Japan and the US [perceptions of pop music]

[ayu'ssong]

This is just an interesting thought that came to mind. Living in the US, I was wondering how the perspective is on Jpop in Japan. In America pop(meaning mostly stuff like Britney, and N'Sync) is pretty much a joke except for probably kids in primary and such (at least in places I know) and i wouldn't know any people who would admit they listened to pop. So simply put, USpop isn't really that legitimate in the terms of being respectable music, or music respected by a wide range, and imo is bad to my ears. So I was wondering how Jpop is viewed respectively in Japan. IMO I think it's good, but I don't know since I don't live there. Like could you go around saying you listened to Ayu or something and that would be all right.
I don't know if I got my point across, and I sorry if I offended anybody who likes American pop, cuz this is mostly from my experiences, and I tried to make it objective, so if anybody is from Japan or knows about this, plz share some insight, thx.

[..:Hot:Like:Wow:..]

Pop music in all of Aisia is highly respected I would say, as just about all the highest selling albums in Japan and all of Asia are pop albums, Where as the American charts are filled with Hip-hop/rap crap.

[ayu'ssong]

yea, i don't get why rap is so popular, but before that at like near 2000 it was filled with pop and stuff, which sucked too, especially the boy band stuff.

[blahh]

Originally Posted by ayu'ssong

yea, i don't get why rap is so popular, but before that at like near 2000 it was filled with pop and stuff, which sucked too, especially the boy band stuff.

I enjoyed pop music around that time.
Actually, I loved American pop before hip pop dominated the music industry, like right now.
Urggh. I can't stand it. (no offense to anyone who enjoys it. sorry)
I mean, in most of the lyrics, mainly all they talk about is drugs and sex.
Am I right?

[Delirium-Zer0]

Last I heard, the music sales there are dominated by people in their teens to mid-twenties (slightly older than the biggest music-buying demographic here in the states), so it's taken a BIT more seriously, and is a bit more respectable, but as a whole, older people don't take it seriously at all (especially people our grandparents' age or slightly younger), because it isn't japanese enough. Really, in the case of most pop music, they don't see much innovation because the Westerners did it first. They don't really see the beauty in it at all, you know? Kind of a weird way to explain, but... it's KINDA taken seriously, I guess. (Of course this is based on stuff I've read... someone IN japan would have a better perspective)

[thinkingoutloud89]

Dunno if it fits in here but there was once this J-Pop girl on herman TV (she sing anime songs for a german label...her names was Momoko-chan or so) anyways....she said people don´t respect ayu (she also meant koda and so on) just because of the music....they like the truth of the lyrics which comes from heart and thats what japanese people make the biggest amount of....oh gosh I think I couldn´t explain it in english XD anyways it was so sweet in german...with an clip of free and easy live^^

[elepop]

I really doubt that it's embarrasing to like J-Pop in Japan. Though, I do think that pop was more popular around 2000. Now, you can see some hip-hop and more rock in Japan. But, J-Pop is still the most loved in my opinion. Seeing all those boybands still dominating the charts, I guess they still like pop very much.

And I wouldn't consider Britney Spears a joke. People loved "Toxic" and they would play it everywhere and people that don't even liked Britney liked that song and they would sing it anyway. But yeah, I guess some people might not want to admit they like her.

[mi|kshake]

Great thread - this is always something I've wondered too. I assumed it would be the same as in the US/UK, but I'll read what everyone else thinks!

mi|kshake~

[ayu'ssong]

Originally Posted by Monkey_D_Ruffy16

she said people don´t respect ayu (she also meant koda and so on) just because of the music....they like the truth of the lyrics which comes from heart and thats what japanese people make the biggest amount of.^^

I'm a little confused, did she meant people DO or DONT respect Ayu, cuz if they like truth of lyrics, i thought ayu usually does that well, and has lyrics different from most other pop singers.

[thinkingoutloud89]

Oh sorry I emant the dont respect her just for good music flow and so, the do respect her in the first case for the truth in her lyrics

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by ayu'ssong

In America pop(meaning mostly stuff like Britney, and N'Sync) is pretty much a joke except for probably kids in primary and such (at least in places I know) and i wouldn't know any people who would admit they listened to pop. So simply put, USpop isn't really that legitimate in the terms of being respectable music, or music respected by a wide range, and imo is bad to my ears.

