Grouse

Playlist

Cherry by Vidoll

I have gotten my grubby little paws on Vidoll's Esoteric Romance! Its not that great. Half of the songs are nice. The rest are boring. Its really sad when my favourite bands adopt a more mainstream sound, relegating fans like me to bargain bin to find new bands that have a sound that I like. Its not that there aren't any new Visual Kei bands. Think Manterou Opera and Moran. But its not exactly my type. I probably only like one song from their entire album. A good album is one that I like a minimum of fifty percent. Otherwise, there is absolutely no purpose in getting the album. You'll just hear that 2 songs continuously to death and get bored of it really soon. Sigh. A really sad lifespan no? Vidoll sounds increasingly like SID. If it wasn't for the distinctive quality of Mao and Jui's vocals, one would think that the 2 bands decided to share music or something. Its maddening when you wait for ages and there's nothing interesting. My top few grouses are as follows:

1) Atrocious English pronunciations. Its not English. Its some weird hybrid of Japanese and English that I think only the Japanese will understand. A native speaker like me only realises its English upon scrutiny of the lyrics. Its not even in katakana. Its suppose to be in English, but I had no idea it was my first language until I stare at the lyrics at sheer amazement at how they manage to twist it to sound like some new language. Yes I know you are trying. Still. Just sing in Japanese. Its okay. We are the ones hijacking onto the Japanese music industry for musical treatment, so we are willing to listen to Japanese. Its more meaningful and poetic anyway. When 'be all right' sounds like 'vi alu li eh to', its a sign that they should revert back to Japanese. Please stop torturing your fans. We want to support you. Not stop listening to your music. Either brush up your English or sing in Japanese. I think the latter is easier. I like the latter too.

2) Using similar music for different releases. We are your fans. We've probably listened to everything you released since Day One more times than we sing our national anthems. We pay good money to buy your releases. We attend your concerts. We spread the word and the love. We are the reason why there's food on in your fridge. So please try not to cheat us by remixing music and releasing it as two separate songs. If its a remix, say so. We actually pay for remixes. I wont name names, but I've listened to my concentrated single band playlist and identified songs that sound so alike I thought one song was 8 minutes long. Keep this up and I promise you'll lose your following. Its ok to spend more time on your albums. Its ok to have one or two fewer songs. JUST DON'T LIE TO YOUR AVID SUPPORTERS!

3) Bands who are rude to international fans. Yes, your market is Japan. Yet, in this superbly digital age, do you think you can afford to sideline your international fans? Most of us have JLPT certificates. We do our best to get hold of your releases no matter how expensive shipping is given our very limited budgets. We fly to foreign countries where you have your concerts to support you. So give us at least one percent of your attention! I love how VAMPS is so active on Facebook and Twitter. I like how many try to have an English edition of their official site. I adore the effort put into liasion with international fans. Thank you for catering to us. We will do our best to add to your income. Stop removing every single video on Youtube and we'll do more. Hey. Not everyone has access to Japanese cable. We want to keep up to date. We want to know more about you. Feed our addiction. Marketing techniques even a child knows. So why do you take down everything?! Its mainly low resolution, and us who love our idols will find means and ways of getting hold of the original. I may have the album, but I want the limited edition, the special release, the extras, the posters and MORE. Its a different market completely. So stop being such a miser. Use video sharing sites as free publicity. Make us happy, and we'll make you happy too.

Ah. I actually wanted to confess to something. I shall leave it obscure, so that those who know, knows. Its coloured, so only those who choose to read should. Yeah. I know its an invitation for you to read. But like I said, its a warning. Like how Willy Wonka and Marilyn Monroe works, if I say its ugly, its ugly. I'm not into lying on my blog for kicks. If I want to lie, it'd be somewhere where I can appreciate the effects. Not online where you can't savour the effects. Here goes:

Its true. I said I'd never do it, but I did. Me and my big mouth. I said if it ever happened, I'd say it out loud, nice and proud, but I've come to realise that I'm a wimp and dare not say it out loud. Not everyone is like Yasu. I'm an idiot. I was playing a game. A game with society, my family and friends. It was suppose to be entertaining. Something to kill time. It was a sadistic thing to do, I admit. It was mean, hurtful and downright inconsiderate. Yeah. My just desserts. It happened. I didn't mean for it to happen. I never wanted it to turn out this way. I'm sorry. I really am. If I could turn back time, I'd never have decided to toy with something like that. Though I'm likely to ignore my own advice. I know things will never be the same again. I'm really sorry. I don't ask for you to forgive me. Relax, I'll treat you as I always will. Because no matter what, I'm pig-headed enough to never say anything to you face-to-face. I'll pretend nothing happened, for your sake. I know. You deserve better than a mere paragraph online, anonymous to boot. But this is all I can offer you now. Please don't hate me. I love you. Always have, and always will.




"The grief of a previous life, the trauma and painful feelings... The sins of the past reborn..."