Listening to Jpop
 

Sumone asked (Jesusfreak i think) if youre friends think that you're weird listening to jpop...
Well its close to that topic but What's your Real Reason on why you listen to Jpop? or other foriegn music.

Well i Listen to jpop cuz it sounds nice (even i dont understand 80% of it) and i think it makes me different. I'll think of my other reasons... :think

I think you dont need a reason to like stuff you like. You like it because... you like it! I dont have a reason to like jpop.:D I just like it!

i like to sing in jpop..other than i like the melody, i think itz cool in sing in japanese...dun know why ^_^ i like the sound of the language~

I enjoy listening to Ayumi because I love her voice. And the music is very different then what I hear everyday at school (rap, rock, etc.) Also, the lyrics are great. Yes, my friends do think I'm kind of wierd.

I do listen to some American radio, but they tend to play the same songs over and over again and you can get very tired of it. I do like a lot of American rock but the pop music isn't so good.

I started listening to J-Pop back in the mid-90's when even rock music in the US wasn't very good.

i like japanese/foreign music because there are so many singers who all have very different styles. the lyrics and melodies to the songs are more complex and sounds better than western music.
on the local radio station, they play basically the same western songs over and over again. sometimes i hear the same songs @ least 6 times a day.

I juz like the song... n the language... simple reason.. dunno y

just like with any music i favor, i like the Jpop for the tunes and lyrics (after consulting translations :P).

my friends actually got me INTO listening to japanese music. one sent me a burned copy of A and ayu-ro, and after liking japanese music, i figured why not branch out to korean as well........:P

Don't call me crazy but I always enjoyed videogame songs. Although there are american games, they hardly ever have a good soundtrack like the japanese ones. As soon as I started getting into anime it was like a trigger for me to enjoy JPOP. I enjoyed the songs with a cool beat for dancing at first and latter got into rock. With only the animes JPOP I was already getting tired of them. Thanks god I got to know Ayu and many other artists that made me veeeery interested into it.
I also don't really like the songs from my country....I hate them. Japanese songs have a whole set of different instruments being played and songs have always lots of varieties while music from my country can't really provide that. The bands here seems to only use guitars, drums and all those conventional instruments. That may really make you bored - there's really not much inovation.

Ha Ha! I Also Hate Local songs here where I come from...
I discovered Jpop also throug Anime and video games! The first song of ayu that I heard was Depend on you from Thousand Arms. I said to my self: Who sang this? And when I look At the Credits, I saw her name... "Ayumi Hamasaki" And the rest is history.:)

I can agree with anyone here. I like music themes of japanese games than most of american games. I found out about ayu the same as skyline did. then i got more interested when i saw one of her live pervormance "M".

Hey skyline, wasnt i the one who told you about ayu?

No. Actually You reminded me that Ayu sang Depend on you. Remember? The first time I really saw Ayu was also MTV asia Awards "M".

J-pop is ever-fresh !!!

Active artistes release new works very frequently !
And of cos........ its multi-varietied genres.......... there's always some very nice new works coming up..... unlike some other language pops.....

and the Japanese's ability to blend different music with their own...........

I can't stand American pop music! It's so bubblegumish and cheesy! JPOP is sooooooo much better! It kicks booty! I've grown so accustomed to listening to Japanese music, that it sounds normal to me, and now it's about all I listen to. If anyone asks me what I listen to, that's what I tell them. I don't care if they think I'm weird!

I like the sound of the language and the sound of J-pop is so much different than like american pop that i hear everyday.And because asian female artists are beautiful haha!

jpop songs are nice.... my parents and my sisters always say y do i keep on listening to ayu songs.... haiiss... dunno how to tell them... =<

i listen to jpop cause i just like it. there really is no reason like Skyline said. i like jpop cause..i like it! i also listen to German Industrial (Rammstein ^_^) and i listen to them cause i like them and they make a lot of good "battle-themes" anyways yep that's all i have to say

haha..... just them ayumi is your favourite artist !!!!! haha

For me as a guitarist, I am a sucker for cool riffs and solos. Ayu's songs are for the most part loaded with them. There are a few other J-pop acts that are along those lines, Aikawa Nanase comes to mind.

