Bikkuri Project

First, I’d like to give a huge thanks to everyone who participated in the poll! And now, your top 25 songs of 2011, starting with #25 and working our way up to #1! Youtube won’t take it, so here are a couple alternates (they’re the same video)

Hello! Project Top Songs of 2011 Poll Results by Celestia414

Watch Hello! Project Top Songs of 2011 Poll Results in Music | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Since I know you’re curious, here’s a full breakdown of the results.

Overall

Top Single: Uchouten Love, S/mileage

2nd Place Single: Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa wo Honki de Negatterun da yo, Morning Musume

Top B-side: Jishin Motte Yume o Motte Tobidatsu Kara, Morning Musume (Takahashi Ai)

2nd Place B-side: Kachoii Uta, Mobekimasu

Top Album Song: Silver no Udedokei, Morning Musume

2nd Place Album Song: Midnight Temptation, C-ute

Bottom Single: Koi no Booing Bu, S/mileage

Bottom B-side: Panya-san no Arubaito, S/mileage

Bottom Album Song: (Tie) Asaasamba, Kusumi Koharu, and 3Ban Homu 3 Ryoumei, C-ute

Morning Musume

Top Single: Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa wo Honki de Negatterun da yo

Top B-side: Jishin Motte, Yume o Motte, Tobidatsu Kara

Top Album Song: Silver no Udedokei

Bottom Single: Majidesuka Suka

Bottom B-side: Yamete yo Sindbad

Bottom Album Song: Kaiketsu Positive A

Berryz Kobo

Top Single: Heroine ni Narou ka!

Top B-side: Omoide

Top Album Song: Icchoume Rock

Bottom Single: Aa yo ga Akeru

Bottom B-side: Otona ni wa Naritakunai, Hayaku Otona ni Naritai

Bottom Album Song: Masshiro Ano Kumo

C-ute

Top Single: Kiss Me Aishiteru

Top B-side: Faraway

Top Album Song: Midnight Temptation

Bottom Single: Momoiro Sparkling

Bottom B-side: Idai ni Chikara wo!

Bottom Album Song: 3Ban Homu 3 Ryoumei

Mano Erina

Top Single: My Days for You

Top B-side: 21 Seikiteki Renai Jijou

Bottom Single: Seishun no Serenade

Bottom B-side: 10 Karat Kirameki

S/Mileage

Top Single: Uchouten Love

Top B-side: Jitensha Chiririn

Bottom Single: Koi ni Booing Buu!

Bottom B-side: Panya-san no Arubaito

Buono

Top Single: Natsu Dakara

Top B-side: Juicy He@rt

Top Album Song: Frankincense

Bottom Single:Zassou no Uta

Bottom B-side: Runaway Train

Bottom Album Song: Kia Ora Gracias Arigato

Other

Top Single: Busu ni Naranai Tetsugaku

Top B-side: Kachoii Uta

Bottom Single: Amazuppai Sakura Sake

Bottom B-side: Moshi mo

FULL RESULTS WITH POINTS

298 有頂天LOVE (Uchouten Love)

254 この地球の平和を本気で願ってるんだよ! (Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa o Honki de Negatterun da yo!)

235 Kiss me 愛してる (Kiss Me Aishiteru)

228 彼と一緒にお店がしたい! (Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai!)

196 ブスにならない哲学 (Busu ni Naranai Tetsugaku)

172 Only You

170 ヒロインになろうか！(Herione no Narou ka!)

132 まじですかスカ! (Maji Desu ka Ska!)

119 プリーズ ミニスカ ポストウーマン! (Please Miniskirt Post Woman!)

110 シルバーの腕時計 (Silver no Udedokei)

103 自信持って 夢を持って 飛び立つから (Jishin Motte Yume wo Motte Tobidatsu kara)

96 愛 の弾丸 (Ai no Dangan)

85 Midnight Temptation

81 世界一ＨＡＰＰＹな女の子 (Sekai Ichi Happy na Onna no Ko)

80 Ok Yeah!

79 夏ダカラ！ (Natsu Dakara!)

