an artist primed as the next big thing in the country and largely delivering on it. The songs here revel in the moment, embracing both bad and good as an overall celebration of being. He’s studied Hikaru Utada well.
“Matsuri” explodes as the obvious highlight of the album, and the high point of Kaze’s catalog to date. It’s a thematic mission statement for one — he longs for love but isn’t bent out of shape by the future and refuses to let the world drag him down. “You’re not better or worse than anything,” goes an (officially) translated line, which later becomes “there’s no reason to suffer / no need to be disappointed” because every day is the titular festival. Really, it’s less an emotional upheaval and more of a perspective change — Kaze is pretty much coming from the same place as every artist tagged as “gloomy” in recent times, but rather than sigh or scream back at society, he shrugs and lets them know
The Japanese is more like “I don’t care,” but hey I screencapped this, they know what they’re doing.
Far more surprising is how traditional Japanese culture and sound finds its way into the song. The video is basically a big modern-day take on a festival, featuring a lot of tourist-friendly temple shots. More striking is that shakuhachi gusting through the otherwise easy-going strut of “Matsuri,” a delicate touch that then makes the guitar breakdown and warped vocals that accompany it (again, way closer to YOASOBI and Eve than you’d expect) hit all the harder. Listen above.
Eve — “Taikutsuwo Saienshinaide”
Don’t expect those post-Vocaloid artists defining J-pop so far in the 2020s to vanish, though. Eve released a new album and, even more ambitiously, “A Live In Animation” called Adam By Eve, now streaming on Netflix. Piece on that coming to The Japan Times this weekend! Here’s a highlight from both, an ode to pushing on through daily hum-drum-ness backed by a funk groove and punctuated by a discombobulated breakdown. It’s a great example of how much depth — emotional and musical — this corner of J-pop has been producing. Listen above.
Mrs. GREEN APPLE — “New My Normal”
If Fujii Kaze hopes to change spirits with a low-key pep talk, Mrs. GREEN APPLE are hellbent on pulling J-pop out of the emotional dumps with a mini rock musical. This is the “why don’t you just try smiling?” of 2022 hits so far, down to propping up hyper mundane activities like seeing a movie as personal catharsis. I’ve always found these guys grating, but I have to admit, I respect them just being extra on “New My Normal” (bonus points for just letting the pandemic hang around in the title and never actually factor into the tune). If you’re going to go full youth minister on listeners, make it a show. Listen above.
BE:FIRST — “Bye-Good-Bye”
I think the K-pop-powered-and-indebted area of J-pop needs to think of some new ideas quickly — there’s two songs out this week that are bound to be hits, but are just exhausting in how they cling to Korea circa 2019 sonic trends1 — but hey, this is at least breezy enough. Featuring a surprise production credit from Chaki Zulu — who largely creates rap tracks for names such as Awich — BE:FIRST’s latest viral hit provides early-afternoon funk for the masses. Though, it’s also a reminder of a place that’s been doing this well for years now…
FANTASTICS From EXILE TRIBE — “Santa Monica Lollipop”
…LDH, they’ve got the decades put in! A better version of the summer funk above, even if the title “Santa Monica Lollipop” sounds like a Family Guy joke about what a J-pop song would be called.
Kitasan Black And Satono Diamond — “Ambitious World”
What if the future…is horses?
Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond are thoroughbreds. They double as characters from the multi-media bonanza Uma Musume, which imagines real-world race horses as anime girls who are…still horses competing in races, but also popstars and VTubers. This franchise is massive, and I can’t ride the train without seeing at least one person playing the smartphone game that started it all. “Ambitious World” is an upbeat bit of idol pop, currently climbing up streaming viral charts in Japan. Musically and message wise, it’s basically a return to 2011 AKB era sound, nothing too special there. But I can’t shake the growing number of VTubers, animated projects and other cross-media efforts entering the music industry. There have already been chart-topping 2-D offerings like Love Live!, but the current anime-bend to everything plus the continued growth of avatar on YouTube make me think we could be creeping towards a cartoon project or influencer suddenly becoming a mainstream force.
Everyone loves horses, right, so maybe they’ll do it.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of March 7, 2022 To March 13, 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.
SKE48 — “Kokoro Ni Flower” (213,371 Copies Sold)
Peak idol days have passed, but there’s something comforting about a group like SKE48 still managing to sell six-digits worth of CDs to top this list. Stay tuned in this spot in coming weeks when Nogizaka46’s “Actually…” appears here, because it should be up there too but, ehhh, I want to sleep at some point.
Really though, I’m glad to SKE48 embracing the idols-with-guns genre of music video for “Kokoro Ni Flower.” It’s a classic concept, and one the 48 and 46 family have turned to multiple times. This time around, it gets a sheen of pop silliness as bullets get swapped out for the titular bloom. Still, members of the group just smacking dudes around with rifle butts. It’s the absurdity that this period of idol music did so well, with extra goofballery.
News And Views
TERIYAKI BOYZ back. Give it up for the most successful Japanese group of the 21st century, at least based on streaming data.
Spotify bought the naming rights to a bunch of livehouses in Shibuya. Amazon responds by opening a music studio, also in Shibuya. The streaming showdown continues to heat up in Japan…albeit through physical spaces located in the heart of Tokyo.
James Hadfield talked to Eiko Ishibashi about her score for Drive My Car in The Japan Times.
Pitchfork reviewed an album from Yasuaki Shimizu…and then on Sunday offered up a deep dive into Happy End’s Kazemachi Roman, the consensus choice as best / most important Japanese rock album of all time according to domestic critics. Great read, and this passage is a nice reminder about...a lot of things, really.
Yasutaka Nakata out here just remixing songs for Danny L Harle that you can buy on Bandcamp.
Really just want to encourage you to go through Haru Nemuri’s Twitter feed and check out every video from her recent U.S. tour. Looks like an absolute wrecking ball of a jaunt, and well-earned catharsis for an artist who had wanted to head to North America for two years but kept getting pushed back.
Big week for the concept of “cool, Japan!” Spanish artist Rosalía’s new album Motomami features Japan references ahoy, including a song titled “Hentai” and “Sakura,” topped off with the video for “Candy” being a prime example of the genre “remember Lost In Translation?.”
Aspiring idol and professional wrestler? There’s a project looking for you.
And last…IT’S COMING
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Follow the Best of 2022 Spotify Playlist Here!
this is also one of the defining flaws of most bad K-pop right now