poptimists | J-Pop renaissance

I curse the weak-ass dollar for one major development in pop music that I literally can't afford to catch up on these days: J-Pop. It's always been more diverse than the stereotypes suggested in the 90s. However, there are so many diamonds flying through the sky going unnoticed this decade, especially RIGHT NOW. I walk inside the Kinokuniya Books store near where I work once a week to see what's hot, what's not, etc.

Of all artists, Namie Amuro pretty much wins the crown this spring, with her triple single release 60s 70s 80s.

Single #33 for Namie and apparently her best selling single in 8 years, it's a triple single Vidal Sassoon ad campaign all rolled into one. Each single represents/resembles a song and style from the respective decade:
"New Look" <-- The Supremes "Baby Love"
"Rock Steady" <-- Aretha Franklin "Rock Steady"
"What A Feeling" <-- Irene Cara "What A Feeling"

That said, the songs don't really sound like they come the respective decades at all. They would have failed THAT round of the Pop Open in other words... maybe. This is what makes this release intriguing. The flavors are there, but without sounding retrospective at all.

Here's a good YouTube encapsulation of the entire single, as performed on TV in Japan:
60s70s80s live on TV, with English subtitles. (Curse bans on no embedding!) (Wait, was that really "LOL" in the lyrics?)

..and before this gets taken down by the /-\v3x label!... Watch while you can.