Still stuck in 1999 eh?

Sorry, but American pop music has moved on a LOT since you last switched on your radio. Nowadays, American pop has evolved greatly. Innovation has been ruling, listen to all the amazing tracks lately. Hollaback Girl, Say It Right, We Belong Together, What You Waiting For, Hung Up, Unwritten, Maneater, Wind It Up, Irreplaceable, Fergalicious, and these are just the females. Male artists like Rob Thomas, James Morisson, Justin Timberlake, Nick Lachey are not "primary-school" material. Music from here have sales figures to prove that they are "respectable".

I hate it when people instantly associate today's American pop scene with Britney music from the late 90's. How would you feel if I were to think of J-POP in general as Ayu squeaking out Powder Snow and concluding that every J-POP song is the same?

[bondingo]

Originally Posted by blahh

I enjoyed pop music around that time.
Actually, I loved American pop before hip pop dominated the music industry, like right now.
Urggh. I can't stand it. (no offense to anyone who enjoys it. sorry)
I mean, in most of the lyrics, mainly all they talk about is drugs and sex.
Am I right?

No offense taken here. I agree 100%. I actually liked the pop music of the late 90s. Now, Hip-Hop has seem to become the new thing, and I can't stand it (no offense meant here either). I've always liked pop, and have no problem admitting that I loved Britney and the Spice Girls back when they were at their peaks.

However, I also agree with Mad_Cactuar. Pop has surely shifted since then, and amazingly so. It's astonishing how different something from the 90s is compared to pop in the 2000s. It's come quite a long way, and while I hate the majority of Hip-Hop, pop still manages to entertain me. However, many pop songs have begun to incorporate elements of Hip-Hop, allowing for sometimes awesome tracks (Maneater), and some that are simply ridiculous (Fergalicious).

[ayu'ssong]

I loved Powder Snow, and I think Ayu's first album is one of her best, and from what I've heard on the radio and on TV Pop in the US still sounds bad(no offence), or modern music (hip hop, new rock) in general which is why a lot people are searching for music from the past, or other places, etc. I guess I just like JPop, but maybe living in Japan it would be different, I dunno.

[xiaou-xijiang]

Originally Posted by Mad_Cactuar

Still stuck in 1999 eh?

Sorry, but American pop music has moved on a LOT since you last switched on your radio. Nowadays, American pop has evolved greatly. Innovation has been ruling, listen to all the amazing tracks lately. Hollaback Girl, Say It Right, We Belong Together, What You Waiting For, Hung Up, Unwritten, Maneater, Wind It Up, Irreplaceable, Fergalicious, and these are just the females. Male artists like Rob Thomas, James Morisson, Justin Timberlake, Nick Lachey are not "primary-school" material. Music from here have sales figures to prove that they are "respectable".

I hate it when people instantly associate today's American pop scene with Britney music from the late 90's. How would you feel if I were to think of J-POP in general as Ayu squeaking out Powder Snow and concluding that every J-POP song is the same?

that's a very good point. I agree. Most of what is pop is never thought of as pop because everyone associates pop as Pop Stars or Hit Me Baby One More Time.

[XFER]

Well, I am another one who used to love american pop music. But there are too many, too too many artists who think that to be more respectable or more mature, include many elements of r&b or hip hop in their music. And really, i do not like that at all.

Now, i look to France, Italy, Canada, Japan and other countries to satisfy my POP music needs.

[Nanako]

Sorry peeps but Hip-hop is here to stay!
Just had 2 do it

Honestly I'm not the biggest hip-hop fan, even though I do listen to it, I'm more into R&B and R&B flavored hip hop. Old school too! Even though hip hop does give off some bad images and ideas people still buy it because its GREAT to dance to and come on we are all a little naughty inside And not ALL hip hop is about sex, money, and drugs. Have you all heard of Common or Kanya West? They rap about issues in today's society.

[Kikaru]

Originally Posted by Mad_Cactuar

Still stuck in 1999 eh?