For those that think all American music is not complex or intellectual, I have two words for you.

'PROGRESSIVE ROCK'

By far it's my favorite genre of music. Loaded with odd time signatures, time signature changes within the same song, and complex song structures. Plus they use instruments that I don't see anywhere else in modern music, mellotrons, Chapman sticks, Warr guitars, etc. eMpTyV and radio won't even touch this kind of music because it is thought of as pretentious and self-indulgent. Most songs run well over 10 minutes in length and are very well planned and well thought out. Not something some garage band got together and wrote in 5 minutes in a 4/4 time sig just to make a quick buck. For those that want a better definition check this out: http://ghostland.com/ghostland/about_progressive.asp

Sorry, but i cant agree with you. i LOVE brazilian music. Samba, forró, MPB.. these are genres that no other country has!!! Also, i think brazilian rock rlz!

Abou jpop... i started listening to it because i used to listen very much to anime songs. I think i listen to it because i love japanese culture, and the rithym of the songs are very different from here.

yeah told them..... they say i too glued to her.... :laugh

hahaha I live in the city of forró!!!! It's terrible!!!! terrible terrible terrible and i mean it - terrible. It's just.....terrible OMG. That's not a style of song...they're just ridiculous. They get songs that already exist and make an UNOFFICIAL (and they should be arrested for doing that) forró mix of it. It gets just horrible. Plus they don't have any originality! Samba and Pagode are also horrible!!!!! I don't know how you could forget about all those "shake your ass" and sexually related songs.....ewwwww.....And the rock here...hmmm....there are some good songs but they're almost all ok. They always sound so much alike I'm afraid i can't tell the difference from a band to the other. Sorry but nothing will change my opinion about it....:laugh :roflmao :laugh

i really enjoy musik in general and i think i like jpop/jrock because im (trying to) learn japanese.

i dont know how people can hate american pop but love japanese pop (they arent that different). I don't exactly love american musik but i dont hate it either. but as long as you aren't hating jpop i dont care.

American pop and Jpop are majorly different. American pop tends to be very bubblegumish and sexual. Jpop isn't. Some Jpop (think Morning Musume) leans towards the bubblegum genre, but that's about as close as it gets. And you can avoid bubblegum by not listening to MM! BoA is pretty popish. Her stuff does sound like songs that I could find in America, but I really like her stuff a ton better than any American pop.

To me, Ayu sounds nothing like American pop. Her songs are so much more beautiful and don't all sound the same. Plus, I really like guitar Jpop like DAI. That's nothing like American pop. The closest relation I can come to is alternative, but that's not right either. DAI is a good balance of pop and guitar.

Given, not all American pop is horrible. I like a little J. Lo. (A little, not a lot. Don't stone me!) But mostly, you just find scantly clad blond girls dancing to routine pop songs. I like the new generation of American girl singers like Norah Jones and Michelle Branch and hope that that genre will kill out all the Britney Spears wannabes. America is getting too full of them!

i like j-pop becuase it sounds really different and cool
i don't know what they are saying but when you listen to it...it feels like you know....
my friends think i'm weird listening to j-pop
i don't need a reason to like j-pop music

I got bored of western music... asian music is better...

Yes they are. Kind of reminds me of bands like Tonic or Trickside.

Hehehe... Where i Come from, local music is awful! i dun appreciate sum bands! bad vocals, bad music... some songs these days are just being revived... you get hooked to it for a week then youre back listening to ayu's old songs or other jpop songs.

At least I'm not wierd here! :P

I Like Marylin Manson & Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot, System of a Down. Those are cool! I listen to them when i dont listen to Jpop.

I started liking it after I got into anime...I wondered about the music for some odd reason...and yeah, thats how I stumbled upon ayu ... woo hoo! :rolleyes ... hehe

Ditto... Rammstein, MudVayne, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Foo Fighters... etc. RnB and Rap too!
Sum times i listen to the trance stuff that skyline gave me...
i dunno why but i like em' (I dont dance! i even dunno how to!)

I completely agree with Peruvian Sky. Not all American music is bad. Anybody who says otherwise should listen to Coldplay! (I realize that they hail from England, but they still rock.)

Anyways, I love music. Language makes no difference to me. Plus Jpop really has a different feeling to it then music from America.

