My Late Year Idol Discoveries

Again this year my good friend Ryo has invited me to share my top 10 Japanese songs (in my case, idol songs) for their newsletter This Side of Japan. It is always a very nice exercise and I find myself thinking all year "this song is probably going to make it into my top 10." After I submitted my choices, I ended up listening to a few more great songs that could have made the cut, so I decided to dedicate an entire post to these very honorable mentions.

SKE48 - Jikan ga Nai (時間がない)

I have been a long-time enthusiast of AKB48 and its related groups, but I confess that SKE48 was never a group that standed out for me. That has changed last year when they announced they would be collaborating with none other than Tetsuya Komuro. I have yet to listen to all of those songs, but in the meantime they announced another partnership with city pop extraordinaire Night Tempo, releasing an EP with 4 songs. This EP is probably one of the greatest releases of the year to me.

Blueberry Soda (ブルーベリーソーダ) - Tenshi ga Tooru (天使が通る)

Blueberry Soda is a collaboration between actor agency Tanabe Agency and Yasushi Akimoto. Therefore, it is no surprise that this song sounds a bit like some releases from AKB48 and company. I put it in a category of "waltzy" songs like Yurina Hirate's "Yamanotesen" and AKB48 "Negaigoto no Mochigusare," however it feels like "Tenshi ga Tooru" is taking it one step further, refining this delicate feeling.

Yufu Terashima (寺嶋由芙) - Koi no Atoaji (恋の後味)

"Yuffie" has been going strong on the retro sounds for a few years now, but "Koi no Atoaji" sounds like a very authentic 80's ballad to me. Not much else to say, in a positive way... Just a warm, cozy love song perfect for this season.

Nogizaka46 (乃木坂46) - Ato no Matsuri (アトノマツリ)

One of my favorite idol groups, lyrical school, is going through a lineup revamp, which means no new release for a while. I feel like this piece by Nogizaka46 has been a good substitute for the time being. Even the music video reminds me of some of lyrical school's videos such as "Tokonatsu Return." A very solid approach to rap by some of the group's best voices with a self-made video that is a very nice change from the high production of what is probably the biggest female idol group in Japan today.

Ringwanderung - Pulse (パルス)

Ringwanderung is a group with a very distinctive sound and looks, always choosing a dark blue and red palette for their costumes. My partner usually describes this sound as "my cat is strolling on the keyboard" and I think it is a good way to describe it. Every release from this group is a personal highlight, an expected sound but always very pleasing, and I hope this group gets some more traction in the coming year.

I finish this post by wishing Happy Holidays from Portugal to the world, wherever you are reading this from. Here's to another year of great Japanese music from the past and the present.

Yufu Terashima - Kimi ni Toropitaina (君にトロピタイナ)

It has been a while since I wrote something for the blog. I have been missing it, honestly, but for a few months, college took a lot of my time and now I am finally feeling more free. Still, I keep updating my Twitter regularly: it is easier to consume bite-sized information and I have begun to use it a lot more in the last few months.

I have been listening to a lot of music lately, due to getting Spotify Premium in a Christmas deal and installing a rhythm mobile game called Girls Beat Stage. I have already spent some money in there as the "gacha" gods have been blessing me... Lol. It is a lot of fun, so I don't regret it!

The game has opened my eyes to both songs I have listened before without paying that much attention, both new songs I have come to love. Today, I would like to talk about one of them.

Twitter @yufu_0708

I have known Yufu Terashima (寺嶋由芙) for a long time, but I have never properly listened to her discography. I think the first time I heard about her was when I saw the MV for "Neko ni Naritai" (猫になりたい). At the time, I didn't even know she had been a member of BiS, the alternative idol group I now love very much. Well, it's a fact Yufu herself doesn't really like reminiscing as well...

The aforementioned Girls Beat Stage includes several idols tied with DEARSTAGE Inc., the idol agency that manages most notably Dempagumi.inc. Yuffie (as she's also called by fans) is also one of their artists. Her first song featured in the game is "Kimi ni Toropitaina" (君にトロピタイナ), her latest single as of this day, released October 17th, 2018.

I like this song very much because the synths and the overall mood remind me of Showa era songs. Both lyrics, composition and arrangement are the work of Gota Nishidera, the main singer, songwriter and producer of the band NONA REEVES. In the official Teichiku Records website for the single, he states he had been studying the concept of idol along with Yufu and came to the conclusion of basing the song off the genre of "Tropical Minneapolis Euro Kayo" - which is how I assume the term "Toropitaina" came to mind.

