“But even if she sticks to Japanese, she’s well on her way to becoming the kind of talented and respected singer I’m not very interested in.”

Huh. That’s an interesting line.

I also have no idea why you’d recommend this. It was a crap post I made on the fly. Should all my entries take five seconds of effort? Maybe I’m on to something here.

Well, it’s mostly the video people have to see. This is an unexpected direction. I mean if she becomes the Japanese Whitney, that’s great for her and nobody’s really doing that style and it could be a huge success. But I’m not interested in that style myself.

But the idea of her being a “legit artist” is important. Avex signed her mostly the on the fact that she’s “Goto Maki”, maybe, but they didn’t make her into this, she went out on her own and decided to be this kind of singer and learned how on her own. Which you didn’t say specifically, and I am not bothered by the distinction as much as you seem to be (I like H!P’s singers, as singers), but it’s important that the distinction is between “idol singer” and “legit singer” is them making an overall stylistic decision for themselves.

Hm. Okay. I kind of feel bad because I yoinked the video right from Hello! Online.

“and I am not bothered by the distinction as much as you seem to be (I like H!P’s singers, as singers)”

I think I’m particularly bothered by singers sometimes getting shoved to the back and personalities taking the front, even if their vocal work makes your ears drip blood and all that good stuff. That’s the way it is with idols, so no, this isn’t anything unusual. But part of what I’m learning about myself is that I really DON’T like the idea of “idols.” I like the idea of singers and musicians. So I think this blog is becoming an exploration of that idea, and why I’m so disgruntled with H!P as things go on.

I don’t know where Maki’s going. I just know that I support her, because she’s got the guts and the voice (most importantly to me, I guess) to get there.