Bikkuri Project

These, my friends, are good times.

As someone who has been a fan of Morning Musume since “Ai Araba It’s All Right”, I entered the fandom around the time that the group began their gradual slide down the Oricon charts. Popular members were graduating left and right. Regular Oricon Number 1 positions were a thing of the past. Sales figures bounced up and down a bit, but the overall trend was lower and lower. With each new single or graduation, people would shriek “Morning Musme is dooomed! Over. Done with”. But I stuck with them. I was in Japan during most of the “Platinum Era”, what could be considered the group’s lowest point, popularity-wise, and I enjoyed every second I spent at their concerts.  Not to say I’m special, because I know that a large core group of fans stuck with them as well. For all people wailed and gnashed their teeth, sales figures were never really dismal. In fact, they were always quite good by most standards. Just not as good as they used to be. And if the downward trend continued, eventually they may have fallen into truly worrisome territory.

But then, things begun to change. The stable, and sorry to say, stale, lineup experienced some graduations. 9th gen joined, quickly followed by 10th gen, bringing fresh, young blood and new vitality to the group. Regular auditions became a feature once more.The musical style and dance performance underwent a dramatic shift, and promotion finally started to increase to keep pace better with the other top idol groups. And the sales responded to these changes in a big way. Finally, we entered an upswing! “One Two Three” became Morning Musume’s first single to break 100,000 copies sold since “Ai Araba It’s All Right” in 2004. Yes, the very song that brought me into Morning Musume. “Wakuteka Take a Chance” continued the strong sales trend, and “Help Me!” hit number 1 on the Oricon charts!

And now “Brainstorming/Kimi Sae”  has surpassed the first day sales of all three of those very successful most recent songs with 65,915 copies sold just on day one!  Amazingly, the trend is continuing in the upward direction. They’re so far ahead of the current weekly number 2 song that baring a truly epic turn-around, this will mark their first time having two consecutive weekly number one singles since “Souda! We’re Alive” and “Mr. Moonlight” in 2001/2002. That’s over ten years!

I hope that everyone involved is proud of this fantastic accomplishment. A true comeback, consisting of many songs in a row more than doubling previous sales figures, is rarely seen in this industry. Even if the group never hits another million seller, I think they have already done what many of even their most loyal fans thought was impossible. It’s been a bumpy ride, but it’s one that I’m glad to be on.

~Celestia~

I’ve seen a few cherry blossoms start blooming, and that means it’s time for Spring songs! Spring has some slightly different connotations in Japan than it does in the West. It is the season of the much beloved cherry blossoms (lord knows Japan loves their sakura) and new beginnings, yes, but it is also the season of graduation and sad partings. Even the sakura themselves only make a brief appearance before falling from the trees, serving as a poignant metaphor for the fleeting and temporary nature of all things. Still, perhaps no season is as loved and celebrated in Japan as Spring. I think “bittersweet” is the perfect word to describe it. Some of these songs reflect the sweet side, others the bitter, and others a combination of both. Enjoy!

~Celestia~

PS. You know what’s wrong with new Up Front soloist “Tasaki Asahi”‘s name? “Asahi” is a very popular brand of beer in Japan. Isn’t that kind of like naming your kid “Budweiser”?

Just as I was getting back into blogging, I was given a huge distraction in the form of Fire Emblem: Awakening for the 3DS. One of the most addicting and frustratingly challenging games I’ve ever played! You get attached to the characters, but then if one of them dies in battle they’re permanently dead. Gone! So there’s really nothing to do but turn it off and try the stage again.

Anyway, just a quick note on Tasaki Asahi (what a weird name). Have you checked her out? I’m really into her song “Rolling Days”. Now Asahi isn’t technically in Hello! Project, but she’s participating in the satoyama movement, and she performed at the h!p winter concerts. I’m hoping she’ll be officially moved over to h!p, and I’d welcome her with open arms. She’s like a much more talented version of Mano Erina, though she looks like a mix of Dawa and Eripon. Here she is performing.

 

~Celestia~

This post is mostly for the purpose of bitching and moaning. I feel the need to vent about something.

I hate HATE HATE “Kimi wa Jitensha Watashi wa Densha de Kitaku”. The verses aren’t so bad, but the chorus grates on my nerves like nails on a chalkboard. Like nails scratching on my eardrums until they bleed. I don’t think there has ever been a song in h!p that I so actively disliked. Every time I hear “Kimi wa jitenshaaa” I have the urge to sing it back in the most whiny obnoxious tone possible. In short, I cannot understand how anyone likes that song, much less how lots of people seem to like it.

Then comes “Kono Machi”, C-ute’s latest single. While not horribly annoying, it’s just soooooooooo boring. So boring. I actually fell asleep when I tried to watch the PV. This is not hyperbole. I really did.

