E-Girls -- Merry x Merry Xmas

When I first heard of these E-Girls, I had been under the impression that they were one of the many Korean girl groups that had been all the rage in Japan and elsewhere for the past decade or so. The many members all looked glamourous, gorgeous and leggy. However, Marcos V. set me straight when he wrote the first article on the group through their song "RYDEEN". E-Girls are just as Japanese as AKB48...only that the former are more glamourous, gorgeous and leggy.

Then I read where E-Girls was not only the sister act to the studly EXILE but were composed of smaller units. Marcos may have equated them as the Frankenstein gestalt of girl groups but I can go full Japanese pop culture and say that they might be more of the Voltron of such gatherings.

In any case, here is my contribution to the E-Girls' cause as well as another Xmas tune for the blog for this year. This is "Merry x Merry Xmas", their 15th single which was released on December 23rd 2015. The release date may have been a bit too close to the actual special day itself but the tune is so gosh-darn catchy that unlike Japanese Christmas cake, its best-by freshness most likely lasted far longer than the turkey.

Written by Masato Odake（小竹正人）and composed by YADAKO and Dirty Orange, "Merry x Merry Xmas" has that nice mix of new pop and some Motown feeling in the arrangement. The official music video looks like it was inspired by an appropriately seasonal display at a New York department store with the ladies enjoying themselves as if they were involved in the entertainment portion of the annual bonenkai.

The jingle-happy song reached as high as No. 4 on Oricon and was also used as the campaign tune for Samantha Thavasa. It is included on their BEST album "E.G. Smile ~E-Girls Best~" from February 2016 which peaked at No. 2.

E-Girls -- RYDEEN ~Dance All Night~

I remember hearing this song earlier in the year, and not caring at all. It wasn’t until today, thanks to a good friend of mine, that I listened to it with calm and a more, let's say, open heart. In the end, “RYDEEN ~Dance All Night~”, by aidoru group E-Girls, left a nice second impression on me.

When I first heard “RYDEEN ~Dance All Night~”, my main problem with it was the fact that E-Girls were sampling the classic YMO’s “RYDEEN” in a contemporary dance-pop song. Yeah, it was purely purism of my part. Today, after repeated listens, the song kinda worked better.

Basically, it starts right with “RYDEEN’s” main synth melody and the chorus. Afterwards, the first verse comes and... it’s a Latin song fused with European dance beats. My favourite part of the song is probably near the end, when “RYDEEN’s” iconic melody is fused with today’s synths, resulting in a great combination of past and present. All in all, this song could easily be played in Ibiza.

Before I forget, let’s talk a little about E-Girls. Frankly speaking, the group is a Frankenstein created by Avex. In other words, they’re five groups put together: Dream, Flower, Happiness, bunny (a non debuted dance group, according to generasia) and EDG (EXILE Dance Girls, a dance group that works mainly as EXILE’s backup dancers). Also, E-Girls can be seen as a direct response from the Japanese music industry after the Korean invasion back in 2010/2011. That said, they’re somewhat similar in style and music with Korean girl groups like Girls’ Generation (Shoujo Jidai [少女時代] in Japan) or T-ara, for example.

"RYDEEN ~Dance All Night~" was used to promote "COLORFUL POP", the second full lenght album released by E-Girls, in March 2014. The album reached #1 on the Oricon charts, selling 157,387 copies. As for the song, lyrics were written by Maria Okada and MNDR, while music was composed by Takahashi Yukihiro (高橋幸宏). Finally, the arrangement was done by CLARABELL.