Woke up today to see that Up-Front had decided to dip their toes into the waters of forgiveness with a solo recording and video from former Tsubaki Factory member Risa Ogata. Nothing too crazy -- no swan-dives or cannonballs -- just a quick check to see if the water is worth wading into a little … Continue reading Risamaru’s Redemption?
Single Steps Forward
TSUBAKI FACTORY - 2nd Step For their first three years as a major act, Tsubaki Factory had been the model of stability and consistency within the Hello! Project, in terms of both song quality and lack of group drama. But a week prior to the release of their seventh single, someone discovered and made public … Continue reading Single Steps Forward
Angerme v2.0 (stable)
ANGERME - Hakkiri Shiyou ze / Oyogenai Mermaid / Aisare Route A or B? Up-Front dropped PVs for all three tracks of Angerme's forthcoming single today, nearly a full month ahead of its release date (June 23rd). I like that Hello! Project releases are not tied to predictable patterns of promotion -- Kobushi Factory's fun … Continue reading Angerme v2.0 (stable)
Angerme Rips, Tsubaki Factory Teases
It's New Release Season at the Hello! Project, and we have radio rips of all new songs from the forthcoming Angerme single, and official teaser videos featuring all new songs from Tsubaki Factory's new album, which is only two days from dropping. Without getting too far into the weeds on either release, let's see what … Continue reading Angerme Rips, Tsubaki Factory Teases
Living For The City Pop
JUICE=JUICE - DOWN TOWN / Ganbarenai yo If anyone is curious as to what motivated my recent four-and-a-half month hiatus from blogging, this single did. More to the point, the events leading up to this single being pushed back a month to facilitate the erasure of former member Sayuki Takagi from the single and the … Continue reading Living For The City Pop
Sweet 16
MORNING MUSUME '21 - 16th ~That's J-POP~ The Fukumura Era of Morning Musume (2014-present) has been mostly frustrating for me personally for several reasons. From a production standpoint, their recordings have relied heavily on sounds and techniques established during the Michishige Era (2012-2014), even to this day. I've found the catalog during Fuku's leadership to … Continue reading Sweet 16
Top 10 H!P Singers of All Time – No. 10
Let's do another CLICKBAIT LIST! This is going to be a series of my all time favorite Hello! Project singers. This is not a list of who I think are the best singers (although similar, that list would not be identical), but rather those whom I enjoy the most. Some names that most H!P fans … Continue reading Top 10 H!P Singers of All Time – No. 10
I Fixed PINK CRES’s “Roulette”
It's been nearly a year since I reviewed PINK CRES's major debut single, "Roulette," and the tl;dr is I loved the song and performance, but hated the mix. HATED it. The vocals sit so deep in the mix that it's almost impossible to enjoy, and it's the second time PC has suffered this fate (the … Continue reading I Fixed PINK CRES’s “Roulette”
H!P Revolution 2021
State of the Hello! Project Address With 2020 finally in our rearview mirror, we can look forward to a fresh start for all of the Hello! Project groups and idols going forward. 2020 was a strange and turbulent year that saw H!P wave goodbye to a slew of talented idols, many of whom seemed to … Continue reading H!P Revolution 2021
Top 5 H!P Solo Videos of 2020
One of the few nuggets of gold to come out of the shit-pile that was 2020 H!P was the series of solo recordings released on Youtube. These are my five favorites, and you'll notice some of H!P's best singers missing from the list. The success of these recordings, for me, depends heavily on song choice, … Continue reading Top 5 H!P Solo Videos of 2020