3 posts from 2008
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May
- June
- July
- August
- September
- October
- November
- December
Last week I touched briefly on the fact that I'm stark raving mad. Er, rather, that I've become drawn into the pastel world of Hello!Project - well, okay, just Morning Musume so far, but I make no promises - at a much faster pace than anticipated. Yeah, that sounds more professional. I wrote at the end of my entry that I wanted to delve a bit deeper into what exactly I found attractive about these idols, and I've been thinking about how best to approach it. Happily, I decided that the best way to go about it was to make more charts. (I love charts. Can you tell?) Using the wonderful Wota Distractions tool (there's that W word again - I'd better get used to it) provided by Ray over at American Wota, I spent a slightly disturbing amount of time ranking the group's members. I figured that taking a look at my favorites would provide a good starting point for further explorations. So, without further ado, the overall member rankings!
Takahashi Ai in first place surprises no one, I'm sure, and
she's there for unique reasons that I'll get into later on, when I wrap
this series of entries up. The rest of my top five, interestingly
enough, are all the past leaders of the group. I suspect they
uniformly occupy the highest slots because leading a group of idols,
especially one as fluid as Morning Musume, is a job that takes an
inordinate amount of charisma and courage, both toward one's fellow
performers and to the audience who undoubtedly expects a strong person
to fill the role. Yoshizawa Hitomi and Iida Kaori both fit the bill, and their individual personalities were ones I really enjoyed as well. Yossie's tough guy
girl image was endearing from the moment I first saw her, and her
ranking solidified like quick-drying cement once I watched the PV for
"Mr. Moonlight." God damn, can that girl pull off a yellow suit!
Kaorin, meanwhile, opted for the cool, collected image, broken up
periodically by weird, space-cadet moments. It was an odd combination,
but she made it work. Of course, the fact that she was also a stunning
beauty didn't hurt either. However, out of all the top five, I have
particular respect for Nakazawa Yuko, whose persona was tough
and self-sacrificing as MM's first leader. I recently watched an old
1999 episode of Utaban featuring the group in its
first-and-second-generation incarnation, where she explained flatly and
without remorse how marriage was out of the question for her as an
idol. The way she said it - a simple but firm "dame desu" with great
eye contact - really stuck with me. Moreover, she led the group as its
oldest member by far: she was 24 at its inception, and watching the
early PVs one can see how the group gradually became younger and
younger in focus, particularly once the fourth generation came on
board. By "I Wish," she stuck out like a sore thumb - yet there she
was, giving it her best. Tremendous respect. Finally, Fujimoto Miki...
well, she was technically a leader, but she didn't last long enough in that capacity for it to influence me. She's at
number five because of her incredible voice, which I really miss.
Slots six through ten are a little more varied as far as why they were chosen. Ogawa Makoto
cajoled herself all the way up to number six, and I'm not sure I can
explain what it is I love about her. Well, all right, yes I can. Her
upbeat personality shone through in PVs; her voice, while not really
capable of much more than belting out the notes, was "honest" for lack
of a better word; and did I mention that I love the way she looked in
the "Chokkan 2" video with the bleached blond hair? Seriously,
bleach-blond Makoto > regular blond Makoto ("Ambitious," "Sexy
Boy") > all other Makoto(s). Basically, she seemed to make the most
out of her talents, and I can appreciate that.
Yasuda Kei at
number seven... hey, I've always liked rooting for the underdog, and
Kei was definitely treated as such on television appearances and even
(I believe, though I could be wrong) when it came to fan reception.
Yet she had a lovely voice, coupled with an unconventional
attractiveness that made her stand out to me when I watched her old
PVs. "As for One Day," as much as I love the song, makes me somewhat
sad because it's her last single with the group.
Number eight is the original Miracle Girl, Goto Maki.
For someone who continually annoys me when I watch "Love Machine"
(Seriously, sweetheart, I know you're the new member and everything,
but stop sticking your face in the camera every other shot. I can't
see Yuko behind your big-ass head.) she redeemed herself quite a bit in
the singles that followed, and I came to realize that she really was
talented enough to deserve her spotlight. This ranking is also helped
by her solo career, which sadly I've only recently come to appreciate.
I have faith that she'll be back in some capacity, someday.
Spots nine and ten are taken up by two criminally underused performers in present-day Morning Musume: Kamei Eri and Niigaki Risa.
