Billboard Japan
Page: 34
In January, HIP LAND MUSIC launched FRIENDSHIP. DAO, an artist-driven Web3 community project that is a pioneering initiative for the Japanese music industry. The profit structure of the music industry is changing, and FRIENDSHIP. DAO aims to bring together all those who support artists and music, creating a community that can lead to multiple collaborations through ongoing musical activities. We talked with Yuto Uchino from The fin., who is active not only in Japan but overseas as well, and Shacho from SOIL & “PIMP” SESSIONS, about FRIENDSHIP. DAO’s potential and ideals.
Jay Kogami: What led you to create FRIENDSHIP. DAO?
Yuto Uchino: I’ve been part of the digital distributor FRIENDSHIP., serving as a curator, since it was first launched. When I was working with my team to develop a broad range of ideas for a DAO, I realized that the FRIENDSHIP.’s activity philosophy had a lot in common with DAOs. FRIENDSHIP. DAO began when our team decided to use a DAO to address problems which couldn’t be solved with Web2.0, and to solve as yet unresolved problems faced by the music market, which has developed along the lines of music streaming. This all happened at the same time that overseas independent artists were starting to generate buzz by releasing their music using NFTs. A growing number of people around me were investing in cryptocurrency, so I was kept constantly abreast of information about Web3. However, even then, I realized that there wasn’t much affinity between NFTs and music.
Kogami: What do you mean?
Yuto Uchino: Most of what people were talking about in relation to NFTs were high value transactions. However, when music was released using NFTs, you didn’t hear about whether it actually reached people; whether they shared it; whether they heard it. These kinds of questions went unanswered.
Conceptually, a DAO is created and operated as a new organization. Unlike existing structures, in which everything is focused on platforms operated by large companies, like streaming services and YouTube, in the DAO, we created a new organization focused on the music itself, connecting different people and pointing to a new future for the music industry. In particular, with FRIENDSHIP.DAO we want to use Web3 technologies to visualize and restructure the human networks that are so hard to see in the industry.
Kogami: What specific music-related problems do you think Web2.0 has been unable to address?
Yuto Uchino: For a lot of indie artists, streaming on streaming services does not translate into actual sales. CDs also sell less, and it’s making it harder to raise money for activities. In the music streaming business, the flow of money has become concentrated and centralized, making it harder for indie artists and DIY artists to raise funds. This centralized distribution of money has weakened the underground and indie scene, and there are fears that the whole framework of new music creation may break down.
Kogami: Shacho, what do you think?
Shacho: We’re targeting both fans in Japan and overseas, and the way people access music overseas is totally different from Japan. Overseas, artists are constantly announcing fresh new songs on Bandcamp, and this has become an established approach. Artists around the world on the frontlines of the jazz scene are releasing new works and achieving strong sales and physical distribution, simultaneously, across national borders. The distribution system is very different in Japan. Looking from the outside at the speed with which things move overseas, it’s very frustrating not to be able to take part in it.
Kogami: Bandcamp’s service was created based on the music framework that was in place before the rise of streaming, so it’s interesting to see that it still draws so many artists and fans.
Shacho: Bandcamp has social media functions, too, so you can see songs that were purchased by famous DJs or by other people whose musical tastes are similar to your own. It fuses the best parts of Web2.0 and traditional media.
Kogami: One of the things you’re trying to do with FRIENDSHIP.DAO is to create sustainable revenue streams for all kinds of artists. What kind of approaches do you think you can use to achieve that?
Yuto Uchino: When talking about generating revenue and compensation, one major problem is that, under Japanese law, you cannot use cryptocurrency for transactions. If this issue was addressed, it would make it easier for Japanese artists popular with overseas audiences and active in overseas music scenes to connect with people outside Japan.
To enable artists to make money on FRIENDSHIP.DAO, we’re envisioning introducing a point system. We’re thinking about setting things up so that when work or collaborations are performed, points are assigned based on people’s actions. We’d like to use cryptocurrency for payments in the future.
Kogami: Who can take part in the DAO?
Yuto Uchino: In its first stage, it’ll be artists that are releasing music through FRIENDSHIP. In the future, we also plan to open this up to foreign artists. Then we’ll expand the scope to all kinds of people working in the music industry. The way we see the DAO as being used is for contributing to communication between people working in the industry, stimulating business. Ultimately, we’d like to make it possible for listeners to participate as well, directly connecting the people who listen to music with the artists that create it.
Kogami: What, specifically, is your first goal?