67 好きだな君が (Suki da na Kimi ga)

66 ああ、夜が明ける (Aa, Yo ga Akeru)

66 My Days for You

65 かっちょ良い歌 (Kacchoii Uta)

64 フランキンセンスΨ (FrankincenseΨ)

62 ショートカット (Shortcut)

59 いざ、進め！ Steady go! (Iza, Susume! Steady Go!)

58 Partenza ~Let’s Go!!!~

57 一丁目ロック! (Icchoume Rock!)

56 雑草のうた (Zassou no Uta)

55 Juicy He@rt

51 Give me 愛 (Give Me Love)

51 タチアガール (Tachiagaaru)

44 My Alright Sky

41 もっと愛してほしいの (Motto Aishite Hoshii no)

41 桃色スパークリング (Momoiro Sparkling)

38 思い出 (Omoide)

35 青春のセレナーデ (Seishun no Serenade)

31 1/3の純情な感情 (1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou)

29 自転車チリリン (Jitensha Chiririn)

26 この愛を重ねて (Kono Ai wo Kasanete)

24 Bomb Bomb Jump

23 負けるな わっしょい!) (Makeruna Wasshoi!)

20 女子会 The Night (Joshikai The Night)

18 Faraway

18 Ice Mermaid

16 ヒーロー現る！ (Hero Arawaru!)

16 ラナウェイトレイン (Runaway Train)

15 やめてよ！シンドバッド (Yamete yo! Sindbad)

14 乙女のタイミング (Otome no Timing)

14 甘酸っぱい春にサクラサク (Amazuppai Haru ni Sakura Sake)

13 超WONDERFUL！ (Chou Wonderful!)

13 嫌いで嫌いで嫌い (Kirai de Kirai de Kirai)

13 21世紀的恋愛事情 (21 Seikiteki Renai Jijou)

11 My Way ～女子校花道～ (My Way ~Joshikou Hanamichi~)

11 10カラットの煌めき (10 Karat Kirameki

10 二十歳前の女の子 (Hatachimae no Onna no Ko)

10 恋にBooing ブー! (Koi ni Booing Buu!)

8 ルルルルル (Rururururu)

8 キアオラ・グラシャス・ありがと (Kia Ora Gracias Arigato)

7 偉大な力を！ (Idai na Chikara wo!)

7 スマイル音丼 (Smile Ondon)

7 青春劇場 (Seishun Gekijou)

6 サークル (Circle)

5 初恋の貴方へ (Hatsukoi no Anata e)

4 ガールズタイムス (Girls Times)

4 女のプライド (Onna no Pride)

4 こんにちは, こんばんは (Konnichiwa , Konbanwa)

4 もしも・・・ (Moshi mo…)

3 怪傑ポジティブA (Kaiketsu Positive A)

3 大人にはなりたくない 早く大人になりたい (Otona ni wa Naritakunai, Hayaku Otona ni Naritai)

3 単純すぎなの私・・・ (Tanjun sugi na no Watashi)

3 別れたくない・・・(Wakaretakunai)

2 真っ白いあの雲 (Masshiroi Ano Kumo)

2 パン屋さんのアルバイト (Panya-san no Arubaito)

0 ３番ホーム ３両目 (3Ban Homu 3 Ryoumei)

0 アサアサンバ (Asaasamba), Kusumi Koharu

An previously announced, I am creating a new h!p video of the top songs of 2011, and I need your help! Below is a list of every song released by Hello! Project in 2011. All you need to do is pick your top 10 songs, put them in order, and tell me your list. It should look something like this.

• +10 Song Name
• +9 Song Name
• +8 Song Name
• +7 Song Name
• +6 Song Name
• +5 Song Name
• +4 Song Name
• +3 Song Name
• +2 Song Name
• +1 Song Name

Except instead of “Song Name” fill in the song that you’d like to receive those points. The song you mark as +10 (your favorite song) will receive 10 points, the song you mark +9 will receive 9 points, etc. There are four voting options. I’d prefer you choose #1 or #2 to keep the results more of a surprise

1. Comment in this blog post (comments will be hidden)

2. Send choices to hpvote2011@gmail.com

3. Comment in THIS thread on Hello! Online

4. Vote in the comments section of the youtube announcement

PLEASE ONLY VOTE ONE TIME!!! Do not send votes to all four places. Just pick one. I’m counting on your guys to be honest here. Fans from any country are welcome to submit votes. Votes may be submitted in English or Japanese.

