|
News Upcoming releases, tours, TV spots, magazine appearances, et cetera. No posting threads allowed; instead, threads get moved in here from other places. |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
2016.01.02, 12:32 PM | #1601 | |
Ringophile
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: La La Land
Posts: 629
|
And you can bet that even if Ringo doesn't think that way, Aya and Bambi certainly have been forced to confront the issue of *their* identity, and they undoubtedly had a large hand in the choreography. The major difficulty with this interpretation, IMO, is the overt commercialism of the song, and the vocoder. Those elements make it difficult to take the performance seriously.
__________________
There are 2 kinds of J-Pop: Shiina Ringo, and everyone else. |
|
2016.01.02, 03:36 PM | #1602 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 4,764
|
What I'm finding most interesting here, is the lengths people are going to defend this stuff. It reminds me of a younger me, when everyone was laying into stuff like Onna no ka wa daredemo or Tengoku e Youkoso...
However, in hindsight, I feel a little less crazy about it, because at least she wasn't lip syncing back then :-p
__________________
Disco! Life is dead |
2016.01.02, 06:47 PM | #1603 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 683
|
^ yea kinda like the lengths people go to defending, say, Oomori Seiko.
For me it was just a cool looking performance so I'll leave it at that. |
2016.01.02, 07:20 PM | #1604 |
Ringophile
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: La La Land
Posts: 629
|
I don't think anyone's defending the lip-syncing...
__________________
There are 2 kinds of J-Pop: Shiina Ringo, and everyone else. |
2016.01.02, 07:46 PM | #1605 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Honnoji
Posts: 157
|
I don't know why anyone would feel any particular way about it. This is clearly some silly Top of the Pops shit (or whatever equivalent you guys have in your respective countries) and Ringo almost certainly hasn't given it a second thought since she got in her car and went home. Save the vitriol and deeper analysis for when a mimed performance shows up on Expo 15.
|
2016.01.02, 08:10 PM | #1606 | ||
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 353
|
First of all,
No. I also don't think you know what that word means...
Also, you are aware of the many feminist and queer activists in Japan, the many Japanese periodicals dedicated to gender issues, or the many Japanese universities that have gender and women studies programs, aren't you? In fact, in 1999, Ringo did a live tour of women's colleges exclusively. So yes, Ringo is aware of her gender and her national identity. If you think it too "Western" of her to be contemplating such matters, maybe you'd be content with Ringo not also making Western-style pop music and commit herself to the shamisen?
__________________
No one knows what's your struggle |
||
2016.01.03, 08:17 AM | #1607 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: By the Side of the River
Posts: 793
|
Ringo is obviously really upping her performance game but is letting strong vocals and good songwriting take a backseat. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I commend the choreography and the work put into it and Ringo DOES show that she is a talented dancer. But saying Ringo's a talented dancer is probably the most backhanded compliment you can give her lately, isn't it? Nobody went to a Ringo show because they wanted to see Step Up live. We all know who Ringo was in her prime and this ain't it.
It's not an easy pill to swallow either. There's a reason people don't post on these forums much anymore, myself included. It's because the old fans feel like they're being left behind. I think a lot of people expected another return to form after Jihen disbanded but instead we've gotten more songs written for other artists and whatever the hell that auto-tune thing that deadgrandma keeps calling the Coke song is. I got into Ringo around 2007. When I first came to this forum, it was right after Variety was released and OSCA and Killer Tune were in full swing. I adored those songs at the time and got really into them. Hell, I'll still defend them against anybody. I never stopped enjoying those songs no matter how much Jihad, Maou, or anyone else crapped on them. And I bet deadgrandma is the same way with some of the songs released in that era. We were the Jihen Generation of Ringo fans. There was no "Ringo before Jihen" for us. Ringo was always part of Jihen. A lot of us, like myself, didn't even see Phase 1 happen in real time. So to me the music was all of the same era. It was all good music. I used to roll my eyes when Jihad would be all "Not my Ringo" because I was enjoying her output. I was aware of her changing as an artist and doing different styles of music with Jihen but rather than thinking of her changing her style to something I didn't like I saw her as a versatile artist at the time. "Wow, the same woman who wrote this wrote this one too?? She's talented!" and kept enjoying what she was putting out. Meanwhile Maou, justriiingo, Tokyo Jihad, and a lot of others on this forum were starting to part ways with Ringo. Not with the community. But definitely with Ringo. Now people like me and deadgrandma have some years behind us as Ringo fans. We've invested some time into her as an artist and have watched her grow since the late 2000's like many of the other users on this forum before us had. Now we have greater context. This isn't one song in a sea of many songs to discover. This is her latest song. Or one of them. To be honest, I don't really know anymore. I haven't listened to Sunny. And that says a lot I think. It's the first Ringo release I haven't nabbed or at least tried to listen to. I never thought I'd be in this position. But I can't defend Ringo lip-syncing a badly auto-tuned song while doing a choreographed dance. It's just not my Ringo.