Both have great, slightly unconventional voices, and neither one gets
as many lines as they deserve, although Risa does have her Athena and
Robikerottsu side project these days. Here's hoping they show their
faces a bit more on upcoming singles.
I don't have much to say individually about the remainder of the rankings, although I find it amusing that Abe Natsumi is in the exact, neutral center, which I think is fitting. I used the ranking tool without ever opting for a tie between the pairings it gave me; this forced the list to be clean and sequential, but it also means that some members are "higher" without really having much to quantify the position. I'll sum up by saying that most of the ten girls in the 11-20 spots are ones that either haven't tapped into their full potential yet (Koharu, Aika, the pandas), or just members I don't tend to favor as much. I have to admit I've come to like Kago Ai and Tsuji Nozomi much more than I used to. The bottom five... well, Tanaka Reina's a decent singer, but I find her voice, and particularly her vibrato (which sounds forced much of the time), really annoying after extended listening. Ishikawa Rika was gorgeous, granted, but for someone who could barely hold a tune, she sure got a lot of screen time in her PVs. I'm just bitter, don't mind me. Finally, Ishiguro Aya, Fukuda Asuka, and especially Ichii Sayaka (who I still can't recognize in the PVs! Seriously, where is she?) were, in my mind, the members that "didn't make it" through the transformation that Morning Musume underwent starting with "Love Machine." I have no problem with any of them, but they just weren't in the group long enough to leave any impressions on me.
Looking at the chart and all the words I just wrote about it, what overarching conclusions can I draw? Oh, sure, there's the eye candy factor; I won't deny that. But overall, I think the idols to whom I am most attracted are the ones that go above and beyond being "just a Morning Musume member." I guess technically every one of them strives for that, but it's uniformly the leaders who have, in my opinion, seized their roles as all-around entertainers with both hands. I think it's similar to the reason I was such a big Ayumi Hamasaki fan for years: she controls her image and sound, writes her own lyrics and does a fair amount of composition, and generally gives the impression that she knows exactly what she's doing. It seems that it would be very easy, as a pop idol, to fall back on the image that your managers, agents, et cetera decide for you. And I'm not saying that Yossie, or Kaori, or Yuko did anything different - certainly, given the way Hello!Project is run, their creative input was probably limited if it existed at all. But to me, their long tenures with the group give me the impression that they thrived not only on the "star-maker machinery," but on their own inner strength as well. Their careers seem to say to me that they enjoy what they do/did for a living; that even though their images are marketed, tested, and altered as necessary, it's their hard work that gets them through. I find this idea to be very inspiring, and I think that might be the seed of it all. My own work is as far from idol glitz as it gets, yet if I can increase my confidence and self-worth enough to know what I'm doing and where I want to go... well, if I'm going to throw myself squarely into the wota category, I might as well take some positive life lessons while I'm at it. "You'll get a chance" indeed.
Okay. I think it's safe to say that I'm having something of an idol problem. I would call Terminix, but I don't think fumigation will help. Well, technically it might, I suppose, but gassing Sayumi Michishige would probably be frowned upon. (Or not? I kid, I kid.) Anyway. I've been meaning to write some entries about my understanding of pop idols, both from personal experience and from a more objective point of view, for a while now, but it's one of those things I've kept putting off. Now that Morning Musume and Hello!Project are threatening to take over my life, I think it might be appropriate to move the entries up a bit in my list of priorities. It's late now and I don't have quite the inclination to go in-depth just yet, so I'm gonna kick things off with a description of just why I think the phrase "take over my life" is accurate.
So you know how Wile E. Coyote, in the old cartoons, would get so absorbed in chasing the Road Runner that he could be tricked into running straight off of cliffs? And how he wouldn't fall right away, but instead would just keep going for a few seconds in midair? I think, in some demented 21st century, reckless-ambition-as-translated-into-enjoyment-of-pop-music way, I'm channeling him. Yeah, I started off at a slow pace, listening to the ai no dai 6kan album last summer and enjoying it. It was innocent enough. Then came "onna ni sachi are," which I liked a whole lot more. Hmm, more like a trot now. Then came "mikan." I bought this one. Oh, sure, it was on iTunes and it's not like I imported it, but now I'm moving even faster. Then came the complete PV collection on DVD. I didn't buy this right away! I almost held out! But after watching a bunch of PVs on YouTube and Dohhh Up!, I realized I needed these videos in higher definition. I threw it into my CDJapan order along with some other stuff. Oh, and while I was browsing I figured a little more wouldn't hurt, so I also bought Rainbow 7 and Sexy 8 Beat, the group's two most recent albums, in that same order. Full-on run now. The goods arrived, and I spent a day watching the DVDs. Then I watched them again. I put them on in the background while making dinner one night. I started gazing fondly at Rika Ishikawa in "AS FOR ONE DAY," and I don't even really like Rika. I thought to myself how cute Li Chun and Qian Lin were in the extra "mikan" making-of footage that was included. Picture the Coyote with his head parallel to the ground and his legs a blur behind him, going as fast as he can. Yep, that's me.
