I found the article quite rude. I'm not sure if I'm being biased cos I'm a fan, but I got quite upset with the sarcastic remarks. And more than anything, I'm annoyed with the point about cosmetic surgery. They have no proof of this and even if it's true, Ayu looks pretty damn amazing, whoever did the job is like a God!!!

This article seems like it was forced to be written by somebody who didn't approve of the topic, for one reason or another.

I found this article kinda bad tbh.
And the cosmetic-surgery part really pisses me off

Did the writer has any proof that she did that?

anyways, wasn't really happy while I read it.

J-Pop Matters
 

Hamasaki's lyrics and delivery – she has an earnest, unpolished singing voice – project a vulnerability that makes her songs strangely endearing and her ballads occasionally touching.

Occasionally touching....Why does that strike a nerve?

Maybe he has occasional feelings.

Ugh. I don't like the cosmetic surgery comment at all. :< While I do believe Ayu has had some work done, there's definitely no absolute proof and I hate when she's introduced as being someone who is a plastic surgery monster. It p's me off.

The choice of artists is totally weird too. Nothing against alan, but no one in Japan really even cares about her, and I like never hear any news about Tommy or Kitade Nana anymore.

reply
 

LMAO! You're probably right! :roflmao

It's one thing to express your opinions on the artist you are writing about, whether it be about their music, PV's or whatever, but it's a completely different thing to go around saying "yep Ayumi Hamasaki is the plastic queen of Japanese pop because of all the cosmetic surgery."
The writer obviously...
A) Doesn't like Ayu, at all.
B) Doesn't KNOW ANYTHING about Ayu.
C) Is just stupid.
It disgusts me that people write things like this and can print them in a worldwide publication, especially since no one has ever publicly said anything about Ayu having anything done cosmetically (besides her teeth of course).

'surgery' and 'occasionnally touching' make me sick too... but the whole article is from outerspace so it's just 1 insane thing among the others

can't believe they forgot to mention Koda Kumi and Namie Amuro (O_o)

hmm I didn't like Ayu's bit that much...

but I'm glad she mentioned Shiina Ringo though ^^

Well, music-wise, they are not really anything different for western people... Their music are very western...

Except for the cosmetic surgery part, I think Ayu got a fair shake. I mean, it's not like everyone is going to be a die-hard fan, y'know. (And it's not like they compared her to Britney Spears or something.)

i believe every artist did a plastic surgery :D :D :D but why ayu so identically with it? cant mention the other name?

The part about cosmetic surgery makes me rage and the selection is a little "wtf?"...they're just too random and the paragraphs aren't really that positive. Alan isn't a good singer but has a good song or two? Nana Kitade disappoints her fans? Ayu is the fallen Queen of Jpop and uses surgery, she's not relevant or talented?

Bah, I hate when this kind of thing happens. I want people to be interested in Jpop through articles in mainstream media, not be confronted by a paragraph of confusing comments that will turn them off.

Thanks for sharing though :)

Idk, the fact that Nana Kitade is even mentioned made me not take the article seriously, lol...

I wonder why no one bothered to read the subheading:

"Eclectic, wide-ranging and unpredictable, some female stars of the orient's hippest country deserve to be seen and heard in the west"

The point of choosing a seemingly random line-up of female artists was already mentioned in this thread: to show the DIVERSITY in female J-pop. If they put Namie or Koda in there it would have been redundant. Ayu is the FACE of female mainstream J-pop and the J-pop idol system, just ask the rest of Asia. And Shiina Ringo trumps Utada Hikaru any day of the week as the important female singer-songwriter of Japanese music.

Why are people here are so sensitive, reacting a bit overdramatically to "backhanded" compliments. Obviously, the fact that the writer wasn't gushing all over Ayu shows an attempt to uphold some standard of journalistic fairness (except for the cosmetic surgery comment, although personally if I weren't a fan I would have been just as suspicious). Obviously, she's not a fan, but she found something positive to say about Ayu, although modulated so that she doesn't come across as a complete fan-idiot. She even managed to balance her opinion of Shiina Ringo, and she was upfront about being her fan. A gushy article would turn most people off Japanese music. They would think it was written by some anime-obsessed Japanese-crazed person with no critical thinking whatsover. This article tries to sell J-pop to people by cautiously recommending music that would otherwise seem or sound completely strange and alien at first to the average Western listener.

Tomoko Kawase belongs in there as well. She is female alt pop-rock personified. The Brilliant Green is the great underrated Japanese music act of the 90s and 00s.

Even Nana Kitade and alan might be justified for appearing on the list. They definitely represent clear and distinct Japanese pop types.

People are just crying because their favorites didn't appear on the list. Sheesh. I don't see Chitose Hajime or Cocco on this list and I'm not praying for divine vindication. I'm just glad SOMEONE is actually interested in putting a spotlight on Japanese pop music in a mainstream Western publication, and thank God for her. J-pop definitely deserves more attention in the culture-deaf West.

"culture-deaf West"?!
Really, that was offensive o_O

@ Uemarasan

Did you even bother reading the other posts? and I'm not going to say about your tiny weeny racist comment.

I'm so glad all the Shiina fans I've met (myself included XD) are both Shiina AND Ayu lovers.

What bothers me about this article is as others have said -- strangely worded, sarcastic, misinformation printed as fact, etc. And yet, this is very sadly commonplace in Western journalism (perhaps globally, too?). I also take issue with the title "Why Japanese Pop Matters" -- as if the West needs to validate Japanese musicians? O_o As if their pop music needs Westerners to endorse and promote it? I don't think the author intended to suggest such a thing with the title, but regardless of her intentions that's what I'm getting from the syntax.

Also, ever since idiots like Perez or the jackals at ONTD, journalism/pop cultured-based articles ALL have this wry, snarky, bitter tone to them, as if they're mocking the very people they're attempting to credit and praise. It's a very, very strange combination of building someone up and tearing them down which I can neither understand nor endorse: it's one thing to write objectively, showing flaws and positive aspects. It's another to be an unnecessary ****.

Reading the whole thing again now... It really seens like...

Alan is there cuz she is exotic
Nana and Tomoko cuz they are influenced by Shiina
Ayu cuz she is the plastic fake jpop diva

And Shiina cuz she is God, influenced 2 girls on the list and is a true artist, the oposite of the plastic surgery monster above her...