Idol Watch #18: May/June 2023
It's the boy group edition of the idol music column!
Hi! Welcome to Idol Watch, a bi-monthly companion newsletter to This Side of Japan that’s all about Japanese idols! You can also check out past issues from this year: January & February / March & April
Eighteen issues in, the coverage of music by male idol groups so far has been admittedly slim in Idol Watch. It’s nothing personal: the boys simply get outnumbered by the girls every time during the selection process. So this edition of the column is dedicated all to the boys partly because there have been a number of fun, exciting singles from them this year. I wanted to keep the picks diverse in tier level as much as sound, so I invited Myrna, a returning contributor to Idol Watch, to help cover groups from the more underground, menchika side of idol. Enjoy!
Oh, and I put together a list of my 50 favorite idol songs of 2023 so far! You can check out the list here.
“Suki Te Itte Choudai” by illumi/nate [self-released]
For a taste of the music and personality of the groups under Loop Loop inc., the songs they typically choose to cover tells as much as their own singles. Case in point: a member from illumi/nate partnered with someone from company mates 7riot to cover Not Equal Love’s cutesy B-side “Summer Chocolate,” down to the sweets-making that ensues in the original’s music video. An orthodox idol production similar to Rino Sashihara’s house of idols drives illumi/nate’s “Suki Te Itte Choudai” not just in the twinkly power-pop but its structure with spaces seemingly left for live calls. In the titular chorus, too, they sing of an almost burikko type of show of affection, clamoring for your attention. From sound to lyrical perspective, “Suki Te Itte Choudai” faithfully follows the stuff of girl groups.
Listen to it on Spotify.
“Vibes Vibes” by BOYSGROUP [WACK]
WACK was never prepared to debut a male idol group. Despite having two different streamed auditions to select the members, and gathering talents like Seiko Oomori and Toi Tachibana from DISH//, the group just didn’t seem to get the same attention fellow WACK groups get. Even though they disbanded after only four months of being active, the tracks they left behind remain catchy and fun. “Vibes Vibes” is the perfect encapsulation of the group's charm, showing the promise of what the group was capable of. —Myrna
We are BOYSGROUP is out now. Listen to it on Spotify.
“FANFARE” by INI [LAPONE]
Loudness plays front and center of “FANFARE” from sound to lyrical conceit: “Fanfare echo throughout the world / if you can hear me / just watch, I’ll go my way,” goes the boasting titular bridge. The style hop from the sleek, literal suit-and-tie funk of “New Day” to a big blast of electric-guitar rawk already makes quite a showing for INI, though the single packs a punch not just through volume but also velocity. That knockout of a chorus, especially: it explodes into a thunderous roar in competition with the brassy drops of Stray Kids but strikes with a lean swiftness in line with the Machine Gun Kelly school of pop-went-punk. Catch me if you can, they seem to say as they zoom past with guns blazing.
DROP That is out now. Listen to it on Spotify.
“Melty Envy” by YUMEKUINEON [RINDO]
If you are even slightly into menchika, or underground idol music in general, you probably stumbled upon YUMEKUINEON’s semi-viral cover of “Kodoku Asobi” in your Youtube recommendations. Bright, colorful and circus-troupe-like, the group has been growing steadily in popularity in the last year. “Melty Envy” might not be the group’s goofiest, but it shows more of the group’s musical charm. —Myrna
Listen to it on Spotify.
“Sekai De Ichiban Baka Dakedo Daisukida” by Fairy Felis [self-released]
The title of this Fairy Felis track—which I’d roughly translate as “I’m the Dumbest in the World But I Love You”—from the group’s new self-titled EP aptly describes the scatterbrained music, the denpa-inspired synth-pop firing stray synth bleeps like it’s experiencing a malfunction. But I also find in the track a charm that’s partly derived from the bold title in a more literal way, where a infatuation renders the idols into such single-minded beings, it’s like they were programmed to think about nothing else but the ones who they pine for.
fairy felis is out now. Listen to it on Spotify.
“Summer Isosceles Triangle” by Genin Wa Jibun Ni Aru [SDR]
Genin Wa Jibun Ni Aru’s new Foxy Grape EP offers the rococo funk they’re known for, whether in the title track’s flamboyant stadium R&B or zippy, VocaloP-like freakouts in “Scab Rhapsody for Blank.” Yet I return to the more simple pleasures found in the closing track “Summer Isosceles Triangle.” The arcane trigonometry reference is just a roundabout way to say the boys are stuck in a love triangle, forced to watch their love be together with someone admittedly better than them. And what else to deliver a classic tale than the classic boy-band sound of New Jack Swing? Coming from a group known to stuff sounds to the brim, the breezy music hits refreshing as it does charming.
Foxy Grape is out now. Listen to it on Spotify.
“conexion amigo” by Peter Pan Syndrome [anarchy]
As one of the longest standing groups in the menchika scene, Peterpan Syndromes’ disbandment in March 2022 was a sad announcement for many. Fortunately, that didn’t last long: In December 2022, they announced a comeback with a brand new lineup and music. “conexión amigo” is the third installment in the “lost amigo” trilogy, marking a fresh start for the group. —Myrna
lost amigo trilogy is out now. Listen to it on Spotify.
“slow…” by Snow Man [MENT]
The titular hook to this single doubles as self-advice well heeded for Snow Man after a rather minor showing, music wise, this year. The icy hip-hop production subtracts as much as it winds down in speed and tempo, constructing a sonic world made up of mostly bass and echoes of synths for the Johnny’s stars. The idols meanwhile lure you closer so you can hear their inquiries better, only for the faux-chorus to ultimately consume you whole with its seismic bass drop. While their peers in SixTONES go for rowdiness to leave an impression, Snow Man deliver a more elusive, hypnotic pop.
i DO ME is out now.
“Yume Wa Yume No Mama” by MA55IVE THE RAMPAGE [Avex Trax]
The rapper-focused subunit of RAMPAGE THE EXILE puts aside their brassy aggro-trap for a second to flirt with the dance-pop sound of the current moment. “Yume Wa Yume No Mama” takes a sample of the sweetened brand of Jersey club, with bed squeaks and all, that’s slowly making waves from East Coast hip-hop into today’s pop world—is someone from LDH listening to 2Rare? “Please God, make this love come true / ends with you summer time,” the group pleads as they clutch on to what the skipping drums make sound like a fluttering heart beat, capturing the crush-induced swoon alluded in the dreamy title.
Listen to it on Spotify.
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