Atarashii Gakko no Leaders -- NAINAINAI

 

It looks like we have our 2nd 2021 single for this year following Kaori Mizumori's（水森かおり）"Naruko-kyo"（鳴子峡）.

However, it's not an enka tune but something more along the lines of hip-pop thanks to this song-and-dance group called Atarashii Gakko no Leaders (新しい学校のリーダーズ...New School Leaders). I'd seen this group on YouTube here and there over the past few weeks suddenly, and then I finally opted to give this particular song a try, "NAINAINAI" (No, No, No) which was released about a week ago on January 20th.

Written and composed by yonkey, "NAINAINAI" is very Yes, Yes, Yes about someone or a group of students in high school throwing out their frustrations about their current state of life in the world of social media, adolescent insecurities and raging hormones. The song and performance are funny and cool at the same time, and as someone commented, the whole Atarashii Gakko no Leaders thing seems like the anime "Asobi Asobase"（あそびあそばせ）brought to real life.

AGL has actually been around since 2015 and consists of Mizyu, Rin, Suzuka and Kanon. According to their J-Wiki bio, the whole concept of the group is standing out with their individuality and freedom over a crappy intolerant society which is in more in praise of just the so-called cream of the crop. I'm going to have to check out more of their past music videos, but I think, yeah, the ladies are fulfilling their mantra. Looking at their Wikipedia page, AGL has released eleven singles and two albums.