Yamamoto Sho's Essential Songs Before and After Fruits Zipper
Tracing the producer's body of work from Phenotas to Fruit Zipper's big hit
This feature is part of Idol Watch #20. You can return to the main column here.
FRUITS ZIPPER have been on TV a whole lately after winning Best New Artist at last year’s Japan Record Awards, largely thanks to their 2022 hit, “Watashi No Ichiban Kawaii Iitokoro.” The group has released a number of singles since, but despite efforts to branch out to different styles, the sound and lyrical style introduced in their breakout single have practically stuck on as their main mode. And lately, the song’s bubbly, kitchen-sink funk and meta-ditzy lyrics has been becoming motifs defining a new personality of cute within idol songs.
The musician behind the influential single is Yamamoto Sho, who’s been contributing to idol music as a lyricist, composer as well as arranger for nearly a decade now. The roots of the lyrical and musical tropes found on “Watashi No…” can be traced all the way back to the ‘80s-nostalgic synth-pop duo Phenotas, his first notable project formed in 2012. But it wouldn’t crystallize into its current popular form until arguably 2020 when he handed in the debut single for the now-defunct group Rirunede. In between that eight-year window, he’s been involved with a whole crew of idol groups who aren’t so far in proximity from FRUIT ZIPPER.
While attempting to break down exactly why “Watashi No…” is a great record, I also wanted to dig deep into its DNA especially because its stylistic make-up has been germinating into today’s idol music. And so below, we will look back into the standouts from Yamamoto Sho’s discography as it pertains to the development of “Watashi No…” as well as idol releases that can be labeled post-FRUIT ZIPPER. We will start from the beginning until we reach “Watashi No…” and then continue to the songs that gesture to its influence.
“Kawaii Dake Ja Damemitai” by Phenotas [Universal, 2013]
Yamamoto has been stuck in a retro zone since his days making music as Phenotas, a duo formed with singer-songwriter MICO. And with the dinky synths and funk guitar licks as seemingly separate entities in the production, their work resembles more music made by a live band. But much of his funk-sourced materials are already assembled here, ready to be shaken up into idol-pop instrumentals. Paired with the high vocal tones of MICO, it’s not too hard to see how Phenotas would cross paths with idol acts like Dempagumi.inc and Yufu Terashima—some of the names that will play key to Yamamoto’s own involvement with idol music.
As essential as the music, the lyrics of “Kawaii Dake a Damemitai” teases the meta songwriting he will hand to idols almost a decade later. From the impression of the lyrics, the girl in this Phenotas track knows the game too well. “Girls want to be called the cutest, the cutest in the world / so they want to change but they can’t,” she sings in the pouting chorus that details the chase like a play-by-play commentary. While the duo also reveal a sliver of insecurity as they give a wink to the audience, the self-obsession for looking cute inherent in FRUIT ZIPPER’ viral hit take root here.
…from 2013nen, Natsu EP (2013). Listen to it on Spotify.
“Mimi No Nakae” by Earphones [EVIL LINE, 2015]
This early track by seiyuu trio Earphones marks one of the first arrangements from Yamamoto after the disbandment of Phenotas, and it already features the hallmark sounds that populate his big singles today. This being a song based on 2D idols, the rock elements of his past band are subdued in favor of a more dempa-influenced beat. He embellishes the bright production with plinking xylophones and lazer-gun synths—Fisher-Price sounds a little reminiscent to the songs by a particular pop star from Kawaii Lab’s head agency ASOBISYSTEM. Maybe it’s missing a hint of bubbly brass or jazzy keyboards, though it’s not far off from the idol songs of the current day.
…from MIRACLE MYSTERY TOUR (2015). Listen to it on Spotify.
“All We Need Is Love Story” by The Dance for Philosophy [PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD, 2016]
Though the group’s core musical concept of classic funk and disco aligns so well with the producer’s own tastes, The Dance for Philosophy only had Yamamoto as their chief lyricist up until their third album. But the love-obsessed, fourth-wall-breaking writing of his future records is teased out in DFP’s third single, “All We Need Is Love Story.” The idols sing in a candidly conversational style about the unspoken rules on dating: “It’s hard when it’s just the two of us / but we can start conversation, right?,” they playfully inquire as though they’re asking directly to the listeners with a wink. DFP would go on to express a self-sufficient ethos that’s outside of the ditzy-cute idol mold yet that open talk with the audience carries on as an echo in Yamamoto’s works.