Okay, present day. Rainbow 7 is in my car CD player; I routinely roll down the window and blast "Osaka koi no uta" and/or the remix of "chokkan 2" as I drive through various metropolitan areas. I enthusiastically sing along when I know the lyrics. I'm going to give myself another day or two at most before I lose enough control to start shouting "HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS JAPAN?" and pumping my fist in the air while driving. Sexy 8 Beat, meanwhile, has been ripped to my computer, where I can't get enough of "genki+" and those awesome harmonies at the beginning of the song. Oh, and the Yossie solo track. Oh, Yossie. And tonight... tonight I was bored enough to do this:
Yes, those are charts that I made, mostly from memory,
because I was bored and I like organizing data. (The type is small on
the first chart, so click it again when it opens up for a full-size
version.) The first one lists every member and denotes all the singles
that each one participated in. The second one tallies up the first
chart and ranks the members accordingly. (I had a good laugh when I
realized I forgot Kei at first. Thanks again for the cards, Arashi!)
Statistically, I was surprised that there was a three-way tie for the
most singles per member; I had assumed, before doing the actual count,
that Kaorin would have come first by a long shot, for instance. Also,
when I look at the string of singles that Maki Goto was in, I find it
awfully curious that she-- WAIT. WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. I'm making CHARTS?! WHY AM I MAKING CHARTS? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?
Yeah. I've been running in midair for a while now. I think I need one of those signs that I can hold up that says "Yipe!", because I've just had that cathartic moment of looking down - and now, hey, check it out, I'm plummeting downward. Boom.
After
I climb out of this Coyote-shaped... err, fox-shaped hole in the ground
and get rid of all these stars floating around my head (hey, is that Makoto I see in one of them?), I'll write a little more on why I think these idols have
managed to have such an effect on me. It probably won't be anything
groundbreaking, but I think it'll be a good thought exercise, at
least. Possibly it will carry some much-needed therapeutic value. Ooh, damn, I feel dizzy. Why won't these stars go away? No, no, Makoto, I'm OK! It's all right! Go be with Yossie! You two are such a perfect coup-- *faints*
I’ve never been a person who makes big plans for New Year’s Day. I think I was out on the streets at midnight once, a few years ago, and I went for the company of friends more than any perceived importance of observing the day itself. Nope, I’m the kinda guy who’ll just sit at home and do nothing, and be happy for it. Maybe I’ll have a beer or something, play some more World of Warcraft, or spend some quality time with the boyfriend. But, I will admit that the new year does give me a decent prompt for blog writing. I think I’ll celebrate the occasion of incrementing a digit on the calendar by writing an entry on the most remarkable j-pop discoveries I’ve made this year. Some are genuinely brand-new finds; some represent a newly-vested interest in a group I’ve known about for a while. All are very important to me and are artists I hope to be listening to for a while. So let the sharing commence:
Yasutaka Nakata. Number one on my list is a name that may not be directly familiar. Nakata is the man who, at only 27 years old, is the producer for such luminary acts as capsule and Perfume. He has a number of intriguing side projects like COLTEMONIKHA, runs his own record label (contemode), and has recently produced varying amounts of work for artists such as Ami Suzuki (“FREE FREE” and “SUPER MUSIC MAKER”), Leah Dizon (remix of “koi shiyou” which, I should point out, totally kicks the ass of the original), and MEG (her entire BEAM album, released earlier this month).
