A Strange Charm

Sometime last year Ishikawa Rika appeared as a guest on "Doumoto Kyoudai," promoting her appearance in the recent Sukeban Deka film. And while everyone naturally broke out the yo-yos at one point, the show closed with her performance of a 60's French pop classic: "Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son," known to the Japanese as "Yume miru chanson ningyo."

Right before that perf there was a segment called something like "I [heart] Girl Pop: a strange charm which attracts people." What I loved about this bit was that it openly acknowledged something that is often just tacitly understood: most j-pop idols can't sing. Not in a professional sense, anyway, not compared to the small handful of legit j-pop "divas." And yet, for the aficionado, this amateurish quality in the vocals is recognized as a charm point and an asset, not a deficit.

This concept may seem academic to anyone who has followed j-pop for any length of time, but it often seems like the average Western fan has barely processed this at all. Trust me, as a fan of girls like Konkon and Sayumi, I'm used to rather blunt assessments of their talent. The word "sucks" features prominently here.

Not to say that anyone has to like these girls. Even the enlightened fan may have a personal limit to the amount of aural assault he or she can withstand. But those who constantly repeat the mantra, "ugh, she can't sing" are missing the point entirely.

When, on the same show mentioned above, Rika was asked what she considered her "charm points," the first thing she mentioned was her voice. Now, Rika knows she's not a strong singer, but she's clearly aware that her fragile, somewhat anime-ish voice suits her (and her fans) perfectly well. I admire her confidence on this point.

The appreciation of imperfection in idols is not something you are likely see in American pop, where producers seem to be bound by the need to create a diva mystique around their stars. This involves painstakingly crafting immaculate vocal and dance performances, of course, plus arousing/exploiting an almost predatory sense of sexual awareness along with an overall too-cool-for-this-planet aura. This is nearly the antithesis of what I think of as the classic j-idol (note that when I say "classic j-idol," I'm thinking more along the lines of, say, Onyanko Club than of Yamaguchi Momoe or Nakamori Akina - the true divas of j-pop history).

You could be ten feet from an American pop star and she'd never even see you. A j-idol makes an effort to wave at the fans in the balcony seats. The American idol is perfect, unapproachable. The j-idol's mystique is that of the "girl next door." Not perfect, but perfectly normal.

Even if your voice cracks from time to time, keep doing your best, Rika... Sayumi... Koharu... Risako... et cetera...

Ganbatte yo!