So here’s the thing. I get that C-ute has the strongest vocal base in h!p for doing ballads right now. Hell, I don’t even hate ballads. There are lots of h!p ballads I really like, but the ones C-ute has been getting lately are just, IMHO, awful. And putting “Kono Machi” so soon after “Kimi wa Jitensha” was just a really bad move, I think.

Oh well, I do like C-ute’s other style of single, intense dance numbers ala “Kiss Me Aishiteru” and “Aitai Aitai Aitai na”. So C-ute is extremely hot and cold for me right now, but following the current pattern, I should like their next single.

And as long as I’m complaining, since I started this blog I’ve gotten 13,106 comments, 12,050 if which are spam. Seriously?

~Celestia~

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I wanted to offer some thoughts on the newest addition to the Hello! Project lineup. After all, it’s not every day a new (non-temporary) group or soloist gets added to h!p. The last time this happened was the formation of S/mileage in April 2009. I guess with Mano Erina graduating very soon, there is an open slot on the roster.

Here is the video of the announcement. You can get a good look at the members:

It was said that the members of this group might change before their debut. Well, they said the same thing to pre-debut S/mileage, but their membership wasn’t changed. It could be an empty threat to motivate the girls to work harder, or maybe they actually intend to switch things up this time. I would hope that if there is a change it’s to add a girl or two rather than kicking someone out, because that seems rather cruel, but who knows? There are some girls whom I would have expected to be chosen who were passed over, particularly the girls who were picked to be on the cover of the “Kanjou ni Naritai!” single (Tanabe Nanami, Hamaura Ayano, and Taguchi Natsumi). I’m especially surprised that Nanami hasn’t been included. She’s the second most popular egg after Karin and one of most senior members. Ayano has been given a big push with her inclusion in the Morning Musume 11th gen audition and prominent positions in the trainee concerts. I strongly suspect that she is going to be 3rd gen S/mileage, and if that is indeed the plan it would explain why she isn’t in this group. There has been some speculation about Kaneko Rie, the longest tenured current egg, but honestly, I just don’t see Rie ever getting a major debut in h!p.  To me, she lacks the necessary charisma/ talent.

Anyway, since most of the Eggs are relatively unknown, let’s look at the members who were chosen.

Miyamoto Karin 14yrs- Karin is without a doubt the best known and most popular current H!p trainee. Absolutely adorable of face, strong in singing and dancing, Shin-minimoni member, and with theater and voice-acting experience, when she was announced as a member of this group the fandom gave a collective shout of “FINALLY!” Thank God they’re not letting her go to waste. I expect her to be the “face” of the group. You can watch Karin performing with Shin Minimoni HERE. She’s the one in the long coat.

Takagi Sayuki 15yrs-  So, Sayuki is a strong singer, probably the best in the eggs. The thing is… how do I put this nicely?…She’s kind of funny looking. Sort of ugly-cute. Like a troll doll! I mean, sometimes she looks cute and sometimes she looks like an old lady. But like I said, lots of vocal talent, so she should be an asset. You can see her dancing as part of “Team Okai” HERE (light green, Ikuta Erina position, Karin is also here in Kanon’s spot)

Kanazawa Tomoko 17yrs- Only added to the trainees a couple months ago, so I don’t know much about her. I can say that if she’s being added to a new group this soon after joining, the powers that be must have seen something very special in her. You can see her introduce herself HERE at 1:16.

Miyazaki Yuka 18 yrs- Yuka caught many people’s attention during the S/mileage auditions with her charming demeanor and puppy-dog face (I mean that in the best way possible, it’s the same “look” as Konno Asami, and I don’t know how else to describe it). It was pretty clear that she wasn’t a good fit for S/mileage, but she was later picked as an Up Front Trainee and added to h!p Satoyama group “Green Fields”. I’m glad to see her joining H!p proper now. She had too much idol potential to let her slip away to some other group. You can watch Green Field’s PV HERE.

Otsuka Aina 14 yrs- Aina was a finalist in Morning Musume’s 9th generation audition. While I agree that she wasn’t ready to join Morning Musume at that time, her tenure in the Eggs has done her a lot of good. She’s not only become a much better performer, she’s become cuter too! Her voice is sounding quite strong these days, and I’m happy she was selected for this group. You can see Aina performing HERE at 2:00 with Hamaura Ayano and Morning Musume 11th gen member Oda Sakura. Aina is the one standing in the middle.

Uemura Akari 14 yrs- I’ll admit that Akari has really been flying under the radar for me so far. She joined h!p a little under a year ago, and she really hasn’t been pushed or featured at all within the kenshuusei, so I was kind of surprised to see her added to this group. I have no idea how well she performs, but she is rather pretty which is a very helpful trait in the idol world.

