The J-pop idol group comprises five women, Aris, LV, Mary, Miiro, and of course Anri-san. Having been a big fan of her earlier music and live shows, I listened with great interest to her talk about the project, BLACK DIAMOND, and her focus on women’s empowerment and diversity in the concept for the band and in its music. When Anri Okita told me last year that she had a new project, I would never have guessed it would be a J-Pop idol group. So when I see a new J-pop idol group featuring women in their 30s, I take notice. From the days of the “Lollipop” bands all the way through the boom of idol music in anime and otaku culture, one sees image after image of teens and (maybe) collegians as the faces of idol music - except for Zombieland Saga where they’re old enough to be already dead. Like most pop music around the world since rock and roll spread across the globe, J-Pop tends to be youth-oriented, and idol groups even more so. Music schools in Germany often emphasize that pop musicians have to be young and more beautiful than average, leading one to question how music has anything to do with pop or vice versa. It’s rare to see a hip-hop star over 30 on the charts in the USA, and other genres are similarly dominated by youth. Photo: Black Diamond Official.Īs Kwaku Gyasi noted in Varsity magazine, the pop music industry is made for the young.
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