Everyone loves a musical - explaining the success of AKB48

The other day they aired the 4th AKB48 ranking election, where anyone who bought their latest single, Manatsu no Sounds Good (真夏のSounds Good) could vote on their favorite member. In the end the coveted center slot returned to Yuko Oshima (大島優子), which gives her main singing duties and the most face time in their upcoming singles.

On Facebook I joked to friends that the election, aired live on prime time Japanese TV, was probably more important than any Japanese political election. In many ways I think that may actually be true - last year AKB members personally donated tons and tons of money to disaster relief, and went around several times to areas that had been hit hard by the earthquake and tsunami. They are, despite being a well-crafted idol machine designed to make money, a positive force in Japan.

But why are they so damn popular? Why have their last 12 consecutive singles topped the rankings charts in Japan?

IMO it's because of two big reasons:

1. Their age: Traditionally idols in Japan have always been very very young. While this can be cute and appeals to a certain audience of preteen girls and lusty junior high boys, there's a big problem with having 12-15 year old girls singing up on stage - they usually can't sing. Just look at Morning Musume, Speed, or any of the groups of the late 90's/early 2000's. They just don't have the oomph that good singers in their 20s and older get (both groups did revival concerts years later in their 20s and IMO sounds 10x better than when they were popular).

AKB48, however, is made up of mostly adults (average age 21!), so not only do they have a bit better singing chops, they also don't leave you with an icky feeling when they do song after song wearing skimpy outfits and bikinis.

2. The big production style: IMO this is the main reason. When you watch an AKB performance it feels like you're watching a musical. The long version of many of their songs are made like mini movies, with dancing, singing and a bit of a story (Flying Get, the video I posted above, has a long version you can get at amazon or on iTunes).

I think AKB does have some good songs, especially Flying Get and Heavy Rotation. But whether you like their music or not, you have to admit the production quality is very high. And it's all done to evoke the feeling of an old stage musical performance, like something you'd see in a production of Chcago or Miss Saigon. There's big dancing, elaborate costumes and a lot going on. The tempos are upbeat; watch two or three of their videos and you can't help but get into the groove.