Make Believe Melodies For March 25, 2024
Don't Worry I'm Working On The Avril Lavigne "Hello Kitty" Look-Back Too
MAISONdes Featuring Narumiya, Sasuke Haraguchi And Hello Kitty — “Popcorn”
I often think back to seeing DJ Hello Kitty tearing up the decks at Sanrio Puroland. Back in 2015, the kawaii-centered theme park in the quieter corners of Tokyo held its first all-night Halloween party, featuring Suiyoubi No Campanella, Seiho, Tokyo Health Club and many more that I’d blogged about. The juxtaposition — sweet, I can watch KOM_I sing in a Cinnamon-Roll-themed balloon and then eat Gudetama snacks — was what hooked me in, but it was seeing Hello Kitty do her best big-tent impression that has stuck with me nearly a decade later. In much the same way the feline could be slapped on everything from pencils to toasters to Uniqlo t-shirts, Hello Kitty could also find herself in musical trends, whether they be odd mutations with YOSHIKI1 or trying to burrow into the world of EDM.
Hello Kitty celebrates her 50th anniversary this year, and among the many celebrations already rolled out…and the god-knows-how-many more coming…is a reminder of her cultural flexibility doubling as a genuinely wild merger of like five musical trends. Part of it is brand-synergy pushed to spectacle, but it’s also a genuinely heart-racing snapshot of 2024 in J-pop, starring a cat who loves popcorn.
This is Hello Kitty’s “hello kids, how do you do” moment. The three human artists associated with “Popcorn” represent different corners of burgeoning J-pop. The primary producer, MAISONdes, has one of the defining downtrodden-but-also-catchy hits of the decade, capturing the ennui of being young in modern Japan while also underlining how anyone can become a bedroom superstar and TikTok force. They anchor “Popcorn,” but also strike me as the least interesting player in the song (yes, behind Hello Kitty), because there job is to keep everything moving forward. They are a studio pro elevated to front-facing fame thanks to viral developments.
I’m way more interested in the other two, who add the outright weirdness to the song. Narumiya — a singer hiding behind anime avatars, and singing about the ups and downs of 21st century life — provides the vocals, presumably playing the Hello Kitty role. Then there’s the inclusion of Sasuke Haraguchi, who attempted to be a new kind of J-pop star but seemingly rejected it…before becoming a much weirder new kind of J-pop star. I think he’s here to add friction, dropping samples and generally left-field sounds in the context of a tie-up song (“WOO”) to transform what could have been a fun commercial song into a celebration of short-attention spans and textural disruptions. MAISONdes holds it down, while those two add the oddball character that makes this the most surprising highlight of the year so far.
Besides just being a wild song…I mean shit, this has blazed past a million views in about three days, I don’t know if it will be a huge hit but it is definitely a hit in the making, and it sounds like this…it’s a satisfying meeting of trends. You have bedroom-producer sounds, anime-masked singing, TikTok-ready wildness, a total disconnect from anything else happening on the planet (big positivity surrounding that statement), the musical manifestation of those memes where a goat yells at you, and a fascination with stretching sound out. All centered around Hello Kitty. Listen above.
Fujimoto Tetsuro And RGL — Bring Me / Destiny
Diskotopia turns to some old favorites for a run of dancefloor ecstasy. The last time producer Fujimoto Tetsuro linked up with the Tokyo label was back in 2013 with the chill electronic experiments of Sketches of the Other Tokyo, a set crafting a laid-back atmosphere out of warped samples, all without losing the propulsion needed for a club setting. Tetsuro brings a similar energy to his original tracks and remixes here, with all his inclusions feeling like they hang ever so slightly in the air while always shuffling forward (special shout out to the horns on “Bring Me”). RGL, formerly Rigly Chang, offers more forceful house levitation on “Destiny” and “Good Times,” but never flexing aggression, instead embracing fizz. Get it here, or listen above.
COR!S — “Kayoi”
A slow burn that reveals itself to be something more kaleidoscopic in nature. COR!S builds up “Kayoi” as ballad before smearing digital paint all over it, transforming it into a very-now emotional release. Listen above.
rirugiliyangugili — "EVIL SPA" Vibes & Feeling & Groove & Style & Sniffing & Coco & Hitting & Zaza & Dirty & Sprite
If the title doesn’t hook you in immediately, this isn’t for you. Think long and hard about your life to this point. Everyone else, listen above.
Batten Girls — “ureshiino”
The sonic-boundary-pushing idol group recruits Templime’s KBSNK to create a miniature fireworks display of modern dance sounds melded with a sweet melody. Listen above.
TV Tairiku Ondo — “Ore Ni Shinjitsu Wo Oshiete Kure!!”
The amount of nervy, seemingly on-edge rock bands following somewhere between Zazen Boys and Call And Response Records has skyrocketed over the last two years. Add another twitchy outfit to the file, as TV Tairiku Ondo’s first widely distributed song teases complete collapse thanks to its guitar melodies and sing-speak vocals, but holds it all together (BARELY) to deliver a 2020s interpretation of post-punk in all its twitchy wonder. Listen above….or see a live version below.
Charlotte is Mine — “Wilderness”
No need to waste words — a fantastic example of the ever-strong Japanese indie-pop community in action. Listen above.
Ichiro Tanimoto — Solace From The Sun
The kids love rave. Japanese 20-somethings have been drawn to the pure escape of the style for a bit now — as “hyperpop” was booming, a matching trend in pulsating dance sounds was unfolding alongside it, mixing perfectly at parties originally more hip-hop-leaning like Tokio Shaman. One of the best projects doing it right now is Minna No Kimochi, offering up sets of digital bliss that wow in both WWW (where I saw them last year) and in fields. The group stole the show at the Tohji-centric Boiler Room set in the capital last year, and this video offers a perfect peak into what’s happening in Tokyo right now.