Note: I realize we have yet to hear S/mileage’s new B-side, so I will allow you to change your votes later to include that if you would like to. I do want to get voting started so there’s plenty of time.  However, no vote changes will be allowed OTHER than inserting that songs into your list, so choose carefully.

Song Options

Morning Musume

• まじですかスカ! (Maji Desu ka Ska!)
• もっと愛してほしいの (Motto Aishite Hoshii no)
• Only You
• やめてよ！シンドバッド (Yamete yo! Sindbad)
• この地球の平和を本気で願ってるんだよ! (Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa o Honki de Negatterun da yo!)
• 彼と一緒にお店がしたい! (Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai!)
• 自信持って 夢を持って 飛び立つから (Jishin Motte Yume wo Motte Tobidatsu kara)
• Give me 愛 (Give Me Love)
• シルバーの腕時計 (Silver no Udedokei)
• 好きだな君が (Suki da na Kimi ga)
• 怪傑ポジティブA (Kaiketsu Positive A)
• この愛を重ねて (Kono Ai wo Kasanete)
• My Way ～女子校花道～ (My Way ~Joshikou Hanamichi~)
• 乙女のタイミング (Otome no Timing)
• Ok Yeah!

Berryz Kobo

• ヒロインになろうか！(Herione no Narou ka!)
• ヒーロー現る！ (Hero Arawaru!)
• 愛の弾丸 (Ai no Dangan)
• 思い出 (Omoide)
• ああ、夜が明ける (Aa, Yo ga Akeru)
• 大人にはなりたくない 早く大人になりたい (Otona ni wa Naritakunai, Hayaku Otona ni Naritai)
• 一丁目ロック! (Icchoumei Rock!)
• Bomb Bomb Jump
• 真っ白いあの雲 (Masshiroi Ano Kumo)
• 女子会 The Night (Joshikai The Night)
• ガールズタイムス (Girls Times)
• 女のプライド (Onna no Pride)
• 単純すぎなの私・・・ (Tanjun sugi na no Watashi)

C-ute

• Kiss me 愛してる (Kiss Me Aishiteru)
• 二十歳前の女の子 (Hatachimae no Onna no Ko)
• 桃色スパークリング (Momoiro Sparkling)
• Faraway
• 世界一ＨＡＰＰＹな女の子 (Sekai Ichi Happy na Onna no Ko)
• 偉大な力を！ (Idai na Chikara wo!)
• 超WONDERFUL！ (Chou Wonderful!)
• Midnight Temptation
• いざ、進め！ Steady go! (Iza, Susume! Steady Go!)
• ルルルルル (Rururururu)
• 別れたくない・・・(Wakaretakunai)
• サークル (Circle)
• ３番ホーム ３両目 (3Ban Homu 3 Ryoumei)
• 嫌いで嫌いで嫌い (Kirai de Kirai de Kirai)

Mano Erina

• 青春のセレナーデ (Seishun no Serenade)
• 21世紀的恋愛事情 (21 Seikiteki Renai Jijou)
• My Days for You
• 0カラットの煌めき (10 Karat Kirameki

S/mileage

• ショートカット (Shortcut)
• パン屋さんのアルバイト (Panya-san no Arubaito)
• 恋にBooing ブー! (Koi ni Booing Buu!)
• 初恋の貴方へ (Hatsukoi no Anata e)
• 有頂天LOVE (Uchouten Love)
• 自転車チリリン (Jitensha Chiririn)
• タチアガール (Tachiagaaru)
• スマイル音丼 (Smile Ondon)
• プリーズ ミニスカ ポストウーマン! (Please Miniskirt Post Woman!)
• こんにちは, こんばんは (Konnichiwa, Konbanwa)

Buono

• 雑草のうた (Zassou no Uta)
• ラナウェイトレイン (Runaway Train)
• Juicy He@rt
• 夏ダカラ！ (Natsu Dakara!)
• Ice Mermaid
• Partenza ~Let’s Go!!!~
• フランキンセンスΨ (FrankincenseΨ)
• My Alright Sky
• キアオラ・グラシャス・ありがと (Kia Ora Gracias Arigato)
• 1/3の純情な感情 (1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou)

