Over the past week, an old classmate of mine from not only university but also from Japanese Language School days sent me an e-mail asking me whether I knew anything about the contemporary aidoru group known as Negicco. I had to say that my knowledge was rather limited when I got the mail although I know that Marcos V. included them in his March 2014 article "Retro Grooves and Underground Aidoru Gems Playlist".
Well, not to let any enquirer down, I checked things out about this group and found out that Negicco is a bit of a Cinderella story come to life. Back in 2003, Japan Agricultural Cooperatives had wanted to boost the exposure of the green onion industry in Niigata Prefecture, so Nao☆, Megu, Miku and Kaede were brought together as Negicco, literally meaning Green Onion Girls for what was only going to be a one-month gig. However, the activities and fame kept on coming for them, and although Miku graduated in 2006 (she would be replaced by Misaki but she left a couple of years later), Negicco has continued releasing the music and albums up to the present day, and leader Nao☆ has even helped pen a number of songs for the group.
I found out this single from April 2014 titled "Triple! WONDERLAND" which is quite catchy. The video kinda reminds me of an even cuter Perfume performance, and the music by ex-Cymbals drummer Hiroyasu Yano（矢野博康）had me reminiscing of another aidoru group in this decade, Especia. I would have just categorized "Triple! WONDERLAND" as an aidoru and pop tune but with those 80s-sounding synths and that Especia Neo-City Pop sound, I couldn't help but throw in those particular genres into Labels, too. Yano also provided the lyrics for what is a cute and fairly cool tune.
"Triple! WONDERLAND" is their 6th single under the T-Palette Records label ("Aidoru Bakari Kikanaide"/アイドルばかり聴かないで featured in Marcos' article is their 4th). It peaked at No. 16 on Oricon, and made its appearance on "Rice & Snow", Negicco's 2nd album under the same label from January 2015. That album went as high as No. 18.
Now, let's go all the way back to the beginning with "Koi suru Negicco" (Green Onion Girls In Love) with the original quartet. Their debut single premiered in November 2003, and is a more conventional and oh-so-adorably bouncy testament to themselves. Hopefully, sales in green onions did get a boost. The lyrics were provided by Kura & Oga and music was by atk. Before joining up with T-Palette Records, a little under a dozen singles were released by Negicco with 5 other companies between 2003 and 2010.
Thanks to the perseverance of the girls and their manager for staying in the music industry, although they are not so popular they have an excellent quality in their music and production, a group that has matured in style and has kept its freshness, they always end surprising me <3
ReplyDeleteHi, Midor. Considering that they only came into being just to promote the local onion industry, they've done really well for themselves all these years. :)
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