The Digitalian Review and on Arashi in General
I should be working on the Rationale section of my thesis proposal. But right know I don't feel very rational, neither do I feel like doing anything at all. The truth is, I've not been able to sleep well for two days. Maybe it's because Ami is not home. I've been having disturbing dreams and last night I jumped straight from sleep to wakefulness, by sitting straight up at around 2:30 in the morning, convinced that I had to post something on Blackboard for my students. After that I slept fitfully and again with disturbing dreams. I really need to stop reading about Ebola, but when viruses are just a part of your field of study and work what are you supposed to do? How ironic is it that I am taking Virology AND Immunology this semester? I know exactly what the whole thing is about and if I don't think or talk about it, someone in my department is sure to.
So basically I'm not feeling so great. But I have to be at work and I can't sleep which is what I really want to do so I thought what should I do? Oh that's right, let me review Arashi's new album. The Digitalian to be specific as well as the Zero-G PV.
Every year Arashi gets bashed. It comes with the fame. But this year they're getting bashed worse than usual so I was wondering if they'd really messed up somehow this time around. So I listened to the entire thing because I have time like that while I'm driving and I'll be honest, I have no clue why they're getting bashed at all.
So I can tell Sho and Jun had a lot more influence in this album. But I kind of think that's ok because usually it's the laid-back vocal styles that Nino and Ohno prefer. I feel like Aiba's in the middle with his preference and he'll go either way. But Jun and Sho definitely prefer the hip-hop/rock/techno modern stuff and they got to do it this time. So what? I don't get what the backlash is about.
In fact I love what they did with the whole album. The idea was to blend the "digital" part of our era with the humans we are. Not all of their songs are edited by auto-tune. Hope in darkness is completely their own voices. In fact many of the songs are their own voices with the MUSIC being electronic. And I liked their point. People go crazy about how our world has gone digital and I think it is something to think about for sure. We're never going to voluntarily go back to an age without electricity. What we really don't like is some of the changes because of the digital age. People on their phones and laptops all the time, no longer living life in reality but through their screens, unable to communicate with the people in their lives unless it's virtually with some electronic safely between them. So yes our lives have changed but let's make sure they change the way they want. Now I won't say this is what Arashi was thinking when they came up with the concept but it's what I thought when I heard the album and that's significant.
Sho's thought behind his solo was really touching to me. He said because the album was about the digital human, he wanted his solo to be as opposite of that as possible. Just human. Now how can you trash such a touching concept?
And if they change things up for a while what's the harm? If they don't people say they've recycled things. If they do, it's cheap and terrible? You do realize these people don't consider themselves artists right? They aren't musicians, they're idols. That is they provide people with a dream and a hope not with perfectly written music. They're on the level of Flo Rida and Kanye West and thankfully they have not fallen to their level yet with terrible lyrics and over the top music videos making up for the fact that they're basically talking about nothing all the time. With some people you can't win.
The thing that I like best about Arashi's music is not the sound or the vocals or the singing or the musical theory behind it. I don't know much about music theory and I can't carry a tune for my life so everyone else sounds wonderful to me. What I love the most about Arashi's music is the message. They're a pop group so of course they have the requisite love songs and party songs thrown in. But they also have a large number of motivational and inspirational songs, songs of happiness and gratitude and joy. Point in case is Take Off!!! They're always showing gratitude to fans and by the time you get to their level of establishment of the industry you can stop thinking about fans. But they've based their entire philosophy on fans. The day they stop thinking about fans is when they'll lose their position. I don't think this is true about all music groups or even all music groups in Japan. Some groups' concept is coolness, or cuteness, or friendship, or how they dress or art or whatever. But Arashi's is really about how they care about their fans. I'm not convinced I've found any group besides their's who has this concept. I'll admit I was touched by the Take Off!!! song and the visuals that the lyrics induced really were great. I wanted to fly hearing that song and feel the wind in my hair.
Now as for the singing, I didn't think it was all that different from what it was before. Just as good and as I say every time, Jun always is the one to improve most. I think he knows he's the weakest link in the singing chain and he works a lot on his singing. I remember hearing his behind the scenes singing for the One album and I who cannot carry a tune or really even hear one could tell it wasn't a good job. But that is no longer true and you can hear improvement in every new album. I loved Nino's Christmas song. It's going to be a hit come winter.
