Kがく ([info]kimivalkyrie) wrote in [info]contemode,
@ 2008-03-01 01:14:00
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Entry tags:honorary contemode

I know people here are interested in Aira Mitsuki because she's got a similar sound to Nakata and Perfume in general, but I happened to stumble upon this on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20w5751k8qo

(embedding was disabled by the owner, many apologies. it's a live performance of her debut song Colorful Tokyo Sounds No. 9)

Now, is it just me or is Aira Mitsuki not just have a similar sound to Perfume but... she's copying their dance moves as well?!

I just want to know what people's thoughts are on this because I do think that Aira Mitsuki's cute and all, but I've seen comments describe her as "a 1 person Perfume" and her producer Ohnishi Terukado as "plagiarizing Nakata's sound" since Perfume are doing really well, I suppose they're trying to get the same success. That, and I think it's pretty obvious when you're trying to copy a contemode artist, especially when it's Perfume because well... I don't think I've ever seen an idol unit that dances quite like that. (It's cute and distinctive.)


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[info]limejam
2008-02-29 07:25 pm UTC (link)
I've seen this video before, but it never really occurred to me how much her dance is quite like Perfume's, especially at the beginning. It's hard to say whether it's a coincidence or intentional...I'd like to say it's a coincidence because I don't think Aira would "study" Perfume's dance moves before she left for the performance or anything haha, but Aira has said herself that she is a fan of Perfume (and capsule) one or two times in her blog, so...it's a possibility.

Ohnishi Terukado's sound is definitely Nakata-esque, more on the cute sounds of Perfume than the (now retro) sounds of capsule. If people say that he's plagiarizing Nakata or trying to use it for profit I think that's quite unfair. Ever since capsule gained their fame around the release of Lounge Designers Killer, and even before that, all the surrounding shibuya-kei artists and poppy artists experienced a somewhat obvious shift from 60s-French-pop sounds to more disco and electronica music. Definitely not a coincidence; Nakata's style has served as significant inspiration to the artists around him (Hazel Nuts Chocolate, CPTR4016882, Lidalt-Valsa, RAM RIDER to name a few) all started doing more capsule-esque music around the time FRUITS CLiPPER exploded its electro-disco sounds onto the scene. Ohnishi Terukado isn't really plagiarizing for his means, I shouldn't think; rather he is responding to a kind-of "bandwagon" movement that's going on in underground (and not-so underground *cough*Ami Suzuki*cough*) Japanese music.

Also, if you look at Saori@destiny, the other artist produced under Ohnishi Terukado's label D-topia, she is significantly unlike Aira Mitsuki. Her music is much more KOTOKOish, using more eurobeat/techno stuff that is more off a niche genre...also not as quality as Aira's sound.

At any rate, I hope people don't see Aira as just a mimic of Perfume's Oricon success...but more as part of the exciting electronic music industry that is thriving in Japan (also Europe?) right now. China Discotica is a killer track anyway XD

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[info]mtrlgmtrlb
2008-02-29 08:41 pm UTC (link)
^ I agree completely.

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[info]johpan
2008-03-01 12:01 am UTC (link)
limejam pretty much said it all.

i do listen to colorful tokyo sounds no.9 on occasion but vocals just don't compare to perfume for me. that and it's kinda hard to dance to cutesy technopop in any other style than perfume's style. then again, someone who can create a new dance style to the technopop genre would really be able to make a name for themselves...

I'd definitely like to hear more Aira but I'm a Perfume fanboy for life XD

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[info]kimivalkyrie
2008-03-01 12:34 pm UTC (link)
I agree with you on Aira being on the technopop bandwagon, it's just that I feel that Ohnishi isn't quite making a distinctive sound for Aira so I feel that her sound is really close to Perfume. In a strange way I do like it because I enjoy technopop in general. It's just that the live video made me do a double take on whether she's been taking perhaps too much of Perfume's... distinctiveness as a technopop group? I'm not sure what to call it.

That, and the amount of negative comments I've encountered about Aira Mitsuki on Japanese bbs/communities and on places like nicovideo far outweigh the very few positive comments so I just wanted to see what people here had to say about it.

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[info]slashman
2008-02-29 11:48 pm UTC (link)
I think she's a pretty blatant, shameless ripoff, but lacking the charm of any of the girls, or the skill of Nakata.

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[info]airiko
2008-03-01 12:28 pm UTC (link)
Considering her most recent effort is even more of crappy ripoff, I agree with you 110%.

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[info]soundboz
2008-03-01 09:54 pm UTC (link)
Crappy ripoff of which song?

If you don't like the song, sure, but I don't think it's fair to call her a "crappy ripoff" over stylistic similarities.

I might get killed for this, but her new song has impressed me much more than 90% Nakata's recent musical output.

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[info]airiko
2008-03-02 01:58 am UTC (link)
And that's your personal opinion. "FLASHBACK" didn't exactly leave me breathless, but I'm not an Aira fan. Her first single was tolerable for me, I won't lie.

