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--- idol_song [2021/06/01 15:20] – jigenbakuda
+++ idol_song [2024/01/18 19:35] (current) – removed jigenbakuda
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-{{tag>Culture}}
-======Idol Song======
-//
-TLDR: Idol Song is essentially J-Pop sung by Idols instead of J-Pop singers. There are no requirements for a song to be classified as Idol Song, but there are common conventions that one can expect when they listen to Idol Song.//
-Idol Song (アイドルソング) is the name of one of the pseudo-genres from Japan surrounding Nerd Culture. Idol Song is the songs that idols sing. The most popular comparison is something called [[wpjp>アニメソング|Anisong]] (アニソン). Anisong is songs that are in Anime (mostly OPs and EDs). Another psudo-genre is [[wpjp>ゲームミュージック|Game Music]] (ゲームミュージック) Game Music is music that appears as Background Music in Video games.
-I call these genres pseudo-genres" because unlike a [[wp>Music_genre|normal genre]] that have uniting conventions like BPM ranges, instrumentation, song forms, common chord progressions, etc., these pseudo-genres have no uniting conventions. They become the pseudo-genre merely by appearing in the type of media. Game Music is Game Music if I was placed in a Video Game, period. It doesn't have to be chip-tunes, nor classical, nor looping, nor rap, not catchy, not midi, not live. If a developer put a song in a video game it becomes Game Music, period. Likewise, no matter the musical genre, the lyrical content, or the instrumentation, Idol Song becomes Idol Song if a person identifying as an Idol sings the song. This is not to say, as we will discuss later, that there are not cultural expectations around what Idol Song is, that can either be played straight or subverted.
-===What Is Idol Song===
-In general, Idol Song is just [[wp>J-pop|J-Pop]] sung by Idols. So to understand Idol Song is to understand J-Pop. The more you study J-Pop, the easier it is to recognize the cultural expectations of Idol Song that likely will be present in any given song you hear by your favorite Idol. All Japanese Nerd genres are built off of J-Pop, so understanding J-Pop, again, will help you understand Game Music or Anisong. So most everything I talk about will be in reference to J-Pop.
-==Song Structure==
-Let's start with structure first. There are two main flavors of songs in J-Pop. The Full Chorus, and the 1 Chorus.
-A Full Chorus is a structure that we are used to in America, its similar to the radio format. Under 5 minutes (like 7in shellac singles), multiple choruses, and  very catchy (repeating words over and over). The basic Full Chorus starts with an Intro (イントロ), has an A melody (Aメロ), a B melody (Bメロ), a C Melody (often called the Sabi [サビ]), a D melody (a bridge), and an Outro (アウトロ). Generally all the parts will be the same amount of Bars in length, typically 8. Some times an instrument solo (ソロ) is thrown in around the D melody for a little extra spice.
-A One Chorus usually will be very short and have the Intro, to the A melody, to the B melody, then end with the C melody (There was only 1 C melody, as opposed to a normal full chorus song that would play the C melody 3 times). A Full Chorus usually is just literally 2 One Choruses plus a D Melody and then the C Melody 2 more times, and then there is an Outro which is the same, or similar to the intro (which may have been played twice already). During a Full Chorus, the Intro, Kansou (間奏) (when they play the Intro after the 1st Sabi), and Outro will have different names in the song structure, but will likely sound identical or really similar. If the fans are going to call [[fan_chant|Mix]], they probably are going to do it during the intro sections because they Idols are not singing there. I personally am not in a fandom that calls Mix, so I know very little about it.
-==Chord Progressions==
-So there is not one single [[wp>Chord_progression|chord progression]] that explains all of J-Pop. J-Pop is a mix of a whole bunch of different styles, genres, and Music Theories. Essentially J-Pop is the child of [[wp>Kayōkyoku|Kayoukyoku]] and is merely a continuation of the style by incorporating more Western sounds. I think of Kayoukyouku as Soul Music and J-Pop as 90's RnB. I mean, functionally they are the same music, but one is analog and the other is digital, one is less sophisticated, the other a bit more sophisticated. So just think of Kayou as the Old School, and J-Pop the New School. Its the same music, just another generation.
-So J-Pop has influences from Western genres, but it is not merely singing Western Songs in English. The Japanese really merged American genres in a way that Americans did not because of our [[wg>Race_record|legacy of Jim Crow Segregation]] (by the way our American music industry remains segregated even today, but is getting better because of the internet and the Music Industry's weakening grip on the gates of entry). Jazz music theory permeates J-Pop. But also Japanese musicians can not un-hear their own traditional music, so that creeps in from time to time (Manifesting itself in things like having a song with a chord progressions based on western music theory, but singing the Sabi of that song in a [[wp>Japanese_musical_scales|Japanese Yo Scale]]).
-However, like most music based on the blues, the Chord Changes will inevitably boil down to 1-4-5. The Japanese however, favor Jazz changes and will take forever to get through that 1-4-5. This makes a lot of J-Pop sound sophisticated (because it is). J-Pop is fundamentally Western Music, its Roots lie in America and Europe, and as such the instrumentation likewise is mostly based on Western Instruments (guitars, basses, drum sets etc...)
-==Conventions of Idol Song==

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