SMAP: A case-study of J-pop
Source: ocw.mit.edu
Topic: Teen Fashion
Sort Desciption: contemporary fashion and lifestyle trends. Often idols were featured in fashion and teen. magazines as spokespeople for cosmetic and clothing brands and as ...
Content Inside: Christine Chiu 21M.294 Final Paper May 12 2005 SMAP: A case-study of J-pop Japanese pop music also known as J-pop evolved from Japanese peoples imitation and adoption of western popular music as early as the 1950s. Back then the Japanese admired many American popular songs and imitated them by singing them in Japanese. Over time J-pop emerged as a unique blend of American pop music and Japanese traditional music and ideals. In J-pop the instrumentation consists of electric guitar drums and synthesizer the lyrics center on themes of youth love and friendship and the artists are often in their teens or 20s. As part of the Japanese popular cultural movement J-pop has become an important part of contemporary Japanese popular music primarily due to the craze over idol girl and boy bands. However the popularity of idol bands is baffling to many observers as most idols cannot sing or write their own songs. On a closer look Japanese idols compensate for their lack of musical talent through their good looks chic dance moves and nice personalities that attract a fan base consisting mostly of adolescents. In particular boy bands in Japan have become so popular that their members are versatile artists starring in TV dramas and commercials hosting TV and radio shows and writing books. As additional evidence of the popularity of boy bands in Japan tickets to their concerts are exclusive to the fan club members through a lottery process (Darling-Wolf). To investigate this boy band phenomenon this paper explores the rise of the J-pop idol movement and takes a closer look at an all-time popular boy band SMAP that is representative of many characteristics of Japanese boy bands. J-pop is part of the Japanese popular cultural movement that began with influx of American movies and popular music into Japan during the post-World War II era. In turn 1 Japanese people admired the imported music and created their own versions of the music on TV and in records (Garland). For e ...
jpop boybands