Interesting, huh? It's pretty nice to see how much thought still goes to modern idol songs in order to conduct a well-thought, well-balanced, nostalgic-sounding music that still has a modern feel to it and sounds like idol music - mainly because of Yufu's vocals, which are technically not too good, but are pleasant and very characteristic.

I have definitely woken up to Yuffie's music and one of this days I'd like to write about "Kimi ga Chiru" (きみが散る), another very good and nostalgic pop tune.

Yufu Terashima -- Fuhehehehehehehe Daisakusen (ふへへへへへへへ大作戦)

I’m truly in love with Yufu Terashima (寺嶋由芙), and she’ll probably be my top aidoru of the year!

Like I said in my past article about two of her singles, “Campanulla no Yutsu” (カンパニュラの憂鬱) and “Neko ni Naritai!” (猫になりたい！), this cute girl was part of the punk/anti-aidoru unit called BiS (the group disbanded in 2014, but Yufu-chan was out of it since 2013). I thank her for realizing that her true destiny was at being a traditional aidoru.

When I say traditional aidoru, I really mean it! After months exploring her not-so-big discogaphy, I concluded that a good portion of her repertoire is made of retro-sounding tunes, which is a nice change in this era of hyper-energetic or rock-based aidoru groups (Babymetal is pretty nice and was a valuable addition to the aidoru universe, but things are getting strange with lots of indie groups trying to copy them and bite a slice of this niche market). However, she also records some denpa songs eventually, so variety is not a problem for Yuffie.

When I first heard Yufu signed to a major label, I was instantly happy for her. My only problem was how strange the title of her major debut single turned out to be: “Fuhehehehehehehe Daisakusen”. Also, it didn’t help that the short snippet on YouTube didn’t sound interesting at all.

Well, I waited a month before the single was oficially released and “Fuhehehehehehehe Daisakusen”, while not irresistible at first, is a cute song that showcases Yufu’s sound in a positive manner with all the fairy tale elements in the arrangement, such as the strings, synths and flutes. Also, her voice is one of the sweetest things on earth. Yufu’s level of saccarine is so high in “Fuhehehehehehehe Daisakusen” that I think about a fluffy cotton candy while listening to it, and I don’t even like cotton candy in the first place.

Finally, the video is pure heaven! Yufu is awkwardly beautiful, especially when she opens that big and almost disproportionate smile.

As a side note, “Fuhehehehehehehe Daisakusen’s” coupling song (b-side) is a cover of Sheena & The Rokkets’ (シーナ&ザ・ロケッツ) “You May Be”. Yufu’s cover is pretty similar to the original, but I’m a sucker for her cute vocals, so I like the cover over the original. You can hear it below.

(Unfortunately the video has been taken down.)

I’m already eager to her first album release!!!

“Fuhehehehehehehe Daisakusen” was released in May 2015. Lyrics for the song were written by Seiko Oomori (大森靖子), while music and arrangement were done by rionos.

Yufu Terashima -- Campanula no Yuutsu (カンパニュラの憂鬱) / Neko ni Naritai! (猫になりたい！)

Yufu Terashima (寺嶋ゆふ) is an aidoru singer that was part of now-defunct “anti-aidoru” and subversive aidoru group BiS (short for “Brand New Idol Society”). Yeah, that’s it... an aidoru group with an anti-aidoru gimmick. She graduated from the group in 2013 and in the beginning of 2014 she started a solo career as a cute aidoru that is the exact opposite of her trashy BiS days.

“Campanula no Yuutsu”, the summer single released in August 2014, is a jazzy and breezy Latin song that fuses a rich arrangement (in my opinion, something a lot of Latin J-Pop songs lacks) with Yufu’s warm and delicate vocals. In fact, the song is so nice that reminds me of “Copacabana” (1978), an old and classic hit by Barry Manilow. I can’t really tell for sure, but it seems like composer and arranger rionos was inspired by Manilow’s Latin/Disco arrangement when creating “Campanula no Yuutsu”.

Although “Campanula no Yuutsu” comes chronologically first, my initial contact with Yufu Terashima was, in fact, with her third single, “Neko ni Naritai!”, which was released in december 2014. The title track, as the association with a cat induces, is a cute and fantasy-like aidoru pop tune with some 80s synthpop twists. On the top of it, the single also featured a cover of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”... a true guilty pleasure with the synth-happy arrangement and Yufu’s terrible english.

Lyrics for “Campanula no Yuutsu” were written by Yufu herself, while music and arrangement were done by rionos. As for “Neko ni Naritai!” lyrics were written by Jane Sue (ジェーン・スー), while music and arrangement were also done by rionos.

"Campanula no Yuutsu" (left) and "Neko ni Naritai" (right)