Other

• ブスにならない哲学 (Busu ni Naranai Tetsugaku), Mobekimasu
• もしも・・・ (Moshi mo…)
• かっちょ良い歌 (Kacchoii Uta)
• 負けるな わっしょい!) (Makeruna Wasshoi!), Bekimasu
• 甘酸っぱい春にサクラサク (Amazuppai Haru ni Sakura Sake), Berikyuu
• 青春劇場 (Seishun Gekijou), Berikyuu
• アサアサンバ (Asaasamba), Kusumi Koharu

Note: You may not vote for non-h!p songs such as those by Kikkawa Yuu or Kitahara Sayaka. You may not vote for singles that were first released in 2010 but then re-released on albums in 2011. You MAY vote for the cover songs on the Buono mini album (new to h!p), but you may not vote for S/mileage covers of previous h!p songs.

Please feel free to spread the word! The results will be better the more people vote. The deadline for voting is JANUARY 1ST. I will probably have the results video within a week.

~Celestia~

I’ve decided what my next little video project will be! Remember when I did a fan survey to compile the h!p fans’ top 40 songs? I’m thinking something similar, but on a smaller scale. I want to compile the fans’ top 20 (or more. More votes means I’ll be able to differentiate more) songs of 2011! I’ll make the results into a youtube video for everyone.

I’m thinking that I’ll open up voting just as soon as we hear “Please Miniskirt Postwoman” and Morning Musume’s new single that’s coming out in December, because those will likely be the last releases of the year. I’m hoping we’ll be able to get voting started before the end of November. Multiple voting format options: blog post comments, probably make a Hello Online thread, and a gmail account to gather votes. Maybe allow voting on the youtube announcement video comments? I’m not sure about that one. I’ll use a points system where you choose 10 songs, and you can assign +10 points to one, +9 to one, +8 to one, etc. That’ll probably create less ties. Any h!p song released in 2011 will count: album, single, b-side, etc.  (but no Kikkawa Yuu or Kitahara Sayaka).

Anyway, I’m pretty excited about this, and I’m hoping to get lots of participation, so be on the look out for the start of voting! (on second thought, if you’re positive that you’re not going to like the new s/mileage or mm songs and you really want to vote now in the comments of this post, I’ll allow that.

Let me know if you have any suggestions for how I could make this better!

~Celestia~

I’ve finished my most recent video project! I put a lot of work into this one, and I think it came out pretty well (though I still can’t seem to top my Eri/Jun/Lin graduation OPV). This time it’s my Top 20 Current H!p members. I had to get this finished before Ai-chan graduates, or she couldn’t be included. The song is “All for One and One for All” because that HAS to be the song for something like this.

Hope you like it! The old youtube channel surpassed 400,000 views a while ago, and I’m pretty excited about that. Big thanks to everyone who’s watched my videos!

~Celestia~

Hey all. Something a little bit different today: my top 12 anime themes! But since that doesn’t have much to do with h!p, let’s do some mini-reviews first.

Aa, Yoru ga Akeru: Pfffffffffffft. Berryz songs are all starting to sound alike since they decided to go with this new “sexy” angle. I miss the Berryz from 2005- early 2010.

Sekaiichi Happy na Onnanoko: It’s starting to grow on me. The PV is pretty cute. However, the dance is the stupidest thing I’ve seen out of h!p for a long time, and “Kiss me Aishiteru” and “Momoiro Sparkling” are both better songs.

“Paretenza” and “Natsu Dakara”: Buono is back! Natsu Dakara is a great summer song, and I’m impressed with the singing skills. There are some good tracks on the album too. I especially like “San Bun no Ichi no Junjou na Kanjou”. Yeah, I know it’s a cover, but it’s the first time hearing it for me, and I like how they used their deeper voices.

Also, have I mentioned that I love “Uchuoten Love”? Because I do.

Now, on the topic of anime themes:

I think it’s very interesting that in Japan, themes for TV shows are usually real songs by real artists. I think most established acts in America would never stoop to doing a TV theme, but in Japan, the biggest artists do songs for TV shows all the time, and they top the sales charts.  For this reason, you can find some real quality songs attached to animes.

