On recent trends.

So the next Berryz Koubou single has hit the radio and I thought I'd share some of the thoughts it spawned in me.

1. Obligatory: "Yuke! Yuke! Monkey Dance? Does Takahashi Ai really need her own theme song? Isn't that what every Morning Musume single is for?"

2. Needs more Momoko.
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The thing about this song is that it reminds me of Dschingis Khan a lot. It isn't that it sounds the same, it is clearly a different song. Rather, it is that this is the same type of peepy, voice distorted, Risako shouting key lines into the microphone style of music. Its the same kind of animal; one after another. Are all future Berryz singles going to be like this? Are we never going to get another Jiriri Kiteru, or Koi no Jubaku, or Kokuhaku no Funsui Hiroba?

If you look at recent C-ute releases you'll see something similar. All the album tracks on 3rd ~Love Escalation~ are some type of weird mid-tempo song. There are no true ballads and no really fast paced energy songs. Then the single following that is Namida no Iro, which is another mid-tempo offering. They all belong in the same class, in my eyes at least.

My thinking is that this is a deliberate choice to try to create a distinctive sound for each group. While I understand the need to differentiate your product line, I do not think this is the right way. This is the idol world; aren't the girls themselves the main thing they are trying to market instead of the largely interchangeable pop music? I would think they would spend more time trying to bring out each girl's persona more instead of imposing arbitrary musical distinctions. I like Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance, it is fun, catchy and energetic, but if all Berryz singles become like this I can see myself losing interest very quickly. Hell, we're barely two songs in and I'm already feeling a bit bored. I want more varied entertainment.

Maybe I'm wrong about this. It could be that I'm seeing patterns where there are none, and that the songs aren't nearly as similar I'm making them out to be. I've been wrong about plenty of things in the past, and that could certainly be the case here. I'm certainly no musical expert, but I would guess the real test will be whenever C-ute's next single is released.