Small Fish, Big Pond

I’ve been listening to the last few singles and album of the new Avex artist “Girl Next Door” at first they really seem similar to the upbeat (non ballad) songs and remixes by “Every Little Thing” that I like with an upbeat dance pop sound. These dance/eurobeat style songs are the easiest Japanese pop music to get into since you can still tap your foot to the beat even if you can’t understand all (or any) of the words.

The problem is that beat is horribly repetitive with these guys. I’m not sure who arranges the music but the walking dance beat is identical for 90% of their songs. 1 song at a time it’s not bad at all but listening to their whole album all together is mindlessly repetitive.

So why am I talking about them. They are a produced pop group, they’re basically guaranteed placing on the Oricon just because they’re hand held to the top by big name producers, remixers, and arrangers. So it seems their first few songs have bee kind of a warm-up to get a feel for where they should be positioned musically. Their last single would arguably be considered their breakout single by hitting the #1 slot in the charts (it’s an anime intro, that gives a bigger “bump” than anything in Japan), but I still wasn’t impressed and was about to write them off and quit listening. The latest single on the other hand finally has some variety to it and may be a sign that they’ve found a niche and may be able to carve out a corner of their own in the Avex roster.

Check it out, it’s pretty good stuff. Again it really reminds me of the “Every Little Thing” except the singer Chisa has a more natural sound to her voice unlike Kaori who sounds like she’s doing damage to her vocal chords everytime the performs. Maybe that will a lot Girl Next Door to continue on now that ELT is slowing down.