Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu -- CANDY CANDY



Recently, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ) released her first best of compilation, titled “KPP BEST” (May 2016), featuring all her a-sides, some b-sides, a couple of album tracks and even new songs. It’s a good collection to see how Yasutaka Nakata (中田ヤスタカ) managed to put this girl in the spotlight with his quirky electronic music tricks over five years since her debut with the magical “Pon Pon Pon” in 2011. On the other side, it also shows how he kind of lost the magic touch in her latest singles, which is a pity considering Kyary, alongside BABYMETAL, is Japan’s most famous act oversea. Let’s see if he’ll be able to create great songs for Kyary – and even Perfume – again.

“CANDY CANDY”, which was Kyary’s second single, from April 2012, is obviously part of “KPP BEST”. Not only, it’s a great reminder of how good Kyary and Nakata’s partnership used to be until around 2014. In fact, it was with “CANDY CANDY” that Kyary truly won my heart.

Kyary starts the video running around with a toaste in her mouth, just like a typical anime character who is late for some important appointment (in Kyary’s case, it’s a performence in a The Best Ten-like music show, which is a nice homage to Japan’s classic 80s). Then, at some point, we meet a masked male dancer dressed like Kyary who likes to do some break dance. Finally, there are the great sequences where Kyary dances along the big onion and even shoots it with a pink rifle while doing a crazy face (all this in a very pink and fluffy world, of course). Rounding everything, there’s “CANDY CANDY” playing in the background with its bubblegum-like synth melody and the repetitive chorus, which just adds to this kind of psychotic scenario. And I can’t even say it’s Kyary’s most psychotic video ever.

As a side note, here’s a good eurodisco song with candy in the title that don’t have nothing to do with Kyary, but I love it anyway and wanted to put it here without proper reason. It’s called “Candy Love” (1986) and is sung by Swedish duo Lili & Susie.


Kyary’s “CANDY CANDY” reached #8 on the Oricon charts, selling 16,688 copies. It was later included in her first album, “Pamyu Pamyu Revolution” (ぱみゅぱみゅレボリューション). As always, Nakata was responsible for lyrics, music and arrangement.

Source: generasia.com

1 comment:

  1. I'm starting to regret that I didn't get a chance to see Kyary Kyary Pamyu at the Art Gallery of Ontario downtown she came down for a couple of nights of performances after listening to "Candy Candy". She and Nakata did make a good duo.

    As for the Kyary Pamyu Pamyu videos, I think the one to beat for craziness is "Ninjya Re Bang Bang"....those dancing CG robots! Still, the proxy Kyary in the "Candy Candy" video was also quite amazing in his moves.

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