Ok moving on to the PV. The two biggest complaints are: cheap and terrible dancing. I'm not sure what the complaint about the cheapness is about. In recent years they haven't had any PVs with a story. It's usually them just sitting around in a pretty background looking pretty or dancing in a relatively neutral background. That's what this was too. So they don't want to do elaborate music videos. That's fine with me. I get to see their faces. I get to see them dance and there's nothing else distracting from that. As for the terrible dancing...I really don't know what that's about either. I showed my sister the PV and she's not an Arashi fan but she said: They're so in sync! I'm getting the impression that people think the hip shaking wasn't sexy enough? It was like jerking or something? Well first of all, they have two moves...one with the jerkish hip move and the other not. I thought that was on purpose. The other thing is...good God people what do you want, another Anaconda? Thank god it's not tawdry and over-sexed. As it is they've been pushed towards sexy stuff too much lately and I understand they can't do innocent school kid stuff because of their ages but please people let's not push them over the edge into "Trash" status.
Watching the making two things struck me about it. One they were having so much fun. It's been a while since I've seen them so relaxed about work and looking like they truly enjoy what they're doing. The second was how much they were in charge of things. They were the ones saying: please let us do this over and checking camera angles and altering choreography for improved visuals. Ohno came up with the entire choreography and that's with no training whatsoever. If all you hardned music critics out there see mistakes in this PV well then remember this is them working together to create something they haven't before. How will they learn if they don't do it? And why can't we let them do what they'd like to do?
I honestly think they're getting blasted because of their recent Hawaii stint. I think it's making them even more in the spotlight than they used to be. People are probably fearing that they'll lose the old Arashi. Others are probably wondering if they're going to forget who they are or get big-headed. Jealousies from other fandoms are probably coming in (something I never quite understood but ok). Arashi themselves don't seem to be able to get over the Hawaii thing. It's gotten them so excited. I bet it was an experience they never imagined and one that won't fade for a long time. So they talk about it a lot. I find this quite cute since they're excitment makes them feel like unsophisticated kids who got to do something cool and now they're forgetting to act suave and bored about it. Meanwhile TV shows are milking the Hawaii thing for all its worth and that's not letting people forget it either. I suppose Arashi is feeling more out of reach to people and that combined with a new type of album and that's what's making all these angry comments come out.
On top of this, there's a new rumor about them having bribed their way to the Kohaku MC position. *Facepalm* I don't place Arashi at the level of gods or saints and being who they are I hope and pray they never fall prey to the temptations of the music industry but if they do I hope they pull themselves out of it and past it because I know enough about them to understand that they're good, kind people. They were around when I needed to kindness, when I needed to believe in kindness and they gave me that belief.
You know when you love someone you don't harp on their faults. You aren't blind to them but you don't always throw them around. You try to give them a chance and the benefit of doubt. If you don't like something about them you expressit in a beneficial way not in a publicly humiliating way which won't change things anyway. Remember your basics, Arashi fans.
I was going to post this on tumblr but nah. Don't need that kind of hate. And I just wanted to get this out of my system, not really make a point to anyone. So that's all. Peace.
Edit 10.26.2014:
I read that Sho said in the Only Star interview found at the following LJ: http://transitions101.livejournal.com/59355.html
We have a question about that too. “I’ve heard that Sakurai-san proposed the album title. Where did the title come from?” - 18 year old female from Saitama
I’ll start with the conclusion and say that like an alien and a vegetarian, I was hooked by the idea that a Digitalian is an individual who lived in the digital world. In the first place, coming from the previous album, we wanted to do something with a digital sound. Amidst that discussion, Matsujun said, “I’d like to add in a human element.” Many ideas were thrown up for the title, but when we were in the dressing room during the Osaka Waku Waku Gakkou, it came to me out of nowhere. Everyone went, “Hey, that sounds great, doesn’t it?” The more the five of us got psyched up about it, the staff members were really taken aback and said, “What the hell is that?” (laughs) If you were to ask me what it meant, I’d say that it’s a word that combines a digital human and an individual who lives in the digital world. Ask me what that is, and I’d say, “I don’t quite understand it myself.” I’m sure Matsumoto is now bringing the vision of the album to life for our concert. It must be tough for the people who need to materialize ideas. (laughs)
See I was right huh?