More Manufactured Musical Maidens
25/05/2015
Further to my recent post on made-up musical acts,
what are we to make of this interview text from Japanese site Tokyo Girls' Update?
what are we to make of this interview text from Japanese site Tokyo Girls' Update?
First, a little background.
(I have used quotes from the site as I couldn't make this stuff up.)
(I have used quotes from the site as I couldn't make this stuff up.)
Site "About" statement: -
Tokyo Girls' Update (TGU) delivers the latest news on Japanese Girl's pop culture mainly in "kawaii!!", "IDOL", "Gyaru". Our mission is to make it accessible to fans all over the world.
Article Title ( Which will be shown to be completely at odds with the interview): -
"EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH YUMEMIRU ADOLESCENCE : SHOWING THEIR TRUE SELVES WITH “BYE BYE MY DAYS””
The site is completely unselfconscious regarding the artificial nature of the "Industry"; the following quote is not from somewhere else, "about" the group, this is at the start of an interview article presumably for fan consumption: -
"With its focal point of popular teen fashion magazine models, idol group Yumemiru Adolescence was created in 2012."
So... we are told from the start that the girls are not even musicians chosen for their looks, which would be bad enough, but models chosen for their looks who are not musicians!
MV is, I guess "Music Video", and PV is "Pop Video"?
Tokyo Girls' Update (TGU) delivers the latest news on Japanese Girl's pop culture mainly in "kawaii!!", "IDOL", "Gyaru". Our mission is to make it accessible to fans all over the world.
Article Title ( Which will be shown to be completely at odds with the interview): -
"EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH YUMEMIRU ADOLESCENCE : SHOWING THEIR TRUE SELVES WITH “BYE BYE MY DAYS””
The site is completely unselfconscious regarding the artificial nature of the "Industry"; the following quote is not from somewhere else, "about" the group, this is at the start of an interview article presumably for fan consumption: -
"With its focal point of popular teen fashion magazine models, idol group Yumemiru Adolescence was created in 2012."
So... we are told from the start that the girls are not even musicians chosen for their looks, which would be bad enough, but models chosen for their looks who are not musicians!
MV is, I guess "Music Video", and PV is "Pop Video"?
The Question: -
– "The song and MV this time around are different than anything you’ve done up until now, and they have a more polished feel to them. Is there something you focused on during the production process?"
The girls' answers: -
Yamada: The staff that had a hand in the single was different than anyone we’d worked with before.
Ogino: Up until now, when we’d be shooting a PV I’d think, “I wonder if it’ll look like this when it’s done,” but this time I really had no idea at all. We always shoot a lot of singing scenes, but this time there were even more. There were scenes where we’re just walking, or ones where we’re just looking at the camera, and all of us had no idea where they were going to be used. So actually, we were really moved when we saw the finished video.
Yamada: There’s a scene where I’m standing still and holding a guitar, and I was told to, “Try making a kind of sour face,” and I didn’t really understand why I had to make that kind of face, but in the end it came together really well, and I was like, “Ohhh, now I get it.”
Kyouka: When you watch the finished video, it’s very adolescence-like. I understand now why the director asked us to try looking listless. We received comments on Twitter like, “It has a very adolescence feel to it, and we can really see your individual shine,” and, “This is the real Yume Adolescence.” I felt it was it was a reflection of my true self. I was a little rebellious before. (laughs)
Kobayashi: When we got the music, I felt like it had that fresh start feeling just before spring, and I tried to sing it with a feeling of uneasiness and excitement.
Yamada: I especially went into shooting it just being myself. It was such an important piece for our major debut, I just wanted to show my true self without any kind of flair.
These answers reveal the girls as little more than puppets who have no input into any of the artistic and production choices, and carry out their roles with no idea of what the "final product" might be, or even what it might be intended to be. They don't even create the music. ("When we got the music..." - "I’m standing still and holding a guitar...")
– "The song and MV this time around are different than anything you’ve done up until now, and they have a more polished feel to them. Is there something you focused on during the production process?"
The girls' answers: -
Yamada: The staff that had a hand in the single was different than anyone we’d worked with before.
Ogino: Up until now, when we’d be shooting a PV I’d think, “I wonder if it’ll look like this when it’s done,” but this time I really had no idea at all. We always shoot a lot of singing scenes, but this time there were even more. There were scenes where we’re just walking, or ones where we’re just looking at the camera, and all of us had no idea where they were going to be used. So actually, we were really moved when we saw the finished video.
Yamada: There’s a scene where I’m standing still and holding a guitar, and I was told to, “Try making a kind of sour face,” and I didn’t really understand why I had to make that kind of face, but in the end it came together really well, and I was like, “Ohhh, now I get it.”
Kyouka: When you watch the finished video, it’s very adolescence-like. I understand now why the director asked us to try looking listless. We received comments on Twitter like, “It has a very adolescence feel to it, and we can really see your individual shine,” and, “This is the real Yume Adolescence.” I felt it was it was a reflection of my true self. I was a little rebellious before. (laughs)
Kobayashi: When we got the music, I felt like it had that fresh start feeling just before spring, and I tried to sing it with a feeling of uneasiness and excitement.
Yamada: I especially went into shooting it just being myself. It was such an important piece for our major debut, I just wanted to show my true self without any kind of flair.
These answers reveal the girls as little more than puppets who have no input into any of the artistic and production choices, and carry out their roles with no idea of what the "final product" might be, or even what it might be intended to be. They don't even create the music. ("When we got the music..." - "I’m standing still and holding a guitar...")
If you really must endure more of this exploitative drivel, the page is here: http://tokyogirlsupdate.com/featured/interview-yumemiru-adolescence.html
I don't know what it is about the Japanese obsession with schoolgirls, the site positively skates on the edge of "the ick factor", refer the video here: - http://tokyogirlsupdate.com/hr-mv-natsuiro-candy-20150546136.html (natsuiro = a transliteration of "natural" I guess)
I don't know what it is about the Japanese obsession with schoolgirls, the site positively skates on the edge of "the ick factor", refer the video here: - http://tokyogirlsupdate.com/hr-mv-natsuiro-candy-20150546136.html (natsuiro = a transliteration of "natural" I guess)
p.s. I was so struck by the inanity of the interview I forgot to actually watch the video. Having now done so, I have to say it sounds like someone has taken eighties pop, distilled the essence and thrown it away, and made something with what is left after the style, feeling, originality and talent have gone. With chipmunks added.
Way back in 1996 on a hydrofoil ferry from Hong Kong to Macau, I was subjected to J-Pop videos whose style and sound was almost the same, so much for innovation and originality.
Way back in 1996 on a hydrofoil ferry from Hong Kong to Macau, I was subjected to J-Pop videos whose style and sound was almost the same, so much for innovation and originality.