I’m very interested to see what direction the as of yet unnamed group will take. Though many of them are pretty young, looking at these members, I don’t see them going the cutsey/humorous route of S/mileage. I’m really looking forward to watching this group develop and find their niche in Hello! Project.

~Celestia~

*I know the trainees are called “Kenshuusei” instead of “Eggs” now, but I still like to call them eggs.

Ah yes, the popularity question. The recent changes in Morning Musume’s lineup and hierarchy have sparked this tired old debate anew. The thing that has actually caught my attention this time is the complicated question of how a girl’s “push” by the management affects her popularity with the public.

There are two extreme sides to this argument.

1. “You only like (name) because she is pushed by the management! She’s actually not all that great, she just gets shoved in our faces so everyone thinks she must be the best.”

2. “You only hate (name) because she is pushed by management! She totally deserves to be in the front and get lines because she’s the best. You hate her because she’s pushed ahead of some other girl you like and you want to root for the underdog.”

The interesting thing is that both people faced with these arguments will likely deny that a girls’ popularity has anything to do with how much they like that girl. They like her (or dislike her) for her qualities and talents! It’s everyone else who are helpless sheeple making their decisions based on who the management pushes.

The real truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Can we really deny that how much we like one idol or dislike another is entirely independent of how much they are pushed by the management? Surely it has an influence, be it for positive or negative. How about you? If a girl becomes popular and starts getting lots of solo lines, does that make you tend to like her more or like her less? If you say that doesn’t matter to you, I don’t believe you!

I feel like by watching various idol groups over the years, one thing I’ve learned is that management generally knows what they’re doing when they choose to push one girl over another. Believe it or not, there is usually a good reason for that choice. It’s not done arbitrarily to piss off the fans. It is done because they want to make money, so they push the girls the believe are most marketable. In the case of Morning Musume, this means girls who have lots of general appeal to the masses/stage presence AND (when it comes to line distribution) can consistently hit their solo lines while singing live.  Given this criteria, Riho and Reina fit the bill, and Sayu and Mizuki are good choices as secondary leads with Sakura poised to take over for Reina. Who else could be leads right now? Haruna and Erina are cute and funny, but they just can’t sing well enough, Masaki can sing in tune, but her voice is still immature, and Ayumi and Kanon need to work on their vocal control. The only one I can’t quite figure out is Haruka. Maybe they’re “saving her for later” since she’s so young?  Overall, hate all you want, but the line distribution hierarchy of Morning Musume right now makes a lot of sense to me.

~Celestia~

Before I get to the video, first things first…

CONGRATULATIONS TO MORNING MUSUME FOR GETTING WEEKLY NUMBER 1 ON THE ORICON CHARTS!!!! YAAAAAY!!!

With three singles in a row with fantastic sales, not to mention reports of many new fans at events, I think we have proof that this comeback is real, not a fluke. Slowly but surely, people are beginning to respond to the “new” Morning Musume.  Next single will be Reina’s graduation song, so can we hope for 100,000+ first week? A year ago, that would seem ridiculously high, but now I think it’s very possible.

Now, to the video! The Hello! Project discography is full of encouraging songs. So much so in fact, that I’ve limited this “Songs of Encouragement” video to Morning Musume songs only. If you need a little pick-me-up, some affirmation, or a push to do something that scares you, this video is for you!

~Celestia~

The title of my latest video is “Hello! Project Songs for a Broken Heart”. Don’t worry, this isn’t inspired by anything that has happened to me recently, but I’d guess that many of us, myself included, know what it feels like to have your heart broken. And if you’re like me, you’ve found that music can be helpful in getting through those tough times.

This collection of songs is for the first part right after the breakup or rejection. It’s for when you aren’t ready to move on and get over it yet, despite advice from your well-meaning friends. Sometimes you just need to take a moment to be sad and process your feelings, and these songs from h!p are here to sympathize.

Or maybe you just like to listen to emotional music sometimes. This video is for you too!

Note: This video isn’t meant to be every single h!p song that fits the theme. It’s a selection.

Next video will have a much more positive theme, so look forward to that!

~Celestia~

SHORT AKB RELATED POST WARNING

All the AKB graduations as of late put me in a counting mood. Turns out that in AKB48′s entire history (main group only not counting temporary guest members not counting Aimi Eguchi because she’s not a real person), there have been 172 members of AKB48.  Of those 172 members, 93 (geez that’s a lot) have graduated/quit/left in a scandal/transferred to a sister group/or will leave soon (Kasai Tomomi). Nearly 100 girls have been a part of AKB48 but are in the group no longer. That’s a lot of idols to burn through, and it doesn’t even count girls who have graduated from the sister groups. If we add those in (and unsubtract the transferred members), it brings the total to 184 former members! I feel like that’s got to be some sort of record, right? In 25 years if a woman in Japan tells you she used to be in AKB48, you’ll just roll your eyes and say, “So? Who wasn’t in AKB48?”