JPOP is good because its the type of culture im accustomed to.

So let's say Coldplay is British music. :)
Go Brits!

Okay lets! Go Brits!

YES YES...... thats what i think too^^"

j pop is unique.... i mean.... i love it.. i´m so sick from MTV Brazil/USA with the same stupid faces always....

i got introduced to J-Pop through my love of Trance music (Ayu Trance) and I don't know whats really caused me to listen to nearly exclusively J-Pop... I just find that there is more talent prevalent in artists overseas..

I liked listening to American music before but I got tired of it. The more popular songs from America which reached my country are of the R&B and Hip-hop genre, which I dislike. I got into Ayumi through BoA actually. Watching one of BoA's music videos (Atlantis Princess) made me explore the J-pop and K-pop music industry. I know of Ayu before but I had my prejudices against her (the high-pitched voice, not good, relied on looks, etc.) But after I downloaded Moments I got hooked with her. Then branched out to other artists like DAI, L'arc, ELT.

I guess I like J-pop because it's my taste... They appeal to me more than music from the US and my country. And I don't mind not understanding the lyrics. I listen to music mainly because of the melody, not the lyrics. People always tell me why do I listen to J-pop when I don't understand it. I just say to them that I don't even try to understand the lyrics of American and Filipino songs. So I tend to go for songs with catchy melodies and beats... and J-pop is the catchiest for me :)

Why j-pop? Why not? The radio sucks, for one thing. And now that I'm at college I find myself even more attached. All anybody seems to listen to is rap or emo. every emo band sounds the same, makes you want to slit your wrists. Rap just f'ing annoys me. And granted, there is a lot of bad j-pop out there (And I would probably offend many of the people on the forum by naming names), but some of it is really good. Kind of like America. Only... it's easier to find the Japanese stuff I like?
Anyway... jpop=hot.

I started out listening to Japanese music because I was studying Japanese, and it just grew on me. I also noticed if it doesnt have English lyrics it wont distract me while I'm studying... that's grown into a liking for other spanish, thai, amd korean artists too.

LoL u shouldn´t get affected by your friends at all, you should do what you like to do, listen to what you like to listen to and if they think that you´re weird then they don´t know anything about respect I assume >.> I like Jpop cause I like Apop(ayupop^^) and I like Apop because I like her/her lyrics/her voice I could go on forever but that´s shortly why I like Jpop ;)

:yes

emo = :bawl

I just happen to love Japanese music.. :shrug

1. ..I like how the Japanese language sounds. And yes occasionally I can understand what they say because I took Japanese for a short while. :cool
2. Jpop is so non-mainstream, it's hard to get sick of it.
3. After reading the lyrics translations, I realise the many Japanese singers are super good lyricists on their own too. (I happen to think Fang Wen Shan is overrated too, if anyone knows who he is. :eviltongu )
4. So what if I'm one of the small few who listen to Jmusic? I don't fill up my mp3 player to please others :irked

I find Jpop more interesting than american pop...I mean american pop is boring...same beat over and over again..but jpop...it's just better...i guess...maybee because I don't understand the language...which makes it more interesting to listen to...=]...and plus most american singers arent captivating as japanese singers..

I like the language, so ultimately I like the music.

My sister tells me she likes it because she just likes some of the beats. That's not a bad reason because there are some English songs we listen to for the same reason. Sometimes, in English songs, they sing so fast or so slurred that I can't understand a word they're saying, but if it's got a nice beat, that is what hooks me. With that said, lyrics don't always make the song.

I like Jpop music but I do have a life outside the jpop world. I still listen to american music, hip-hop, rap, with soca, dance hall, reggae, and R&B, rock, sometimes slow jams. Jpop is nice, the language, the beat, the lyrics, (the ability to go beyond 5:00 minutes! I like it; my mom doesn't), and the way the artist sings it. My friends question me why I listen to Jpop and they don't even want to be near me when I sing it out loud at a party or mall LOL (I wouldn't want to be near myself either) But I tell them I just listen to it and you calling me a freak isn't going to change my opinion about the music. They can't even answer the question about why they listen to the music they do listen to, so who are they to judge and call names!? (Sorry for having a temper here :() But I love my friends no matter what!