One half of that project, Ichiro Tanimoto, offers up the sonic chill-out room young revelers need with first solo effort Solace From The Sun. It’s a slower set of tracks focused on recalibrating to the world around you, featuring samples of nature and synths offering a lift but never tipping over to blurriness. Even a long-player like “Still Air” never gives over to the party vibes, always holding a little back to offer space to get back to normal. Despite playing out at a very different speed, Tanimoto still understands the attraction of trance — these are, in many ways, slower cuts done nodding to that style — and simply shows a different angle on it, one that might help followers catch their breath. Listen above.
The Seven Charismas — “Charisma Jamboree”
Do you ever come across something that leaves you feeling like…what the fuck?
I missed whatever Charisma is, but it’s apparently a hit. A quick summary — it appears to be a mixed-media male idol project with an anime filter set in an imaginary share house (peep the floor plan), though I’m not sure what has brought them together into such a dwelling. I have not dug much deeper than this, but even a cursory look at their socials reveals a popular project.
Which makes something like “Charisma Jamboree” all the weirder. Like “Popcorn” above, this is a great example of how odd the textures of J-pop…especially when peering just outside of the most mainstream lanes…has become, drawing from modern dance music, experimental and Disneyland jammers in equal measures.
Just demented dance-pop stuff, starting off as something close to Aichi experimental but revealing itself to be some of the most twisted amusement-park music possible. Yet it really reminds of just how varied J-pop is right now…and what is needed to stand out, to the point of conjuring up interpretations of Mickey-Mouse-helmed art. Listen above.
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Oricon Trail For The Week Of March 11, 2024 To March 17, 2024
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.
AKB48 — “Kara Kon Wink” (320,988 Copies Sold)
Despite their age of cultural dominance being long finished, AKB48 remain this fascinating biodome of J-pop in the country’s musical landscape. Despite not getting close to the hype of earlier releases, the project’s singles still serve as important markers of Japanese entertainment time. “Kara Kon Wink,” a song about winking at someone while wearing color contacts, serves as the graduation number for Yuki Kashiwagi…which also means the entire third generation of the outfit is now gone. The music itself isn’t particularly interesting — seeing as this is a sendoff song, AKB sticks to the classic uptempo sound, no need to try anything new when saying goodbye — and doesn’t really spread far outside of hardcore AKB fandom…yet people do follow who is in the group, and even if everyone is well aware it isn’t 2012 anymore, AKB as institution still carries a lot of heft. “Kara Kon Wink” has almost nothing in common with greater movements in J-pop…yet still stands as an important puzzle piece to understanding the bigger picture. Listen above.
News And Views
Festival madness continues as YOASOBI and Hanabie. announced for Lollapalooza in Chicago this summer.
IFPI shared its Global Music Report for 2024, and the biggest take away from it for Japan is that the market here is growing. The report mostly focuses on K-pop and “superfans” when it comes to Asia…fair, though kind of feels like spinning wheels in place…but I’ll take that over the pages about AI potential or whatever. Also at the very end they use photos of Aimyon and King & Prince but…don’t mention them anywhere I can see? Hey whatever works.
If Hitomi Honda joins tripleS, I’ll invest in tripleS bucks!
New season of Oshi no Ko — an anime about the idol and greater entertainment industry — coming this July. This really just made me realize…who is going to do the theme for it? After the success of “Idol,” the expectations gotta be stupid high, right?
Atarashii Gakko! to tour Europe and Asia following a successful jaunt through North America.
NPR put out an official press release about its partnership with NHK for Tiny Desk Concerts Japan. I’m a little surprised by how much the NPR side leans into the “helping to share Japanese music with the world” angle, only because the whole idea of this seems so inward looking. But hey, prove me wrong, Public Radio!
Look, I want to stress…lots of good came out of last year’s reckoning with Johnny Kitagawa, and overall it is nothing but a net positive for the entertainment industry to actually face down these issues to build something better. Yet one pretty obvious thing has come to pass…a lot of people got excited about the “collapse” of Johnny & Associates, especially after sponsors started pulling out and companies stopped using its talent in commercials. Surely this won’t just be some temporary goodwill-getting posturing from Japanese businesses??? A new dawn begins!
Kirin, which made a big deal about stepping away from talent, has now recruited Snow Man’s Ren Meguro for a new commercial spot, which you can watch below. Really a reminder that STARTO’s talent is still just extremely popular (oh, and that you should not turn to corporations for markers of societal change or whatever, and instead understand everything they do is calculated).
Just posting this for posterity…everything is AKB48.
Rolling Stone Japan shared a “future of music” feature highlighting 25 Japanese artists.
J-pop has come a long way when the BBC is just saying the industry has taken off globally…and uses it (and K-pop) as examples for “I-Pop” (Indian Pop) to imitate.
I have no idea how AI is going to manifest itself in the world of art…I think a lot of worries about it disrupting human creation are a little paranoid (at least for now), especially given that the bulk of songs created using this sort of technology are basically memes. Yet where I do see it emerging more and more is in the visuals accompanying songs, whether through videos, a growing number of promotional posters or general artwork. Pony Canyon doubles down on the technology for two of those for a re-release of idol Yukiko Okada’s “Summer Beach.” It looks…sorta uncanny? Though really, watching the lyric video, I’m mostly reminded of how unambitious any of this is. AI is going to revolutionize our ability…to create “aesthetics” Tumblr users were already mastering a decade ago?
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies
Relevant, as YOSHIKI is set to appear at [shudder] a Dodger’s game celebrating Hello Kitty this spring. I got a press release about it! I…have realized while writing this that I could actually go to this and well hmmmmmmm
