Namie Amuro’s “PLAY”

 

Namie Amuro / PLAY / June 27, 2007
♫ 01. Hide & Seek / 02. Full Moon / 07. Hello / 09. Top Secret

Namie Amuro is somewhat of a chameleon when it comes to the Japanese pop industry, that is, a star who goes where the trends go. After dating standard pop/dance tracks in the middle to late 90s and just as suddenly breaking off the relationship, her flirtation with the burgeoning genre of hip hop emerged in the early 00s, where she began a steady courtship with the heavily black-influenced sounds and styles of a little thing she liked to call hip pop. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the steady incline of Internet downloading, Amuro’s albums have been on a decline, with her 2003 album, STYLE, only selling 221,874 copies: a mere fraction of the three million selling Sweet 19 Blues. However, low sales don’t always mean bad music; poor marketing, an artist past their prime, and unpopular genres can all lead to undistinguishing sales. So which is it for Amuro?

Enter Queen of Hip-Pop Part II. From the blaring trumpets announcing the album’s entrance on “Hide & Seek” to the mellow piano love grooves on “Should I Love Him?,” Amuro doles out the Engrish rhymes without restraint. The actual production on the album is flawless; the album’s heavy use of bass and synth bleeps are clear and accompanied by smooth transitions, each instrument almost blatantly discernible from its brother. And while heavy on Amuro’s indefatigable hip pop, the album also dares to crawl out of its protective crumping bubble by introducing non-traditional instruments such as an electric guitar on “It’s all about you” and staying clear of generic ballads, of which it keeps to a minimum of two.

What it boils down to is that this album has potential to be a huge seller for Amuro, but for the Japanese chanteuse who takes to wielding a whip, it’s almost painfully obvious that Amuro couldn’t care less about taking her so-called street style to a level beyond paint-by-numbers hip hop; it just doesn’t work if the passion is not there. And the passion is not there. The album practically swims in fun, sometimes cheesy, but incredible driven numbers that would put Amuro right next to the highest-selling Western artists if she dared to venture off the island. The songs are catchy with nuances like the eerie drops lacing “Full Moon,” one of the best tracks on the album aside from singles “Violet Sauce,” and new track, “Top Secret.” However, while Amuro is given some of the greatest hip hop material in the past five years to represent, hip hop good enough to make someone like myself who finds most hip hop a generic, sex-obsessed, and vapid genre, enjoy this album enough to come back for seconds, she fails to do the melodies justice.

Take a look at Amuro’s performance of “Hide & Seek” on Music Station [ video removed ]; no where in this performance does Amuro look like she’s having fun. Infact, she looks like someone who is dancing in front of a loaded Glock. Granted, she’s singing live and executing dance moves simultaneously, but even following the performance, Amuro stares blankly at the screen, perhaps relieved that the performance is finally over and she can stop forcing the monosyllabic ennui of the lyrics out of her mouth. Additionally, the content of the lyrics almost seemed to be stolen directly off of Hip Hop 101 compilation albums that composers pored over nights before the tracks were laid, grounds for the feud between the accomplishment of the actual music and the awful stop and go quality of the English lyrics that urge the listener to “bounce, bounce” with “the real thrill” because Amuro really wants to “taste you tonight.” Of course, this is not a problem for the intended audience who won’t understand a word of it, not when native English speakers can barely descramble what exactly “Dip it in the violet sauce” means. Instead, they see a representative of hip hop who looks and speaks like them and an entertainer who can dance, sing, make small talk and look cute doing it; the only criteria Japan really expects from their pop stars.

It’s hard to give a rating to an album where the songs relied on extremes; extremely good, extremely bad, and extremely forgettable. While I feel this album could have done with a bit of tweaking lyrically, emotionally (I know this is hip hop and there’s no smiling in hip hop, but throw me an emotion here, be tough, be sassy, be something), and track order (“PINK KEY” is a terrible song to place last), the actual production and arrangement of the album tracks is one of the best I’ve listened to since Hilary Duff’s Dignity, almost to the point I wish it had been more choppy and less studio. But in terms of its audience and whether or not it serves its purpose, it gets the job done, whether at gun point or not. I just wish Amuro would convince me that she really feels what she’s saying; if I’m going to blast this album in the car, I don’t want to feel like I’m going 20 in a 55. Or worse: riding the brake.

