Idol Watch #4: July & August 2020
Rounding up the best idol singles from the past couple months, featuring Melon Batake A Go Go, RYUTist, Angerme and more... plus a playlist for Rock Band: Idol Edition!
Hi! Welcome to Idol Watch, a bi-monthly companion to This Side of Japan that’s all about Japanese idols! You can check out previous installments from this year here: January & February / March & April / May & June
My dear friend and amazing writer/radio personality Nathan Stevens recently put together a Spotify playlist he called Guitar Hero of the 2010s in which he listed rock songs from the last decade that would be great to play on the video game Guitar Hero. I jokingly pushed him to create a follow-up playlist for the Rock Band game, and because he is a great friend, he actually made that one too. About a week later, I thought it would be funny if I shared Nathan a song by Necronomidol, an idol group, as a late add, but my mind then went to an even stranger place: “what other idol songs would be fun to play on Rock Band?”
I followed that thought, and it led into its logical conclusion: a playlist of Rock Band: Japanese Idol Edition.
It’s worth thinking of idol songs as playable music on a rhythm game such as Rock Band. The exercise shifts the focus of the songs more to their musical inner workings, encouraging a closer listen to evaluate separate elements in the mix. How would I rank the drum parts in terms of gameplay difficulty? Are the guitars pronounced enough to consider it as a Rock Band-appropriate song?
The latter question entails you to think of an idol song more within the stylistic rules of rock music and its offshoots like metal, punk, power pop, etc. rather than this nebulous, market-based subgenre of idol music. It’s easier to determine the music by groups like Babymetal and Passcode, thanks to their referenced styles being very pronounced. This process becomes interesting for the more traditional groups like AKB48 or Wasuta, pushing you to figure out the influences that make up this singular idol sound at a molecular level. It forces you to answer the question, “what genre exactly is ‘Heavy Rotation’?” by using rock idioms as a guide.
You can check out the full list here along with a breakdown for some of the songs. You can listen to the playlist on Spotify and YouTube. A huge thanks goes to my friends Bacci and Myrna, who helped me brainstorm songs to add to this playlist.
Going back to our normally scheduled program, below are 10 idol songs that caught my attention during July and August.
“Shakespeare Ni Manabu Renaiteiri” by Genin Wa Jibun Ni Aru
When Battle Street first changed their name into Genin Wa Jibun Ni Aru and subsequently their entire creative vision last year, I saw them as a boy-group take on Enon Kawatani’s many projects including Gesu No Kiwami Otome. The frantic, angular guitar lines and speedy, run-on verses delivered echoed the jazz-rock band’s output while that similarly artsy-fartsy name tied the conceptual denseness together. But now with “Shakespeare Ni Manabu Renaiteiri”—or Shakespeare’s Theory of Love—I realize what’s closer in terms of influence are the Vocaloid-adjacent rock bands like Kobasolo or ZUTOMAYO that play with similarly knotty guitars and arcane lyricism. Plus, the lyric video also uses the visual aesthetic that graces an upload by YOASOBI or Yorushika.
My breakdown of GenJibu here may suggest otherwise, but I sincerely enjoy these guys, and “Shakespeare” is yet another step into a great direction. They complicate the put-on artsy-ness in a charming way, solving it with a lyrical cheesiness that, of course, references the playwright: “An unpredictable Shakespeare love story? / a kiss of to be or not to be,” goes a line in the chorus. They take a very roundabout way to express their feelings, the tangled music further obscuring their true face, but they can’t help but reveal a very soft center despite their best efforts.
Listen to it on Spotify.
See also: “Yume Ga Nai Boku Ga Yume Wo Mitanda” by The Coinlockers; “Ikenaikoto” by Miru Shiroma
“Pirate Queen Amazones” by Melon Batake A Go Go [Gollipop]
Living up to their self-proclaimed titled of “idols from outer space,” Melon Batake A Go Go establish such a fun, colorful world of their own in the group’s new album, To Idols to Us to You. The title of their lead single alone suggest a character straight out of a legend, and the garage-rock music attached to the song delivers on that promise with its jangling exuberance. The chorus sparks a big celebration—”tonight, we drink,” the idols declare—as they march ahead to the rambunctious rhythm and vow to never look back.
To Idols to Us to You is out now. Listen to it on Spotify.
See also: “CURTAiN CALL” by BiS; “Aimai” by Nousatsu Afterbeat
“Mona Lisa” by PIGGS [Pu Pu Land]
Pour Lui has made yet another return to the idol world, this time fronting a whole new group called PIGGS. If you followed the idol during her time with either BiS or Billie Idle, it’s not much of a surprise to hear her singing over a brazen punk riff such as the one in “Mona Lisa.” The single as well as much of the group’s solid full-length, Hallo PIGGS, echoes more of her later group through its shared interests with glam rock and ‘80s new wave. Despite the slightly gloomy lyrics—“Mona Lisa’s smile is gone / Should’ve been drawn by Renoir,” goes the sardonic chorus— “Mona Lisa” still wears a flashy sheen like their smile has yet to be wiped off completely.
Hallo PIGGS is out now. Listen to it on Spotify.