Yuto Uchino: We’re not looking at trying to achieve profitability in the DAO’s first stage. Instead, we want to reinforce the elements that serve as communication tools, helping participants broaden their networks. Our goal is to connect talented people, skilled engineers, and people with specialized knowledge, who are buried in the industry’s current structure, by relaying job offers and giving them the right to take part in projects. The decentralized organizational structure of a DAO will change the methods by which people take part in musical activities and projects, and will change how they contribute at a personal level. I think this organizational structure is a great fit for the music market.
Kogami: If you were able to find promoters outside Japan, you’d want to collaborate on projects with them, right?
Yuto Uchino: FRIENDSHIP.DAO would create synergy by visualizing networks of people overseas who can support Japanese artists. We also plan to make it possible to credit them in artists’ works. With FRIENDSHIP.DAO, we’re employing a mechanism to visualize credits by recording them in a blockchain.
Kogami: What hopes do you have for the Web3-native artists and creators that we’re likely to see in the future?
Shacho: As a creator, I want to see them create music with even better sound quality. However, in the music streaming era, the mainstream approach is now to create music with low audio fidelity, optimized for the speakers of mobile devices. I’m very curious to see if Web3 creative activities restore the value placed on audio quality. I’m also interested in how musical experiences and entertainment will be created for the metaverse. Of course, real-life, live music will live on. We can’t allow it to disappear. I’m just worried that, as musical experiences become more divided, such as through VR performances in the metaverse, audio quality might degrade even further.
Yuto Uchino: Future generations of artists won’t just be able to access music around the world, it’ll also become commonplace for them to collaborate with artists throughout the globe. Creators will connect with each other regardless of their countries and where they’re active, so we’ll see new, unprecedented music being made. I’m looking forward to hearing the music created through these collaborations. I also want to get started on these kinds of creative activities myself.
Shacho: I think that Web3 will be a great fit for Japanese artists and bands with a strong overseas focus. Translation technology has also evolved quite a bit, so the language barrier is shrinking. Using DAOs and NFTs and communicating in English from the very start will, I think, turn into a way to connect with the world at large.
–This article by Jay Kogami first appeared on Billboard Japan.
EGAKU -draw the song- is a Japanese YouTube channel featuring videos capturing the process of popular manga artists, illustrators and animators drawing illustrations inspired by their favorite songs. The series launched a year ago on Oct. 31 with the first episode featuring manga artist Miki Aihara (Hot Gimmick), who chose Rhymester’s “Tousou no Funk” (Funk on the Run) as her inspiration. The first season featured other prominent artists including Kamome Shirahama (Witch Hat Atelier) who illustrated milet’s “Grab the Air” and designer daisukerichard who drew his rendition of Creepy Nuts’ “Nobishiro.”
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Through these videos of professional artists drawing illustrations set to tracks of their choice, the series aims to encourage people to enjoy existing songs from a new perspective. Emi Harada of Sony Music Entertainment explains that the initial purpose of EGAKU -draw the song- was to revitalize previously released music.
Harada: I’m usually in charge of theme song tie-ins for animated TV shows and video games, and I coordinate the creation of music by artists to go along with those works. I thought it might be interesting to kind of reverse that process and came up with the idea of asking the visual artists to choose pre-existing songs and have them draw a picture based on how they perceive it.
The videos are created by Takehiro Kanou and Ku Misan of zona inc. Kanou says he enjoyed the process from the start. “It was our first time creating YouTube content from scratch, and we had a lot of fun from the initial stage of discussions,” he says, but Ku notes that she had some misgivings. “At first, I was thinking that it’d be difficult,” she shares. “I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to convey the process of drawing a picture within the space of a song, and since we also had to make the music appealing as well as include the atmosphere of the artists’ workplaces, I thought we had a lot to overcome.”
The original plan was to shoot in a studio, but after repeated meetings, it was decided that the shooting would take place in the visual artists’ respective workplaces. This added to the difficulty of the production.
Kanou: EGAKU is essentially an excerpt, a summary. The shooting itself takes five to six hours. Each artist works at a different pace, so it was up to us to decide which elements to highlight and how to bring them together.
Ku: We spoke to (the visual artists) about which parts we’d be using and the tempo we had in mind in connecting them. Sometimes we’d face issues about the balance between the BPM of the song and the illustrators’ drawing speed, or run into something like, “this scene is too subdued compared to the excitement of the song’s chorus.” The tools people use and the way they draw are all different, and for example, the way each artist draws eyes shows their individuality. We also made an effort to include items from their workplaces. We figured it’d be fun for fans to imagine how a manga artist might have used those items as references by showing the books and other things they have.