I have to admit, I’ve put together a pretty eclectic list. There are old songs, new songs, cute songs from girly anime, and epic songs from violent anime. Now, I don’t claim to be an anime expert. In fact, I haven’t even watched the shows several of these songs come from. I just found a cool song and later learned it came from an anime.

Oh, and I limited myself to just 1 h!P song, because otherwise the list would be overrun with Shugo Chara and Inuzama 11 songs.

12. Sousei no Aquarion, Genesis of Aquarion: A pretty popular karaoke song in Japan. I actually first heard it on a game of Taiko no Tatsujin

11. Yuzurenai Negai, Magic Knight Rayearth: Ah memories of middle school. I taught myself how to play this on piano. People would ask me “what’s that pretty song?” but I wouldn’t admit what it was

10. Cha-La Head-Cha-La, Dragon Ball Z: THE classic anime theme. Japanese law stipulates that it’s got to show up on lists like this.

9. Life is Like a Boat, Bleach: Don’t really care for Bleach, but I love Rie Fu’s voice. A really simple, but beautiful (and bilingual) song.

8. Kesenai Tsumi, Full Metal Alchemist: FMA just has too many great songs to choose from!

7. Blue Bird, Naruto: This was playing everywhere my first year in Japan! Another one where I know the song but not the series.

6. Sekai Wo, Death Note: My favorite anime series. I never skipped through this opening, because the song’s so cool with the animation!

5. New Future, Full Moon wo Sagashite: Okay, so it was only used as the ending for the final episode, but that still counts as an ending theme! All of the “changin’ my life” songs from this series are really great, but this one’s my favorite. (Ever heard of this show? It’s a cute little anime about a girl who wants to be a singer so she can reach the guy she loves (who moved to America when they were little). Magical transformations! Sappy messages about never giving up on your dream! Oh, and also she’s dying of throat cancer, her parents are dead, and the guy she loves is actually dead too but she doesn’t find that out until later. Odd show)

4. Rottara Rottara, Shugo Chara: Had to get at least 1 h!p song in there. This is my favorite Buono song.

3. Asu e no Brilliant Road, Uchuu no Stellvia: I was able to see Angela perform live a couple years ago, and I fell in love with this song. It’s very unique, don’t you think?

2. Melissa, Full Metal Alchemist: So…catchy! Now it’ll be stuck in my head all day.

1. Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis, Neon Genesis Evangelion: I have a love-hate relationship with Evangelion, but a love-love relationship with this anime theme classic.

And the surprise at the end? Just try and tell me you weren’t tempted to start singing along.

~Celestia~

I posted my top songs list of 2010, but what about everything else? And if I’m going to post the best, I’ve got to also post the worst, because, let’s face it, complaining about stuff is just more fun.

“Best” songs that have already been discussed in my “Top Songs of 2010″ post are just marked with a star instead of repeating the explanation.

Best Single- Otakebi Boy WAO! (Berryz Kobou) *

Honorable Mention- Aitai Lonely Christmas (C-ute)

Worst Single- Shock! (C-ute)

It’s not the excessive Airi. I love Airi. It the excessively annoying and non-catchy song.

Best Album Song- Namidacchi (Morning Musume, 10 My Me) *

Honorable Mention- Fantasy ga Hajimaru (Morning Musume, Fantasy 11)

Worst Album Song- Datenshi Ellie (More Friends, Mano Erina) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QONdoYdWsUc

It starts off sounding okay, but then things turn weird. Really weird. What the hell is with the high pitched, creepy, computerized voice talking to Mano? Most of it isn’t even a song. It’s just Mano talking to the weird voice. Call me crazy, but I’d like my songs to actually be songs.

Best Album- We Are Buono! (Buono)

There’s hardly a bad song on this album. It gets the nod because of all the albums released in 2010, this one had the most original album songs make it to my MP3 player.

Honorable Mention- 10 My Me (Morning Musume)

Worst Album- Shocking 5 (C-ute).

I really hate to give C-ute both worst single and worst album, but the whole “Shock” era was just not good to them. The album is absolutely packed with boring, forgettable, mid-tempo ballads, the one exception being the spastic and almost unlistenable remix of Shochuu Omimai.