See also: “Miraizu” by Heikein Suimin 8jikan
“Axis” by B.O.L.T. [King]
B.O.L.T. had serious work to do after re-building itself last year from what was left of the now-defunct group Rock A Japonica, but the four-piece have now established a well-defined style to call their own through their new singles. Sound wise, “Axis” isn’t too off from their past few entries of feelgood pop punk led by power chords made for a Warped Tour set. The idols, however, cast the otherwise energetic song with a shade of ambivalence. “We keep running in the middle of the night / we can give reasons later,” they sing in unison in the chorus. They sound a tad unsure on exactly where they want to go here, but what’s certain is that they’re ready to keep moving forward.
Pop is out now. Listen to it on Spotify.
See also: “Sunrise” by Malcolm Mask McLaren; “Hero” by The Mishmash
“Alive” by RYUTist [Penguin Disc]
While RYUTist’s aesthetic of soft pop and light retro funk has historically made for bite-sized tracks, it lays the foundation of an ambitious epic in “Alive.” The music here feels not only gorgeous but also infinite as it patiently blooms throughout its nearly seven-minute running time. The group luxuriates in the beatific music, taking the time to cherish the beauty that surrounds them. “This scenery right in front of me / swipe it and layer it on top,” they sing in the chorus with sparkling clarity. “Yesterday / you / Tomorrow / myself / cut up / and I’ll give it all to you.” Their sense of awe at the world echoes so preciously, and it only grows as the arrangements expands in form.
Falsetto is out now. Listen to it on Spotify. You can also read about the album in issue #15.
See also: “Fever” by Kokone Suzuki; “Speaking of Summer” by Yureru Landscape
“Parade” by Sway Emotions Slightly [Leaders Record]
For “Parade,” Sway Emotions Slightly hone in on what they call “neo-emotional rock” that the trio firmly established in their recent album, Empathies. The single revs up buzzing, slightly melancholic riffs that wouldn’t be too out of place in a ‘00s emo-rock record, and the idols scream over the noise as though they’re overwhelmed by the rush. “Don’t disappear,” they call out in the chorus. “It’s starting, a parade / off somewhere / taking you away. Their anxieties pouring out of their voices only intensify as the guitars ups the speed and the bleeding reverb washes out the song.
Listen to the single on Spotify.
See also: “Goku Heibon No Aowa,” by CYNHN; “Aoi Hikari” by Gunjo No Sekai
“BWG” by Kaqriyoterror [Codomomental]
The minor tweak in the new Kaqriyoterror single is a lack of the usual electro-pop noises that lets the group’s digital metalcore feel even more haywire, and yet “BWG” ends up sounding restless anyway. The run from the opening verse gives whiplash as it weaves from the speedy vocal cadences, the main roaring metal riff, and the goth-metal interlude into finally the head-bashing chorus. Once you think you’re given calm to prep for the second, the pummeling guitars and screeching howls shut that down outright.
A new Kaqriyoterror album is out Sept. 9. Listen to the single on Spotify.
See also: “La Fin” by Juju; “Wish” by Yukueshirezu Tsurezure
“Signal” by Sora Tob Sakana [NBC Universal]
Sora Tob Sakana bid farewell with “Signal,” the lead single from the trio’s last album, Deep Blue. The group’s music usually displays a dynamic collision of math rock and cosmic electronica with the result often lighting up like fireworks, but their final song flickers a lot more subtly. The lyrics, too, are more cryptic with the idols speaking through fragmented yet evocative imagery. Rather than a flashy celebration, they leave behind a more unsettling last word as though they’ll continue to wander without a clear path long after they disband.
Deep Blue is out now. Listen to it on Spotify. You can also read about the album on issue #17.
See also: “I Don’t Cry Anymore” by EMPiRE
“Mirror, Mirror” by Angerme [Up-Front Works]
Angerme summon a shimmery funk cut deserving of a single that calls out “mirror, mirror / mirror, mirror ball / who’s the fairest?” as its titular hook. But as flashy as the music sounds, the Hello! Project idols aren’t exactly feeling the most glamorous. “I’m not a nice girl after all / this is really bad, I’ve got no confidence,” they lament, perhaps as they stare into themselves and play with their face in front of the reflecting glass. The idols’ plead for their true feelings to be understood hit even more bittersweet as those very words of insecurity are delivered by a set of strong, hearty vocals.
Kagiriaru Moment / Mirror, Mirror is out now.
See also: “Koi No Mirage” by Hitomi Arai; “Gozen 0ji No Sympathy” by Negicco
“Lumen” by 963 [Laughface]
“Lumen” marks the first briefing from 963’s upcoming new album, and it re-captures the brightness and looseness that made their self-titled debut so fun to listen to. The stylistic mix of idol hip-hop and dreamy synth-pop is unmistakably 963, pronounced “kurumi.” The improvement can be heard in the production’s slight electro touches, which helps hit the sophistication that their one-offs from last year aimed to achieve without losing the group’s main charm. If this as well as its chill B-side is any indication, the duo’s sophomore record should be promising.
Tick Tock is out now. Listen to the single on Spotify.
See also: “After Five” by O’chawanz; “Can’t Be a Good Girl” by Nani’n’Nerun?
The next issue of This Side of Japan is out September 2. You can check out previous issues here. You can check out previous installments of Idol Watch from this year here: January & February / March & April / May & June.