#happy bday in japan kaoru!!

[bpdiruma]

it irritates me when people act as if kaoru being timid and sensitive is her "true personality", and that her princely personality is "fake".

like even kaoru herself doesn't agree with that interpretation of her.

she's herself. the kaoru we see now is her true self. and she's happy with who she is. her personality now isn't fake. she has always been herself and she's content

#happy bday in japan kaoru!! #woah shes actually happy with herself!! #this fandom misinterprets her character so much it gets on my nerves #kaoru seta #seta kaoru #hello happy world #hhw #harohapi #bang dream girls band party #bang dream #bandori

[arbitrarygreay]

Music of 2017

These three tracks captured my attention this year. They still do. Tsubaki Factory - Waratte I immediately pegged this song as sharing the same chorus melody as Gfriend's "Me Gustas Tu," making a couple of mashups (1, 2) from that fact. Not only did that give me healthy appreciation for the various ways one could branch the verse/pre-chorus composition (Tsuno Maisa) using some music theory principles, it impressed on me how important the arrangement (Hirata!) is, as Waratte's is soooooo much better than MGT's, proving Ellington/Mills true as always. Also, the MV is really fun. Reminded me a lot of Perfume. Momoiro Clover Z - Blast! My previous thoughts still stand. (1, 2) Quite happy to see how Momoclo's invisible manners era will go, and I do hope Momoclo's Olympic dreams aren't premature braggadocio, but that they can hold out to 2020. I want to see this performed in person so badly, but also dude, those outfits are all-time greats. WANT. Morning Musume - Jealousy Jealousy Man, Hashimoto can find all the new hotshot composers he wants, but you just can't stump the pure synergy Tsunku can bring out of his favorite arrangers, in this case, Ookubo Kaoru (yes, I've come around to those brass bits). Like with Waratte, I messed with a mashup for this song, which has since because a favorite of mine on the music player, which also made me so appreciative of how lushly maximalist Jpop arrangements are compared to other traditions. As friends can attest, at karaoke I went beyond Ijiwaru Shinaide and sang this song's composition over so many others, hah. But it's kind of weird. Not many Tsunku-isms at all, other than some structure fuckery, but the composition feels more like some of his chameleon masterpieces like Take Off Is Now, where he gets the lay of the land of a new genre before he starts really experimenting. But those lyrics are so immersive and thought-provoking, as usual. Well, that, and they gave us some truly dank memes, too. Tsunku just can't be beat, yet. Wait, our Takui song of the year was Shuukatsu Sensation? Lawl. A Takui/Dance Man joint, dude! That single was amazing. Not quite Waratte levels of earworm, but worthy of being another Roudou Sanka whose lyrical content I pointedly ignore pfffft. Japan ain't got a Shostakovich problem yet lol. As for non-2017 songs that grabbed me this year because I don't give a shit about timeliness: 1. Moshimo..., from the Mobekimasu single in 2011 LMAO what timeliness You just can't beat classic Tsunku bubblegum, with its tricky little composition turns and deceptively difficult vocal interpretation level. A bunch of H!P members have twigged on to that challenge, taking it on for their Bday events, and Duu and Momo even using it for their graduations. Still salty that "kissed me on a Tuesday" was never a part of the lyrics, though. 2. Into You by Ariana Grande, from 2016. I was put onto this by Todd In The Shadows' 2016 best of, and my immediate thought was "That reminds me of TMYW" and off to the mashup races it was (but I don't feel like linking them right now). Max Martin truly is the greatest composer of our time, and Scandinavian pop composition is still where it is at for non-Japanese pop. From the same album, Greedy is also all right, although lol as shown by above mashup its arrangement could use some more oomph, and it also mashes nicely to Cake by the Ocean, with that bridge hook melody. But meanwhile, Bad Decisions not only mirrors Be My Baby from Ariana's last album, but is also would make me unable to take Demi Lovato's Sorry Not Sorry from this year seriously at all, as they're dead ringers. Made me wish the latter had the former's double claps in the chorus, which is hilarious. 3. I abused my local libraries for albums so much this year, y'all. On top of two Babymetal albums (yoooo Tale of the Destinies+The One), I rocked my socks off to Tokyo Jihen's album "Sports" from 2010 this year for a memorable long drive. The lead song "Ikiru" is pretty great. 4. Soundtrack land was rather disappointing this year, but I didn't watch much anime, so oh well. I did, however, rewatch Riverdance and several of those tracks are still gold lol. Going all the way back to the 90s y'all! Some brief tracks that just didn't quite make the cut for top tier fascination (None of them from 2017, of course): Angerme's Umaku Ienai, Sharan Q's Zurui Onna, Kobushi Factory's Go To The Top and Chotto Guchoku ni! Chototsu Moushin (but lbr I really mean the Kawai Daisuke ver.), and Momoclo's Mahoro Vacation. None for you Kpop. I mean, I'm sure there are some Loona or Red Velvet songs waiting to ambush me, but I wasn't in the "explore TSJ's picks" mood this year, sorry. I had some some great classical music discoveries this year, including Hermann's Scene D'amour, Kabalevsky's Overture to Colas Breugnon, Stravinsky/Tchaikovsky's Pas De Deaux, Schubert 9, and William Grant Still, as well as some exploration of MIDI image compositions and MIDI flips. Also I created a music abomination this year no regrets.

#gdi this was supposed to be just a link post for the top three tracks and nothing else #whoops i accidentally a word vomit #morning musume #momoiro clover z #tsubaki factory #category: music #ariana grande #angerme #kobushi factory #sharan q #babymetal #tokyo jihen #classical music