Vocals- everybody is important! Yes, I mean everybody. (What!?)

It's so often that I hear people bash a H!P member because of their vocal- or lack thereof. You know, all those who have blood coming out of their ears. "Listening to _____ makes my ears bleed!" (Drama queens and complaining whores in my opinion).

 

This post is going to be about why I think everybody is important to the group. Sayumi and Koharu included; the two who apparently induce the most bleeding ears, from what I've seen people say. These are my ideas on why these not-as-talented-as-the-others girls auditioned and made it in- and why it was a good decision.

 

First off is the popular excuse of the eyecandy. Take Sayumi: the queen of photobooks, Usagi Peace!, and being the self-proclaimed cutest. We all know she isn't in Morning Musume for her singing talents. Take another "eyecandy" girl, Konno. Her singing isn't bad you could argue. But it is weak and not up to par with the "good" singers of H!P. But Konno is adorable! Ishikawa Rika is similar in that way. (Charmy!)

 

I see that explanation as an obvious one. That Morning Musume isn't just a singing group, they're idols. They need the girls who look good and can sell photobooks and PVs. But I think there is a more hidden reason why they were chosen by Tsunku.

 

I don't think Morning Musume would be the same if it didn't have the "bad" singers that have been members over the years. I'll even go as far as to say it wouldn't sound as good. Now that doesn't make sense, does it? You'd think good singers = better group, bad singers = bad group.

 

Morning Musume seems to have this balance of good singers and bad singers (I use the terms "good" and "bad" loosely. They are of course relative to the individual person, this is all in general). Let's imagine that Morning Musume consisted of all amazing singers- think Ayumi Hamasaki or someone high up like that. Wouldn't you feel overwhelmed? There would be no depth to the song, only powerful and strong singing. Which isn't a bad thing, per say. It just is... boring to me.

 

The combination of weak vocals and strong vocals is what makes Morning Musume sound like it does. Side by side in the same song you can have Fujimoto Miki vocals and Koharu Kusumi vocals, or even a mature familiar sound with a new member's voice. Sayumi sounds grating on her solo lines, but when she's paired up with Miki like in Kanashimi Twilight it brings a whole /new/ sound to the song. Also what makes Morning Musume sound so fun is it's endless combinations of vocal duets/trios/quartets (whether it be for one line or a whole stanza).

 

Just choose a song and open projecthello.com to look at who's singing with whom. You start to notice things. Like when Ai (Takahashi) is paired with Reina, Ai sounds cuter then if she was paired with Risa (where she'd sound stronger). This brings me to another point:

 

We all admit that Morning Musume just doesn't sound like it used to "back in the day". When that day was for you is different for everybody. But we all know it's just different. This is especially noticeable with their recent single, Mikan. I personally love the song, so this isn't an insult to it. But it doesn't sound as good as the past songs. And I don't mean the melody. I mean the general sound to it. For one, the arrangement is different. We're missing the fun and silly style that MM used to have. The patterns like group part-short solo-group part-duet-solo-everybody part. You know what I mean, right? Now it seems like the pattern has gotten a bit boring. Onna ni Sachi Are was mainly solo parts. I honestly like both ways of arranging things. But maybe this is a reason that some others don't like the new stuff as much. And a second reason for sounding different might be that all the girls sound similar. We don't have that wide range of vocal types that we used to. Yossi and Miki held up the tough and strong part of the group. Now no one is there to fill in her gap.

 

I think Aika was a perfect choice for Tsunku to add to Morning Musume. Now? With Miki and Yossi gone, plus the pandas, it feels like Aika isn't a perfect choice anymore. She's just adding to the higher pitched cute voices that everybody else in Morning Musume has. I love her so much and she's one of my favorite members. But unless we get a new generation with some strong singers I don't hold much hope for Morning Musume to bring back at least some of the popular sound they used to have.

 

This is the end, but in another post I'll explain more about my thoughts on auditions and new members. Why each girl was chosen when the auditioned (and how it improved Morning Musume in some way), and who I want to see become 9th gen.

 

P.S. This is my first time actually writing something that's not a short worded review. I hope my writing is understandable? As for the semi-random pictures throughout... well, I know I'm more likely to read a post if there are pictures. ;)

 

-Soli