~Celestia~

As a music blogger and avid maker of lists, I often think about questions like: “Why do I like a song?” or “What makes this song more appealing to me than that song?” Obviously there are many factors, but there is one that has really become more apparent with Morning Musume’s latest musical style (encompassing 123, Wakuteka, and now Help Me) and that is what I’d like to call “complexity”.

By complexity, I mean the number of distinct melodic sections included in the song. I especially notice this when I’m making a video and trying to get a good sampling of the entire song into 30 seconds to a minute. Wakuteka and 123 were impossible!

The simplest possible song would only have one distinct part, a chorus (think children’s songs ie. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). Now almost every song you’d ever hear on the radio or released on a CD will have at least two (verse, chorus). Probably the most common “standard” format has three parts (verse, chorus, and bridge). Many H!p singles follow this three part format. Take Pyoko Pyoko Ultra for example. Three distinct melodies: (the “Yume miteru onnanoko” part, the echoed part “mikka bouzu..miika bouzu”, and the chorus “yeah yeah yeah yeah ultra jump!”). Now, was the fact that it had only 3 parts the entire reason I didn’t like the song much? Of course not (the costumes! ug!), but I think it played a role.

Now let’s count the parts of the more recent Morning Musume songs. How about “Wakuteka Take a Chance”?

1. Kodaku ja tsurai no ni
Kekkyoku kurushimagire no iiwake
Dare ni mo wakaranai
Minna sorezore jinsei wake ari

2. Baby Stop Stop yamete
Shirigaruchan ja nai wa
Don’t Stop Don’t Stop USO da yo
Mecha Shock Shock Shock....

3. Amekaze shinoi de anata ni HORE ta yo
Asa kara ban made anata ni HORE ta yo

4. Dore ga honki de
Dore wo shinjiru?
Dare ga honki de
Dare wo shinjiru?

5. God WAKUTEKA Take a chance
God WAKUGERA Get a chance
God WAKUTEKA Take a chance
Oh My God

6. Kaze wo kanjiteru
Hora daichi no sakebigoe
Shizen wo shinjiteru
Saa koko kara hajimaru no sa

7. (chorus) Oh Wow
Shake it up!
Damatte KISS demo shiro
Shake it up!
Damatte anshin sasero
Shake it up!
Damatte mamotte miro
KAKKO tsukete KIME te iin da yo

Chrous again, then repeat.

That’s seven distinct parts! Wow. More than twice as many as we find in Pyoko Pyoko. This not only adds variety and interest for the listener, it makes the song feel much less “lazy”. It gives the sense that some really effort went into writing and composing it. It also allows for more complicated dances as each melodic part comes with its own dance moves.

I should note that there are other ways to add complexity or variety to a song. Tempo changes, key changes, and monologues can all help. For example, “I Wish” is my favorite MM song ever. It follows the standard 3 part format (verse, bridge, chorus), but it also contains two tempo changes and a key change.

Anyway, I compared Morning Musume’s latest songs to see how they stack up.

3 Parts-  The Matenrou Show, Pyoko Pyoko Ultra, Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa, Only You, Maji Desuka Suka, Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game, Seishun Collection, Onna ga Medatte Naze Ikenai, Kimagure Princess, Shouganai Yumeoibito, Naichau Kamo, Pepper Keibu

4 Parts- Renai Hunter, Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai, Mikan, Nanchatte Renai

5 Parts- Help Me!, Resonant Blue

6 Parts- One Two Three (seven parts if you count the whispered Sayu/Mizuki/Reina thing before the last chorus)

7 Parts- Wakuteka Take a Chance
So the only recent pre-10th gen song with five or more parts is Resonant Blue. And as you might recall, that song came with a large sales boost for MM and was absolutely played to death at concerts for years. Nanchatte Renai, the other high seller from that era is also out of the standard 3-part format.

It may also be interesting to note that most of the popular older songs contain more than three parts as well (not counting monologues). “The Peace” has five, “Renai Revolution 21″ has four or five depending on how you count it, “Souda! We’re Alive” and “Koko ni Iruzee” have four each. Then again, some popular songs “Go Girl Koi no Victory” for example, definitely have only three.

Well, number of parts certainly isn’t the only factor in how much someone will like a song, but I think it’s one worth considering. Especially since One Two Three and Wakuteka are setting records for “most distinct melodic parts” in a Morning Musume Single.

~Celestia~