Best B Side- Thank You! Crème Brulee no Yuujou (Yume Miru 15sai B-Sde, S/Mileage)*

Honorable Mention- Arigatou~ Ookiku Kansha!~ (Going On! B-Side, Shugo Chara Egg)

Worst B Side- Tachiagare Otome-tachi (Campus Life ~Umarete Kite Yokatta~ B-side, C-ute)

The only B-side of this year that I found to be truly annoying

Best PV- Genkimono de Ikou! (Mano Erina) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xID9Q9hKyrQ

Best by a landslide. A story-driven PV for Mano! The whole thing is hilarious. Riding crop wielding Mano and the red lyra-suited “Spirit of Genki” make a great team.

Honorable Mention- Otakebi Boy WAO! (Berryz Kobou)

Worst PV- Shining Power (Berryz Kobou) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUScN5qP2Fc

Pros: Yurina looks smokin’ hot

Cons: 1. Hideous and unflattering costumes that clash with the backdrop

2. The backdrop is just a few colored rectangles

3. Ping-pong scenes are totally random, and not in a good way. I imagine the conversation went like this.

A: We need to fill some screen time in the new Berryz PV!

B: Could we have them put on makeup?

A: No. We’ve done that in like 15 other h!p PVs already

B: Umm…. Then how about…. Ping-pong?

A: Ping-pong? Yeah! We haven’t done that one yet!

And so a terrible PV was born. You can at least make low-budget pretty. The whole thing (excluding the girls of course) was just an ugly mess.

Best CD Cover- Onaji Jikyuu de Hataraku Tomodachi no Bijin Mama, Limited A (S/Mileage)

They all look so sweet and fresh. I love the concept behind putting them in the dessert case, and it’s a flattering picture of all 4 girls.

Honorable Mention- Fantasy! Juuichi, Limited Edition (Morning Musume)

Worst CD Cover- 6^th Otakebi Album , Limited Edition (Berryz Kobou)

Where to begin with the problems with this outfit. The costumes are glaringly ugly and bright. Miyabi’s bow alone makes me want to throw up in my mouth. Then we have the placement of the girls. People joke about Risako always being the focus of Berryz covers, but COME ON. Do they really want to make her look any bigger than she is? The most LOL thing on this cover is, of course, Yurina. It’s like they ran out of room, so they could only fit a little bit of her in the corner, and knowing how tall she is makes it even more awkward. Risako literally is taking up about 7 times as much cover space as Yurina. Also, is Masaa trying to catch flies in her mouth over there?

Best PV Costume- Aitai Lonely Christmas (C-ute)

They look warm and snuggly. Very pretty and fashionable wintery clothes. I love the hats!

Honorable Mention- Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game, just the princess dresses (Morning Musume)

Worst PV Costume- Shining Power (Berryz Kobou)

The costume was a big part of the reason this song got “worst PV”. It’s a ruffly homage to those guys who paint flame decals on their cars because they think it looks cool. The worst part is what they do to the girl’s figures, particularly Maasa. Why do they always insist on putting her in pants when everyone else is wearing a skirt? The shoes are big, clunky, and reminiscent of horse hooves. Also, is that a dead squirrel on Miyabi’s head?

Agree? Violently disagree? Let me know in the comments!

~Celestia~

Oh blog. How I did not miss deleting the flood of spam comments that come in every day.

But anyway, speaking of my youtube channel (which is really close to 200,000 views!!!), I made a video of my 20 favorite h!p songs of 2010. Here’s the video with some commentary.

20- This song annoyed the crap out of me at first, but somehow I’ve come to like it. It’s probably the “dokidoki and wakuwaku” parts.

19- It’s a “nice” song. Not a great song, but nice. I connect this one with the recent graduations more than Onna to Otoko.

18- Special appearance by MM 9th gen member Fuku-chan! Catchy song.

17- Fantasy 11 has some real gems that won’t be fully appreciated until they’re heard in concert. This one, for example, really caught my ear

16- Makes good use of Mano’s “special” vocal skills. The PV sure was crazy.

15- So cute! Love the echos and the background harmonies

14- I think this Buono concert is one of the best DVDs h!p has ever produced. The live singing is superb.

13- Managed to draw a tear or two from me when I heard it live in person

12- It’s a real step in the right direction for Morning Musume, but overall, I’ve been much more impressed with their album songs than their singles this year.

