but I’ll be taking the “talent over looks” argument in a slightly different angle.

I think it’s safe to say that most people hear people’s music before seeing them, or is it really that safe considering every band on the planet has a myspace and their music videos up on youtube? There was a time where you’d have a chance to sit down and LISTEN to music before the visual judgments get tossed around. Or maybe that’s just me? Everything’s all about having “the look” or whatever it is. Many musical acts have been shrugged off by producers because of their lack of “the look”. I guess it makes sense for them to do it because everything’s about first impressions these days. Also, sight processes faster than sound so if you can’t capture a potential customer’s attention within that timeframe it takes them to surf to a new page or change the channel, you’ve lost a battle.

Perfume

Angela Aki

Morning Musume
(circa Summer 2001)

The Pipettes (circa 2007)

Being a Japanese music fan living in Canada, media exposure of my favourite musical acts is limited to what I actively search for online and through my RSS feed subscriptions. In comparison to MuchMusic, local radio, and just walking around malls and anywhere that plays music, you’d think that I have more exposure to North American music – it’s actually quite the contrary. That or the music here is just so easy to ignore since it doesn’t tickle my fancy at all. Or at least the pop genre here doesn’t. In the case of non-visual media, people might come across a song that they haven’t “seen” yet, but with music videos playing practically everywhere (movie theatres, music stores, mall food courts, etc.) it’s practically impossible in the pop world. It’s funny how much longer a song’s lifespan becomes when it isn’t constantly force-fed into your system.

Given that I’m not on youtube looking for new music nearly as much as I’m exposed to the local stuff, most of the new music I come across is heard instead of seen. This helps me in a few ways: firstly, I don’t fall victim to the visual marketing ploy and listen to just the music first, and secondly, I toss judgments purely on musical ability and not on unimportant things like looks. By the time I become unlazy and actively search for what this new act looks like, I’m already enough of a fan (or antifan) that it doesn’t matter what they look like for it to make much of an impact on what I already think.

This was the case for me with Perfume, Angela Aki, and even Morning Musume. For Perfume, I heard them before seeing them and was pleasantly surprised that the extremely cute voices behind Sweet Donuts were accompanied with extremely cute girls. For Ms. Aki, I heard a lot of her stuff bleed into my room from my sister’s room and she’d always have her playing in the car and now that she has her piano books, there’s some serious Angela fever in the house. I must admit, though, I didn’t expect her look to be so casual and I’m not usually a fan of the “poof” hairstyle. The weird thing with me is that I’m such a positive scanner when the vibes around me are good that Angela’s style is growing on me. Morning Musume went the other way around though. I first heard Love Machine without any knowledge of who they were and wasn’t quite turned on to it. Then I found out who they were (while in their 4th generation) and listened to a bunch of their other songs before it clicked that they were the same group, plus or minus a few members.

Sadly, to answer my question, I can say that I am a bit shallow in that if I see a cute girl in the music biz, I check her out to see if she’s good. Is that really such a bad thing though? It happened with me and The Pipettes and look what happened there. But recently, The Pipettes went through some member changes. They haven’t released anything since but will I be as entertained as I was with the old line up? I don’t know for sure but I loved Rosay’s sass. Something I do know is that with Morning Musume, there’s no contest between a Love Machine with the original line up compared to today’s line up.

Wota Wonderings 4 – Are You a Shallow Wota (Solo Space)
WW04 – Are Looks Everything? (Tsuyoki de Yukoze!)
Wota Wonderings: On looks versus abilities… (boylikesmusic)
Wota Wonderings 004:Looks Or Talent? you decide (take off is now!)
[Wota Wonderings 04] It’s what’s outside that counts. (Renai Revolution 21)
Wota Wonderings 004 – Are You In The Shallow End Of The Pool? (Selective Hearing)
Wota Wonderings 04 – Case of the Body Snatchers (fields of maiZe and berryZ)
Wota Wonderings 004 (H!P Fangirling like Nobody’s Business)
[WW] Would I love Airi if she weren’t adorable? (Tsuugaku Vector ☂)

For this month’s Wota Wonderings, I’ve decided to focus our attention to tie-ins to animes and doramas with musical acts. I’m going to be focusing on a fairly recent tie-in. It involves cross-dressing, lesbians, and a whip. No no no, my friends, I’m not talking about Koda Kumi, I’m talking about AKB48, more specifically no3b (No Sleeves) and their dorama tie-in with Mendol.

