[2017.03.08] Morning Musume ‘17 - BRAND NEW MORNING/Jealousy Jealousy (63rd single)

[DonJuan]

Oops, sorry.

[Anderei]

[quote="DonJuan"]
What about Sexy Zone? Weren't they like the cool new thing some time ago? 
 
But yeah, seems like there aren't as many boy bands anymore, or rather the members get old, do solo stuff and the group releases less as a result. But if they do release stuff it's basically gold in the form of discs.
[/quote]
 
 
Sexy Zone were the cool new thing back in 2011. They've actually been around a good while lol.
 
And yes, I meant kpop boy groups. Up10ion's last korean release sold over 80k in a country where only the most rabid of fans actually buy physical releases (Korea has a physical chart, but it's nowhere near as important as their top digital chart. If you aren't charting on Melon, no one is checking for your song.). It's no surprise to me that they managed to nearly double that in Japan with an official release, especially because their last three Korean releases have all broken 10k in Japan. And I believe their release wasn't just a remake of their Korean material. It might seem weird that some nobodies pushed 150k, but it's not like MM are real somebodies either and they did it too.

[aine]

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="TicTacAnyone" data-cid="206139" data-time="1489614499">Kpop has groups upon groups of boy bands to choose from... Jpop has.... Exile? Lol.</blockquote>And NEWS, and Arashi, and TOKIO, and Kis-My-Ft2, and like another dozen of Johnny's shit hogging MS SuperLive and Kohaku every year.

And then there's Lead and W-inds too.

[Anderei]

Yeah, but as far as homegrown jpop boy groups consisting of members under the age of 25, options are slim. And to be fair, 4 out of the 6 Johnny's acts who made it to Kohaku last year deserved to be there. They had a pretty diverse lineup, because they've cut a lot of the idol groups. 

[TicTacAnyone]

I wanted to mention that from watching H!S's video of Jealousy Jealousy's dance practice... It's a hot mess. It seems only one instructor was teaching all the girls. It's been the norm for the main instructor to teach a number of assistants who then taught girls in smaller groups. Usually 2 members per assistant. None were shown in this dance practice and the girls had lots and lots of questions, especially considering the finer tunings of the dance.
 
 
Frankly, I think the main issue was the instructor had too much to teach to too many girls. If she had done a simpler dance it would have fared better. A lot of leg movements, arm movements and general finesse were left up to the girls to ask the instructor about, instead of being told what to fix during practices.

[Derby]

New performance of BNM from The Inspiration. For some reason they changed the line distribution a little bit and looks like they turned Ayumi, Masaki, Ogata and Maria into a dance unit for this performance.
 
I'm not sure if I should post this here or in The Inspiration thread.

[Zoe]

Masaki's future is in question because of a serious back injury.

...

Let's make her a lead dancer!

[DonJuan]

Basically what I thought. But maybe they were like "who wants to wave flags" and she volunteered. Like she wanted to come back so soon. 
 
Honestly at this point I believe they're just trying to get Masaki to the anniversairy and then she's outtie.

[Anderei]

Yeah but responsible management wouldn't have let her do it even if she wanted.

[DonJuan]

Definitely. As sad as it is, the best decision would've been to let her graduate to be honest. Her injury won't ever heal completely and it's very likely that she'll be in pain every now and then.
 
Especially if they make her move so much like this. At her very first concert after her return. Good job, management.

[Anderei]

She probably doesn't want to graduate and UFP has always been one to suggest graduation rather than force it except in extreme situations. Remember that Aika was on hiatus for basically a year, and only graduated because her doctor told her it would be unwise to keep dancing. UFP seemed to fully expect she'd be back eventually. 

[DonJuan]

True. I mean it would be pretty inconvenient for UFP if Masaki had to graduate. I'm not buying the whole "she's the most popular / best known member at the moment" talk but she's definitely more popular than most other members. In the end H!P gets over every big graduation, may it be Goto Maki, Takahashi Ai or Michishige Sayumi, compared to that a small fish like Masaki will be nearly nothing. But having a somewhat popular member sure is handy. 
 
Also, it would be incredibly annoying to have her wota cry for years, like people did with Eri, Yuuka and Uta. 

[Anderei]

MM lost their last front girl out of nowhere and nothing happened, anyone who thinks Masaki's departure is gonna mean something is crazy.

[DonJuan]

After listening to Miki playing Brand New Morning on the piano I thought that the chorus sounds a bit like Gaga's Bad Romance. Like, if you'd mash both songs together it'd sound great. Maybe it's a different key though. 

[Farrah]

[quote="Anderei"]
MM lost their last front girl out of nowhere and nothing happened, anyone who thinks Masaki's departure is gonna mean something is crazy.
[/quote]

It will mean one thing - I'll officially have not even one reason to continue following this increasingly boring group in an H!P where ANGERME exists LOL.

[Vikitty]

If Masaki graduates, I would like to see her still involved with H!P in some way. She's insanely talented and interested in composing/producing, so I can see her possibly contributing in other ways. Leaving her "Maa-chan" mark on the group in other ways if not with her face. 

[TicTacAnyone]

[quote="Farrah"]
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Anderei" data-cid="206476" data-time="1490222106">
<div>
MM lost their last front girl out of nowhere and nothing happened, anyone who thinks Masaki's departure is gonna mean something is crazy.
[/quote]
It will mean one thing - I'll officially have not even one reason to continue following this increasingly boring group in an H!P where ANGERME exists LOL.
 
</div>
</blockquote>
 
This.
 
 
And it's one thing to lose one front girl out of nowhere, imagine two. (Maa-chan has been arguably a lead vocal for about a year now)
 
But then, imagine losing 3 of your bigger hitters in the past 3 years while the number of background girls increases lolol

[Anderei]

As long as there are cute girls to handshake with, the wota will buy stuff. If all their fans left it'd be one thing, but most just find a new favorite. When your fanbase is almost entirely wota, losing people doesn't matter.

[JPope]

[quote="TicTacAnyone"]
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Farrah" data-cid="206677" data-time="1490761729">
<div>
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Anderei" data-cid="206476" data-time="1490222106">
<div>
MM lost their last front girl out of nowhere and nothing happened, anyone who thinks Masaki's departure is gonna mean something is crazy.
[/quote]
It will mean one thing - I'll officially have not even one reason to continue following this increasingly boring group in an H!P where ANGERME exists LOL.
 
</div>
</blockquote>
 
This.
 
 
And it's one thing to lose one front girl out of nowhere, imagine two. (Maa-chan has been arguably a lead vocal for about a year now)
 
But then, imagine losing 3 of your bigger hitters in the past 3 years while the number of background girls increases lolol
 
</div>
</blockquote>
 
This is the thing that worries me. I get that graduations are gonna happen -- I welcome them, tbh -- but if one of the serviceable 10th Gens leaves while Iikubo and Ikuta continue to take up space, I'll have less reason to follow them closely. I'll still check out their songs, because good songs cure a lot of ills. Who knows, maybe Kaga or Yokoyama turn into something good. Starting with Takahashi, though, MM'xx has lost a lot of talent and character. I really want some of the dead-weight cut loose to pique my interest in them again.

[Farrah]

Yeah, dead weight is the main thing.  People have been complaining about too much dead weight since I first got into H!P eleven years ago and every time we say it can't get worse, it finds a way to get worse LOL but right here, right now, I truly think the good-to-useless ratio is the worst it's ever been.  Losing Masaki... that's, like, peak "wait, it gets even worse?!" it's not so much about losing a front girl as it is losing a front girl while the group has such a lackluster lineup.

[JPope]

[aine]