…from FUNKY BUT CHIC (2017). Listen to it on Spotify.
“Mou Watashi Wo Suki Ni Natteru Kimie” by Rirunede [DearStage, 2020]
After many arrangement and lyric-writing gigs for dozens of idol groups, Yamamoto strikes the sound and lyrical style central to his later signature works in this single by the now-defunct Rirunede. There’s the effervescent funk production decorated with what sounds like a set of kiddie instruments spilling out of a toy box, but what’s essential is the self-referential lyrics. As the idols obsessively tend to their looks, they constantly address you, the one who they’re putting all this work in for—“the person who’s already starting to love me” as mentioned in the title. The song breaks the fourth wall as the three directly acknowledges the fan on the other side through their fishing gestures yet they also simultaneously feigns ignorance of any self-awareness. More than its bubbly sound, the calculating nature behind the affair plants the seeds for his big hit.
…from Rirune! Rirune! Rirune! (2021). Listen to it on Spotify.
“Watashi No Ichiban Kawaii Tokoro” by FRUITS ZIPPER [KAWAII LAB, 2022]
Perhaps left as just its instrumental, the bright, fizzy funk of “Watashi No Ichiban Kawaii Tokoro” is easier to trace to the earlier singles by The Dance for Philosophy. But as soon as FRUITS ZIPPER start laying down their vocals, it’s hard to mistake the song as being done by anyone else. And I say “laying down their vocals” since the idols instead hang in this aloof sing-speak, detouring in topic other line. “The words I heard 30 seconds after being born / I obviously don’t remember / but I’m sure I was happy,” goes the opening lyric.
A term like burikko has existed to describe the idol who fishes for attention while being not-so-slick about her attempts, and yet FRUIT ZIPPER seem to operate in a slightly different manner in this song. Burikko idols of the past gestured with partial self-awareness of their actions with some exaggeration to hint at the awareness from both idol and audience. But FRUIT ZIPPER don’t sound sly or passive-aggressive as they do just plainspoken despite the absurd amount of self-obsession on display in the chorus: “You’re the most amazing / for noticing the cutest thing about me / and I’m the most cutest person you know,” they sing. “I noticed that too!” They go about their attention-seeking lyrics without making a fuss; they hardly give a wink with their gestures. And it’s this cunning persona that sets this song apart from the rest of the cute, fishing idol anthems.
Listen to it on Spotify.
“Wazato Azato Expert” by Iginari Tohokusan [Stardust Promotions, 2023]
If FRUIT ZIPPER with Yamamoto Sho gave it a sound, Iginari Tohokusan pitched the term in which to name the cunning, attention-seeking persona unique to this kind of idol song: azatoi. While steeped in frazzled synths than brass funk, the arrangements of “Wazato Azato Expert” retain the twinkling tones and tumbling, kitchen-sink feel found in Yamamoto’s pioneered sound. The idols, too, sound restless in their attempts to steal their crush’s attention but while also profusely hiding their desperation. Far less slick with their moves than FRUIT ZIPPER, Iginari Tohokusan make an example of themselves instead on the failed attempt on being calculating: “The Story I posted on purpose / and I check your footprints / don’t call me azatoi / because I love you, I love you,” they stammer in the chorus with preemptive excuses. But it highlights the hunger for attention and Likes on social media that’s become increasingly topical in idol songs, thanks to FRUIT ZIPPER.
Listen to it on Spotify.
“Otonarisan” by TEAM SHACHI [Stardust Promotions, 2023]
Two years since “Watashi No Ichiban Kawaii Tokoro,” the sound of Yamamoto Sho has become practically synonymous with FRUIT ZIPPER. Never mind that he spent years contributing music for groups like Batten Shojotai and ukka from Stardust honing that sound, or that he also currently produces a local idol group of his own. From the first few seconds of its carbonated funk, TEAM SHACHI’s newest single recalled FRUIT ZIPPER before the credits revealed Yamamoto’s name; the pouted, nagging sing-speak assumed by the four further drives the point home. The combo is undeniably his signature at this point, where even its deviants can be aptly described as “FRUIT ZIPPER gone wrong.” And it’s a signature constantly in demand by many groups out right now.
…from Warau Mon Ni Way Fuku Kiru. Listen to it on Spotify.
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