Feb 22 2008
Recipe for a Successful Boyband
How to Build a KAT-TUN, member by member style breakdown:
Kamenashi:
Performance: Employ lots of creative gestures with free hand, looks like you’re slinking/slithering around the stage, spin frequently, especially at the very end of songs, and raise your eyebrows at the camera a lot. Make sure that every sexy little move you make is carefully planned and controlled. The camera is your girlfriend.
Wardrobe: tight pants, probably jeans, and either a long tank top or something tailored like a button down shirt or blazer. Your clothes should look like they’d probably be a bit too small for most little girls.
Akanishi:
Performance: Make sexy faces for the camera whenever possible. Lick your lips, wink, be sneering one minute and flashing sweet little half-smiles the next. Frequently pull your microphone away from your mouth for effect. Give the general impression that you are too cool for all of this and that we are blessed to even be in your presence (we are!).The camera is the sexiest girl you’ve ever seen, and you are determined to make her yours.
Wardrobe: loose jeans, an overly long coat (possibly lined with fur) or at least an overly long vest, likely showing some chest and maybe wearing a hat. Generally, whatever you’re wearing should resemble a robe in some way
Taguchi:
Performance: Bounce around like crazy, grin, wave, and if the song is serious and doesn’t call for smiling, make sure your ‘serious’ look gives the impression that you’re on the verge of breaking out in a cheesy grin. Hyper energy is key here. Try to look bouncy even while singing the slowest of ballads. The camera is your bestest buddy and also, you are both in kindergarten and it’s popsicle day. YAY!!
Wardrobe: clean-cut outfit possibly including a scarf or turtleneck, or a simple long-sleeved T-shirt if the weather is warm. No doubt looking the most put together of the bunch.
Tanaka:
Performance: Threaten the audience and the camera with aggressive gestures. Flash various hand signs, hold your microphone upside down, exaggerate the angry facial expressions, and maybe stick your tongue out. Occasionally sing without really moving at all and just look bug-eyed at the audience. The camera is seriously pissing you off.
Wardrobe: something casual, either a plain T-shirt or tank top with a backwards baseball cap, baggy pants, and some bling.
Ueda:
Performance: Slouch your shoulders, cast furtive sideways glances at the audience over your microphone, hold your microphone directly in front of you with both hands so the only part of your face the audience can see is whatever portion of your eyes are not being covered by your bangs. You really shouldn’t ever face the camera straight on. Always approach it from the side. You think the camera might like you, but you’re not sure. Don’t look at it directly, because you want it to notice you but you don’t want it to notice that you notice it noticing it you.
Wardrobe: a long, drapey, V-neck shirt that shows some chest (do you even own a shirt that’s not a V-neck Ueda?). You should look like you shop at Charlotte Ruse.
Nakamaru:
Performance: When singing don’t really do much. Just kind of stand there and sing with your facial expression saying, “I am concentrating on singing right now” When beat-boxing repeatedly thrust the backs of your hands forward very quickly and dodge your head around. What camera?
Wardrobe: casual-preppy in either a sweater or something hooded. You should be the only one who wears stuff you’d expect to see any normal guy on the street walking around in
Okay, so this is all just me being dumb, but it does point to something that I think is a very important feature of KAT-TUN, and that is the diversity of the individual members. Each one of them has a distinct role within the group, and that is both part of what makes them interesting to watch and what allows them to appeal to a fan base with a wide variety of tastes in guys. One of the perceived ‘problems’ with Morning Musume’s current incarnation is that the members, for the most part, aren’t really distinguishing themselves from the group with a certain role or personality. No one is really “the ______ one”. They’re all just going with ‘cute’. With KAT-TUN, on the other hand, each member brings something different to the table, something vital for the dynamics group. Even their group name could be considered symbolic of this, as to remove a member is also to remove a letter, and if you remove a letter, you don’t have KAT-TUN anymore, do you? Think about it. Kamenashi leaving would be disastrous for a variety of reasons, the dark period in KT’s history that I prefer not to think about was disastrous and it almost killed Kame trying to pick up the slack, KT’s songs wouldn’t be the same without Koki’s rapping or Nakamaru’s beat-boxing, Ueda is the group’s requisite adorable bishounen, and Taguchi acts as a foil to the others, counterbalancing them perfectly.
It makes me wonder how Johnny’s groups are formed. Do they just take a handful of the most promising juniors, stick them together, and hope for the best? After all, not all Jr. groups are debuted. If a group doesn’t mesh, they can always be reshuffled. Alternatively, do they look for certain members to fulfill a formula? If so, it’s a formula which has proven successful time and time again, and I’m determined to work it out. I’m almost tempted to do research into the other Johnny’s groups to find out who, if anyone, fills each of these rolls. It’s not a good theory when it’s mostly only based on two groups, but as far as I can tell, a group need at least one really good-looking guy (doesn’t matter if he’s a good singer, but it’s a nice bonus if he is) (Jin, Jun, Yamapi), at least one guy who can handle the lead vocals (Jin/Kame, Ohno), one guy to be the somewhat shy, feminine, and reminiscent of a cute little puppy(Ueda, Nino), at least one guy to be hyperactive and dorky (Junno, Aiba), and one guy to be more masculine and possibly handle rapping (Koki/Sho). Not sure where Nakamaru fits in. Maybe there should be a ’special talents’ category?
Jin and Kame are pretty much doubled up on the good looking/good at singing part, which I think is kind of unusual. To have one guy who is both the best singer and the prettiest in the group is a rarity, and to have two is quite unheard of. Johnny’s usually spreads the ’star power’ around a bit more, don’t they? I’d imagine that making two groups popular is more profitable than making one group really popular. This unusual arrangement is both one of KT’s biggest strengths and biggest weaknesses.
Having the two of the most popular male idols (likely the two most popular male idols) in one group obviously draws a lot of fans, but sometimes you’ve got to wonder if there’s room enough in one group for the both of them. I suppose that’s another part of the reason that Johnny’s tends to spread out their stars. One Akame is about all that a group the size of KAT-TUN can handle.
Happy 22nd Birthday Kamenashi Kazuya!
~Celestia~