J-pop going flat???

[CHE.R.RY]

It makes me sad that I can't seem to find J-pop (with the exception of Ayu, MAA, Namie Amuro, Perfume, & Meisa Kuroki) that really captures my interest....

In fact, I feel like they really need to bring in a new, fresh sound. I can't help but feel like their music lately sounds exactly the same as it did 6 years ago when I started to listen to J-pop heavily. In other words, it sounds a little outdated imo.

I guess maybe this is why K-pop artists are doing so well in Japan - because they're bringing in a new sound, which in my opinion, should give the J-pop music industry a hint that something ought to change. Now that doesn't mean the Japanese should coat their music with heavy autotune....I'm just saying I think they should start experimenting more.

Does anyone else feel this way???

edit: I almost forgot that I still adore Kalafina

[happiholic★]

I do agree. I'm not finding many artists that capture my interest anymore. Right now, I'm a huge fan of Ayu, Kuu, Kana and Miliyah. They are, I guess, the most well known singers that I like. Then I have some lesser known artists I like, and a few, very few, of the Oshare Kei singers that I like. But, I haven't "discovered" a new singer to fan girl over since mini a while back. It saddens me. I love discovering new singers to love, lol.

[KarenPang]

I can't speak for others but maybe because I'm in many different fandoms , I don't feel it that much although in recent times , I have kicked out a lot of acts from my playlist as their music have not been as good as before *cough flumpool cough*

Also I don't limit myself just to listen to 1 artiste if not 1 specific music genre . Yes , BREAKERZ is my most fave artiste to listen if not promote but I don't listen to them 24/7 , I will go mental & suffocate

I don't know for your case but maybe if you were to be more open to new music genres , that might open unexpected doors for you & you will not that much of a jpop fatigue spell ? :O

Like for example , I'm not really into so much hip hop & rap but I never expect I end up enjoying Hilcrhyme's music so much who knew my BREAKERZ fandom has something to do with this lmao

[aloopy]

I felt like this as well last year... I was only listening to like 5 jpop artists on a regular basis... I felt sad lol because like 3 years before I was listening to sooo many artists.

A few months ago I went on a downloading spree on jpopsuki, I downloaded 300+ albums from different artists from different era's and genres, both popular artists and unknown ones, and listened to them when I could.

Sure, most of them didn't sound as catchy or as fabricated as K-pop, but I found some really good stuff in there that made me want to download and listen to them more.


I agree with Karen, don't limit yourself to one genre, try out different genres and artists you've never heard of before, you might be surprised

[PoetGirl]

True! There are a few exceptions but really... it's nothing much going on in pop genre. Idol groups are all sound the same (I like them but its not like my breath has been taken away, after 20 listens you are done). Maybe my taste is weird and outdated.

[toniayu]

I started to feel the same as you.We need new sounds and new artists!!
I have been searching for a new talented singer on the industry but i couldn't find it!The last good new debut musician that Japan had was Alan in 2008...

[CHE.R.RY]

At Aloopy & Karenpang, well I like a lot of different music genres...not just one. The J-pop artists I listed that I like are not all the same genre. I think the only style of music I've really lost interest in is R&B (I guess you could say Namie is arguably R&B but I think she's more so dance/pop nowadays). I still love my rock & just general pop music (I do admit though that I have really gotten into electronica over the past couple years), it's just I can't seem to find anything good in the Japanese music industry...it's like all the new stuff that comes out sounds generic & recycled to me. It just makes me sad because I used to think J-pop was some of the best pop out there.

I really hope I don't come across as close-minded because I really do love music & enjoy listening to a variety of sounds. If you were to go through my iPod you'd see that my music taste really does reflect that. Actually...I think that's when I really started to notice that I was losing interest in J-pop because it was quickly vanishing from my iPod. I'd say about 85% of the music I have in there is western-based. That is a big change for me...cuz I actually went thru a phase when I listened to almost nothing but J-pop.

[happiholic★]

I don't think its an issue for genre, at least not for me. True, I'm not a huge fan of rock music, but if I like the singer or band enough then I don't care. I'm not one of those people who refuses to listen to an artist, just because of their genre.

[TeamAyu2004]

I dont think the jpop genes is getting flat, but the sad fact is that the past 2 years the charts have been dominated by AKB (and sister bands) and Arishi (is that how its spelled?)

I just think taste have changed to what usually brought most of us into the fandom.
I think in a few years the trend will reverse itself and single artist will be popular again...

(crosses fingers and prays to all the gods known to man... and then some)

[KarenPang]

^ uh dude , it's ARASHI which means Storm in Japanese :p

[Polyrhythm]

Jpop is flat? Kpop is bringing a new sound? Um....I think you've got it backwards....unless soulless and manufactured has become the new meaning of innovation.