I listen to JPOP because...I really like it!!And another main reason is that i got..err..bored with listening to the "USUAL" songs played here..like american pop or sometimes the music our country makes..The same kind of music all over and over again..And when i listen to JPOP, im like "Wow..never heard anything like that before..NICE"...And it hard to get over it coz i never plays on the radio when i go out..And the lyrics..The very meaningful lyrics most of the songs give..COMPARED to the usual "I love you pls stay" and "i dont want you here no more" etc kinds..JPOP gives deeper ones..which i really really love...:thud

i listen to j-pop because i am attracted to it. the first song i got attracted to was boys and girls by ayumi

I loved J-pop because of Ayumi too!!! I like lots of songs right now.

well it wasnt like all of the music i heard before so i liked it

Well I don't like "Usually" Music a lot since I many years.
I've always been a Asia-Fan so it's no miracle that I got into JPOP earlier or later^^

I meet Ayu in 2004 and thought "Woww that's it!"
Anyway is JPop just the music Style that fits me.
I don't like this Music Style and Appearance most singers (Britney Spears, X-tina, Rihanna u.s.o. have!

And JPop songs are also very different.
I noticed other Artists songs are all very similar and the Music Style is always the same.
I also think jaapnese sounds very nice^^

I've the feeling JPop singers take more feelings into their songs-but maybe I onlyfeel like that.......

There are a lot of reasosn why I like JPop-but they are difficult to define.
I think this were the meaning points^^

Well some of my "Earlier"-Friends also love JPop but they only USED me to get JStuff so I break up my friendship to them!Other Friends don't think my Music Taste is weird-they just accept me how I am^^

I really like j-pop because of the diversity in mixtures of music genres that many jpop artists incorporate into their music. I really mostly listen to rock so I'm more of a j-rock fan than anything mainly because I'm a bassist, but my introduction to japanese music was jpop so it's kind of special to me. I listen to alot of music in other languages, from French, to German, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, ect. I just love music in general.

Yeah that's one thing I love about it too! Like Mika's Love Addict, that song lasts a good 7 minutes and doesn't get boring. Sometimes when I listen to english albums like Rachel Steven's Come & Get It, which I love, it does start to annoy me a bit that all the songs are so short.

Exactly! Before I was into R&B, which I really did enjoy whilst it lasted but with jpop for the first time I can say that I have an all time favourite song and album. Before I would have "favourites" but eventually I'd overlisten to them and they weren't as great as they used to be whereas Sakura Drops still sounds as good as the day I heard it. I know I've found artists who I'll follow for the rest of my life.

The main reason I love jpop is because of the visuals - they are so many creative cd covers and PVs out there. I remember when I first saw screencaps for the Sakura Drops PV I was like "OMG I have to get this video". There are so many amazing/beautiful/weird/cute PVs in japan, here's a list of a few that stand out to me right now:

Hikaru Utada - Sakura Drops
Hikaru Utada - Travelling
Hikaru Utada - Passion
Kumi Koda - Wind
Mika Nakashima - Legend
Hyde - Secret Letters
Ayumi Hamasaki - Ourselves
Ayumi Hamasaki - Alterna
Ayumi Hamasaki - Ladies Night
Ayumi Hamasaki - Forgiveness

2 of my fave CD covers are Mika's Legend and Ayu's Carols.

mi|kshake~

i like Jpop for a lot of reasons...

1.all of the singers have beautiful voices, and actually do more than sing their music.

2.its hardly ever mainstream and very unique

3.comes in a variety of flavors

4.i just like it

5.no 40 year old guys in tight pants or 20 year old girls with no pants

^does no. 5 exist in US MVs?


well I like it over US music because US music tends to get over-promoted (which gets me bored) and it kinda annoys me because most of them are too generic and repetitive.

But I'm happy in my country, Eastern music still have places, eventhough mostly are Rain, BoA (korean), and other K-Pop & C-Pop. The only Japanese music that gets famous are only Anime OST :bleh: and rarely J-Pop. The closest one that everyone know is only Utada Hikaru's First Love (and that's the only song people usually know.)

the first part doesn't but the second part does

well yeah I think Jpop is cool and unique. but getting to know other people with the same interest is a toughie.

