As I mentioned in my intro post I LOVE visual beauty so let me explain why it makes me listen to Japanese music. The Japanese just make everything pretty. In Tokyo I guess you can't even find a piece of cake in a cafe that would look even the slightest bit handmade. They're all picture perfect.
Their visual style just meets my idea of visual beauty and when it comes to music, the visual aspect is pretty much always there. Music isn't bought just because of good music or singers or so as in Finland, on the contrary the music labels first find pretty talented people and then start training them and make music for them and sell it with the artists promoting everything. Then there's pretty music video for promoting and stage outfits and all, and the artists always have their own visual style.
More than half of the videos I watch on Youtube are music videos or live videos and I don't just listen, I watch the videos. I need to really like the music if I listen to it even if I don't like the MV.
I'll explain things with EMPiRE:
I found and still find this video very annoying and stupid so no wonder I didn't like this at first. But then they uploaded the live video....
And all of sudden the same song was brilliant! Pretty outfits and idols and great choreo (and the fans cheering on of course) and everything's good. Plus I really like watching edited and mastered live performances, they have more feeling to them I think. If I listen to this song I always pick the live one.
But compared to western style, in western countries in art we always want there to be idea and meaning and so on but the finish may not always be so pretty. But Japanese often just make it look cool and pretty and there might not be any meaning at all. So you may guess that as I like visual beauty, I really like the Japanese way. Like here:
You see, there are cool drums and idols and choreo and everything without any real deep point at all. That's what it often is with idols, the lyrics have often some message but it's written by the producer and idols just deliver everything with their pretty voices, faces and dancing. But you know, I love it! It's visually so nice and there is nothing I'd add to this song or MV. For me visual beauty an looking cool without any deeper idea is all fine.
There are also music makers in Japan who make such good and beautiful songs and I really like them too but I like them for different reasons! Going to talk about them at some point.
Their visual style just meets my idea of visual beauty and when it comes to music, the visual aspect is pretty much always there. Music isn't bought just because of good music or singers or so as in Finland, on the contrary the music labels first find pretty talented people and then start training them and make music for them and sell it with the artists promoting everything. Then there's pretty music video for promoting and stage outfits and all, and the artists always have their own visual style.
More than half of the videos I watch on Youtube are music videos or live videos and I don't just listen, I watch the videos. I need to really like the music if I listen to it even if I don't like the MV.
I'll explain things with EMPiRE:
I found and still find this video very annoying and stupid so no wonder I didn't like this at first. But then they uploaded the live video....
And all of sudden the same song was brilliant! Pretty outfits and idols and great choreo (and the fans cheering on of course) and everything's good. Plus I really like watching edited and mastered live performances, they have more feeling to them I think. If I listen to this song I always pick the live one.
But compared to western style, in western countries in art we always want there to be idea and meaning and so on but the finish may not always be so pretty. But Japanese often just make it look cool and pretty and there might not be any meaning at all. So you may guess that as I like visual beauty, I really like the Japanese way. Like here:
You see, there are cool drums and idols and choreo and everything without any real deep point at all. That's what it often is with idols, the lyrics have often some message but it's written by the producer and idols just deliver everything with their pretty voices, faces and dancing. But you know, I love it! It's visually so nice and there is nothing I'd add to this song or MV. For me visual beauty an looking cool without any deeper idea is all fine.
There are also music makers in Japan who make such good and beautiful songs and I really like them too but I like them for different reasons! Going to talk about them at some point.
I'd never heard any Japanese music (except for anime intro songs), and I can totally see why you like this!
VastaaPoistaThe first video was really weird, but hey, the artists can do whatever they want o/
I completely agree with you that looking cool without any purpose or deeper meaning is perfectly okay :)
Not everyone likes to admit that other elements like visuals can affect how much we like some music. And for some it probably doesn't. But yeah, I agree that great visuals that fit the music well can make you really pay attention to it with a different attitude.
VastaaPoistaThis was interesting again. :)