J-Pop Write-Up

Okay. It’s true. I haven’t posted in over THREE MONTHS… But, I haven’t forgotten about this blog. I haven’t forgotten about my urgent need to proclaim to all my opinions on the latest J-Pop hits. With that in mind, what have I missed over these past few months? Seems there’s a new single from pop group AAA. I wrote about them earlier. Let’s take a look at their new single, Makenai Kokoro.

Like Aitai Riyuu, Makenai Kokoro is written and produced by Tetsuya Komuro. I don’t even have to look at Wikipedia to tell. Everything about it screams “Komuro Dance Pop!” It’s quite a bit simpler than Aitai Riyuu in terms of harmonic progression. The melody bases itself primarily around a descending sequence that appears in various iterations throughout the song. I have to hand it to Komuro for coming up with the little passing chord trick in the first verse. (If you keep the base on tonic for the second chord of a descending 5-6 sequence (second inversion), you can move up stepwise. It’s kind of hot.)

This time, the groups dances more, though there is still a lot of staring passionately into the camera and anguished hand gestures. I now see what Shuta does in the group, cuz his moves are awesome! (He’s the one in the white hat.) The other members, particularly Chiaki and Misako (mind you, Misako is dancing in heels), need to up their game, especially given the competition from Korean girl groups recently. It seems like Korean groups place stronger emphasis on dancing, and Japanese groups focus more on vocals and the music. But, I suppose I shouldn’t judge until I’ve tried it. Well, I have… in the form of The Michael Jackson Experience… and, you don’t want to see the results…

All in all, Makenai Kokoro was really successful. The single reached no. 3 in the Oricon Weekly charts, and sold 58,000 copies. Seems they haven’t saturated the market yet. All in all, the same critique I had of Aitai Riyuu applies here. There’s a lot going on. And listening to it too many times will inevitably give you a headache. Their moves may be a little hokey, but the music is great. I especially enjoyed hearing Chiaki’s solo in the first verse. It’s nice to hear a softer, alto voice in the mix. If I see this single at Book Off (so far, haven’t caught any of their singles at Book Off or Kinokuniya), I’ll definitely buy it. Somehow, despite my criticisms, I want to support these guys, in all of their wondrous, commercial, bubbly, dancey-ness.