AKB48
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| And you thought the Pussycat Dolls had too many members. |
Who are they?
AKB48 holds
the Guinness World record for largest pop group, consisting of an astounding 88
members. That’s right, eighty-freaking-eight members! But that isn’t the
only thing that sets them apart from girl groups such as the Pussycat Dolls or
the Spice Girls. They are an extremely
popular idol group from Japan. Formed in
2005, they have sold a total of 20 million physical CDs in Japan so far.
Idols
AKB48 is an
idol group, but what is an idol group? In
Asia there is a massive explosion of entertainers called idols. They are basically “media personalities in
their teens and early twenties who are considered particularly attractive or
cute”. So, they’re similar to the tween
idols of America (e.g. Disney Stars, Justin Beiber, One Direction).
However,
what makes these idols different than their counterparts in North America are
the fans. These worshipped figures “command
a level of obsession among their fans that easily outshines the Beliebers and
Directioners”. The level of delusional obsession
borderlines pure criminal insanity (i.e. a fan once tried to poison her idol).
So, yeah,
idol culture can be quite off putting, but it is a unique aspect of the Asian music
industry. All negativities aside, not
all fans are rabid worshippers.
The Music
AKB480
never really strays from very cheery and poppy music. But with zillions of catchy tunes, it’s not
hard to see why they are such a popular group.
Below is the group’s most recent release called UZA :
Compared to AKB48 other releases, the song falls a
bit flat with its heavy use of auto-tune.
Despite this, the single still sold over a million copies in the first
week of its released.
Just
for kicks, here is another video called Gingham Check:
It’s
a very interesting video, one that you wouldn’t normally see in the west. So, what are your thoughts on AKB48? Love
them? Hate them?
Sources
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/8000/largest-pop-group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_idol
http://www.asianjunkie.com/2012/10/korean-executive-says-k-pop-fans-are-a-cult-the-fandom-scares-an-american-journalist/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AKB48
http://www.tokyohive.com/2012/11/akb48-sells-over-20-million-cds-total/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_idol
http://www.asianjunkie.com/2012/10/korean-executive-says-k-pop-fans-are-a-cult-the-fandom-scares-an-american-journalist/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AKB48
http://www.tokyohive.com/2012/11/akb48-sells-over-20-million-cds-total/