 

♫ Official Site
♫ Buy PLAY

Cut Copy’s “Hearts on Fire”, new album in March ‘08

Readers might have noticed my recent infatuation with Australia’s electronic-synth-pop trio Cut Copy as of late. Though the release of their latest EP, Bright Like Neon Love was released in 2004, they still managed to win my vote for best album of 2006. After all, when I think of that year, I inevitably think of “That Was Just a Dream” and “Zap Zap” (and being stood up by a guy who used the word “uber” without irony; I cried about that for like, a second). However, because the release was back in 2004, Cut Copy hadn’t been touring, nor releasing too much new material. Sure, they remixed plenty of tracks in the meantime, including a spectacular rendition of Van She’s already insanely dance rockish tune “Kelly,” but what about new music?

Fortunately, as early as the Spring of 2007, Cut Copy posted a new song on their MySpace entitled “Hearts on Fire,” and like their electronic inspirations, it is la merde (that’s French for ‘the shit’, by the way, ’cause dropping hoity-toity French words is how I roll…that and using words like hoity-toity. Sans irony). Sure, the song follows the same formula as previous hits; lots of one liners repeating nonstop, a heavy bass line, and a New Order reminiscent guitar melody that brings the song to a close, but this detracts little from the impact and overall transcendent quality inherent in its simplicity. Yes, I just said transcendent about a little ditty with the same title as the Rocky IV closing theme (insert a really bad joke about how this song packs a mean punch). However, this is just a preview to the new album Cut Copy will be releasing in March, and if it’s anything like this song, I can guarantee it’ll kick your ass, roll you in carpet, and set you on fire. No official title or track listing has been posted yet, but you can always check out the blog for further updates, tour information, and the chance to purchase extremely overpriced T-shirts that does not even have the band’s name on it (seriously, who is doing the PR on that thing?).

Oh no, I’m horrible! I like a bit of dignity in my Jpop!

Note: I originally posted this as a response to a comment I received today on an article I wrote well over a year ago, on February 10, 2006. However, it ended up being quite long and I think it has a lot of interesting data relating marketing image and sales for the top-selling Japanese female pop artists and would be well worth posting here as an editorial, regardless of the fact that it doesn’t come equipped with any freebie music files.

Note II: During the wipe-out of ‘07, all comments and discussions were erased, alongside the follow-up and second-part I had written to this. I have absolutely zero desire to revisit this debate and will simply leave this as is.

First of all, I appreciate you commenting on this entry in a coherent and grammatically correct manner, which makes your argument easy to read and legitimate. I respect your opinion and the dignity and poise with which you conveyed it (unlike the dude before you, whom I’m not sure has reached Conversational English in his textbook yet).

Second of all, to repeat something I wrote earlier: It’s worth noting that I find most opinions have a six to ten month expiration date before they need to be updated. Therefore, commenting on something I wrote almost one year ago is like assuming I am still drinking from the same milk carton I bought several months ago.

In other words, you have to understand I wrote this rant at a time when Ayumi had released the “my name’s WOMEN” promotional video followed by this, the “Startin’” PV, within a year. At the time, I was speculating on where Ayumi’s career was headed. Also, no one had yet foreseen her move back to friendly and PG-rated videos like “BLUE BIRD” and “JEWEL.” I still stand by my opinion that at that time, Ayumi had begun exploiting her sexuality as female musicians like Kumi Koda and Namie Amuro began following Western trends of exploiting their femininity as if to say, “I’m a liberated female who can dress as little and as sexy as I want and not be called a slut because it’s what I choose,” which, in my opinion, can be a misguided intent that can breed negative repercussions (I’m old-school feminist like that).

While I agree that “my name’s WOMEN” was not the focus of that particular single, it was significant enough to release a PV after an album had already contained the song. And in this case, I have to disagree; in this video, Ayumi was selling herself as a sexual object. And it worked. Sales records show her previous two singles, CAROLS and INSPIRE c/w GAME sold 340,000 and 329,145 units respectively. In 2005, STEP you/is this LOVE?, which contained the “my name’s WOMEN” promotional video, sold 401,000, and was actually her best selling single since 2003’s No way to say single. Sure, internet downloading may have something to do with it. Or a PV where Ayumi struts around with a whip and dances suggestively in a male strip club could have something to do with it.

I also agree that Ayumi does have a message in her lyrics. “my name’s WOMEN” does have some female empowering lyrics throughout the entire song, including “We are not just dress-up dolls,” and my favorite, “We are not such simple creatures, remember that.” So my question is, why turn this music video into a dancing S&M romp? It is completely unnecessary and she could have gone with an entirely different route to express the words in these songs much better (“Real me,” which also contained an empowering message for females, took place on a space ship with non-suggestive dance moves and modest attire…come to think of it, did this PV have anything to do with the lyrics?). But Ayumi, as she herself has said, is a product and she understands she has to market herself to compete with sales figures of artists who are beginning to take over her almost ten year reign as Queen of Jpop. So she shows a little skin. And then in “Startin’” she added some new dance moves, none of which, as far as I can tell, had much to do with the lyrics or gave some sort of message, unless she mentioned dancing provocatively in chaps somewhere in the song that I missed. Little was I to know that Ayumi had even more to say she as swung her way around a strip pole in 2006’s “1LOVE.”