Using the entire song is another characteristic of the video series.
Harada: Some suggested that using the whole song would be too long, but the stories and worlds depicted in each song can’t be conveyed with just a portion of it. We also stick to having the visual artists choose the song they really want to work with [instead of requesting the song]. It takes a lot of time to get permission for each track, but we think it’s best to have them draw their works based on music they really like.
The first episode featured manga artist Miki Aihara’s interpretation of Japanese rap pioneers RHYMESTER’s “Tousou no Funk.” How did the producers of the series go about booking and shooting the inaugural video?
Harada: We first made a sample video, then made offers to the visual artists we wanted to feature in our series. We then met with the ones who kindly agreed to work with us and asked them to choose a song, then shot the episodes. I heard that our first featured artist, Ms. Aihara, is really a huge RHYMESTER fan. I did kind of wonder if it was appropriate to launch the series with an act that had switched labels [laughs], but I’m glad we were able to make it happen.
We asked the series producers which of the videos released so far has left the greatest impression on them.
Ku: For me it was the video of Kamome Shirahama drawing milet’s “Grab the Air.” She used analog tools, as in dip pens on paper, and it felt really live. It helped me see that there’s a different quality to it compared to digital art. Her workplace shows her style and we also got shots of her dogs. Shooting and editing was so much fun, and it was also viewed a lot, too.
Kanou: Shiqako was also great. The thing is, he and I were friends back in school. He used to work as an assistant for manga artist Yasuhisa Hara on his Kingdom series, and then later Siqako’s own Manshu Ahen Sukuwaddo (“Manchurian Opium Squad”) series became popular. When I asked him about participating in EGAKU, he said sure and chose Denki Groove’s “Ichigo Musume wa Hitorikko” for his episode.
Harada: The first episode of Season 2, featuring Blue Period’s Tsubasa Yamaguchi drawing PornoGraffiti’s “Tsukikai” (“Moon Keeper”) was also memorable. While most of the illustrators had already decided on the composition of their works or had their sketches finished before the shoot, Ms. Yamaguchi started by drawing many rough compositions on a piece of paper. She even decided to start over again from scratch after she’d started coloring it. I thought the entire process was like a real-life version of her manga series Blue Period.
Season 2 started on Oct. 7 with new videos — Yamaguchi’s episode, plus Mayu Yukishita drawing Yurufuwa Gang’s “Strobolights (Yurufuwa Gang version),” Paru Itagaki drawing Chara’s “PRIVATE BEACH,” and Miki Yoshikawa drawing ORANGE RANGE’s “Ishindenshin” — dropping four days in a row.
Kanou: In the beginning, our intent was to focus mainly on the visual side of the presentation, but in Season 2 we shifted towards taking the fans of the music into consideration even more. The songs start from the beginning of the clip now because people wanted to hear them as soon as possible.
Ku: We’ve also expanded the range of how we show the process. Miki Yoshikawa’s (Flunk Punk Rumble, A Couple of Cuckoos) episode is kind of comical because she suggested we do it that way.
Tsubasa Yamaguchi is a manga artist with a degree from the prestigious Tokyo University of the Arts. She is currently working on her popular series Blue Period, which depicts a young man’s efforts to get into art school and his life at the university once he passes the demanding entrance exams. Yamaguchi chose to work with PornoGraffiti’s “Tsukikai,” the B-side from the J-pop duo’s smash-hit single “Melissa” from 2003.
“It was the first music CD I ever bought, and I especially loved the B-side,” she says of her song choice. Elaborating on the illustration she drew based on the poetically heartbreaking number, she shares that “the song contains many memorable scenes, and I wanted to give form to the one that the protagonist would probably recall many times in the future.” The song’s appeal is effectively drawn out in the video series because the illustrators’ own tastes and memories come first regardless of the song’s popularity or how well known it is.
The collaboration between manga artists/illustrators and music presented in the EGAKU series holds considerable potential as visual content. What do the producers envision for its future?
Harada: Like I said earlier, our first goal is to revitalize previously released music. We’re hoping to introduce the appeal of these songs through the series and channel the renewed interest towards making the songs popular again on streaming platforms. The next goal we now have is how to make the best use of the drawings. We could hold exhibitions and sell merchandise based on them and such, so there’s lots of business potential there.
Kanou: I think it’s also important to accumulate and archive the videos. For example, if we have pictures of 30 songs, we can turn them into some other format, like art books. As for exhibiting them, it might be nice to display them as installations. Make the space itself a work of art, not just limited to just showing the drawings and the process of creating them.
