Jun 17 2008
Creative Input
I shall warn you now, this post makes mention of Johnny’s, for comparison’s sake.
Being a fan of both h!p and Johnny’s, I can’t help but notice that the differences between the two organizations stretch waaay beyond gender and level of popularity. One major difference is that the Johnny’s groups, especially the more established groups, have lots of creative input in their work, and as far as I can tell, the h!p girls have next to none. Of the two groups that I am fans of, the majority of the members routinely write their own solo songs, as well as other songs for their group on occasion. The group rappers write their own raps, even for their major singles. Some members choreograph some dances, and they all seem to have a big say in what goes on in their concerts, from ideas for effects, staging, and props to selecting their own set-list (which I know that at least Arashi does). Arashi also named their last album themselves, and I know that KT at least had input as to which songs made the final cut for their last album. H!p concert MCs are usually completely scripted. The only words of their own choosing that come out of the girls mouths are their self-introductions and goodbyes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they have to run those by the management and get them approved ahead of time. Johnny’s MCs follow a much looser format. Often it’s just the members out there shooting the breeze, and if there are some specific topics or format that they’re supposed to use, it’s still usually nothing scripted.
I wonder why the management trusts the h!p girls so little. I think the fans would love to hear them making amusing conversation amongst themselves during the concert MCs instead of reciting jokes that sometimes fall flat. It’s much more personal that way, isn’t it? I’m sure some of them are capable of writing song lyrics. The Johnny’s boys are no smarter than h!p’s girls, and I’d be really interested to see what they came up with. Even if it was just songs that were only performed in concert, it would be something. I’m also sure that all the groups have members who are capable of choreographing a simple dance routine for a concert performance, and I bet the more experienced members could come up with some good ideas for the concert set-up too. They’ve been doing this long enough. They should know what works and what doesn’t. Also, why shouldn’t they be allowed to pick their own set-list? They’re the ones who are going to be singing those songs, and I think that at least the group leader and sub-leader could be trusted with that responsibility. Maybe not for the younger groups, but certainly for Morning Musume and the Elder Club members. I think that maybe they’re sometimes allowed to select their own solo songs, but why not give them a chance to do more than that?
There are advantages and disadvantages to giving the members of h!p more creative input. There’s a possibility that they don’t even want it. Maybe they prefer just following instructions and not having to worry about being creative or coming up with ideas. It’s certainly easier for them, and if something doesn’t work, the blame will fall on their management, not on the girls themselves. Also, Tsunku seems to be very protective about no one else writing songs for his idols, so he might object to the competition even if it was from the idols themselves. On the other hand, maybe their work would be more fulfilling for them if they felt like they had a larger part in the decision making process. Also, they might just be able to be taken a tiny bit more seriously as artists rather than just as idols. I know that they will never in a million years escape the “idol” moniker, but if we could say that “Maimi Yanjima choreographed that dance!” or “Ai Takahashi wrote that song!”, then I think they would gain another level of credibility. Finally, I think that the fans would love to see even more of their favorite idol put into what they do, and even if something didn’t work quite as it should, they’d be a lot more forgiving if they knew that the girl they worship was in charge rather than some far off and faceless producer.
So, wha’da you think?
~Celestia~
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You bring up a good point. I’m not a fan of JE so I didn’t know that… interesting…
But Morning Musume did write their own solos. It was in a fan-club only CD though.
http://projecthello.com/momusu/solo/messages.html
i know about that CD, but they didn’t write their solos. They did write those “messages to the fan” that you linked, and Yuko mentions that she helped write the coupling track to her 5th single (which I didn’t know), but I can’t think of another instance of someone writing their own song.
That is indeed the only time to my knowledge in the history of Hello! Project when one of the girls actually contributed like that. But actually, she only worked on the lyrics, not on the actual composition.
Post-H!P though, Michiyo Heike has (and still does) write her own songs and lyrics nowadays as far as I know, and when in CUBIC-CROSS, Sayaka Ichii wrote lots of lyrics if I remember correctly.
Ah, I forgot one thing! Ayaya actually wrote at least two songs herself (called Shopping and Osentaku) and they were played once on her radio show.
[...] Creative Input [...]
oh really? I vote that Ayaya write her next single then. If anything, the novelty of it might earn her a bit of a sales boost
I am all for Ayaya writing her next single…But will it be a “poppy” song or a ballad?
I would love it if the H!P girls wrote their own songs or made their own setlists, though for the setlists, they might get more than repetitive.
The part about writing the music, I’d love it, but from one Utaban episode I saw, it’s quite obvious that UFA doesn’t teach the girls to read music, so it might be a stretch. I wish they would. ^^ Great post!
I didn’t know Ayaya’s written 2 songs! Considering she’s still going the “artist” route it would be cool if she wrote the lyrics for her next single.
And Melon Kinenbi got to pick solo songs for a tour of theirs. Didn’t make it on the DVD, though, because they were covers like Makira. I think the Elder Club do get much more input on their venues.
Of course there’s also Inaba, but that’s behind the scenes.
And letting the girls do their own stuff would have worked when they were picking musically-oriented people at the auditions instead of ‘blank idol potential’(read: obedient to the system) At this point I can only see Elder Club members being able to make those kinds of decisions.
H!P concerts could also stand to be more like Johnny’s concerts, based on what I’ve seen…okay, which isn’t much, but everyone I’ve said that to has said I’m right in thinking that Johnny’s concerts are just more entertaining. But seriously, I started watching Hey! Say! JUMP’s debut concert, and what the hell, it’s HUGE. Even when Berryz got SSA, they didn’t do THAT much with it.
But I’m off topic. I’d like to see what H!P girls could handle composition-wise. I wonder.
Also I know Yuko tried writing her fifth (I think) single on her own but in the end I think she got help from Tsunku, or something. Hmm.
1.Gocchin’s signed with avex trax under rhythm zone!
2.I think Gaki-san would look good with bakanishi
3.nono appeared at yuko’s birthday concert
4.Iida-san Is back!
1-3, yeah i heard
2- no way. she’s too sweet and nice for him
He likes Nice,caring,outgoing,and interesting girls,so gaki-san’s his type!
yeah, but does she like his type?
I dunno,i don’t even know what is gaki-san’s type.let’s wait forAN ARTICLE FROM THAT MAGAZINE THAT TOLD US AI-CHAN LIKES GUYS WHO HAVE A TEENY BIT OF MONKEY IN THEIR FACE TO TELL US WHAT IS GAKI-SAN’S TYPE.