It isn't a crappy ripoff of any one song, and if you will, keep in mind that Nakata has gone through sound eras, therefore a lot of the elements in a song can be found in numerous examples. Her music career is, to put it plainly, a thorough stylistic ripoff, and listening to it makes me feel like there isn't a shred of originality in her as an artist. And for me, that's crap. I don't listen to capsule only because of their base style but because of the nuances and the production of the music. Aira is lacking in that department for me, because it sounds just like her producers took Nakata's sound and tried to mimic it. Rip off, by definition, just implies an overall theft, so it's easy and, I daresay, proper, for me to call her that - her music does not possess an original style, it has no original sound, and there are none of the clever nuances or barely noticeable shifts in the backing track that I love about Nakata's sound producing in her songs. If her music career focused on taking Nakata's sound and doing something quality with it, I'd have a completely different opinion of her. As it stands, I find her music to be a poor-quality, hastily put together imitation that has neither the spark nor the simmer of a Nakata product. It's not distinctive for me. And I don't find Aira cute, original, or even convincing in the role she's playing now. It's a personal opinion, and I don't doubt that, but I certainly think it's "fair" for me to state my opinion.

People who enjoy her sound have a reason to, but I am not hopping on that bandwagon because it's not complex enough to tempt me. It's simple to me, really - it's copycat music. And there's plenty of it going around now. None of us can say for sure what Ohnishi's true motives are, either. To say a producer isn't making music in a certain style for the money is a bit of a stretch for me. Nakata claims otherwise in countless interviews I've been reading, but I doubt even he makes music now without thinking about money - it's a job, being a producer, and of course you want to gain some profit for it, even if your music doesn't make everyone happy. Obviously, no one can say whether or not Ohnishi's motives are "pure" or unmotivated by the fact that the contemode sound is selling records now. However, taking influence from another artist to apply to one's own style is one thing - and making music that essentially has no real style but is on the same synthesized track as the artist one is taking "influence" from is a different matter entirely, at least to me. It's funny, actually, because here the music industry itself is banking on Nakata's popularity to the extent that whenever Perfume releases something there's a "recommend" section in CD stores with artists who have been recently releasing singles that sound similar. Take saori@destiny, who has already been discussed above, or Aira - it's become a multicolored, girl-populated bandwagon that banks on the idea that the "Perfume" sound is selling and will sell new artists' material for sure, and I'm not buying it. Or riding on it, for that matter.

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[info]limejam
2008-03-02 02:29 am UTC (link)
I agree with soundboz-- not that she's better than Nakata's newer stuff -- but that China Discotica is much more stylistically defined and more likable than Colorful Tokyo Sounds no.9, and is a worthwhile song to listen to.

I'm quite surprised there is so much anger being directed towards Aira right now, and she's only just released her second single. Poor girl =\

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[info]slashman
2008-03-02 03:39 am UTC (link)
I think feeling sorry for her for being a poor entertainer is pretty funny.

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[info]trifoliumrepens
2008-03-02 04:37 am UTC (link)
Do you think feeling sorry for her because people are creating a stuck-up "in" and "out" group of creativity in J-POP (lol) is funny? As limejam and said, Aira is not the only person to come out of the woodwork with an electronic style, crucifying her and her producer as a ripoff is laughable (ESPECIALLY with the parallels that you can draw between many Yasutaka productions and his European influences). I have a deep respect for Mr. Nakata, but he didn't invent the wheel.

I should also note that, reading Aira's blog, she's pretty well versed in Electronic music (see: posts about everyone from PUZIQUe to TEPR and accounts of shopping trips at Cisco Records), which is way more than one could say about perfume.

Dispute it if you want I guess, in the end you're discussing the artistic merit of pop music.

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[info]slashman
2008-03-02 04:58 am UTC (link)
Do you think feeling sorry for her because people are creating a stuck-up "in" and "out" group of creativity in J-POP (lol) is funny?
No, not really.

crucifying her and her producer as a ripoff is laughable
Why would that be laughable?

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[info]limejam
2008-03-02 05:52 am UTC (link)
I'm not feeling sorry for her for being a poor entertainer.

I'm feeling sorry for her because people are passing judgments after two singles.

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[info]slashman
2008-03-02 12:27 pm UTC (link)
Really? Because you did the same thing in your first post.

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[info]ian_exclamation
2008-03-01 03:20 am UTC (link)

Hmm, I think that the two have very similar sounds...but they're not identical. I agree with what Limejam said about the bandwagoning.

Although her moves DO look a lot like Perfume's...however, she kind of looks ridiculous doing it by herself haha.

I still like her songs, though. I can't wait for her album to drop!

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[info]limejam
2008-03-02 05:53 am UTC (link)
I agree, her music may be an imitation but that doesn't make it not worthwhile.

Can't wait for her album, when she has one!

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[info]58468_0
2008-03-02 03:11 am UTC (link)
I never considered this, oddly enough. When I found out about Aira, I immediately loved her. Her look was unique (to me), her musical style amazing (to me), and while the voice did take some getting used to (I felt the cutesy voices of Perfume were more suited), I'm 100% in love with her now. It never occurred to me that her producer was ripping off Nakata's sound - from the moment I heard of her, I'd read that her sound was "influenced" by Perfume and Nakata's works, but never considered it was merely trying to leech some of Perfume's popularity.

I have yet to watch the Perfume videos to compare with her dance, but I guess I wouldn't be surprised.

I thought I had more of substance to say, and while I may have last night...I guess that's been forgotten. *laugh* Maybe I'll come back.

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