11- Airi always gets the best solos. Also, isn’t she adorable in her little sailor outfit?

10- Again, S/Mileage brings the “cute enough to melt your face off”. Everybody loves somebody yeah! I don’t like how they keep throwing the super-high falsetto notes at them though.

9- She’s certainly gotten better, but I would like this song sooo much more if a better singer were singing it. Is that mean?

8- Another s/mileage song that grew on me. Now I can’t get it out of my head. I like the meaning of the lyrics too. Congrats on the “new artist of the year” win! S/mileage seems to be gaining a tentative foothold in the mainstream market. Hope they can keep at it.

7- Boing Boing Boing. I’d like to hear this song in concert again sometime.

6- Harmonies are to die for. So pretty and soothing. People need to start realizing how great this song is.

5- I don’t care if it was a failure sales-wise. I stand by my liking of this song!

4- A little bit Genki+. Can’t wait to see it performed in concert!

3- After a whole slew of forgettable songs, C-ute finally got something good. Thank God.

2- Love how they really dig into their solo lines. Kick ass song.

1- Yay energy!! Probably going to become a Morning Musume concert standby for a long time until everybody is absolutely sick of it. I sure hope so anyway. It’s in my personal Top 20 h!p songs of all time after all.

As for 2011, there have only been a few songs heard so far, but C-ute’s new single is definitely making the list! Echos FTW

~Celestia~

Here’s Part 4! And by the way, I’m officially not in Japan anymore. =( Some of these summer concerts have some really good and seldom-performed songs in them too.

~Celestia~

I’ve finished part one of my redone top 100 project! Now with all live performance clips, easier to read titles, new songs, lots of changes in ranking especially in the bottom half, and more! Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t make the original version with live performances. I just find them so much more interesting to watch.  So first,  the video, then some musing about live singing, so stick around for that if you’re interested. IMHO, it’s some of my better blogging.

I’m at 64,000 video views now. I’m hoping to hit 100,000 with completion of this latest project. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

Recently, I’ve been wondering why it is that I dislike lipsyncing so much. I mean, idols are entertainers first, singers second (acting, modeling, or other things might also rank above singing), and I realize that many of them just can’t sing very well. And singing while dancing is hard! I know it is. You get out of breath, you’re trying to concentrate on the dance moves at the same time as you’re trying to control your voice, the stage lights are hot, and the crowd is loud and distracting. Far from ideal conditions to produce the best possible sound. Try it. You’d be surprised how difficult it is. So yes, lipsyncing often sounds “better”. And shouldn’t I prefer listening to better singing?

There’s no way to discuss this topic without bringing up AKB again. See, I’ve heard AKB fans actually criticize h!p for not lipsyncing, saying that it’s better to focus on one task at a time so you don’t do both of them half-assed. But, all that said, I still hate the fact that AKB lipsyncs most of the time. In fact, if they switched to mostly live singing, I’d probably consider becoming a fan of theirs. The lipsyncing is the one major barrier standing in the way of that, and I just can’t get around it.  It’s not because I think it proves their inferiority as singers or anything like that. It’s really that I flat out don’t enjoy watching a lipsynced performance as much as I enjoy watching a live one.

I think the major problem is that in a live performance, a girl can put the emotion she is feeling into her voice. She can reflect the energy of the crowd and her excitement and joy at being on stage. She can really “get into” a song in a way that she can’t in the recording studio. With a lipsynced performance, though her dancing and expressions might say she’s totally feeling it, her voice will have been recorded in a calm studio environment. That mismatch just feels off to me as a viewer. It’s frustrating when I watch a girl giving 100% with her performance, but the energy level in her voice is stuck at 50%.

Another big issue is the “sameyness” of every performance. Every nuance is the same. There are no bad performances, but there are also no extraordinary performances. I can’t get excited because, “Wow! So-and-so sounded great on that solo line tonight!” because she always sounds exactly the same every time. And when AKB performs the same stage for over a year, and every time a girl opens her mouth to sing a certain solo line, it sounds just as she recorded it over a year ago, it honestly just gets boring. I don’t mind watching the same song performed multiple times if it’s actually a different performance.