I know a few of the wotachatters went crazy each time a new episode came out. #wotachat was where I first learned of the craziness that was Mendol. Before then, I hadn’t really given AKB48 a chance in fear that I might actually go crazy about them and have to download everything they’ve done, BUT, I decided to give the trio of no3b a chance since it’s only 3 of them.

I really don’t remember how I acquired the RELAX! single (/me eyes mintii?) but man oh man, there was something about that track that just swallowed me whole. Even still, it took about a month for me to start watching the dorama since I started listening to the song. Some where between then, I watched the PV on youtube and kinda fell in love with Minegishi Minami. I didn’t watch the PV a lot before I got into the show so my first impressions of the girls were from the show. Minegishi is always going to be the adorably cute one, Takahashi is always going to be the tomboy, and Kojima is always going to be the leader. Minegishi still remains my favourite of the trio but I’ve got a soft spot for Takahashi even though she doesn’t really smile naturally, but when she does, her cuteness really shines. Nothing really strikes me with Kojima. I don’t know why. Vocally, all three girls are fun and energetic. Watching the lives they did on the music shows were fun. There’s just something about the talking parts that are cute but when they brought that into the second single, it got old kinda quickly.

I was quite surprised about the style of dorama Mendol was because I never expected to see an idol group do something that suggestive. Again, I don’t follow AKB48, so I thought it’d be something along the lines of something H!P would do. I have to admit that its suggestiveness was my weakness and got me hooked. Something about two cute girls kissing… nevermind. Anyhow, I ended up watching the entire series and was pleasantly surprised that the girls came out with another single even after the series was done. I’m currently not as into it as I was with RELAX! but that could change. It doesn’t quite have the immediate infectious power that RELAX! had.

Sadly, this is where my adventure with AKB48 ends. While Mendol was fun and new for my experiences with idol groups, it didn’t lure me into finding out more about them. I don’t know why. Maybe because My hands are already full with my fanboying over Perfume. Maybe I just need to find a song by AKB48 that has that instant infectious quality I found in RELAX!. Maybe I just think 48 girls in a single group is too much. Yeah, I think it’s that last one.

However, if someone out thinks they can get me into AKB, hit me with a song title and I’ll see what happens. I don’t know if I’m ready to give up on them completely but I don’t know if I’ll actively be looking to spark the interest.

This month, being February and all, I thought it would be appropriate (after a little hint from a friend) to dive deeper into the love that we have as music lovers for the people who make the music we enjoy so much. Idol love. Why do we devote so much of our time, effort, and money into such a one-sided relationship?

Maybe for moments like this?

From what I’ve heard about Akihabara, it happens a lot with the akiba-idols but Haruko Momoi is serious business compared to random street performers. I know this is really old but this is my favourite showing of wotagei, and since I find wotagei to be a pure form of idol love, this is more than just a bunch of otaku going nuts with glowsticks.

Normally, the wotas involved are separated from the idols they cheer so enthusiastically about. In this performance, Halko goes as far as to invite her wotas on stage with her. To some, I’m thinking the experience could be similar to jamming with their favourite instrumentalist, or singing a duet with their favourite vocalist, or in my case, being in the studio with Nakata-san while he’s working on an instrumental. It would be absolutely awesome to experience a professional such as Halko do what she does right there in her face while she experience the love she gets from her fans in the same way.

Pushing aside the extreme wota (and totally ignoring the fanboys and fangirls), I find wota to be more respectful than your average fan. Give some people the opportunity to climb on stage with their favourite musical act, chances are they’d glomp them and probably steal an article of clothing. Wotas cheer on, support, and respect their idols for what they do, through thick and thin.

They also dance.

Dancing is love.

Love is awesome.

Wota Wonderings 2… I luff youuuu~ (H!P Fangirling like Nobody’s Business)
Wota Wonderings 2 – All you need is love! (Solo Space)
Wota Wonderings 002 (Selective Hearing)
Wota Wonderings 002: All you need is love! (Merry Go Round)
Wota Wonderings 02 – The Idol Love Challenge (fields of maize and berryz)
Wota Wonderings: Idol Love. (boylikesmusic)
Wota Wonderings 002: All You Need Is Love (The Groove Music Life)

This month’s question was if you were the Japanese music industry, what would your New Year’s resolution be?

Image sells.

