Power Flowers

Tsubaki Factory – “Adrenaline Dame”

Sometimes changes creep up on you, almost imperceptibly, masked by the greater familiarity of presence until one day you look up and say “hey, when did that happen?” Other times, changes are immediate and jolting. The changes of Tsubaki Factory’s image from awkward teens to somewhat insecure young ladies to, by last year, confident young women has been of the former variety. Their latest release brings more of a jolt, though, because “Adrenaline Dame” thrusts TF solidly into Bad Bitch territory, and in the process, moves the group 180-degrees from their original concept. Whereas Kiki Asakura personified the original soft feminine TF, the group’s recent trend has been more towards the cocky swagger of Yumeno Kishimoto, and the bold disco-funk of “Adrenaline Dame” advances that trend even further.

This probably shouldn’t be such a shock to me, because it’s pretty similar to last year’s “Masayume” — both are great high-energy funk tracks from composer Takui Nakajima and arranger Tomohiro Sumikama — but the disco treatment and stark key changes of “Adrenaline Dame” bring way more attitude, as do the visuals of a full-group video that pushes the Stronk Woman aura. The scenes of members defiantly yanking the cables from video cameras and monitors come off as an overt signal that the soft, insecure Tsubaki Factory has given way to these confident Power Flowers for the long haul, and the self-assured posture of the dance does nothing to refute that notion.

Someone on Twitter (sorry, I can’t remember who) said that Tsubaki Factory is basically a group where every member is a visual, which is pretty close to the truth, but it’s also a recent development — within the last couple of years or so. When you add improved overall performance and four new members to that increased visual appeal, it’s no wonder that TF seems like a completely different group from the one that caught the brunt of the Covid sales bloodbath. One of the practical effects of this transformation has been a decreased reliance on Kiki as a main visual center and vocalist. She’s still prominent, but less so in a group that has come to share the spotlight more equitably a la Angerme.

The totality of Tsubaki Factory’s evolution from their debut until now is profound — “Adrenaline Dame” would’ve been unthinkable even two years ago — but having been driven organically by the natural evolution of the individual members, it’s honest change. “Ima Nanji?” was the last single of the “soft feminine” TF, which seems like forever ago, but it’s only a year-and-a-half old. Still, if you find yourself longing for a return to the old Tsubaki Factory, you’re probably out of luck. A lot can happen in a short period of time, and the members of TF have simply outgrown their old image. One of the downsides of following a successful idol group from their debut is that the group you fall in love with will either naturally evolve into something different or become stagnant. I think Up Front chose new members for TF with an eye toward retaining a bit of that old TF charm, but as with Juice=Juice, they’ll never recapture that particular magic. If “Adrenaline Dame” is a portent of things to come, though, a different kind of magic is there for the making, and moving on from the old doesn’t seem so bad.