Ku: I’m sure there are many ways we could transform what we have, like the artworks, videos, and song lyrics into an exhibition. It’d be great if we would bring it to that level by continuing with the series.
Harada: I’m glad that the illustrators who participated had fun drawing their works and that the musicians are also happy with the series. In response to Ms. Yamaguchi’s video, frontman Akihito Okano of PornoGrafitti commented, “(Thanks to her art) I was able to further expand the image of this song when I sing it. It’s a great honor as a musician.” We wanted to make the content meaningful for both the visual artists and the musicians in that way. Of course, we can’t keep doing this unless there are viewers who enjoy it, so we’ll do our best to promote EGAKU and bring it to as many people as possible.
—This interview by Tomoyuki Mori first appeared on Billboard Japan.
Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle” sits at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for the third week in a row on the chart dated Nov. 9.
The “Pretender” hitmakers’ latest hit racked up over 20 million streams again after breaking the record for highest weekly streams of 2022 in Japan last week. The track logged 21,044,966 streams this week, up by 1.3 percent from last week (20,781,069), and is currently still the only song that has recorded over 20 million weekly streams this year. The drama theme also scored 3,098,136 video views, up by 23.7 percent (2,505,102), and keeps at No. 2 for the metric. The song has increased points overall for the fourth week in a row after also adding points in radio and karaoke.
Kenshi Yonezu’s “KICK BACK” follows at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100 for the third week, also increasing streams from 15,051,990 to 15,337,414 (up 1.9 percent, No. 2). Although Chainsaw Man opener appears to be slowing down in video, it still sits at No. 1 for the metric after racking up 4,060,395 views (down by 1.3 percent). The track also performed well in radio and karaoke.
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SixTONES’ new single “Good Luck!/Futari” launched with 398,252 CDs to bow at No. 3 on the Japan Hot 100. Although this figure is fewer by a little over 80,000 copies compared to the Johnny’s group’s previous single, “Watashi” (479,949 first-week copies), “Good Luck!” comes in at No. 1 for physical sales and look-ups, while also performing well in radio and Twitter (both No. 2). The track comes in at No. 23 for video, so while it fared relatively well in a number of metrics, it still wasn’t enough to overturn the two long-running mega-hits lodged at the top of the Japan Hot 100.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, Twitter mentions, YouTube and GYAO! video views, Gracenote look-ups and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Oct. 31 to Nov. 6, see here.
Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle” holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Nov. 2, marking the highest weekly streams of 2022 in Japan.
The theme of the highly acclaimed drama series silent racked up 20,781,069 streams this week — up by 14.7 percent from the week before — and stayed at No. 1 for streaming for the third straight week. The track is the first to log more than 20 million weekly streams this year, and is also now the record-holder for second biggest week of all time in terms of streaming, following BTS’s “Butter” that scored 29,935,364 streams on the chart released June 2, 2021.
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“Subtitle” also performed well in other metrics — No. 2 for video views, No. 6 for downloads, No. 6 for radio airplay — and increased its total points from last week to stay at the top of the Japan Hot 100.
Kenshi Yonezu’s “KICK BACK” also holds at No. 2 this week. The official music video accompanying the Chainsaw Man opener dropped during the chart week. Yonezu’s collaborator on the track, King Gnu’s Daiki Tsuneta, made a cameo on the mind-bending visuals that racked up 4,113,998 views to come in at No. 1 for the metric. The song comes in at No. 2 for streaming, No. 4 for downloads, No. 3 for Twitter mentions, and No. 8 for radio.
Hinatazaka46’s “Tsuki to Hoshi ga Odoru Midnight” rises 62-3 on the Japan Hot 100. The girl group’s eighth single sold 459,613 copies in its first week — a slight decrease from its previous single “Bokunanka” (478,142 copies) — to rule sales and look-ups this week, but lacked luster in the other metrics: No. 19 for downloads, No. 8 for Twitter, and No. 46 for radio.
Travis Japan‘s “JUST DANCE!” debuts at No. 4. The group drew attention for becoming the first Johnny’s boy band to debut worldwide on streaming platforms and the track was downloaded 66,078 times during the three days counting towards this chart week (No. 1). It also ranked No. 1 for Twitter, No. 36 for video, and No. 38 for radio. How the song performs with seven full days to count is something to look out for on next week’s chart.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, Twitter mentions, YouTube and GYAO! video views, Gracenote look-ups and karaoke data.
For the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Oct. 24 to 30, see here.
Kenshi Yonezu dropped the music video accompanying his new song “KICK BACK,” the opener for the popular anime series Chainsaw Man.
