All-girl pop group Morning Musume is marking the 20th anniversary this year of its debut with a major label. The group has kept changing its members to stay fresh, serving as a prototype for many of today's idol units, including AKB48.
I interviewed Tsunku, the producer of Morning Musume, via email about how the group was formed and has stayed popular.
Morning Musume emerged from "Asayan," a reality TV audition show that ran until 2002. Five female singers -- Yuko Nakazawa, Aya Ishiguro, Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe and Asuka Fukuda -- who were unsuccessful in the show's auditions for rock vocalists started to work together and made their major label debut in 1998.
Three more members had joined Morning Musume by the time of its second single, "Summer Night Town."
"Asayan" had documented the five performers' struggle to promote themselves on their own.
"Back then, people criticized me by saying; '[Morning Musume] has fought [to become popular] with the five members. There's no way the group can abruptly add new members. You're confused.' I would've gotten flamed [online] if it happened now," Tsunku recalled.
"But I still pushed through, saying, 'Let's have more [members].' It was intuition or maybe a last-ditch effort. I thought additional auditions would draw viewers to the TV program." He turned out to be right.
Morning Musume members have come and gone since then. Some have "graduated" the group for such reasons as "to concentrate on school studies," which projected an "ordinary people" image for the idol group.
"'Asayan' gradually became like a show for Morning Musume, and the group's singles sold well," Tsunku said. "People have a tremendous ability to get used to things. There was a lot of excitement around the show whenever new auditions were held, and members' graduations became a ceremony, almost a cultural event."
After star member Maki Goto joined the group, their "Love Machine" became a big hit, and Morning Musume became a national pop group.
"They don't dance as well as Max [a four-women group] and can't be compared with Namie Amuro in singing -- I was wondering how they [Morning Musume members] could attract people with their abilities. But I thought it was still OK to just put them on a plate and serve, because their aura was so fresh.
"I thought of simply bundling the happy-go-lucky atmosphere backstage into their songs, so that even middle-aged men would think, 'I don't know why but they're fun.'"
Morning Musume is still fresh, but there have also been big changes over the years: It's evolved into a sophisticated dance and vocal group.
"The addition of ninth-generation performer [Riho] Sayashi and 10th-generation performer [Ayumi] Ishida led the group to shift from one that barely expresses itself, to one that performs smoothly and smartly. The other members were able to change the quality of their dancing, which changed how the group looks."
Morning Musume now has 13 members, who are appearing on stage with the founding members this year to celebrate the 20th anniversary.
This looks like a year in which Morning Musume can reflect on their origins, power themselves up and embark on a new phase of the idol group.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
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