terabient

For today's Music Monday, I'll reminisce about a jpop idol who debuted to wild success, released a string of equally successful albums, and ended her career because....well, I'll get into that later.

Melody Ishikawa, better known by her stylized stage name melody., is a Japanese-American singer born in Hawaii. Discovered by one of Japan's most successful record producers while she was in high school, Melody completed her education before moving to Japan at 19 to pursue a singing career. After being attached to several girl group projects that fizzled out, melody. eventually debuted a solo artist and saw immediate success. Her first album, Sincerely, had four singles peak in the top 40 of the Oricon charts. melody.'s songs feature an effortless mix of Japanese and English lyrics, and a joyful, upbeat dance-pop sound.

My personal favorites from Sincerely are So Into You, and a dance-pop cover of Over The Rainbow. As my college radio show was scheduled for Tuesday and Friday evenings, I liked to end with one of these infectiously cheerful tracks during the long winter months--it felt like a way to give a bit of brightness to whoever might be wandering the campus during broadcast hours. ♥

The following years saw melody. release two more albums, Be as One and READY TO GO!, and her most successful single, Realize, which was also the theme song for j-drama Dragon Zakura.

In 2008 melody. released her final studio album, Lei Aloha. Meant to be a reflection of melody.'s life in Hawaii as a child, the songs on Lei Aloha tend towards softer ballads with understated string and piano arrangements. The sole single, Haruka ~Haruka~ was the ending theme song for Daisuki!!, a tender j-drama about a severely disabled woman trying to raise a child after the death of her husband.

After Lei Aloha melody. abruptly retired from the music business, citing a desire to work in fashion design. However, a year later, she announced her marriage to guitarist Miyavi, which is likely the real motivation for her sudden exit.

Of course, it's not uncommon for Asian pop idols to retire when their marriage becomes public but it always hurts to see a successful female performer to completely stop releasing new material. OTOH....Melody did marry perhaps the greatest Japanese guitarist of all time and a global rock icon so you know what? Get it, girl.

It's Music Monday, it's my last day on break, and I feel like chatting about my college radio show some more, so get ready to learn about one of kpop's most successful solo acts, Lee Hyori.

Lee Hyori's career began as the lead singer of the 1st generation idol group FIN K.L. The single Rose was included in Dance Dance Revolution 3rd Mix Korean version, which is how I discovered their music: in a tiny arcade beneath Fenway that is now closed.

Anyway! Lee Hyori left FIN.K.L for a solo career, and immediately became A Big Fuckin Deal. The single 10 minutes from her debut album was a tremendous success, and also serves an ideal example of early 2000s global pop scene: an addictive blend of hip-hop and dance beats, (the BREAK at 2:42 👌 ) provocative dancing and lyrics, and an entire closet of designer brand looks in one video. Of all the music I played on the show, 10 minutes was the most reliable at getting people to stop by the station and ask about the song.

Unfortunately, Lee Hyori's early years were plagued by controversies. She was criticized for her limited vocal range, and her song producers were frequent plagiarists of international hip-hop and RnB hits. Eventually Lee Hyori apologized for her complicity in plagiarism and took a hiatus from the industry, although she continued to work as a show host and entertainment columnist. Although still controversial, people now complained about her animal rights activism, support for worker's rights, and her criticisms of the impossible standards demanded of female performers.

Not surprisingly, when Lee Hyori returned to performing her music reflected her shift to social rights. Miss Korea is a jazzy track with lyrics that highlight how a cultural obsession with beauty erases the real beauty of all women. She has also taken a more direct role in composing and writing her own songs. Black, the title track of her most recent album, has a country/rock influence that is wildly different from the music of her early career, but is still recognizably "Hyorish."

If you've read this far, thank you for listening to me ramble about one of my favorite Asian performers. I hope you enjoy Lee Hyori's music at least a little bit.

Bonus songlist: When I first posted this on Misskey, I cut a few tracks due to length. That's not really an issue here, so here's some extra recs for you!

Hey Girl, from Lee Hyori's debut album and another track with powerful 2000s vibes. It's less catchy than 10 minutes but the music video hilariously demonstrates many of the...less artistic qualities of pop music. Nearly all the comments on this vid are along the lines of "she was my first love" or raving about Hyori's outfits. (The pink angora dress & beret combo in particular is a favorite.) Not included because it's kinda mid if I'm being objective, but definitely doesn't hurt to check out that pink angora dress. ;)

Anymotion, an absolute monster hit produced for Samsung's Anycall flip phone. The ad campaign featuring this song was crucial in Samsung's pivot to a trend-setting brand, and the "stage mix" video linked highlights Lee Hyori's peerless dance skills--not that any performer can afford to be a mediocre dancer in the kpop scene, but even in such rarefied air Hyori's joyously sexual dancing is a cut above any kpop star I've seen.

me: shipping is just for funsies so why not imagine Varuna and Casra kissing it's hot lmao

also me: not only do they have a similar detached, calm demeanor and a "prepare for the worst" approach to problem solving, they've both spent most of their lives as servants to uncaring masters, knowing that inevitably, they will be killed in order to further the goals of said masters. in response to this cruel fate they dedicate themselves to ideals rather than people: Casra places the existence of ARKS above his own and Varuna embraces his sacrifice as the ultimate expression of devotion. this means that they would understand each other's trauma in a way that few others would be capable of. moreover, their reserved and perceptive personalities suggests they would quickly develop a strong rapport. indeed one of the great tragedies of Phantasy Star Online 2 is that these two characters never met, cursing me to imagine an endless amount of scenarios in which this calamitous mistake is addressed,

did Varuna always know his purpose was to revive Shiva & assist in the annihilation of the universe or was there like...some short period of innocence and blissful ignorance of this dread purpose?

what i'm getting at is, while babby Varuna learned how a spoon works was he also wrestling with the knowledge of being the harbinger of calamity or like

did that stuff come later

With ARKS and the Photoner Fleet locked in a stalemate, The God of Justice resorts to unorthodox methods to undermine ARKS leadership....

really i just wanted shippy pics and came up with this excuse much later

Credits

Casra: DauraPSO2
Varuna: terabient

did u know....this is the only cutscene where Luther and Varuna are next to each other. i can't even say they speak to each other because they're talking to the Guardian about the kingdoms of Omega. i suppose you could count Luther's additional comments to Varuna's overview as a kind of conversation...

anyway!!! this lack of canon material has not stopped me from imagining an entire years-long secret affair between them......in fact i feel like seeing them stand next to each other makes the appeal clear. like it should be obvious that the hot smug elf prince should smash the grumpy elf knight. that's how the math works obviously.

also it's very funny that the staging makes it look like Varuna is almost Luther's height when in fact he's like 20cm shorter. very nice of Luther to bring a box for his boytoy to stand on while they spout exposition at the Guardian :3

It's Seductive Sunday so here are some pairing-specific nsfw headcanons. If I were a more organized person, I would present these ideas as like, short fiction and not "list of things these pairs do in the bedroom" but alas, I'm a mess so it is just a rambling horny list.

( Luther/Varuna )

( Luther/Casra )

( about my crackship )

anyway that's all for now. thank you for listening to me be insane