Steps for Descending into a Fandom

I’ve been hit by a sort of plague recently.

What plague? Well, you’ll find out soon enough after reading the rest of the post. Rest assured that it is not something to laugh at. (I fully expect you to laugh anyways.)

For now, here are Kimi’s steps to Johnny’s fandom. (This may also work for females and males of the less idol-tastic sort, but I can’t guarantee anything.)

The End of the Trilogy.

It’s out.

It’s over.

AAA’s going to disband.

The loves of my life… oh, wait, you’re not buying it, are you?

Okay, fine. AAA’s third album, AROUND, was released this past Wednesday, finishing off the series of albums based on their group name – ATTACK, ALL, and AROUND. Less than a year ago, fans were particularly concerned that with the release of this album, the group would disband. You’re done with the name, where to go next? Start piling on the letters?

Of course, less than a year ago, we also believed avex was sticking with the January 1st album release date trend. We also didn’t think Yukari was going to go. We certainly didn’t have any idea that AAA would show up at Otakon. (Okay, so perhaps the Otakon staff knew that.) See where that got us?

So! We’ve learned. No more speculation. Just. Listening. To pure pop… poppiness.

What A Beautiful World

I think I once remarked here that I didn’t listen to Utada Hikaru’s last single, Flavor of Life, until several months after it’d been released. But let’s be honest – the truth is, I didn’t listen to it until August, when the ballad version video happened to play on MTV Asia as I sat in my Beijing hotel room in utter boredom. Then I remembered that it was sitting stagnant on my MP3 Player, promptly brought up the single, and decided it wasn’t bad. Shame it took several months for me to discover that.

This time, thanks to varying factors like running out of space on my laptop (due to more rotting music videos, of course), I’m not pulling the same stunt with her latest, Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry. A very good thing indeed, because the first track has me utterly captivated.

I’m feeling more like Yakitori myself…

Show of hands, who remembers the TERIYAKI BOYZ?

Sure, they’re not that old, but it never hurts to cover your bases.

Normally I don’t post news here – the last news I posted was of AAA’s appearance at Otakon and… everything else gets worked into a review. But since word about this isn’t really being spread anyways…

The TERIYAKI BOYZ will be making an appearance and performing at the New York-Tokyo Music Festival on September 22. Yeah, all five of them. There’s also a DJ with the working title of DJ UPPERCUT, who I’ve never heard of but is apparently big in Japan. (Clearly I should expand my interests to reflect the club scene as well.)

Do check out the official New York-Tokyo Music Festival homepage here.

Gravure Idol makes love to Anime Songs

…in one way at least. I admit I’m not sure how high soundwaves rank on the fetishes and the sexual devices charts, and I if I ever have the opportunity to find out, I’ll be sure to let you know the results of my research. On the other hand, a lack of information in that area is clearly not stopping 中川翔子 [Nakagawa Shoko] – though to be fair, the title of her latest release しょこたん☆かばー ～アニソンに恋をして。～ [Shoko-tan Cover ~ANISON ni Koi wo Shite.~] isn’t quite an all-out declaration of… well, you know. But it’s close enough.

The Promotional Parade [August 2007]

So I’ve been gone from blogging for just over a month. (3 weeks of vacation, 1 week of school.) A lot of releases come out in a month. A lot more promotional music videos come out in a month. There are still more that I’ve been meaning to do for a while, but just haven’t managed to get around to.

And while, y’know, I’m not going to cover every single one of them, here’s a batch with the new single releases of August that I was interested in and have been stagnating on my laptop since. Yes, stagnating. That’s the smell of rotten music videos right there. (No, it’s not the roadkill lying outside the window, nor the laundry that ought to be washed, nor the toilet that decided to regurgitate. Whatever made you think that?)

Well, it’s one way to set MY soul on fire.

If you’re used to me, then this is going to be hard to believe, but until I started typing this post, I hadn’t even once watched AAA’s latest music video, Red Soul.

I don’t know if that makes me lazy, if that means I think too much about this blog (because I knew once I watched it I’d want to write about it here), or if I really had an overdosage of AAA a month and a half ago. (Say it isn’t so!)

Then avex renewed AAA’s official site, and Shuuta’s new profile picture made me do it. (Alternately, if you only care for the girls – Misako’s new profile picture.) You see that stare? Some people have a stare that makes you stay as far away as possible. This one makes me want to fly to Japan. Unfortunately, I’m a poor college student who just shelled out another $60 for AAA’s upcoming AROUND album and their 2008 calendar, so the PV will have to do for now.

And does it ever. Mmm.

The Pop Conundrum

I died and came back to life!

Actually, no, no. That’s an outright lie.

But to say I’ve been thinking for a while how to go about this… wouldn’t really be a lie. I’ve been gone from blogging for just over a month. (3 weeks of vacation, 1 week of school.) And other than just plain laziness, one of the things keeping me from blogging has been how to best return. And hopefully this is a good enough entrance. I may not be fashionably late, but I still intend to come back with style!

Back when this blog was still let it beat!, I made a post likening JPop fandom to parenting.

But looking on the other side – I’m only 20 (or about to become 20). And actually, it’s more like, I’m already “20″.

At this age, all my peers (and I would define “peers” as “fellow Asian college students that I personally know and am friends with”) are into rock. (Nothing against rock.) American rock bands. Indies rock bands. European rock groups. Hey, Japanese rock bands too. (You’d think with the original definition of “pop music” being “popular music”; rock would become the new pop already. Apparently musical genres aren’t as interchangeable as colors.)

On the other side of the music spectrum of my peers, you have some techno/trance. You know, the clubbing group. Some oldies. Those who appreciate the classics. A bunch of Chinese soloists. Well, I’m Chinese, it’s to be expected that amongst my “peers” are those who listen to Chinese music.

So why am I still giddily chasing after what is essentially a boyband with two girls in it? (Yes, I refer specifically to AAA. Lovely girls they are, and some beautiful boys too, but for the purposes of this post they are what they are.)