Make Believe Melodies For Nov. 22, 2020
Special Kohaku Line-Up Hot Takes Edition!
The most wonderful time of the year is here! National broadcaster NHK revealed the line-up for their year-end extravaganza Kohaku Uta Gassen, a New Year’s Eve special in theory pitting two teams of J-pop artists against one another in a musical showdown but in reality is half highlight reel of the year’s biggest artists and hits, half nostalgia shot for grandpas who dropped out of the pop culture conversation years ago but still want to see Seiko Matsuda on TV every December. It’s the biggest music program of the year, thanks to a captive audience stuck at home with their relatives.
Well, at least that’s Kohaku’s historical reputation. It’s not 1988 anymore, and now people can choose to watch dozens of other specials on terrestrial TV, jump online to watch something or simply head out with friends to have a good time (though…COVID-19 means a lot more people will be inside this Dec. 31st). One of the most reliable news stories Japanese media can run on January 1st in the 21st century is “Kohaku sees lowest ratings ever,” because folks actually have options now. It’s still the biggest music show of the year, but it exists in a much stranger, often more mock-worthy space than before.
Ahhh, but that’s what makes the artist announcement so fun. The show itself is spectacle…they have broken the record for most consecutive kendama completions multiple times…with a dash of self-aware irony mixed in during recent years. Yet you really don’t have to watch it. It’s best experienced either as time capsule years later, or in late November, when NHK’s reveal of who will be performing becomes something to debate and discuss. And, since I’ve been out of the loop this week on new music (get new Cuushe, also check out latest from Crunch), now is the perfect time to react away!
New arrivals! NiziU, Eito, Sakurazaka46 (OK SURE), SixTones, JUJU, Tokyo Jihen, BABYMETAL, Snowman and milet. All pretty par, mixing up new pop heavyweights with viral phenomenons with…well, what amount to legacy artists checking off a domestic achievement in the case of BABYMETAL, and uhhh reminding the world Tokyo Jihen put out new music in 2020 in the case of Tokyo Jihen. The only true surprise is milet, one of many “voice of a new generation J-pop acts” to emerge in recent years. Still, it’s a nice twist, and actually ties in to some other developments…
After that, Kohaku has done a good job of highlighting the songs that will come to mind when people reflect on Japanese music in 2020, after they get over the shudders of having to think about this year at all down the line. Official HIGE DANdism, big hit! LiSA, even bigger! Remember that Hoshino Gen song about staying inside during quarantine, well get ready for it most likely being done via some ZOOM-like box setting. Mixed with familiar decades-pleasing staples and Little Glee Monster, and NHK deserves credit for largely presenting a solid snapshot of the year in pop.
Ahhhhh, but the snubs…they do exist! King Gnu is probably the biggest, especially after they delivered the “this is what music is all about, standing their and playing instruments!” critic bait of last year’s edition. After that, it becomes a little less contentious — BUMP OF CHICKEN won’t play their Pokemon song, while DISH// miss out too. K-pop is absent, but that’s less to do with any intercontinental political drama and much more to do with NiziU doing exactly what NiziU exists to do.
The only real thread NHK has failed to pluck out to show the masses is a pocket of online-centric music that delivered some of the biggest hits of the year. YOASOBI, ZUTOMAYO, Yorushika…this is the Vocaloid-descended creators responsible for some of the biggest songs and albums of 2020, not to mention responsible for crafting music capturing the actual mood of the year (glum, down-and-out). Still, I can guess why they didn’t get an invite — these acts shroud themselves in mystery, with some having never performed live at all. Part of their charm — and what makes them so interesting even divorced the music — is how they feel online first, so a real-world performance might not be in the best interest of anyone (including Kenshi Yonezu, who dropped off a video of him performing a couple years back and was then like “uhhhh just have Foorin handle it from now.” Besides, Kohaku is only partially interested in capturing the pulse of J-pop…Hiromi Go isn’t exactly who you should look to for that.
