🧵 3/4
What Was New To ME In East Asian Pop 2023 -- Jpop
乃木坂46 『僕は僕を好きになる』 (Nogizaka46 - Boku wa Boku wo Suki ni Naru)
https://youtu.be/F_WgREJgJhw?si=3EHr3MpQNXH63kLW
This song is also about two years old, but I only came across it in the spring of last year. Because the Japanese popular music industry is less dependent on exports than that of South Korea, fewer concessions have to be made to the tastes of westerners like me. Unsurprisingly therefore, FAKY, one the jpop groups that I like best, does not have a particularly Japanese sound, while a more typically Jpop girl group sound – frenetic guitar driven rock with chipmunk vocals – leaves me cold.
This song, though, manages to combine the unmistakably Japanese anisong instrumentation with anthemic pop to produce a song that I loved on first hearing. I also found the MV clever and engaging. The style of the grey outfits at the opening and conclusion struck me as one of youthful elegance rather than little girl cutesieness, while the centred idol Mizuki Yamashita is a joy to behold.
#Jpop # Nogizaka46 # BokuWaBokuWoSukiNiNaru #GirlGroups #YamashitaMizuki