J-Pop Fandom Part II

Time has passed, so does my exploration in J-Pop fandom. I'm currently not into Perfume anymore regardless of how talented the girls are. It might have something to do with my distaste for their music producer: Yasutaka Nakata. The last album that I have is Cosmic Explorer, and I don't really like Mugen Mirai when it came out. He also seemed like neglecting his own unit, CAPSULE, as their last album was released in 2015. He was busy creating music for Perfume (which I don't really like anymore), Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, and Momo Mashiro. And I really prefer Toshiko Koshijima's voice rather than those two, so I'm pretty much upset that he neglected the unit although they still perform here and there.

MetaFive

I usually read infos related to Nakata from a tumblr page named fuckyeahystk. From the very same blog, I stumbled upon other artists like Towa Tei, Ami Suzuki, MetaFive, and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Ami has a really good voice but she hasn't released anything since 2013. As for Towa Tei, I found that he's a music genius although I admit that it's a bit difficult to find his complete discography. His first album "Future Listening!" left such a good impression on me, and he's one of the members of a Japanese Supergroup project MetaFive. The group is filled with legends like Yukihiro Takahashi (who was a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra) and Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada, who was a member of Flipper's Guitar). YMO was considered a pioneer for Japanese electronic music, and Flipper's Guitar was one of the most successful Shibuya-kei musical group back then. I also happen to like some of YMO's songs, as well as Yukihiro Takahashi's solo album "Saravah!"

Keyakizaka46 Logo

Some times later, I got into Sakamichi series since I was still following the 48G. I have to admit that my favorite Sakamichi group is Keyakizaka. Nogizaka's music is similar to 48G although a bit more feminine and elegant. Another notable difference is that I have never seen them releasing any summer singles with bikini, unlike their "official rival group". As for Keyaki, I really like their concept and their soulful lyrics like Silent Majority, Fukyouwaon, Eccentric, Glass wo Ware, Mou Mori he Kaerouka, and Kuroi Hitsuji (obviously). I'm not that interested in Hinatazaka, which used to be Hiragana Keyaki.

Arashi

I also happen to stumble upon "Shitsuren Chocolatier" when I was watching Waku Waku Japan. I got curious in the main male role, Jun Matsumoto. It turns out that he's a member of Arashi, and I listened to some of their songs from there.

Then there was that time when Produce48 came and AKB released "Teacher Teacher". While some commented that it sounded like a K-Pop song, I figured that the song might fit their mature sister group SDN48, if they didn't disband. I also remember one comment mentioned about another Japanese girlgroup: E-girls as their musical genre usually stays in dance/upbeat genre. I kinda sucks at explaining genres, so please bear with me.

GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE

The saying goes by "curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back". I was curious about E-girls; and now I'm pretty much satisfied to find them and their agency LDH Japan (short for Love Dream Happiness). I got to know how talented the groups in EXILE TRIBE & E.G.  Family, as well as their other groups like Doberman Infinity and DEEP (previously known as COLOR). I have a huge respect for EXILE as the founder of LDH, thanking them for debuting my favorite boygroup: GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE.

Happiness

Girls²

But I have to receive sad news last year from Flower's disbandment and E-girls is disbanding at the end of this year. I've read comments on how bad LDH is in managing their female artists, but I've read a source which stated that they're disbanding due to creative differences. Not surprising. The group initially has around 30 members and used a certain qualification to determine which members are in the single. Their formation was also intended as a joint project for the initial girl groups: Dream, Happiness, and Flower. 2018 was the first year they released an album as a group with solid 11 members, and they did not disappoint. Maybe it's just their fate. And with E-girls disbanding, LDH debuted a new girlgroup: Girls². I haven't really got into them, but it seems like I have an impression that their concept is similar with Japanese idol groups although their voices aren't like the usual high pitched "kawaii" girls. By all means, Happiness is the oldest girlgroup from LDH.

So, that covers pretty much about my current J-Pop fandom. I'm currently still an LDH Junkie since being in the fandom is like going back to my musical taste when I was a teenager. I may also write separate and more detailed posts for LDH and other groups since it's gonna be a long post if I write the detail here. But I haven't really decided on that yet. In the mean time, I'm still on the high for GENE's latest single (Hira Hira) and Sandaime J Soul Brothers' latest single (Movin' On).