This was, for all purposes, an opinion piece; in 2005, I was speculating on the reasons Ayumi was beginning to change her image from a fresh-faced, cutesy teen idol into a woman who can do a pretty good imitation of Britney Spears. Compare her “SURREAL” PV or “SEASONS” PV or “Boys & Girls” PV or any PV before 2005 to any of her PVs after 2005, and there is a huge difference; all which has to do with sexuality and expressing that sexuality in a stereotypically modern female fashion; you have never seen Kinki Kids or SMAP have to resort to the things Ayumi has had to do, ironic considering what she is trying to say throughout songs like “my name’s WOMEN” (although you have seen Gerard Way and Bert McCracken making out, but boys, you are not fooling me).

And finally, being an opinion piece, I was obviously expressing a huge one that I personally hold; that women do not need to resort to air humping or whip cracking to be sexy, beautiful, driven, aggressive, talented and successful entertainers. Unfortunately, this being the ’00s, most of the general public will disagree with me. Why? Western media being broadcast around the world has already desensitized most viewers to react to women acting in an overt sexual manner as normal. Most people don’t see a problem with Ayumi shaking her hips in “Startin’” because they’ve seen Christina Aguilera half-naked on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and rap videos where women wear barely-there shorts and halter tops, with their breasts hanging out, grinding against any (and many) number of men. Compared to that, sure, Ayumi looks downright chaste. However, in my article, I didn’t mention any of these things because I was attempting to display and focus solely on Ayumi’s progression through music videos. As I mentioned, she had already appeared naked on the cover of 2002’s RAINBOW and barely covered in leaves that same year on I am… but there was absolutely nothing sexual about these images in the way having people rub her breasts in “Startin’” was.

The reason I wrote this article was because I was obviously disappointed in the direction I thought Ayumi was headed in 2006, especially when what initially attracted Ayumi to me, besides the music and lyrics which came first, was the fact that she was at her most popular in jeans and a T-shirt, literally, as many witnessed in her encore of the DOME TOUR 2001 concert. It’s no doubt that Ayumi’s popularity has begun to wan, and it’s interesting that this side of her should come out at this time. Do I still listen to and enjoy her music? Yes. Do I still think she is one of the most creative, driven, beautiful, talented and self-made entertainers in the Japanese music industry? Absolutely. Do I think her wearing chaps and grinding the air is artistic? No, I really don’t, and I can’t see how art can be found in that in the same way that my brain tells me that the next step is a Puff Daddy video and there is zero art involved in that. This is my opinion. But I’m sure the marketers think it’s great peple love this, that it’s wonderful that so many male fans think she looks sexy and gorgeous while just as many women feel they have to resort to moves like that to be popular and have men find them sexy and attractive. Because it’s what sells. That’s what’s wrong.

I’m not going to stop calling myself an Ayu fan just because you say I shouldn’t in the same way I wrote this rant and don’t expect anyone reading to agree (although I’m finding it ridiculous that this is the post I have the most complaints and disagreements with). The only kind of person that makes a bad fan is somebody who never stands back and questions why they like what they like and if they are truly buying a product or a CD or watching a show or a movie and enjoying it because they want to, or because it’s being cleverly marketed towards them, or worse, because everything else the artist has done has been great, so they are, therefore, incapable of putting out crap. So what if Bob Dylan was phenomenal in the 60s, nobody was going to let him get away with those crap albums he put out in the 80s, and to give them high ratings just because his previous work was so great would be absurd; he might never have learned from his mistakes and put out Love & Theft and 2006’s Modern Times, his first #1 album since ‘76. Sure, we want to support artists in their not-so-great periods, but patting them on the back for their lackluster efforts is akin to stabbing them in the back.

