Hello! Project 2009: Spitting On the Memory of Those That Made It Great
I used to have a strong interest in Hello! Project. This was close to the time of their heyday of the 10th anniversary and I felt that Hello!Project at the time had a lot going for it because of the variety of girls that participated in it – you had mature singers like Kaori Iida, Yuko Nakazawa and the lesbian leghumping v-u-den to counterbalance the loli filled acts Berryz Koubou, C-ute and the almost nauseating Hello!Project Eggs.
My interest in Hello! Project eventually waned when all my favourite girls came to a slow but steady decrease in their activity or was placed in the hands of bland composers and arrangers (Case point: Aya Matsuura) that listening to their current music was just unbearable no matter how much I liked their voice.
Without going into the details of my Hello!Project favourites, let’s just say that I was throwing the towel at being an H!P fan and was just taking a casual interest in the girls I liked.
And then there comes the news that every single member I ever cared for graduates in one mass exodus from Hello! Project. So there goes my interest in the group. I could have dusted my hands off Hello! Project and called it a day.
I pretty much did, until I heard the news that there was a new Hello! Project CD coming out. It’s called チャンプル① ～ハッピーマリッジソングカバー集～ [Chanpuru 1 ~Happy Marriage Song Cover Shuu~] and is pretty much a cover album of Jpop from the 70s and 80s with updated arrangements and sung by girls who look young enough to be the daughter of a male at marriage age.
My heart sank when I saw the tracklist and corresponding artists (Courtesy of Hello! Online)
Hello!Project
Chanpuru 1~Happy Marriage Song Cover Shuu~
Release Date: July 15, 2009Tracklist:
1. Diamonds – High-King
2. Ai wa Katsu – °C-ute & Erina Mano
3. YES-YES-YES – Aa! [Tanaka Reina, Natsuyaki Miyabi, Suzuki Airi]
4. Tentou Chuu no Sanba – Shin Minimoni (New Minimoni) [Linlin, Kanon Fukuda, ???]
5. Kimi ga iru dake de – Pucchimoni V
6. Heya to Y shirts to Watashi – Reina Tanaka
7. Mamotte Agetai – Risa Niigaki & Eri Kamei
8. Cosmos – Ai Takahashi
9. Mirai Yosouzu II – ZYX-α (ZYX alpha)
10. ONLY YOU – Zoku･Biyuuden (Sequel Biyuuden)
11. akai sweet pea – Tanpopo #
12. For You… – Linlin
13. Kanpaku Sengen – Berryz Koubou & Erina Mano
14. Sekai wa futari no tame ni – Sayumi Michishige, Koharu Kusumi, Aika Mitsui, Junjun
My first reaction was the title of this particular entry. My second reaction was to believe that due to the global recession and the rise of digital methods of buying music, H!P were running into hard times.
I have very dear memories of Pucchimoni and Tanpopo. My favourite incarnation of Tanpopo is Kaori Iida, Mari Yaguchi and Aya Ishiguro – their Tanpopo was mature, melancholic and featured lovely harmonies. Songs like Last Kiss, Motto and the eponymous Tanpopo were examples of good 90s Jpop. And I loved it to death.
I expect the current Tanpop would just be even more of a sham than the Rika Ishikawa led incarnation.
Pucchimoni on the other hand, were the fun loving and girlish group that Sayaka Ichi, Kei Yasuda and Maki Goto. And though Ichi was replaced with Hitomi Yoshizawa, the group still packed a punch by being cute and in your face without being saccharine.
You can’t beat that, seriously. I don’t think you can.
Again, for the purposes of being brief I won’t go into v-u-den and Minimoni’s incarnations but the point is, these groups were laid to rest for a reason. They were created with a purpose and it just seems a bit… disrespectful to the girls who made H!P great in the first place to revive their groups with these other girls who don’t have the charisma or personality to be worthy of joining these groups.
The point being, I think Maki Goto and the rest of the Hello! Project Elder Club left at a good time. I don’t think they’d be able to stand this sacrilege.
Because I certainly don’t.