The “Lemon” hitmaker’s latest track hit No. 1 on five Billboard Japan charts — the Japan Hot 100, Top Streaming Songs, Top Download Songs, Hot Animation and Top User Generated Songs — after its release on Oct. 12 at midnight.
Thirty-year-old music producer Daiki Tsuneta of King Gnu and millennium parade, who co-arranged the song with Yonezu, appears in the music video alongside the 31-year-old singer-songwriter. The visuals released Wednesday (Oct. 26) sees Yonezu frantically working out at a gym to outperform a cool rival played by Tsuneta, taking a mind-bending turn when Yonezu begins running on a treadmill and ending with a final, chilling twist.
The video was directed by 31-year-old photographer and visual artist Yoshiyuki Okuyama, who worked with Yonezu on his artist photos and the award-winning music video for “Kanden.”
Watch the “KICK BACK” video below:
Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle” rises 3-1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Oct. 26, increasing streams by over 50 percent from the week before.
The theme of the Fuji TV drama series silent debuted at No. 3 last week with 9,905,2947 weekly streams and racked up 18,116,526 this week (No. 1 for the metric), jumping 54.7 percent to climb to the top of the chart. The track was also boosted by downloads (No. 2), video views and radio airplay (No. 4), while also coming in at No. 46 for Twitter mentions.
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Last week’s No. 1 song, Kenshi Yonezu’s “KICK BACK,” slips to No. 2. While the Chainsaw Man opener also increased streams (from 12,556,627 to 15,735,232, up by 25.3 percent, No. 2) this week and topped downloads, it couldn’t overcome the difference between “Subtitle” with the other metrics of the chart’s methodology: No. 5 for radio, No. 6 for Twitter, No. 92 for karaoke, No. 100 for video.
This week saw a number of titles launching with high CD sales, with four songs bowing in the top 10 of the Japan Hot 100. AKB48’s “Hisashiburi no Lip Gloss” topped sales with 429,419 copies sold and THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE’s “Tsunagekizuna” followed with 142,364 copies sold. “Lip Gloss” came in at No. 7 for look-ups — the number of times a CD is ripped to a computer — No. 9 for Twitter, and No. 70 for radio, while “Tsunagekizuna” topped radio and came in at No. 2 for Twitter, No. 45 for look-ups and No. 64 for streaming. The latter managed to flip the difference in physical sales with the total points gained from other metrics, debuting at No. 3 on the Japan Hot 100 while “Lip Gloss” followed at No. 4.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, Twitter mentions, YouTube and GYAO! video views, Gracenote look-ups and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Oct. 17 to 23, here.
Billboard Japan launched its Women in Music initiative this year, following the established example of Billboard’s annual Women in Music issue that has continued since 2007. A series of interviews focusing on women in the Japanese music industry is being released as one of the first projects under Japan’s Women in Music banner, which will encompass multiple projects, including interviews, live performances and panel discussions.
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Japanese rapper AKKOGORILLA, who named her first album released in 2018 GRRRLISM as an homage to the Riot Grrrl movement, coined the word based on her urge to “transcend the image of [a female rapper] representing girls.” The theme of the 34-year-old’s mini-album Magma I released in June is “something no one can touch / something everyone has.” The trailblazing solo artist who has consistently sent out messages that transcend various categories such as gender, age and nationality sat down with Billboard Japan for an in-depth interview exploring her journey so far.
You’ve been sending out messages of becoming liberated from categorization and biases through various avenues. When did you first feel the need to do so?
Even before I started music, I was uncomfortable with the idea of being pigeonholed as a girl. When I was in junior high, I saw guys wearing oversized sweatshirts and such in the popular drama series Ikebukuro West Gate Park and just loved it so much. Not love as in romantically interested, but in the sense that I wanted to be like them. I also really loved the anime series Lupin the Third, but wanted to be like [the male protagonist] Lupin III, not [the female frenemy] Fujiko Mine. But this was a time when lookism was still socially unchecked, with the media praising women equipped with typically feminine qualities and articles featuring how to dress so that men will be attracted to you and stuff like that. I also liked fashion magazines, so I was influenced by such values as well and felt really trapped.
How did you pull yourself out of that state?