Your argument that I shouldn’t call myself a fan is the same half-witted argument that says people who don’t like something about America should leave the country. If you can’t critique and find fault, how can you improve and become better and fix what’s wrong? You can’t. And then you find that despite all the shimmying and juking, instead of focusing on developing the sound and cohesion of the music, your latest album Secret still only sold 804,000 units, and while sure, breast-baring Kumi’s 2006 Black Cherry sold 994,130, artists who never went the sexual route like Hikaru Utada, sold 906,202 units of 2006’s ULTRA BLUE and Ai Otsuka’s 2005 LOVE COOK sold 835,333 units. On the other hand, Namie Amuro struts her stuff in choreographed routines all the time wearing skimpy skirts, short-shorts and in her latest PV, a whip and tight leather. Her latest album, 2005’s Queen of Hip-Hop? 475,600 units. Interesting.

Friday night shuffle XIII

I put the ol’ iRiver on shuffle and post the first five songs that come up.

B’z – ULTRA SOUL: B’z is an incredibly popular pop rock band from Japan. The duet has regularly released music for almost two decades since 1988, managing to produce fifteen original albums. B’z is, however, a case of quantity over quality and I have never been entirely convinced that their music is relatable and deserving of the acclaim they receive. However, Tak Matsumoto and Koshi Inaba are quite capable of producing radio-friendly songs and “ULTRA SOUL” is one exception to my dismissal. With a catchy chorus accompanying an almost synth rock quality amidst a refreshingly open guitar solo, “ULTRA SOUL” was a fantastic single when it was released in the Spring of 2001, but it makes an even better summer single for any year.

MSTRKRFT – Work On You: For a while there, I was really getting into electronic-dance music, you know, when it seemed all the hipsters and college kids were switching from stale indie-rock to upbeat dance music like this song here…until I realized how freakin’ annoying electro-pop can be in large quantities. While I still think it’s an incredible genre filled with unique and incredibly talented artists like Cut Copy (and I can’t freakin’ wait for their new album), Junior Boys, and Venus Hum, I’m becoming wary of music that seems a mish-mash of bleeps and bloops and robot voices. On that note, how many more remixes of Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E.” can we hear before the album drops on the 11th? For realz.

Erasure – A Little Respect (Acoustic Version): Erasure is a popular synth pop outfit that began releaing music in 1985. However, despite their consistent releases, the group still retains only a cult following, perhaps for their cult classic “A Little Respect,” a typical 80s pop number from 1988. This version is an acoustic rendition of the single, and while it’s interesting to hear a toned-down rendition of the song, I do recommend you track down the original, as the acoustics do little illustrate the quirky nature of the original.

Ashlee Simpson – Boyfriend (Garcia & Page Club Mix): Don’t judge me!!

Hans Zimmer – Drink Up Me Hearties: From everybody’s favorite movie starring pirates, this is the final song played in the very last scene of the trilogy. While I applaud Hans Zimmer’s entire discography and his ability to take over where Klaus Badelt left off on the original soundtrack, I am however, almost appalled how similar Zimmer’s latest pieces are beginning to sound (compare The Da Vinci’s Code’s “Chevaliers de Sangreal” to “One Day” off of the same Pirates soundtrack and you’ll get an idea of what I mean). However, you don’t really need to worry too much about that in this song, as it’s basically yet another take on the classic theme song that everybody is getting sick of.

Big summer for Japan’s pop princesses: Ayu, Hikki, Namie

After a string of lackluster releases in the Spring and an absence of releases from some of my favorite artists, the summer is finally lookin’ up thanks to Japan‘s pop princesses (and yes, I am leaving out Koda Kumi and Ai Otsuka on purpose)…

It’s extremely uncommon for Ayumi Hamasaki to go on unofficial “hiatus,” and by that I mean, of course, release anything more than three or four months apart. For the past eight years of her career, Hamasaki has exclusively released tracks within months of each other, either through the medium of singles, remix albums, compilations, or albums. However, following the release of February’s A BEST 2, Hamasaki has ceased to release any new material, instead, spending her time touring outside of Japan in Asia for the first time. As her rigorous concert schedule has taken up most of her time this Spring, fans back home were left pining for new material. Fortunately, it has recently been announced that Hamasaki will release her obligatory summer single on July 18. Although the tracklist is still unconfirmed, it will contain at least two new songs, “glitter” and “fated,” both used in conjuncture with advertising conglomerates (a commercial tie-in for “glitter,” while “fated” will be used in the trailers and as the theme of upcoming movie Ghost Story – I don’t know much about the movie, but you can always check out the official site).

Already fans are speculating about the mood of the songs, as Hamasaki is known for her upbeat and almost nauseatingly summery releases, complete with promotional videos shot teeming with beach scenes and panoramic views of oceans. However, judging by the preview of “fated,” fans should rest assured about at least one half of the single, a slower number outside of “july 1st” or “BLUE BIRD” sentiment.

