I like sifow too!

1. There are many, many reasons why an artist's music might not chart. For example, poor promotion, poor funding, poor exposure, poor timing, and then of course poor image or material. I think the main reason sifow doesn't chart is because her music is very heavily influenced by euro, which (while once all the rage in Japan a few years back) has been on its way out over the past few years. Some of Tokyo's great euro clubs have closed recently, if I'm not mistaken.

2. Ganguro (meaning "black face") and Gyaru (from the English word "gal") are, for lack of better term, types of girls. They are essentially fashion styles, but just as any trend, they carry personality and lifestyle stereotypes with them. Ganguro's signature look is very, very, very tan skin and often very, very, very blonde hair. It was big in the late 90s. Gyaru is more a style of dress, and ways of speaking and behaving. Gyaru are stereotypically silly and childish and care more about making fashion statements than anything serious. They are also said to be overtly sexual. These are, of course, only stereotypes.

3. It's very possible that this could be one thing keeping sifow down. Even though other huge stars like Koda Kumi have called themselves gyaru, sifow makes this trend her entire platform ("Gyaru Kakumei" - "Gal Revolution" being her pitch). sifow is trying to break all those stereotypes by singing about friendship and love and show people that being a gyaru isn't such a bad thing. But many people still think it's shameful to follow this trend. I once mentioned sifow to a good friend of mine from Tokyo, for example. My friend is young and fun and hip and modern and open-minded, and her reaction to sifow was: "Yeah, she's okay, but I think she's a gyaru, so..." sifow's image really does set her as an underdog. I'm glad avex has kept her around this long, because i didn't think she'd make it this far.