I think I’m still a mess! [Laughs] When I was feeling trapped, there was also a part of me that said, “Why don’t I just do whatever I want?” I started going to live shows when I entered high school and came across [Japanese two-women band] AFRIRAMPO. I saw them live and felt really excited because they were so cool. I’m not sure how to say it, but something clicked. I began listening to different kinds of music from there and came across [British all-women band] The Slits. The jacket of their album Cut shows the members standing in a row with their upper bodies exposed, and they did it because they felt like doing it, not because someone told them to. They showed me another side of this world. Those influences inspired me to start a band and I played the drums. But there was also a part of me that thought my boyfriend would dump me if he saw the way I was letting myself go all out onstage because it wasn’t cute.
So you were still in the midst of confusion. How did you go from there to becoming a rapper and calling yourself AKKOGORILLA?
I played the drums in a band called HAPPY BIRTHDAY, and was thinking how if we disbanded and I wanted to continue playing music, I’d have to become a studio musician but didn’t have the skill for that. So I began considering a solo career. As a process of ascertaining what I liked, I started out by vocalizing, kind of like therapy, and was rapping before I realized it. Since I was originally a drummer, the act of loudly vocalizing my feelings was a counter for me. Back then, there were far fewer female rappers [in Japan] than there are today. People asked me why I started rapping all of a sudden, but I really had no idea why. [Laughs]
Was there a specific reason why you became aware of gender biases and gender gaps?
That’s definitely when I started competing in MC battles. My [male] opponents would insult me with stuff like, “You must have slept your way to the top” or just plain “you’re ugly” in front of a crowd. If it were between men, the battle would be about picking apart the details of the rapping itself, but female rappers were still uncommon so they honed in on the “being a woman” part. As I was answering them, I gradually began putting into words the sense of discomfort I originally had within myself. But at that time, I didn’t want to call myself a feminist. I hadn’t read up on feminism at all and had this arbitrary image of it being something uncool.
You’re now pretty open about being a feminist. How did your feelings change up to that point?
I do consider myself a feminist now. Before I got to that point, I expressed my discomfort in my own words by writing songs like “Ultragender” and making up words like GRRRLISM. But my biases were based on half-baked knowledge, so I figured I should understand the meaning of the term [feminism] properly by thinking about it with my own mind. After I learned about it, I became convinced that I’m a feminist. Thinking for myself and being myself is what hip-hop means to me, so the fact that I’ve been publicly vocal about being a feminist means I’m taking hip-hop seriously.
Do people react differently now that you declare yourself a feminist?
I’ve received a variety of reactions. I’ve been told things like, “I like your rapping, but you’re going in a bad direction.” I don’t care what strangers say, but it was hard when people closer to me couldn’t understand.
How did you deal with that?
I did my best to be open with them! Some people came around that way, and some didn’t. But things have changed dramatically over the past few years, and the concepts I was putting out in GRRRLISM are considered normal now by the younger generation I meet at concert venues. To be honest, I’ve forgotten what it was like when people didn’t accept my way of thinking. If anyone makes fun of another person’s sexuality out of ignorance in front of me, though, I’ll confront them head-on and talk to them about it.
While it does feel like times are changing, some values remain the same, and the percentage of women in the Japanese music industry is still small. What do you think are the obstacles?
I think what’s important for minorities to stop being minorities is how the people who aren’t [the minorities] behave. In Japan, when someone who isn’t on the receiving end of gender gaps or discrimination against minorities speaks out and says, “This is wrong,” they’re immediately treated like some bossy class representative or something. There’s a widespread sentiment that only those who are party to the issue are allowed to speak out, but that isn’t true. Unless the people who aren’t party to the issue do better, the world isn’t going to change.
Is there anything you rely on to keep you going?
For me, performing live is the best way to take care of myself. I love those moments when my feelings burst out. I also like seeing people bursting with emotion. So I love live performances the most.
—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan.
Scooter Braun, CEO of HYBE AMERICA and founder of SB Projects, was invited as a special guest to &AUDITION – The Howling – FINAL ROUND, which took place Sept. 3 in Tokyo. The audition program produced by HYBE, the company behind BTS, was conducted in an unprecedented style with the aim of launching a global group comprised of members selected from a mix of contestants from I-LAND (the project that launched ENHYPEN) — K, EJ, NICHOLAS and TAKI — and 11 trainees.
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One new aspect of this audition was that its nature was cooperative and not competitive. Audition programs tend to promote ruthless rivalry, but &AUDITION – The Howling placed emphasis on mutual support and growth among the contestants. Sometimes the mission was designed to evaluate the overall perfection as a group rather than the excellence of the individual. As the rounds progressed, a strong bond was formed between all 15 participants, and when the nine debuting members were announced as the new group &TEAM in the final round, the men who weren’t selected congratulated the winners with beaming smiles in the end — though they did shed a few tears when they first learned the results.
