According to Buck-Tick's official home page, Hoshino Hidehiko and Sakurai Atsushi will be participating in Circus, the debut album by Kuriyama Chiaki. For those of you who don't know, Kuriyama Chiaki made an, um, stunning debut in the illustrious Japanese film Battle Royale, with a followup in Kill Bill. Apparently she even won all sorts of awards, such as, "best hot actress whose full time job is to appear on film in a school uniform and get covered in fake blood." But she's not just a pulp actress, she has a serious job, too! In fact, she's the official spokesmodel for UNIQLO! And now, can you believe it, she's making her debut as a singer, too!
Will her music be as inspired and original as UNIQLO's fashion?
My original guess would have been, yes...but, seeing as she most likely won't be writing a note or a word of it herself, I may be wrong. Her newest single "Delicious Seasons" will feature Shiina Ringo as lyricist, composer, and producer, with arrangement instrumentals by the members of Tokyo Jihen. And the album "Circus" will feature Sakurai Atsushi as a lyricist and Hoshino Hidehiko as a composer, arranger, and producer, in addition to the likes of Tomoyasu Hotei and Satou Taiji, among others.
What I want to know is, why didn't Ringo, Hotei, Taiji, Hide, and Acchan all just get together and make an album already? Oh right, I know the answer! Because that's the state of the Japanese music scene these days...in this post-AKB48 world, you can't sell an album unless you paste some Pandora Chobit doll in as the "star."
Oh wait...make that, "porn star."
Seriously, couldn't she try to look less like a porn star?
Nope, guess not!
If this album makes it to the top of the charts, I will officially cry.
Edit: I'm sure you're all interested in listening to the album anyway, but do us here at Blog-Tick a favor by helping us give fake idols the finger and make sure you pirate the album instead of buying it ;)
I'm not much a fan of hers either, but what do you have against Chiaki? Seriously, you could've just stated "I personally dislike her music and think she's only popular because of her looks" and left it at that.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog and appreciate your posts, but this struck me as bizarrely hateful.
It will be interesting to see what Sakurai writes for a woman to sing. And the title of the song they will participate on is Shinkai meaning "Deep Sea," correct? Lovely. And with Hyde on the music and production it can only be beautiful. Unless she ruins it of course ; )
ReplyDeleteat first i wanted to write: Dont be that much visibly jealous!
ReplyDeletebut now that i checked which artists will work with Her...
Kenichi Asai, Acchan, Hide, Shiina Ringo... kind of a dream team of mine...
cant stop "kono yaro"-ing under my nose...
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteWhat do I have against this Chiaki project?It's a record label ploy, it has nothing to do with art or creativity, it just has to do with money. It's depressing to me that they picked some of the edgiest major artists still active in Japan to put the project together because seriously, if they are getting all these talented people together, why bother with this idol girl at all?
Kuriyama is only the most recent model/actress girl being turned pop star because she's pretty and the entertainment industry knows they can sell her. Most of the top selling artists in Japan right now are idol acts, and the record companies know that's what people are responding to and that's where the money is. But frankly, I see no reason to respect "artists" like this whose image is designed by a marketing team, who perform music crafted for them by other people more talented than they are.
Being puppeteered by a record label was what Buck-Tick fought against when they first got signed, and they won the battle. Now they've been asked to participate in the creation of this record just to add the star power of their names to the album jacket in hopes that the label can sell a few more albums. Yeah, I think it's pathetic.
"It will be interesting to see what Sakurai writes for a woman to sing."
ReplyDeleteWell, he's written by a woman's point of view before so we can expect greatness as always.
And wow...Hide, Ringo, Hotei, Taiji too(How did Imai stay out of it? |D). It's sad that in order to do something together they have to do it like this. I don't mind her looking porn-star-y but...yeah. Nevertheless, I'm kinda looking forward to it.
''What do I have against this Chiaki project?It's a record label ploy, it has nothing to do with art or creativity, it just has to do with money'', this. Your right Cayce, but ye, thats how things are in the music industry...
ReplyDelete"It will be interesting to see what Sakurai writes for a woman to sing." - something like Gainsbourg wrote for France Gall :P
ReplyDelete"And wow...Hide, Ringo, Hotei, Taiji too(How did Imai stay out of it? |D)" - i dont know... i wanted to write that He is kind of a rebel type(i know its a wrong and childish word for Imai, but i m not too good in english and i m lazy to think about another describing word), but i remembered that Shiina is between the artists too and She is kind of a "rebel type" too... hmmm... i dont know... i dont know...