DOnt know maybe it reduces my stress...nono..clear all my stress

Then yup..i dunno why i like jpop..there's quite a "no-reason" answer..

My friends always say that i dunno Japanese yet listen to jpop...well kinda wierd but...i jus like it :P

Only recently I've been learning to enjoy music from my country. The past few years, I'd rather listen to things that were from another country/language, being that mainly american music. The fact I like electronic music and that JPOP has loads of electronic songs was probably what got me into it. On the other hand, JPOP made me focus on genres I wasn't much into like RnB and Jazz. My tastes have grown pretty wide these years.

Jpop also makes me want to explore more a bout Japanese Culture.=P

Ooooh, old thread @.@

Anyway, I started liking J-pop because back then I was tired of all that American crap and wanted to listen to something refreshing and new, and then after I became an anime fan, I was pretty amazed by the opening/ending themes (especially from Inuyasha and Gravitation) at first, I wasn't sure why I listen to these kind of songs, they were in Japanese and I couldn't understand a thing, but in time I learned to just enjoy it and not worrying because of language barrier, especially that J-pop is pretty diverse and really addictive.

+ It makes me feel so special and unique that I'm one of the very very few in my country that listens to this kind of music and I myself can "promote" their music to my friends, family etc :lech
I even have an account on our version of youtube and practically uploaded ayu's entire discography + several albums by other j-artists :innocent

I started listening to J-Pop in the late nineties. It's when my passion for music started consuming my life, lol. And I wanted so much more than what was offered here in the States. Since I was also starting to become interested in Japanese culture (I'm half Japanese, but I never lived with my parents growing up, so I didn't really get a chance to learn about my culture until I started to take it upon myself), I decided to listen to some Japanese music. I was instantly hooked. I love the way J-Pop artists compose the actual music. There's so much more going on in the background compared to most Western music, and it makes even instrumentals so interesting to listen to. Plus, there tends to be more variety in J-Pop than a lot of other places in the world. You can have pop, rock, visual-kei, rap, and R&B, all on the same chart and at the same time! It's awesome. :)

And yeah, I, too, like to try and promote it, Mii. Hah. :P

There IS a reason, I don't believe there's not a reason if you like something. I listen mainly cpop/mpop cuz it's closer to me nor any other music, it's sweet, it's mostly ballad, it's emotional, it's slow, it can have elements of tradicional chinese music as well and I love it so much. Reason I like some of jpop cuz some singers out there are unique (as Hidemi Uematsu, Ayumi Hamasaki, alan, JASMINE) and some singers make rnb and pop so good together (as Aoyama Thelma, Shion, Miliyah Kato). I'm a sucker for 'sweet', 'girly', 'cute' sounds so ofcourse I would listen to asian music first then any other. When I like some western artist as well the reason is always 'he/she is emotional, cute and sweet'. :)

I love to be the first one to hear the latest type of music and usually, it came from Jpop and Kpop. When I first get to know the song while my friends doesn't know about it, I'll be so excited. But when I was so bored with the song that I used to hear it over and over again, my friends kept playing the song in their phone.

For example, my friends just figure out Sorry, Sorry song from SuJu. But I've discovered the song many months ago and I got really bored for that song. I just like to be the first one.

i like JPOP because....i simply like the music and the wonderful artists that sing them.

it just sounds so.................BEAUTIFUL and meaningful, i dont understand, but i just love listenbing to it and i sometime search english translation which makes me like it more, cuz the lyrics are usually wayy more meaningful than english music =D

i listen cuz it sounds so good ^^ <3 + better lyrics haha

most of my friends think its normal for me, except like one who rejects all asian music except c-pop :rolleyes
and some sorta get annoyed cuz i listen to soo much xD

I listen to it because the meaning behind the lyrics are so much stronger than a lot of american music. American music is made so that way the singers have money... and can show off these fake bodies (IMO) but Jpop has this beautiful meaning behind it and the lyrics always give off this feeling to match the atmosphere of the song. The videos don't always have these really underly-dressed up people walking around with nothing but a g-string on, the videos also have these beautiful effects on them.

But the main thing for me is the lyrics. I've cried just reading them rather than listening to them.