Via: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/05/hatsune-miku-japan-hologram-pop-star
Seriously, when I first saw this - and in the Guardian's weekend Guide accompaniment, no less - I was pretty over the moon. Coming as it did during the peak of my Miku obsession (I'd just got my hands on a copy of Project Diva F2nd, ok?) it felt like everything Miku-related was cresting toward some kind of cultural singularity.
She'd performed on David Letterman, mainstream Western press was writing about her - and seriously too, not as a gimmick to be dismissed out of hand. Give it another year or two, I told myself, and then we'll be really making some headway. Maybe she'd even have a Gangnam Style mega-viral hit and the gates of Heaven / J-Pop cornucopia would be unleashed on the West at long last.
Or maybe that's just wishful thinking...
Friday 5 December 2014
Sunday 4 May 2014
Noisey: ''Trying to Make Sense of British J-Pop Fans''
Via: http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/blog/trying-to-make-sense-of-british-j-pop-fans-kyaru-pamyu-pamyu-shepherds-bush
As it stands, this piece is the top-ranking article when you search for 'j pop uk' on Google. When I first read it, I found it tackled the subject pretty well, and certainly seemed more invested in the aesthetic of just why people like J-Pop than many similar pieces. But that said - and as some people mention in the comments of the piece itself - it also falls a little far from the mark in terms of addressing the wider genre and giving it the respect it deserves.
As is so often the case with Western pieces on J-Pop, there remains a fine line between being genuinely 'into' the scene/culture/whatever you want to call it, and dismissing it as part of the whole 'Weird Japan' rhetoric. This piece felt like it fell somewhere in-between, and as someone who attended the Kyary Pamyu Pamyu gig in question and thoroughly enjoyed it, I continue to maintain that it's too easy to get caught up in the whole 'THE COSTUMES' angle - despite it being the easiest, most story-worth angle to take with it.
I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with VICE/Noisey - for years I disliked the brand and the culture/aesthetic it tried to capture (although I'm a lot fonder of the Noisey content as for the most part, it skews more away from some of the Gonzo/'hipstser' excesses of the wider brand). But at the end of the day, I kind of feel like even if it misses the mark in some areas, pieces like this are to be applauded regardless as, after all - don't they saw all publicity is good publicity? In the case of J-Pop coverage in the UK, I'm inclined to think so.
As it stands, this piece is the top-ranking article when you search for 'j pop uk' on Google. When I first read it, I found it tackled the subject pretty well, and certainly seemed more invested in the aesthetic of just why people like J-Pop than many similar pieces. But that said - and as some people mention in the comments of the piece itself - it also falls a little far from the mark in terms of addressing the wider genre and giving it the respect it deserves.
As is so often the case with Western pieces on J-Pop, there remains a fine line between being genuinely 'into' the scene/culture/whatever you want to call it, and dismissing it as part of the whole 'Weird Japan' rhetoric. This piece felt like it fell somewhere in-between, and as someone who attended the Kyary Pamyu Pamyu gig in question and thoroughly enjoyed it, I continue to maintain that it's too easy to get caught up in the whole 'THE COSTUMES' angle - despite it being the easiest, most story-worth angle to take with it.
I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with VICE/Noisey - for years I disliked the brand and the culture/aesthetic it tried to capture (although I'm a lot fonder of the Noisey content as for the most part, it skews more away from some of the Gonzo/'hipstser' excesses of the wider brand). But at the end of the day, I kind of feel like even if it misses the mark in some areas, pieces like this are to be applauded regardless as, after all - don't they saw all publicity is good publicity? In the case of J-Pop coverage in the UK, I'm inclined to think so.
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