RHYME SO Ryu Amon/Billboard Japan
Shinichi Osawa (MONDO GROSSO) has actually had an extensive influence on Japan‘s songs scene via his music perceptiveness, concentrated on the most recent and most innovative dancing songs and his cooperations with a large range of musicians. RHYME is an Australian musician (poet, entertainer, DJ, and beatmaker) based in Japan. These 2 different designers, with their varying histories, races & music occupations, compose the dancing songs duo RHYME SO.
They debuted in 2019 with the 88rising solitary “Just Used Music Again.” Then in the springtime of 2020 they went down “Fashion Blogger.” The video included MILK, that climbed to appeal on RuPaul’s Drag Race, and the track’s title itself, “Fashion Blogger,” is deeply linked with the RHYME SO idea.
Osawa: “I think it was back in 2017, when I was getting my hair cut, I saw some video on my iPad of this woman overseas talking about the outfit she was wearing that day. When the interviewer asked her what her job was, she said “fashion blogger.” I don’t believe she was really composing a blog site, yet she was making a living sharing her style on Instagram. That came as a little a shock to me. The web and social media sites penetrate our culture, yet there are a great deal of points that we consider provided that make me believe ‘Is this really an everyday thing?’ I believe it would certainly interest utilize songs to present inquiries like ‘What do you think of this situation?’ Not as objection, equally as inquiries. That’s the idea behind RHYME SO.”
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RHYME: “RHYME SO sounds like ‘I’m so.’ ‘I’m so happy,’ ‘I’m so sad,’ ‘I’m so hungry.’ I, I, I… Sometimes that (showing off on social media) is a positive, but sometimes it’s not. That’s one of the statements that RHYME SO is making.”
RHYME had actually been revealed to Japanese society because she was a senior high school trainee, and she was a devoted MONDO GROSSO audience. You can see this straight she sings on MONDO GROSSO’s track “BIG WORLD,” “I saw MONDO GROSSO back in high school, I used to cry listening to life.”
RHYME: “I listened to MONDO GROSSO’s back catalogue and watched videos of his live shows. It stirred up all kinds of emotions. I’m Osawa’s pupil, and he’s my teacher. It’s an honor to be able to make music with him.”
RHYME SO has actually remained to launch interesting songs. It’s a unique team, distinguished by its genre-spanning manufacturing and its negative and poetic verses concerning modern-day culture. In November 2023, it launched its very first cd, IAFB.
The very first point to keep in mind concerning the cd is the abundant variety of its manufacturing. It openly sweeps in between styles and years, discussing whatever from acid home, commercial techno, and catch to Eurobeat, making it a microcosm of Japanese society and culture.
Osawa: “I did have Japan in mind when making the songs. However, I didn’t really think about current trends. Honestly, I don’t know if I’m even good at identifying them. It even feels a little like I’m ignoring them.” [Laughs]
RHYME: “RHYME SO’s sound is a fusion of dance music, new age, post-punk, electro, para-para, festival music, and more. That, and word play.”
The core of RHYME SO’s idea, raise inquiries concerning modern-day culture, is highlighted much more clearly on the cd. The very first track, “ACT THE SAME,” is the reverse of the songs scene, which puts a lot worth on doing the very same point as what’s currently being done by various other hit tracks.
Osawa: “It’s become a fundamental part of the music industry to assign artists to create music that sounds like what’s already out there, based on the existing market. And that’s not a current development. But is that really what we should be doing?”
RHYME: “Doing the same thing as everyone else is the safe approach, but that’s not art. The people who sing songs like that aren’t artists, they’re more like puppets. What’s even the point of doing that? That’s what the song is about.”
“UNFOLLOW YOU” examples Seiko Matsuda’s “Akai Sweet Pea.” It places a modern-day spin on the verses of the initial track, “I will follow you,” transforming it right into a tune concerning adhering to influencers and preferred musicians. At its heart is the concept that “Instead of following trends and hype, shouldn’t you be following what you truly like, and what you think is genuine?”
RHYME: “I used auto-tune on my voice, which I don’t normally use, for a bit of irony (because it’s not even my real voice).” [Laughs]
Osawa: “‘UNFOLLOW YOU’ started out as a remix of ‘Akai Sweet Pea’ for Kayokyoku Night, an event put on by photographer tajjiemax (Issei Tajima) and my friend Toba. When I first made it, it was just for fun, but then when I listened to it with RHYME, we were like ‘Wouldn’t this track make a good RHYME SO song?’ However, the lyrics make fun of the modern music scene and culture, so we decided to send out letters to Takashi Matsumoto and Yumi Matsutoya to get their permission. I thought it would be hard to get, but the person at the record label that was the go-between got their willing permission right away. It went surprisingly smoothly. I’ll bet nobody has ever sampled ‘Akai Sweet Pea’ before, and nobody has sampled it since us, either. Of course, Seiko Matsuda isn’t actually singing on it. That’s me on the vocals.” [Laughs]
The track “I AM FUCKIN’ BRILLIANT,” where the cd title, IAFB, was taken, is an up-beat song with a 90s different rock feeling. Osawa clarifies that “this song represents the whole album.”
Osawa: “The theme of the song is the need for recognition from others. It’s something that we’ve always had, but with the widespread penetration of social media, it’s become even more pronounced. Now, it even feels like you’re forced to express an even stronger desire for approval. Back in the day, you could just go home and pet your cat and feel fulfilled. If you helped out an older person, you would feel fulfilled, thinking ‘I did something good today.’ In other words, we all knew that we were the coolest.”
RHYME: “I think there are people who are happy when they’re outside but who feel down when they’re at home. There are a lot of people who are pretending or just putting up with things. When that happens, we’re saying ‘Imagine you’re the only one in the world.’ This is my favorite song on the album, and I want to make it a global anthem.”
The cd additionally includes “SHIBUYA PARAPARA,” a para-para track whose motif is Shibuya in the evening, in addition to “SILENT” and “PICTURESQUE,” which function Seiko Omori. The cd art, revealing a female in conventional Japanese clothes taking a selfie with her mobile phone, additionally clearly shows modern-day Japanese culture.
RHYME: “The next thing I want to do is live performance. I want a big stage, a gorgeous set, tons of dancers, and, if possible, figure skaters. [Laughs] I want to put on an amazing show. I’d love to tour the world with great Japanese artists. Dongurizu, Seiko Omori, Kazuo. There are a lot of artists I’d like to introduce to overseas audiences, to show them ‘JAPAN POWER’. I want there to be a shock factor to everything I do. I want to start a revolution.”
—This meeting by Tomoyuki Mori initially showed up on Billboard Japan
