[interview] Jin Akanishi with Purple Sky Magazine

[annatanhe]

What do you do when you’re a member of a phenomenally successful Japanese boyband? If you’re Jin Akanishi, you go solo and tour the United States.

For the past nine years, Akanishi was one-sixth of KAT-TUN, a relatively new song-and-dance group conceived and managed by the institutional idol agency Johnny & Associates, Inc., which has produced

Comments

[bellemainec]

To my mind, this is the official line. Look at his US website..suddenly KT has "two lead singers"...now akame have always effectively been the lead vocals and done all the heavy lifting in terms of the singing (especially Jin he gets...sorry got *ouch that hurt to type* most of the difficult harmony lines).. but the group has definitely not been sold as "akame and the others" since they debuted....so...where is this stuff coming from? Any journalist new to the area would not have had time or inclination to dig back into junior shounen club showreels to see them at work, so...who is coming up with this stuff...

The writing for KT...she may have meant his con solos, but as they were written for himself and only he sang them...it's either sloppy writing, or there was a spin line in a presspack saying he "wrote for KAT-TUN"....which is at best misleading. Unless there is something that they are not telling us....in which case I am really annoyed because how cool would it be for any of the johnny groups to have them writing their own material regularly and releasing it?

The solo work thing annoys me as well. because *everyone* in KT gets to do solo work...and Jin waited a long time between Yukan Club and Bandage to get visible solo work..cos can you really count Speed Racer? And when you look at what other people did last year in comparison...it's just *ridiculous* to say Jin was suddenly the only person in KT to ever do solo work..and the whole hiatus thing being an assertion of solo work *rages*

It does not bug you more than it should, it bugs you because it is misleading and a lie. I am *over* the lies this year; and the Jin situation is just a stellar example of how they say one thing, and do another. I have patiently spent the last two weeks waiting for the official announcement that Jin is a solo artist now for example. I mean, at the Tokyo Dome press conference, they said an official announcement would be made after the US concerts....so where is it? Oh that's right *after* they told us that was going to happen, we got the manual from Jin, they changed the website and they added his name to the You&J fanclub documentation....guess they did not really mean an official decision would be made after the US concerts...they just *said* it.

Sorry. /snark. It's just something that really annoys me about the way this entire thing has been handled. I suppose it's hard for people to get their facts straight, when they keep changing...deliberately apparently. *scowl*

[yokumiz]

I don't think there's much problem saying two lead singers there. Though it sounds not fair, in genera, they did have more lines, esp in song like Real Face. Jouranlists have to generalize information which might not be accurate in particular context but at least in this case, it's not terribly wrong.

Jin did write for KT in history, tho he's by no means working as music producer like Joey Carbone and others, but he wrote lyrics for KT in a few representitive songs, such as Love or Like and Will be alright. It's like she exaggerated the importance of Jin in music writing.

About solo work, her words do annoy me a lot. I think she's a type of journalist who enjoys telling story based on her own impression as an overseas without thinking/understanding too much about the local context.

[bellemainec]

For me the problem with the two lead singer comment is related to your comment about "without thinking/understanding too much about the local context." Western audiences will have a definite impression of what a lead singer in a band or boyband is - and as it is also referenced in the official US website as well, it seems to be the line that the Jimusho wants to push as well. And yes, in practice Kame and Jin definitely have more lines and were definitely used to sell the group.....but can we say that they were ever marketed as "the lead singers" to a japanese audience? Because if it is one of those understood but not talked about things, fine..maybe a variation on universal accepted truth like KimuTaku is the popular/handsome one in SMAP? or Ohno is the best dancer/singer/performer in Arashi (and I am basing both of those just on fanon, as I don't really follow either SMAP or Arashi)..... but it has a definite meaning and connotation to the western audience that seems to be deliberate choice in its use here.

Take Ronan Keating......to me he is the lead singer of Westlife. That is my impression based on what I have seen of them; which is not a lot, but a few songs with him doing most of the vocal and the group around him. Robbie Williams - I know he was in Take That, but I don't know if he was a lead singer..... I could assume he was given he launched a solo career, but I don't know. And on checking wikipedia, Ronan is listed as a lead, and Robbie is not.....but that's the thing. if it's all about impressions, until told otherwise...well a western audience will assume the lead singer is a certain thing...which the Japanese management of the group seems to have gone to some lengths to erase, which makes it frustrating when we change things about.

I knew I was forgetting something - so yay Jin has written lyrics for KAT-TUN on non-singles. I will be very happy if they allow that to stay in the public view as a matter of record, and it is not forgotten...and I will be very happy if Will be alright stays as a Jin contributed KAT-TUN song. I will remember that Will be alright was the last thing I saw KAT-TUN 6-nin perform live in BTR, and how happy I was to see it. and incidentally how happy they all looked singing it too!

And yeah, the solo work thing - is just wrong, incorrect, annoying, and makes me want to start listing for her all the solo stuff the other members have done so that is recognised as well.

But at least, the pictures are pretty!

[cuizy]

I agree with saying his study abroad in 06 is a 'solo' activity leading to the present is a little.....eh (esp since that period is so sensitive among fans)

But I also don't think there's anything wrong with saying he's a lead singer of kt or that he's contributed to the songs occassionally. I mean these kind of interviews if you're introducing him to outsiders of course you're gonna make him sound as important as possible. And these are just slightly exaggerating the truth.

Also to a western audience they have to talk about things in the context of western view. To me, him and Kame were the most promoted (like in docomo, them two got special ads) they're the most popular, most known and usually starts the songs/ sings the most parts thus the two lead singers