Morning Musume is made up of 9 unique girls, and lately I’ve been wondering, what was their motivation to join the group in the first place? At some point, they each had to make a decision and say, “all right, I’m going to do this”. I’m sure they all have a wide variety of reasons for joining MM and staying with it, but these are what I perceive as their primary motivations upon auditioning. I should warning that all of this is guesswork based on my own perception of things, and you may very well strongly disagree with me.
Ai-chan- This is an easy one. Ai-chan loves to sing and dance, and being an idol was a way for her to make a career out of that. It’s well known that she dreamed of joining Takarazuka since childhood, but she wasn’t tall enough. Since the idol industry prefers their girls pint-sized, it was a good alternative for her. Everything that comes with being an idol that isn’t song or dance related was more of an unfortunate side effect.
Risa- Loved Morning Musume, and decided she wanted to be a part of it. It’s kind of like a little boy deciding to play basketball because he dreams of joining his favorite team someday, but in Risa’s case, it actually happened. Also, I think Risa is one who thrives on compliments. She loves to have people cheering for her and telling her she is doing a good job, and being an idol could give her that.
Eri- I think Eri was one of those girls who liked to dance and sing, so she went to the audition on a whim and never thought she’d actually get in. It seems like something she’d do. As she made it through rounds of auditioning she probably got kind of caught up in the whole process and the excitement that she may actually be chosen, and before she knew it, she had passed.
Sayumi- Sayumi knows she is cute, and she’s got a good head on her shoulders. She probably realized that she could put her pretty face to good use. Being an idol especially appealed to her because of the glamour in it. Basically, Sayumi likes to dress up in pretty clothes and have her picture taken and have a big fuss made over her. When there’s behind the scenes footage, you can bet that Sayu is going to give us a detailed report on what she’s wearing today. I’m not trying to make her sound shallow, but I do think that’s how it was for her at first.
Reina- Reina is, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, an attention whore. Watch the “making of” videos and notice who always spends the most time mugging for the camera. Out of everyone in Morning Musume, I think that Reina thrives on attention the most. I mean, she’s been flashing cute idol poses since she was a toddler. Reina is also a very Type A girl who sets high goals for herself and then works her butt off until she accomplishes them. At some point she decided that she wanted to be an idol, and even being rejected her first time auditioning for Morning Musume didn’t deter her. Since she hates to lose, if anything, it probably just motivated her to try harder.
Koharu- Is also an attention whore. She’s an attention whore who happened to be a fan of Morning Musume, so the pieces all fit for her. Also, since she seems to be blessed with a huge supply of hyper energy, the active lifestyle of an idol probably appealed to her. It probably just sounded plain fun to little 12 year old Koharu.
JunJun- I think that JunJun is in a more Takahashi like situation, in that her primary motivation for being in Morning Musume is because she wants to sing. This was a goal she was pursuing in China, and when she saw her chance to finally break into the singing biz, she took it, even though that chance happened to be in Japan, causing her many hardships. Most likely, she sees this as a stepping stone to making it big as a singer back in China in a few years. There’s more to it than that though. Based on her photo blog, and the way she always manages to do something to get noticed, despite her lack of fluency in Japanese, I’d say there’s a bit of attention whore in JunJun as well.
LinLin- LinLin is kind of unique as a Morning Musume in that she has been in show business since she was a little girl. Since she grew up in that kind of environment, show business is pretty much all LinLin knows. From what I hear, it’s rough to be a teenage former child star. She’s too old to be a cute little girl anymore, but people still have that image of her, so no one will take her seriously. Coming to Japan, where she is unknown, offered her a fresh start and a way to get away from her previous image but still remain in show business.
Aika- Okay, you’ve got me. Aika is the only one that I just can’t figure out. Maybe she just hasn’t been around long enough for me to take a guess at it, but I just don’t have any idea why she joined Morning Musume. Sure, she’s good at it, but why does she want to do it? Anybody else want to take a stab at that one?
As a closing note, is it Sayumi’s goal to always be the silliest looking girl at Kohaku? A couple of years ago she appeared in a giant, fuzzy, red top hat. This year, she wore her hair in absolutely enormous poofy buns right on the side of her head. Oh Sayu.
Speaking of Kohaku, what would happen if there was a really popular mixed-gender group? Would they just not be on a team? Maybe they could be team pink?
Anyway, Happy New Year everyone!