Braun is a prominent executive and manager in the music industry. One of his companies, Ithaca Holdings LLC, merged with HYBE in May 2021 to become HYBE America, making it easier for HYBE’s artists — BTS included — and related businesses to penetrate the North American market. The close association between K-pop stars popular in Asian regions and Braun’s artists in North America can further expand the huge base that both companies have in the future.
Braun’s presence at &AUDITION – The Howling – FINAL ROUND shows his commitment to music and artists in Asia. At the same time, expectations for &TEAM’s global expansion are growing.
Braun had some heartfelt and profound words of advice for the nine debuting members of the new band &TEAM. Speaking from experience working with some of today’s biggest stars, he noted that “every great artist has a story of adversity. All the global stars that I’ve had the chance to work with have heard more ‘no’s than ‘yes’es” and “that’s what makes them great.” With that in mind, he encouraged the new members to overcome any adversity together, emphasizing that “you have a team, you have a family now to fight through that together, so never forget that [and] lean on each other.”
Braun promised he would return to Japan for the group’s first stadium show to cheer them on. He concluded his warm message to the group slated to debut as &TEAM by telling them, “Never, never give up. And when one of you falters, the other one pick him up, OK? You are family now. You got it. Congratulations! You can all smile, you’re here now.”
&TEAM consists of nine members: K, FUMA, NICHOLAS, EJ, YUMA, JO, HARUA, TAKI and MAKI. The brand-new band will drop their debut single Dec. 7. There’s a hopeful meaning behind the group’s name: “& is about bonding – people & individuals, humans & the world, fans & artists, fans & fellow fans, and ultimately bonding between nine members each with their vivid colors. In a constant pursuit for a better self, the members’ energy synthesizes to create one team that continues to excel and break through its limits.” Fans of the group will be collectively called LUNÉ, and the group is set to take on the global stage with LUNÉ’s dedicated support.
—This article by Suhi Yoon first appeared on Billboard Japan
IVE, a rising girl group known as being “complete” from the time of its debut and now hailed as the “wannabe icons of the Gen MZers,” are now leading the contemporary K-pop scene.
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The six members of IVE are: Yujin (19, former leader of IZ*ONE), Wonyoung (18, another popular former IZ*ONE member), Gaeul (20), Liz (17), Leeseo (15), and Rei (18, hailing from Japan). The name of the group is the contraction of “I have” and is based on the concept of showing what “I have” to the audience with confidence. Confidence is the key word of the group.
As the first group to launch after IZ*ONE’s disbandment, IVE attracted much attention from before its debut. When the girls released their debut single “ELEVEN” in Dec. 2021, it became a smash hit overnight. The six members give a captivating and graceful performance over exotic melodies for this number, and the accompanying music video showcases the girls’ beauty as well as the quality of their confident performance throughout, from the choreography to facial expressions led by the two experienced members. The group’s first album launched with 150,000 copies, the most among all acts that debuted in South Korea in 2021, and the single went on to win first place on music shows in the country 13 times. IVE is now one of the leading acts of the so-called fourth generation girl groups, following ITZY and aespa.
IVE has proven that its hype isn’t temporary. The group has released three singles — “ELEVEN,” “LOVE DIVE” (Apr. 2022), and “After LIKE” (Aug. 2022) — that have all become the group’s signature songs after recording long-running hits in South Korea and abroad. All three tracks are currently charting on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 dated Oct. 5, with “After LIKE” at No. 23 (peak position: No. 13), “ELEVEN” at No. 71 (No. 16), and “LOVE DIVE” at No. 79 (No. 8). 15 of the 100 songs on the list are K-pop, including three each by BTS and TWICE, and two by BLACKPINK, so IVE’s achievement is remarkable considering that the group hasn’t officially debuted in the country yet.
Over on Billboard U.S.A.’s Global 200 list, “ELEVEN” charted for ten weeks after peaking at No. 68, “LOVE DIVE” for 26 weeks (No. 15), and “After LIKE” for 5 weeks (No. 20), all consecutively. In particular, the ongoing record for “LOVE DIVE” is the longest streak for any K-pop song released this year.
Why is IVE achieving such amazing results globally? The first reason is the outstanding quality of their music. The three songs released so far can be described as being captivating, mysterious, and sentimental, respectively, each displaying a different side of the group without limiting it to a single color. Additionally, while the instrumentation and vocals for each song have been meticulously arranged, each features a simple structure — first verse, second verse, chorus, last chorus — familiar to K-pop and J-pop listeners, making them easy to listen to for the group’s core fanbase.