Though milet and LiSA at least kind of hit on this internet-centric boom, as both are big “The First Take” contributors. Which leads to another prediction…expect somebody on the show to riff on that web series.
But seriously…I can’t be the only one who forgot Tokyo Jihen put out new music this year, right? Might as well have been another century!
The actual big development is that AKB48 won’t be appearing, ending a 12-year run for the biggie-sized group. Sponichi theorizes that they missed out on appearing because of COVID-19, which stopped them from releasing new singles (and holding the requisite meet-and-greets people buy the CDs for most of the time). They didn’t have a signature song…which, kinda sounds like bullshit, considering what they did release was a pandemic-related number far more relevant than whatever Yuzu or Little Glee Monster did this year. This should be the perfect soundtrack to a montage honoring Abemasks!
In reality, I think NHK just realized the truth…AKB48 isn’t really relevant anymore (arguably haven’t been since 2016 / Produce 48, their “Pink Lady goes to America” moment), and now their is no shortage of pop acts who can bring in eyes (the 46s have defeated the 48s…what a moment). Kohaku isn’t breaking news, but it’s really underlining how much J-pop has changed in the past five years.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of Nov. 9, 2020 To Nov. 15, 2020
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 the 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 drip down…the Oricon Trail.
SixTONES “NEW ERA” (446, 443 Copies Sold)
In a lot of ways, this could be the way forward for J-pop. Not to be all, “look at my tweets,” but look at my tweets. “NEW ERA” shows how existing power players in the pop industry could take the idea of Japan being best known for rock music and grafting that onto Johnny’s boys, who can handle the other requirements of global stardom in the 2020s (can dance, exists, attractive, someone made the YouTube channel not region blocked). Honestly, it seems too knowing (“NEW ERA”), and that big chug-a-lug guitar riff pushing this one forward takes up so much sonic space it almost feels like it’s trying too much to underline that this isn’t rap (save for one brief rap tangent) or dance-pop…if you are sick of that, come to SixTONES. J-pop shouldn’t be competing with mega-acts at what they do best, but rather offering up an alternative once those sonic trends burn out.
News And Views (Ignoring Kohaku, No More On That!)
Ototoy reports that Miki Matsubara’s "Mayonaka no Door ~ Stay With Me" has done really well on subscription streaming, including stints in several top 10s over the last year. That song is a cornerstone of the YouTube-powered city pop revival…and a legit jam!
Speaking of throwbacks, Masahiko Kondo gave the entertainment world a good ol fashioned extramarital affair scandal.
I never know how much stock to put into Spotify’s “Global Viral 50,” but nevertheless seeing a bunch of Japanese artists land a song called “Touch You” at number four on that chart seemed noteworthy. All the better, it hails from a manga/anime titled Yarichin Bitch Club, which turns out to be a yaoi series about a photography club. And it’s also a TikTok thing? And someone made this?
And people say Japanese pop culture is lagging behind! Anyway, the new Eve song is also on this Spotify list.
BuzzFeed Japan has an in-depth look at “deep fakes” of idols.
Yo, this aespa slaps.
This Melissa Johnson essay is great for a lot of reasons, one of which is reminding that Korea had their own version of The IDOLM@STER.
I wrote this week’s Pulse column in The Japan Times — my last for the year as I’m focusing on a ~ secret project ~ for the paper right now, please pray for me — which looks at the spread of disinformation on Japanese social media in the wake of the U.S. Presidential Election. One prominent MAGA disciple in Japan? Rapper K Dub Shine, who is just flooding Twitter with lies.
Few things feel as thrilling as watching a previously unkown-to-you world open up in front of your eyes. That was the case with a 48-hour livestream hosted by Virtual YouTuber AZKi of songs from the VTuber community, a two-day event that shined a light on a corner of Japanese music giving series golden age Nico Nico Douga vibes (thanks Tara for the heads up!) While the stream itself is gone, some real incredible souls compiled a list of the songs played on it so…well, set aside a couple days, though you should definitely watch the video below of an attempt at recreating Marshmello which is solid!
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
Twitter — @mbmelodies