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Japan JApan JAPan JAPAn JAPAN!
Want to know more about Japan Music, Read On! I'm sure you won't regret! Love, Joslyn and Stella.

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Hi!!!!! I'm Joslyn, plus Stella!
That's all you need to know! :p





J-Pop!

Monday, August 2, 2010 5:18 AM

"Hey guys!
 
Joslyn here.
 
Anyway, I've just realized that we've been talking a lot about tradiational music, but not on today's culture on... J-pop! (ok, the title spoils the surprise...). Yes! Random fact here; did you know that Japan is the has the second largest and most popular music industries for pop music? That's so cool. But then again, it's no surprise since Japan has super talented artistes, especially from this music agency called Johnny's Entertainment (J.E)
 
So a little about Jpop would be the fact that it started to gain popularity after the WWII. Of course, Emperor Showa was still in reign at that time and even though he no longer had as much power and influence anymore, the whole idea of anti-Western ideas was still pretty much present. Then came along a few pioneers that established various recodring agencies around the '50s to the '60s. Most of these founders were either overseas educated or they had lived there.
 
Fast forwarding to the 80's and 90's, there was a sudden demand for Jpop artistes. I mean, that was not a surprise as it was during and post bubble era where Japan began to accept new ideas. Soon, bands like Southern All Stars and SMAP began to imerge. This caused a sudden trend and popularity of boy bands and "pretty boys", which kinda pretty much continues until today.
 
Upon entering the 21st century, many boy bands had their debuts. They were also getting younger and younger. As for the female artistes such as Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru, they began expending their career towards the U.S market, much like a lot of K-pop bands are doing right now. At J.E boys could have their singing debut as a band as early as the age of 13 (which was very young...in 2000). In 2007, the youngest unit, from JE as well, notably Hey! sAY! BEST, became the youngest ever to reach No.1 on the Japanese music charts. They were only about 12-15 then. Also, since 2003, the Japanese have been producing really HUGE bands like AKB48 (48 members), Morning Musume (8 members) and Hey! Say! JUMP (10 members). Not that they are all that unpopular. :)
 
In terms of style, J-pop is very much like normal English pop. However, they have a standard list of words that are included in the majority of songs (well, seemingly). Thiis includes stuff like "smile (or smiling face", "running with hope", "the infinite blue sky" etc. Presently, more artists are putting in Enlgish lyrics in. Acceoting ideas indeed. Japanese people really want to learn English, so I think that's kinda cool for them to try something new like that. Une style nouveau :)  Most songs are very poetic and carry acertain meaning, usually concernng love or life encouragements. Which is why Jpop has been keeping me anti depressed for the past 4 years. LOL.
 
Some notable J-pop artistes/bands include the following:
 
-Ayumi Hamasaki, 
- Arashi, 
- NEWS
- Hey! Say! JUMP
- KAT-TUN, 
- SMAP, 
- BoA
- Utada Hikaru
- AKB48
- Yuya Matsushita
- SCANDAL
- Girl Next Door, 
- GReeeeN,
- YUI
 
...and many more.
 
J-pop artistes are very talented. Mainly, all of them can sing, dance and act really well. An excellent example will be Arashi, a JE band. They are well-known for their stage plays and TV dramas, great TV hosts, dancers, singers and movie stars (Ninomiya Kazunari acted in Letters From Iwo Jima). If you go and search their debut song, A.RA.SHI on youtube, I would seriously like to see Justin Bieber perform as well as they can. They were only about 16-18 when they sang it. So awesonme!!!
 
Overall, I LOVE J-pop. I live and breathe it (even though somethings are just so ridiculous, I cant help but poke fun at). But it's too bad that Singapore doesnt have much of their stuff around, unless you're willing to pay a bomb for shipping fees online. Which is a wonder why how I managed to get to know about J-pop. Anyway, Singapore says that we're being more open to the Asian music market, but hello? Whatever happened to Japan? Why are the stuff so expensive as compared to KPOP? *frowns* Oh well. It will change someday :)
 
Love, Joslyn
 
Sources:
- www.wikipedia.com
- www.google.com
- www.johnnys-net.jp
- www.youtube.com
- off the top of my head
- Yamashita Tomohisa's Facebook Fan Group
- Yuya Matsushita's Facebook Fan Group
- J-storm website"