Each of IVE’s songs have distinctive points. In the debut song “ELEVEN,” there’s a bridge leading up to the chorus after the quietly beating first and second verses, in which Rei and Leeseo take turns singing “I didn’t know that my heart was so colorful” in the Korean version and “It’s a colorful suggestion from this point on” in the Japanese. This part where the girls slow down to belt out this line is one of a kind and fans love to sing along when the song is performed live.
“LOVE DIVE” was composed by creators from outside the girls’ native countries, and is a stylish number with a simple, bold rhythm and a deeply reverberated chorus refrain that radiates a sense of mystery. In the latter half of the song, a breath-like voice repeats “hold your breath and LOVE DIVE,” building up to the drop that sonically expresses the concept of “diving into love” through the dreamy sound.
In contrast, “After LIKE” is a danceable pop-house track, sampling Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 hit “I Will Survive” in the interlude. The song gives an EDM twist to the disco sound from the ‘70s and ‘80s, creating a nostalgic, sentimental feel that has led to the track’s popularity among older audiences. The lyrics feature clever wordplay that seem to express the way Gen Zers enjoy romantic relationships. While the members often perform with cool expressions on their faces, they are all smiles in the music video accompanying this song, again showcasing the breadth of their performance as a group.
While IVE’s music shows such wide range, the group’s dance is consistent in that it mostly features elegant choreography that makes the most of the curves of the body. The dancers’ upper body snakes from the waist up and their hand gestures also often ripple from the arms to fingertips. Even “After LIKE,” IVE’s cutest song so far, brims with the group’s signature grace. What’s more, the height of all six members average 169 cm (5’6) — Wonyoung is the tallest at 173 cm (5’8) — so this aspect is another feature that makes their dancing stand out.
All the songs feature lyrics about girls with high self-esteem heading straight into love. “ELEVEN” depicts how a girl’s heart becomes saturated with fantastical colors when she falls in love. In “LOVE DIVE,” she encourages her love interest to make the first move, to “jump in without fear if you dare to love,” and in “After LOVE,” she honestly expresses her feelings: “I don’t just like you, what’s ‘After LIKE’?” The protagonists in every song have inner strength, but the way they struggle with love is endearing. IVE’s way of expressing a girl’s crush is to display a confidence from within, rather than making an appeal through strong words and sounds.
Thus, the sonic variety of the group’s songs, the consistent stance of the protagonists depicted in the lyrics, the girls’ outstanding dance performances and their absolute good looks generate synergy that is powering the group’s skyrocketing popularity.
This year alone, 16 K-pop girl groups have debuted by the end of September. Among the particularly strong lineup of newcomers, IVE is considered a strong contender for Newcomer of the Year awards in its home country. The girls are set to debut in Japan on the 19th with the Japanese version of “ELEVEN,” taking the next step towards global recognition.
–This article by Maho Kakei first appeared on Billboard Japan
Kenshi Yonezu’s “KICK BACK” rules this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Oct. 19, coming out on top by a mere 30 points against the song at No. 2, JO1’s “SuperCali.”
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The opener for the new anime series Chainsaw Man bowed at the top of the tally after dominating downloads (61,510 units) and streaming (12,556,627 streams), while also hitting No. 2 for Twitter mentions, No. 4 for radio airplay, and No. 49 for video views. JO1’s “SuperCali” launched with 602,958 CDs to hit No. 1 for sales, look-ups, Twitter, and radio, while coming in at No. 5 for downloads, No. 19 for streaming, and No. 50 for video views. “KICK BACK” was fueled by downloads and streaming while “SuperCali” was powered by sales, and the race was so close that either song could have ended up at the top of the list this week.
While Ado had single-handedly dominated the top 10 for several weeks over the summer, this week’s Japan Hot 100 sees Official HIGE DANdism’s “Subtitle” debuting at No. 3 and Fujii Kaze’s new track “grace” at No. 4, pushing Ado’s former No. 1 track “New Genesis” down to No. 5. What’s more, HIGE DAN’s “Subtitle” scored a total of 10,612 points this week, which is higher than last week’s No. 1 song, SKE48’s “Zettai Inspiration” (9,480 points). “Subtitle” is the theme of the new Fuji TV drama series called silent, while Fujii’s “grace” is being featured in NTT Docomo’s ongoing project starring the 25-year-old singer-songwriter, so these two tracks being assisted by influential tie-ins are expected to stay in the upper regions of the chart for a while.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, Twitter mentions, YouTube and GYAO! video views, Gracenote look-ups and karaoke data.
Check out the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Oct. 10 to 16, here.