And lipsyncing removes the pleasure of seeing your favorite idols struggle and improve, at least in the vocal category. And even if singing is not the main point of being an idol, it’s still an important one. If a girl messes up on a line, I can forgive her, especially if she totally nails it the next time. That’s part of why we cheer for idols, isn’t it? Because they’re not perfect, and we love them anyway. Lipsyncing removes the risk of excruciatingly bad singing, but it also takes away the opportunity for “shivers down your back” heart-touching singing. The kind of experience you have as an audience member knowing that that music you are hearing has been created once, in this moment, and it will never exist in the same way again. Imagine if LinLin’s fantastic solo version of Aozora had been lipsynced. Could it have still had the same impact? I’d say definitely not.

End of musing.

Now if there are any AKB fans out there bristling with defensiveness, don’t try to tell me AKB doesn’t lipsync their shows. I’ve been to a couple of them. I’ve seen many LODs, and in recent times, live singing is very much the exception, not the rule. Really, I don’t know why they don’t drop the farce and do it “PV style”. No microphones. They’d have another arm free for dancing! And yes, I realize that MM lipsyncs occasionally too. But in their case, it’s lipsyncing that’s the exception. Live singing is the rule. And I have also heard the argument that AKB performs so much that singing live all the time would be too much strain on their voices. I find that hard to buy, but even if that is truly the case, how about singing live at least half the time? Even just singing the solo and duet lines live would be a major improvement. I don’t believe that AKB lipsyncs because they are terrible singers, at least not by idol standards. They do it because it’s safe. It’s predictable and controllable, and that’s how management likes things. However, by taking that route, I believe they are doing the fans, and the girls themselves, a great disservice.

Thoughts?

~Celestia~

Last month, I asked Hello Project fans to send me ten votes, to be distributed however they chose among H!p’s considerable song catalog.

Nowvoting has come to an end, and I’m very pleased to show you Part 1 of the results. Don’t get too excited though. I’m saving the best for Part 2.

First, some info on the voters.

Total Number of Participants: 124 (and 1,240 votes)

Countries Represented: USA, Australia, Canada, Philippines, Switzerland, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Finland, Poland, Norway, Netherlands, Brazil, China, Peru, Denmark, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Lithuania, Mexico, Sweden, and Japan.

If you participated and you don’t see your country listed, it’s probably because you didn’t tell me what country you are from, but if you let me know, I’ll add it to the list.

Gender Breakdown: 55 Females, 31 Males, 38 Not Reported

% of Votes By Category: I tried to make a graph, but it looked too messy with so many categories.

• Morning Musume 45.9%
• Berryz Kobo 10.7%
• Buono 7.4%
• C-ute 6.9%
• Other (one-shot units, etc.) 3.3%
• Summer Shuffles 3.1%
• Matsuura Aya 3.0%
• Gumis (Sakura and Otome) 2.6%
• New Shuffles (revived groups and High King) 2.5%
• W 1.9%
• MiniMoni 1.7%
• Melon Kinenbi 1.4%
• Tanpopo 1.2%
• S/Mileage 1.2%
• Goto Maki 1.0%
• Guardians 4/Shugo Chara Egg 1.0%
• Kirari (and Milky Way) 0.8%
• Fujimoto Miki 0.7%
• VUDen 0.6%
• PucchiMoni 0.6%
• Mano Erina 0.6%
• GAM 0.5%
• Country Musume 0.5%
• Nakazawa Yuko 0.2%
• T&C Bomber 0.2%
• Coconuts Musume 0.2%
• Abe Natsumi 0.1%
• Iida Kaori 0.1%

As you can see, Morning Musume wins it by a large margin. However, keep in mind that those votes are spread out over a lot more songs than the other artists have.

For the song ranking, I have decided to make two videos showcasing the Top 40 songs. Where there were ties in pure number of votes, the song with more people voting for it (as opposed to less people using multiple votes) was ranked ahead. For a couple cases in the Top 40, two songs still had the same score, so I just left it as a tie.

So here is part 1 of the results! Numbers 40-21. I used different clips than I did in my own countdown. I’ll have the video for 20-1 as well as the full results in my next post. Enjoy!

What do you think?

~Celestia~

EDIT: Ack! I can’t believe it, but I made a small mistake in the numbering. Very Beauty and Yume to Genjitsu should be tied for #32.