In addition to his impressive list of collaborations, Nakata is also amazingly prolific: capsule alone had three full-length album releases in 2007. Nakata, in addition to production work, generally writes all the music and lyrics for his projects, and has even directed his own promotional videos in the past. If you’re looking for someone to really show you up as far as career accomplishments go (by the way, I’ll be 26 in February. Grumble.), Nakata’s your man! Oh, and did I mention that his genre of choice these days is insanely catchy, over-the-top vocodered electro music? Yeah, this music pushes all my buttons, including ones I didn’t even know I had. Check out the samples, and if this is your thing as much as it is mine, don’t hesitate to check out the albums Sugarless GiRL, FLASH BACK, or FRUITS CLiPPER from capsule; Complete Best from Perfume; BEAM from MEG; or any release from COLTEMONIKHA.
Yuka Funakoshi. Interestingly, I discovered this artist from domestic channels. I first stumbled across Funakoshi’s music on eMusic, where customer reviews hailed her as being a “Western-style” Japanese pop artist. I was intrigued and purchased her album Silent Sun. What I found was a young woman with a gorgeous voice, self-composing and writing her own lyrics, and even playing keyboards (a prominent element in many of her songs). I’m not sure how “Western-style” she is, as that’s a term I find difficult to qualify, but I can say that she is a definite far cry from most other Japanese pop (as in popular) music.
Best of all, Funakoshi’s music is completely accessible: her albums are available not only on eMusic, but also on iTunes as well as Amazon’s MP3 Downloads store. I don't work for eMusic, but I should point out that if you don't mind paying $10 for a basic 30-track subscription (which can easily be canceled after the first month if you prefer it not to recur), they are by far the cheapest option. Anyway, corporate shilling aside, I didn’t fall head over heels for Funakoshi like I did for Yasutaka Nakata above, but her music is relaxing, intelligent, and very well-done overall. The albums of hers that I own are Silent Sun and Pool no Nioi no Natsu; both are highly recommended.
Morning Musume. “But Fox, they’ve been around for years!” Yes indeed, and I’ve known of them for years as well – but 2007 is the year when I finally sat up and started to pay attention. Their July single “onna ni sachi are” grabbed me and held on tight for months afterward. The song was catchy, it was well-performed, and with just nine young women in the group I found it fairly easy to “get to know” all of them with regards to their various personae. Recent single “mikan,” while not as impressive to me, helped seal the deal, and while I don’t own any album releases yet, you can bet I’ll be buying the next one that comes out.
Of course, nobody told me that getting into one Hello! Project group means potentially-fatal levels of exposure to the entire idol milieu created by Tsunku and Co. (It probably doesn’t help that I read International Wota on a daily basis, of course.) It may be too late for me, I’m afraid, but you can still save yourself! Under no circumstances should you listen to the samples I’ve provided! Run… run far away… but y’know, I was nice enough to put the links right there for you, so…
Koharu Kusumi. “But Fox, she’s in Morning Musume. And she can’t sing for crap.” Well, dear imaginary reader, those were the exact reasons I ignored her solo releases under the Kirarin Revolution banner for so long. But hey, guess what popped up on the US iTunes store just recently? Why, nothing other than Ms. Kusumi’s second solo album, Kirarin Land. Fancy that. I was bored at the time, so I decided to give it a download. I expected the worst, since the short samples I heard of the tracks weren’t doing much to bring me around. Well, let’s just say that I listened to the entire album, straight through, twice in a row today – and that’s just today.
Koharu may not be able to sing very well (although she is slowly improving, it seems), but the beauty of the music on Kirarin Land is that nothing requires her to sing well. One track, “Konnichipa,” has Koharu hamming it up in a way that both showcases and somehow glorifies her lack of technical ability, to the point where I don’t think a more accomplished vocalist could pull it off quite as well. Other album tracks, like “koi no mahou wa HABIBI no BI!” (worth it just for the title) and “Ramutara” have her bouncing along, gleefully singing half-nonsense verses like no one’s listening, and it all works. It works shockingly well, actually. Seriously, buy this album. (This may be a little late for a truly justified addition to a “best of 2007” list, which isn’t really what this entry is anyway, but I still consider Koharu’s solo work an important discovery for me because it’s made me do a complete 180-degree turn in my perception of her.)
I listened to a lot of new and new-to-me music in 2007, and while I don’t exclusively listen to Japanese music (and also could compile a list of great English-language albums I bought this year), I can confidently say that the above-mentioned artists are the ones that kept me playing and replaying their songs well past the point of total memorization and into the depths of addiction. (Seriously, I listened to nothing but capsule during my work commute for a good two months.) Here’s hoping that 2008 will be as fruitful for my ears and as draining on my wallet.
