I have always loved music. Music talent runs in my family — my maternal grandfather was a composer and songwriter (among other things). As a child, I loved singing and dancing with a passion, although I was often teased for it, so I’m very shy about it. My preschool teacher even noted in my progress report how much I loved to sing. I played flute and piccolo in grade school, and everything I know about singing I learned from my flute teacher. I regret not taking music theory in high school, as songwriting is a talent I greatly admire and envy, but I was just too shy. These days I’ve rekindled my love for singing and dancing by going to karaoke with my friends and dancing with my idol cover group, Angel Hearts. Japanese pop music is my favorite genre and has become practically the only thing I listen to. I am also OBSESSED with idols, real or fictional. They are all the things I love — cuties with charming personalities who sing, dance, and wear fabulous outfits. But how did I get into J-pop?
When I was little I loved listening to my dad’s music (like The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Johnny Mathis, and classical music). As I got older, my favorite thing to listen to was video game music. I had a few game soundtracks, but sometimes I would turn on a game just to listen to the music (this is probably where my fondness for techno and electronic music came from). As I started getting into anime, I discovered that I could buy anime and game CDs in Chinatown. Although I woke up to the radio every morning, I never really got into American pop music (is this where I tell the story of how N*Sync performed at my high school before they were famous? Wait I just dated myself… and besides, I liked Backstreet Boys better).
I started meeting more anime fans online, and we would sometimes talk about music. I was listening to more anime soundtracks at this point — Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo, Macross, Key the Metal Idol, Record of Lodoss War, Card Captor Sakura, etc. When I discovered Bust A Move (the dance game, not the puzzle game), I instantly fell in love with Kitty-N, the dancing catgirl idol (this game was the reason I finally got a PlayStation). Kitty-N had a J-pop song as her theme song, and back then there was a huge difference between the quality of anime music and mainstream J-pop. My online friends told me, if you like Kitty-N’s theme so much, you should listen to some REAL J-pop. I visited a friend, and he burned me four CD’s full of songs and music videos. Thus started my music video and idol obsession.
My favorite group from what my friend had given me was SPEED, which wasn’t really an idol group, but they were the “Princesses of J-pop” back then. Takako Uehara became my first idol obsession, and she was just starting her solo career. I bought all her CD’s and photobooks and downloaded all the videos and pictures I could. She wasn’t the best singer, but she was so pretty and I liked her style and sound.
When I went to college, I made more friends who were into anime, games, and J-pop. They were also really into SES, so I got my first taste of K-pop then as well. We were constantly downloading and sharing music videos, and we all started getting into Morning Musume and Hello! Project. Hello! Project pretty much dominated J-pop idol music at that time, and it was then that my love of idols really expanded. I was a big H!P fangirl for a long time, and an especially big Aya Matsuura fan. She really had an amazing voice an was an extremely talented singer and performer. She was the perfect idol, the “Idol of All Idols”, who was always super cute and energetic. She never lost her composure or showed her bad side. She started out singing really cutesy, fun songs, but as she matured she started singing more songs with meaningful lyrics about being a good person and persevering through life. She is now retired due to health reasons, and recently got married. I hope she is doing well, but I miss her music. Her songs are some of my favorites to sing at karaoke.
Once I got into Hello! Project, I started watching concerts, variety shows, and Japanese music shows — anything I could get my paws on. The music shows introduced me to a lot of other groups. I discovered Johnny’s Entertainment when Kanjani8 made their big debut with “Naniwa Iroha Bushi”, which is still one of my favorite songs. Johnny’s Entertainment is the main source of J-pop idol boybands and produced groups like SMAP and Arashi. Arashi is currently one of the most popular music groups in all of Japan.
I started downloading every J-pop music video I could find (this was before YouTube). This was how I discovered TVXQ, a Korean boyband and one of my all-time favorite groups. Still, I mostly only listened to their Japanese songs. I could go on forever about my favorite J-pop groups and singers. Unfortunately, when AKB48 and all its related groups hit the scene and pretty much took over, I started losing interest. I’m sorry, but AKB is one group I cannot support — put simply, I don’t believe in the concept behind the group and the way the girls are exploited. At that time, THE IDOLM@STER, a game about training idols, started becoming more popular, and I diverted all my attention to that series (but that is a post for another time). Now there are so many anime series about idols, and they all have great music… how times have changed! So even though I don’t like AKB, I can still get my idol fix from all the great idol anime out there.
Recently a friend of mine who is into K-pop tried pushing various K-pop groups on me. K-pop has started to invade Japan as well, but for the most part I am not a fan of the K-pop aesthetic (they’re more into the bad boy/bad girl image). I was curious though, and started looking up Korean groups that had released songs in Japan. It was then that I discovered U-KISS, which is now my #1 favorite group, bumping TVXQ to #2. They are true idols — not just great singers and dancers, but charming boys who really care about their fans. I started to realize that the Korean groups who are popular in Japan are also some of my favorite groups. You can’t deny how hardworking and skilled Korean groups are (their dance choreography is particularly amazing), and the groups that are more active in Japan have more of the softer, cuter Japanese aesthetic. It’s the best of both worlds!
I was lucky to be able to see TVXQ in concert last year when they came to Los Angeles. Then just this past weekend, I saw U-KISS in San Francisco (more on that in my next post~)! It’s really amazing to be able to see these idols perform live in America. I hope Asian pop music continues to expand across the world and more groups will come to perform here! Of course, it would be a dream come true to be able to go to an idol concert in Japan. Until then, I will continue to watch all the videos and support my idols from home! …and of course, occasionally join in the fun by cosplaying idols and performing their songs. ♥