Sorry, but American pop music has moved on a LOT since you last switched on your radio. Nowadays, American pop has evolved greatly. Innovation has been ruling, listen to all the amazing tracks lately. Hollaback Girl, Say It Right, We Belong Together, What You Waiting For, Hung Up, Unwritten, Maneater, Wind It Up, Irreplaceable, Fergalicious, and these are just the females. Male artists like Rob Thomas, James Morisson, Justin Timberlake, Nick Lachey are not "primary-school" material. Music from here have sales figures to prove that they are "respectable".

I hate it when people instantly associate today's American pop scene with Britney music from the late 90's. How would you feel if I were to think of J-POP in general as Ayu squeaking out Powder Snow and concluding that every J-POP song is the same?

AMEN!

To quote my friend: "There's a reason why Britney Spear's album sells millions". One person=/=entire country. And also I'm willing to bet that a lot of people still likes Britney, or N'sync, but too scared to admit it. (Com'on people, you got to admit it's fun singing 'tearing out my heart' on the top of your lungs walking down the sidewalk during summer).

I think a lot of Jpop listeners (just a general observation, nothing personal) have become very Asian-pop or jpop-centered that they tend to associate anything bad with American or Western Music, Period. Maybe I'm just ranting here, but if you can go about and say how bad the rap and hip-hop and western music is, I think Westerners have every right to say how bad Jpop is. Each to his or her own. Yes, there's crappy Western music. But there's a large share of crappy asian singers too.

One thing I learned (from this forum actually )

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

Well, there isn't anything wrong with classifying someone as "pop". For me, pop music just means popular music. Even The Beatles were "pop". Maybe you mean "bubblegum pop", which is what most people think of "pop" today. But I disagree with that. Pop includes an artist of any genre of music who becomes very popular, be that music rock, jazz, blues, etc. So I'll have to say Teresa Teng's music was the pop music of her time.

So the Beatles, back in their prime, was considered pop as well.

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by kikaru

I think a lot of Jpop listeners (just a general observation, nothing personal) have become very Asian-pop or jpop-centered that they tend to associate anything bad with American or Western Music, Period.

THAT'S EXACTLY TRUE. I've also seen it in this forum.

Originally Posted by nanako

And not ALL hip hop is about sex, money, and drugs. Have you all heard of Common or Kanya West? They rap about issues in today's society.

True! The Game and Eminem also don't rap much about sex. I love many hip-hop/R&B songs, stuff by Cassie, Ciara, Nelly, etc. Of course, there's an equal amount of daft artists.

[*Petit*]

First of all I think it's strange (depending on the artist you're into) that you find a lot of the music made in the 90s in the west "crap" if you enjoy jpop now. A LOT of it is still much more the same as 90's music than it sounds like the pop music in the US today.
Dance/house/trancey music still is a heavy influence, american "dance"-music seems a lot more RnB-ish than the japanese (allthough there are sings of this changing a bit right now, like the release of the madonna album).


I think some of the problem with the "pop" in the end of the 90's was that it became ridiculous and comical, childish in a way, like backstreet boys , spice girls and aqua. These relied heavily on image and it was obious that they were "characters" (especially spice girls which even had names for their characters ) rather than "real people".

I don't really think the music was "better" or "worse" back then, but to me what happened was that I got bored with a lot of the music that was released. The music I liked wasen't really a part of the mainstream music anymore, Hip-Hop often turns out extremely repetetive to me (f.ex by repeating the almost exact same sample through the entire(!) the song), the pop music turned away from dance and "rave"-music influences as it was no longer in fashion. When I discovered Japanese music of course I could go back in time to discover a lot of songs from end of the 90s that I would enjoy, but what I also found interesting and attractive was that this type of music still topped the charts, and it was still given a "serious" treatment by good musicians. There were also other reasons, like the heavy influence of classical music in some pieces and of course the high pitched vocals, the way the never a songs almost always is a "three piece song" (don't ask haha) which gives it more variety, and also how some songs "dare" to be silly and theatrical just for the sake of entertainment (much like aqua did, compare f.ex H!P to aqua videos.. )

I guess in the end the entire scene of the japanese music is more appealing to me, even though the music really isen't all that different (allthough the most popular music topping the charts is different). However the things that makes it different is what I was missing from the music surrounding me around 2003....

[Nanako]

I Luv A-Pop and J-Pop equally. I just like being able to listen to two times the amount of music than most people in America, and most times the same quality of music is being released in both countries. I prefer now more R&B geared J-pop though^^