"I don't mind her looking porn-star-y" - yeah i dont mind that either... not because i m a boy(She doesnt looks pretty to me), but with these kind of musicians working with Her i cant imagine other image for Her
I'm not sure what to think of this yet... On one hand, it's interesting to see Sakurai and Hoshino branching out and applying their talents to other groups/artists, but on the other hand, you guys all have a point, I don't think she's quite 'firecracker' material yet.
ReplyDeleteNow mind you, I've heard some of her songs (if they can be considered her songs when she clearly doesn't write them), and I think that she has a nice voice, and I think with time, and the help of such illustrious musicians such as Sakurai, Hoshino, Taiji and Hotei, she might actually be a step above the rabble, as far as J-pop goes. Not that a step up is very much, as far as J-pop goes.
And I agree whole-heartedly with Cayce that she ought to ditch the porn-star look, and fast.
On a side note - let's all hope that the only reason Imai's not in on this is because he's busy writing songs for B-T's next single. After all, he has his own porn-star to write for (no offence, Acchan.) =P
The label is trying SO hard to make her edgy it makes me giggle. Have you heard the sample of the song Hide and Atsushi wrote for the album? The optimist in me thought "wow, this is...different from what I expected", but the pessimist me thought, "haha, Hide isn't even trying here."
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, her voice is nicer than this other model/singer/whatever whose voice is as soothing as a meat grinder on autotune.
And lastly, the artist comments on Kuriyama's site amused me a bit. I can't read much Japanese, but judging from some of the kanji I recognize, they talk about her prettiness (and I think her singing voice too, but I'm not sure).
@ joopawoopa
ReplyDeleteAgreed, both on the label trying too hard and the Hide not trying hard at all. In the comments on the site, Sakurai and Hide just talked about her being pretty and how they were trying to bring out her "seductive" image..."Chiaki, use that black hair and those brown eyes to give us a vision of the deep sea..." blah blah, Sakurai making another poetic PR statement. Nothing about her singing voice whatever (why would there be?) Hotei just fanboyed over Battle Royale.
"Hide isn't even trying here." - thats kind of insulting... He is doing His work very good, just the girl cant sing like Acchan... Hide writes easy melodies and what make them so beautiful is Acchan's voice and passion
ReplyDelete@ i killed bambi
ReplyDeleteWhat I think Hide didn't bother working very hard on is the arrangement. But though none of Buck-Tick's music is particularly complex or difficult, some of Hide's melodies actually take a surprising amount of power and skill to sing well (Yougetsu, Snow White, and Dress are just three examples.)
well... i dont think those melodies are that hard...
ReplyDeleteInteresting, but I wish Sakurai-san would make music with Shiina and not with Chiaki...anyway I am curious how her music sounds like!
ReplyDeleteWhen is the release date?
It's being released on March 16th. I have to agree with Cayce on this one. It's a total pre-fab package attempt solely to sell records, not to make Art. The more I look into it, the more I am getting annoyed and how blatant it is. From ripping off the Razzle Dazzle theme (Theater/Spectacle/Circus, megaphone wielding singing and even the tear under her eye on the art work), to the bubble gum sound of most of the songs. Ugh! I, too, think Hyde didn't work very hard on this one (from what I hear of the clip). In fact, the guitar solo at the end really reminds me of ABS's guitar in the Dress cover. And Sakurai's comments about using "her black hair and brown eyes" etc. etc.? That's probably the first time I rolled my eyes at anything he's said. I'm beginning to view this entire project as kind of a (mostly) male attempt to leach youthful female sexuality for all it's worth. Isn't there a name for that? Oh yeah, pimping!!
ReplyDeleteHey, I don't like the singer either, but her voice is decent and the songs are actually good songs from some of the best rock acts in Japan right now.
ReplyDeleteSo I think you can hate on Chiaki, the idea behind the record, the PR etc., but the actual content is pretty good.
At least she's not going to do some generic pop-dance music. I think a "rock" idol is at least a little original. It's a little like Takahashi Hitomi.
It's the internet, everyone can hate on whatever they want to :D
ReplyDeleteActually, the UNIQLO model is not Chiaki Kuriyama. Her name is Yamada Yuu.
ReplyDeleteChiaki's image looks gimmicky but maybe something good will come out of this. She doesn't come across like an airhead.
Omg, I can't stand AKB48. Or any of the morning musume clones. Give me Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru, Rurutia, Kokia, Ayaka.... women with substance!
I actually pirated it and I only listened to Shinkai because Hide and Atsushi composed and arranged it.
ReplyDelete