Japan artist of the week - hitomi

This is Japanese pop artist hitomi's official video for her new song ↑↓ (アップダウン - Up Down), from her newly released CD Mebius. It is her first album in a year but really it's the first time she's gotten a lot of attention since her big album hits Love Life in 2000 and 2002's Huma-Rhythm.

Here is a link to her official website: hitomi Love Life

I always liked her songs from around the time of her first big hit Love 2000. At first glance she seemed like a very typical Japanese idol, like a girl out of place when she came to fame because at the time idols were becoming less and less popular.

But hitomi was different for a few reasons.

1: She's not just cute, but actually very beautiful and willing to take risks and make fashion statements most people in her position wouldn't dare to do. Just look at the cover for her album Love Life (where she appeared nude holding her breasts), and you can see she's nothing like the cutesy idols of the late 90s. You also never get the feel that she's trying to appeal to the high school girl urge to follow fashion - her look is adult and not easily mimicked. Which probably has limited her appeal and sales to some extent but gives her authenticity amongst the crowd of cut out idol dolls.

2: She has real talent and imagination. Just look at a few of her videos and you get the feeling that she was very aware of the plastic feel of most model/idol types and she intentionally mocks this while appealing to it at the same time (my personal favorite is flow, very strange and beautiful). She has also paired up with a lot of real artists - in her music the music actually matters.

Of course I know a lot of people have dismissed her because of her beauty, died hair and fashion, but I think hitomi is worth a second look or more.

I recommend her best of album peace. It's 3 discs long without a single bad track.