CANDYGIRL - How is the ALt Universe?

When all the chord progressions are used, and everything sounds the same, what else can you do with pop music? Enter CANDYGIRL, who have created what they call "altanative pop" (which we assume is just a Japanese way to spell "alternative"). 

CANDYGIRL is the result of producer Detch's dissatisfaction with his former band Austines and his meeting with singer ferrry in the same music college. Despite being trained in classical and jazz music, they've looked far and wide in creating their sound, drawing from games, movies, old school funk/soul, classic grunge, current trends in American and Korean pop, and yes, they are named after that New Edition song.

So when you listen to CANDYGIRL, it sounds nothing like J-pop, but because ferrry's voice and sense of melody is still Japanese, it really does feel like an alternative to Japanese pop. Funnily enough, if you were to put her vocals over typical J-pop arrangement, she'd probably be able to sign with a label and do alright on the charts. But if you listen closer, you’ll notice that the lyrics are really odd. Most of the time, the lines don’t connect into a narrative. Sometimes its bits and parts, almost random words - “flare, silver dolphin, yellow phosphorous cherry” (Heavymetal),  or “righteousness, mystique, honey” (Entrance). Other times it’s really cryptic with lines like “the elements are pillows, present is karma” (Rosalia). There’s even bits of French, German, English and Italian, often in the same line.

While this may seem like an elaborate troll, it’s more than that. It turns out the theme of this album is the Renaissance, when man became the measure of all things, spurring great social change and modernization through art, science and philosophy. It was a re-evaluation of classic wisdom applied to the present based on observations of the world around us.

So perhaps this is a Renaissance for music. The lyrics are heavy with observations and things you encounter, the emotions you feel. It may seem like a huge jumble of stimuli, including basilisks, the bluebird of happiness, running plasma, space, sapphire in the deep sea, but that’s for you to think about, or try to imagine, the way people did back then when they were trying to sort out and apply the words of ancient philosophers.

All of this would be rendered moot if the music wasn’t catchy or fun. Arty nonsensical lyrics tend to be paired with droning sounds and doomsday vibes or minimalist beats and clicks, but with his broad musical background, Detch is highly aware of what sounds work best for catching your ear. "Entrance" could easily mix into Tom Misch, Kartell or Kaytranada in the club, there’s future bass and quasi dub-step breakdowns on "Heavymetal" with multiple changes of pace, and "Uh-oh" has a latin vibe which is given more oomph by the sub bass and deep synths. The full realization of the vision though has to be "Pluto" which has proper dynamics, drops, killer grooves, and rapping in French even courtesy of Jua. It's like four songs/sounds in one, and this is just the kind of bounce that current J-pop is missing out on, despite the best efforts of artists like SIRUP and Kan Sano. Even something that sounds out of place like the crunchy distorted guitar riffs of “Burn the Witch” make sense in the Renaissance context of seeking to develop skills in all areas of musical knowledge.

“How is the ALt universe” seems like something of an intellectual exercise, an experiment on how far you can stretch pop without it breaking, in other words, without alienating audiences because the definition of pop music is that it’s popular. In that sense, CANDYGIRL succeeds, because you can totally ignore all the pretentiousness and easily enjoy the beats, melodies and singing on repeated listen. But if you’re willing to look deeper, you’ll find CANDYGIRL has thoroughly executed a creative vision, from the costumes to the design of the lyric videos (ancient columns and sculptures juxtaposed with vintage cars, TVs and telephones) and the words themselves - it really is a work of art. Easy to appreciate, hard to decipher, but is it a masterpiece? You decide.

Tokyo ON also recommends: ODOLA - Grooovin’ Blue, KURO - Just Sayin Hi