Outward appearances, no matter how fake, have always made a difference. You can see it in pop culture since the majority of people in front of the camera tend to be easy on the eyes, mostly thanks to armies of stylists and make-up artists.

For certain acts, I feel as if it’s less about the music and more about marketing and sales. The main argument I’d like to bring forth is the overabundance of members in a number of Hello! Project Units. I don’t want to bash only on H!P since other groups in all other industries do this, but in our blogosphere, it’s the most blatantly obvious example. It’s been happening since the start with Nacchi, then Gocchin, then Ai-chan and Reina in Morning Musume, Berryz has Risako, Momoko, and Miyabi, and (if we’re lucky) Yurina. And finally C-ute has Maimi and Airi. In Tsunku’s eyes, these girls have the strongest voices or the best image or “sellability” in their units, but at the same time, there are the other girls that don’t get any spotlight. That’s just how it is in the idol business but I’m not a fan of it. I’m not proposing we take them out, but I’m saying, use them to their full potential if you’re going to include them in the group. Yeah, they get a few lines with some other members in a few of the singles, a few solo lines in album tracks and they sing live in concerts or whatever, but there’s a lot of wasted talent that goes by unnoticed. On the flip side of the same coin, there are some girls that are clearly there just for their character or image since they’re THAT adorable that they push singls, albums, and PB / DVD sales. Or maybe if this coin were magically 3 sided, (maybe it’s just some crazy thinking on my part) but maybe some girls just want to be in the background and enjoy it. I won’t be too specific since everyone has their own favourites in each group but well, the first part of my resolution would be to involve everyone in all groups more regularly or (like how Koha rolls) get songs tailor-made for those people with questionable vocals and bring the music back to sounding good instead of just … making noise.

On the other side of this argument, going into a professional career and not having a marketing plan or something that sets your group apart from the rest is like running head first into a brick wall, unless you’re just really lucky, or get a big break through some sort of tie in with a product or tv show or a celebrity endorsement. Not many people get famous from word of mouth, but with the way the internet is these days, it’s not hard to get your fifteen minutes as a youtube or myspace celebrity or have a dot com blog and start a ruckus. Then again, it’s all in the people you know online. Or the people who find you.

The second part of my resolution is me wanting the industry to be more about the music like it still is in some places in the world and less about sales and marketing. I know there are administrative and facility fees and people need to make money in this business but consider how overpaid these people are. I could go on about overpaid celebrities but I won’t. But something that bothers me is when labels release multiple editions but just because of the things packaged with it (aside from DVDs with the PV / dance shot / and making-of). I understand selling a CD only version and a CD+DVD but anything outside of that should be readily available for all fans regardless of whether they bought the CD or not; I’m talking about mini-photobooks, trading cards, little accessories, the whole nine yards. You shouldn’t have to buy a product more than once to get something that isn’t even worth the price of the CD.

Another example of this would be to allow easy access to vocal tracks and other prominent instrument tracks, just like how instrumental/karaoke tracks are currently available. It can’t be TOO hard to do this since some labels do include all of these in their releases. From my experience, it’s mostly in the North American Hip Hop scene that this happens since it’s one of the most popular genres spun in clubs, making the market huge. Maybe for these special “mixing” CDs, I would understand buying a limited edition.

I’m not bitter towards the industry at all. Just from a real music lover’s stand point, they’re not doing much to keep me that interested in some acts as well as others. I’d like to see more smaller groups to allow more even spotlighting or at least more sharing in the spotlight in the bigger groups. I don’t like how some special inserts or items make the collectors buy something they already have but I guess it’s all subjective to how much of a “fan” a person is. At the same time, I give into the media hype and do get pretty fanboy-ish about a certain technopop group, but then again, they only release CD only and CD+DVD releases – none of that other filler. No Japanese singles I’ve run into carry vocal tracks but I don’t think I should hold my breath. I suppose it’s a lot to ask for to start some change but at least I got that off my chest.

Check out these Wota Wondering 01 posts too:
Wota Wonderings 1: New Year’s Reolutions (Solo Space)
Wota Wonderings 001: New Year’s Resolutions (Merry Go Round)
…on The Japanese Music Industry (Stardust)
WOTA WONDERINGS: New Year’s Resolutions (The Groove Music Life)
[Wota Wonderings] New Years Resolution… (Renai Revolution 21)
Wota Wonderings: Resolutions, anyone? (boylikesmusic)
Wota Wonderings 001: New Year’s Resolutions (Tsuyoki De Yukoze)