There's a lot of variety to jpop. It might not be selling shetloads of copies, but it's out there.

[setsuka]

Ierie Leo is a great new debut artists
MAA,Mademoiselle Yulia and Jasmine are great recent debuts

I dunno I am not that picky and particular when it comes to music,

so I dunno I don't see Jpop getting flat since their is so much variety unlike Kpop which to me has been flat since 2008, like how many pop groups can one country handle, they all sound the exact same to me

[sinfonietta]

Maybe you just need to take a break from the genre and explore a different scene? Or explore different artists within the genre if you only stick to a select few?

What I've found with Japanese pop music is that although it doesn't sound as up-to-date on the global scale as, say, the styles in Korean music it does seem more durable: even though I love it, I find I tire of Korean/American/Brit pop within a few days/weeks while Japanese artists I can stick with for a long time before growing tired of their music. For example: two artists I was obsessed with around this time last year were Ke$ha and Tomohisa Yamashita - I'm still hooked on the same Yamapi CD I was then (SUPERGOOD, SUPERBAD) but I grew tired of Ke$ha's Animal+Cannibal within two months.

[Tom Punks]

Originally Posted by sinfonietta

For example: two artists I was obsessed with around this time last year were Ke$ha and Tomohisa Yamashita - I'm still hooked on the same Yamapi CD I was then (SUPERGOOD, SUPERBAD) but I grew tired of Ke$ha's Animal+Cannibal within two months.

[Coelacanth]

J-pop may have indeed gone flat, but bringing up K-pop as a better alternative is absolutely ridiculous imo. Why do people think that K-pop is contributing anything new to music? I find native English speakers who love K-pop to be the biggest hypocrites, because besides a few artists like Lady Gaga, they're usually complete snots about Western music - which imo, K-pop is Western music just... in Korean. K-pop is all image, no substance.

/mytwocents

[Tom Punks]

Did anyone say "k-pop is contributing new things to music" in this thread? I don't think so.

It's not about whether or not it's musically innovative, it's about the fact that listening to k-pop for the first time after listening to and tiring of j-pop for years and years can be very fresh and fun.

If you're not a music snob, that is.

[waterballoon]

the unfortunate thing about the whole "Music sounding the same" situation is, the moment someone "different" turns up,... she becomes so overrated

look at Adele.

anyways, i think J-Pop is getting stale but there isn't much of a "stir" in the business. ARASHI and AKB48 are dominating the charts since God knows when and I don't think there is anything "fun" in the J-Pop scene; we stick to who we used to like, maybe we moved on but i think it feels stale in that sense.

[daybreak123]

Hmm, I don't personally think j-pop is going flat. I have to admit that I've been totally stuck listening to k-pop for the past few years and haven't been following j-pop that closely, except for a few artists. Now I'm starting to get completely tired of the k-pop industry and am moving back to j-pop, which sounds really refreshing after a long break hahah.

I guess you should try taking a break from the j-pop industry and listening to other music more (like you said you've already started listening to more Western stuff). Maybe after a while j-pop might sound fresh and exciting again?

[Kazeyomi]

Just my two cent:

I remember when I listened to japanese music for the first time, and I was amazed by its diversity. Late 90s-early 00s were such good days for the japanese music industry imo. Solo female singers, golden age of girlbands and boybands, many j-rock and visual kei groups. You've got a lot of music to choose those days, seriously.

In other hand, these days the japanese music industry is highly affected by the massive kpop wave. So, it's quite difficult to release some new japanese music and to gain attention without failing as well. But it doesn't mean jpop music is going flat, just hard to find. That's why I try different types of japanese music, not just jpop. You'd be amazed by how many good japanese groups/singers there are, although they're not million-sellers like AKB or not cool like Kana.

I'm not against kpop music though because I like SNDS, Wonder Girls and IU. But let's face it: japanese music has a huge rival now.
But I'm confident, it will rise again for sure.

[Coelacanth]

Originally Posted by Tom Punks

Did anyone say "k-pop is contributing new things to music" in this thread? I don't think so.

It's not about whether or not it's musically innovative, it's about the fact that listening to k-pop for the first time after listening to and tiring of j-pop for years and years can be very fresh and fun.

If you're not a music snob, that is.

Yeah but, If I'm going to listen to "silly" pop music, it's at least going to be in English. Snobby about language? Maybe. About music? No.

I'm gonna listen to Craig David and Jason Derulo over say, Wheesung.

I also refuse to ever support an industry that is openly prejudiced against African-Americans, yet their entire sound and image comes from AA's.

On the topic of J-pop... it's gotten extremely stale for me. I don't like all the huge boybands/girlbands coming out, and artists whose older works I love are releasing mediocre new stuff.