AKB48
The Triumph of Japanese Girls

Founded in 2005 by Yasushi Akimoto, the Japanese band AKB48 is one of the most successful artists of the present day. With songs like Beginner, River, and Heavy Rotation, the members led by Atsuko Maeda sang, danced, and jumped their way into the hearts of East Asian residents overnight and triggered puberty in many a teenager with a revealing music video or two.

Andrew Joyce and Kenneth Maxwell of the Wall Street Journal once described AKB48's works as sugary pop tunes with sometimes suggestive lyrics. At performances, the members perform a revue of simply choreographed numbers to an audience that is about ninety-five percent male. The music is typical Japanese pop, fast numbers with high, sing-along choruses.

Thanks to their theater in Tokyo's Akihabara district, fans always feel a strong connection with the members of the band, which is nowadays divided into countless sister and sub-groups, and also like to buy the same single on CD hundreds of times each, because meet-and-greet coupons or popularity ballots are hidden in some of them, only to dispose of the round discs on a nearby mountain afterwards. This is also a way to storm the charts.

Sunday, March 19, 2023

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AKB48The Triumph of Japanese Girls

AKB48
The Triumph of Japanese Girls