While K-Pop seems to be conquering the world right now, I thought it would be fun to chat about what got me into the music scene in Asia first – J-POP!

Japan is a country that is intriguing in more ways than one. Sure, there are the beautiful landscapes, with breathtaking mountain scenes, pretty cherry blossom trees and scenic ocean views, but what stands out above all else is their culture – the people who call that land their home. When you fuse music with Japanese culture, you get a truly enchanting experience filled with wonder, techy visuals and state-of-the-art sounds unique to Japan. J-Pop differs from K-Pop due to it’s focus on the cute or “Kawaii“, in an almost bubblegum pop-like styling. And while there are a ton of male groups and artists that are popular in K-Pop, they are not as prevalent as the female artists in Japan. Below is a small taste of the artists that I think may appeal to you, the listener and viewer, the most.

 

Perfume

• WHY THEY ARE COOL: VISUALS THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND

Perfume have some of THE COOLEST live performances out there currently and the above collection of live snippets is only a taste of what they do best. Blending live action with the latest in visual tech with lights and video, they create some of the most fascinating scenes that do nothing short of filling the viewer with awe. High-powered electronic music is their niche, so their shows produce nothing short of a fast-moving, larger-than-life atmosphere. The opportunity to go see a live performance of their’s is definitely on my bucket list of things to do before I die.

 

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

• WHY SHE IS COOL: JAPAN’S LADY GAGA
  

*ahem* Except not as risque or scandalous. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is the definition of something being so cute that it’s creepy. Yep, the very definition of creepy-cute herself. And that’s why, globally, there really isn’t anyone out there quite like her. The only reason I stated Lady Gaga as a reference point was because in the Western world, that’s our best example of a performance artist who pushes past the rules of conventional to create something totally new and off-the-wall. Kyary’s candyland-like approach to fashion and music is so kitschy that you can’t help but find it deliriously infectious, making her one of the biggest names in Japanese music at the moment. My personal favorite track of her’s is the video game-esque Ninja Re Bang Bang, but the wacky single Ponponpon released back in 2011 is, without a doubt, her mosttalked about song to date.

 

FEMM

• WHY THEY ARE COOL: REAL LIFE MANNEQUINS
  

Yes, I said “mannequins”. FEMM’s intrigue stems from the fact that these ladies are like real life versions of mannequin’s, moving robotically and plastically, back and forth. Their music is high-powered electropop mixed with some hip-hop elements and is more raw and gritty compared to Perfume’s version of J-Pop, with songs like Fxxk Boyz Get Money and Kill the DJ. I’m warning you though, if you start watching their music videos, you will get stuck in a time warp since their videos are full of visually stunning elements that include pop art, latex, special effects and futurism all wrapped up into one. If you love fine art or performance art, you will fall in love with them and their concept.

 

FAMM’IN

• WHY THEY ARE COOL: A Supergroup of supergroups
  

When Japan does the supergroup thing, they merge three groups into one and move them into a different genre altogether. At least that’s what they did with FAMM’IN, a group consisting of J-Pop girl group Faky, the previously-mentioned Electronic group FEMM and R&B singer-songwriter Yup’in. While, yes, they have some cool visuals in their vids as well, their style of music reigns supreme over their videos as it aims to blend organic, traditional instrumentation with trap beats and rapping. There are moments where they are rapping over one another, similar to the female rap group from Iceland Reykjavíkurdætur. In their track Animus, the concept behind it is “the subconscious masculinity in women” as is portrayed in the music video above, starkly contrasting the artists’ typical girly appearance everywhere else they are seen. With a cool sense of fashion portrayed in their Circle video, they are yet another example of why I love Japanese music. (NOTE: only two songs have been produced by them via their label Avex which is sort of disppointing, but with such a crowd of Japanese superstars within one group, it isn’t super surprising)