♫ Kiss & Cry

Hikaru Utada is also slated to officially release a new single in July, however, the single was already up for grabs at Japan’s iTunes on May 31 and has subsequently made its rounds on the Internet. This song is notable for having an opening big-band orchestra feel with heavy drum beats…and most surprisingly, segueways into the melody of “Hotel Lobby,” a song already featured on Utada’s 2004 American crossover album EXODUS.

As per her last few lyrics, the song deals with themes like love that are universal despite a person’s background (“Delinquents, model students, teachers / are all the same when they fall in love“) and also, in vain of “Keep Tryin’,” comments, tongue-in-cheek, on the present face of society (“Dad’s layoff, brother’s internet, mom’s on a diet, diet, diet“). The official single will also contain a second song that fans will have to wait to hear.

♫ Hide & Seek

And finally, in order to finish our big J-pop princess releases, I can’t fail to mention Namie Amuro’s new album, PLAY, set to be released at the end of June. Amuro’s last album, Queen of Hip-Pop made a big splash as the follow up to 2003’s STYLE, and contributed to the changing style of Amuro’s music which now centers around, what else? American-style hip hop, complete with imitations of Lil’ John’s “YEAH!” Since the album, Amuro has released a string of successful singles like “White Light,” “CAN’T SLEEP, CAN’T EAT, I’M SICK,” and most recently “FUNKY TOWN,” all which are confirmed to be present on the album alongside several new tracks. One new song, “Hide & Seek,” has already been released for radio-play and promotion. The song is another hip hop melody with plenty of synth streaks to round out the less than organic sound best played with high bass. Upbeat and with liberal use of Engrish, the song is bound to please fans of Queen of Hip-Pop.

Chihiro Onitsuka’s “everyhome”

Chihiro Onitsuka / everyhome / May 30, 2007
♫ 01. everyhome / 02. MAGICAL WORLD / 03. Himitsu

I honestly prefer sticking to writing reviews of music that I enjoy because I’d rather someone attempt taking away something from the whole sitting down to read a whole album review before downloading the track to see if it’s all I’ve hyped it up to be experience (roughly 3% of the readers; according to my statistics, about 83% of visitors spend less than 3o seconds on the site at a time. I’m guessing they’re just scrolling to see what’s for download, then take the file and leave. Nice). However, about two months ago I did a short post about Chihiro Onitsuka’s big comeback, aka, her first single release since October 2004. With almost three full years of rest and absence from the media, I’d figure Onitsuka would offer something of “Rasen” or even “Beautiful Fighter” proportions of awesomeness, and thus, deliberately anticipated the days leading to May 30 and made a bit of a hoopla of the whole thing and now find it my obligation to report back.

It’s not that I just like Onitsuka; she has real talent. With a fantastic composition style, interesting and basic, sticking to organic instruments like the violin, piano, and acoustic guitar, she manipulates music to convey her sentiments in the style of, say, Jewel, but with enthusiasm and zeal that many in her field fail to muster. Sure, she branched out from time to time to compose some more rock n’ roll driven numbers, but for the most part, her forte has and seems, always will be, those heart-wrenching ballads, but on a lesser, more accesible scale. Unfortunately, Onitsuka’s latest release, “everyhome,” which contains three original new compositions, is lackluster and almost mundane in delivery. From the reluctant lyrics that lack the passion and ambition of songs like “BORDERLINE” where Onitsuka takes us to heights beyond reality in order to relate her bouts of sadness and make the listener feel empathetic towards the situation, regardless of whether or not the listener actually speaks Japanese or can discern the brief bits of carefully woven English. Instead, the title track leaves the listener with little discernible emotion aside from ennui. The second track leaves much to be desired as well: another stripped down melody based on piano and accompanied by Onitsuka’s vocals which attempt desperately to convey a feeling of perhaps anxiety, but leaves the listener grasping for a semblance to hang on to, something that can prove their time is gladly forfeited to care, but failing to find one worthy enough to even offer their condolences.

The third track, “Himitsu,” picks up the pace of the disc’s solemnity, retaining a classic rock vibe that brings to mind the struggle of the audience of VH1’s Rock Honors to rock out to the reunion of Phil Collins’s Genesis. What remained was an audience staring blank-eyed and unmoving at halfhearted guitar solos and a man frantically straining to capture his youth once more, but unable to catch the attention of a crowd Hell bent on watching Ozzy perform. And much like Phil Collins’s space in my music collection, Onitsuka’s latest single fails to make me want to have anything to do with it.

♫ Official Site
♫ Buy everyhome