__________________
To not know is a form of knowing. |
2016.01.03, 12:25 PM | #1608 |
Ringophile
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: La La Land
Posts: 629
|
The vocoder thing (I'm still not absolutely convinced that it was in fact lip sync) is a blow to her artistic integrity for sure (and let me be clear - I absolutely *LOATHE* it), but so far it's only one song - one performance, even. Time will tell where she goes with it. I don't think the vocoder is going to be a major, permanent thing.
I *was* a fan before Jihen. When I first heard KSK after listening to MM and SS, I was bewildered. When she started Jihen, I disliked that she had gone a different musical direction after KSK. When she released HF, it seemed like she was now just recycling older material, and when Jihen released Variety, my feeling of betrayal was compounded in that she seemed to be giving creative control over to the other members of her band. When Expo 08 came out, I was saddened by the fact that she seemed to have lost her previous voice. But all that is in the past and, with time, I came to appreciate all of her output. I think the upgraded performance aesthetic is probably here to stay, at least for a while, and I think in a few years when she has polished it more, we'll look back at this, smile, and note that this was where it all began. No, she's not my Ringo - but then, she never was to begin with.
__________________
There are 2 kinds of J-Pop: Shiina Ringo, and everyone else. |
2016.01.03, 04:50 PM | #1609 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 4,764
|
Osiris gets it.
Thankyou. I'm glad I'm not the sole person feeling this way. Even back in the late Jihen days, never did I see myself trying to clutch to straws of what remained of the Ringo I loved. When Jihen disbanded, I was excited to see her go back to being SHIINA FUCKIN' RINGO. Never did I expect to see her ONLY making songs on commission (a few here and there, sure, why not, everyone needs a bit of cash- but everything??? THE FUCK MAN). And never, ever did I expect to see her lip synching on Kouhaku. If you can appreciate her for performance and visuals only, fair enough, hats off to you. But you can't HEAR them visuals when you are listening to her music. I remember when she had a brilliant balance of visual/performance AND music. Now its all visual. This doesn't really matter to me personally, I couldn't give a crap. If the music isn't there to hold it all together, then what's the point?
__________________
Disco! Life is dead Last edited by deadgrandma : 2016.01.03 at 04:56 PM. |
2016.01.03, 04:56 PM | #1610 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 683
|
I've invested just as much time (if not more) into her career and I still like what she's putting out, so......
I guess you like what you like and you don't like what you don't. Re: Lip syncing; I don't think she's even making an effort to disguise the fact that she's lip-syncing. It's kind of like all your Tommy february6 performances. They are all a deliberate attempt at being kitsch/pastiche. Which is ok. I will start getting concerned if she starts lip-syncing something like Tadashii machi or Marusadi. Last edited by gekokujyo : 2016.01.03 at 05:02 PM. |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
The 2015 music thread | deadgrandma | Off-Topic (Music) | 299 | 2016.01.01 11:13 AM |
Maybe Old News. Full SR and TJ catalogue available on iTunes UK | EVH | Main Forum | 23 | 2010.09.15 09:08 PM |
Third album: Variety [News] | Jonny | Main Forum | 530 | 2008.03.02 11:24 AM |