A Few Questions About sifow.

recently i've been listening to sifow a lot because of the reccomendations from people to listen to her. and i have 3 questions!

1. Her music is vey dancey, pretty + unique. so why doesn't it chart?!!!
2. What is a ganguro gyaru?
3. And does this ganguro gyaru have anything to do with her chart-failure?

i hope she does better in the near future, as she seems to have a big fanbase (now including me) behind her!

thank you! ..x

I like sifow too!

1. There are many, many reasons why an artist's music might not chart. For example, poor promotion, poor funding, poor exposure, poor timing, and then of course poor image or material. I think the main reason sifow doesn't chart is because her music is very heavily influenced by euro, which (while once all the rage in Japan a few years back) has been on its way out over the past few years. Some of Tokyo's great euro clubs have closed recently, if I'm not mistaken.

2. Ganguro (meaning "black face") and Gyaru (from the English word "gal") are, for lack of better term, types of girls. They are essentially fashion styles, but just as any trend, they carry personality and lifestyle stereotypes with them. Ganguro's signature look is very, very, very tan skin and often very, very, very blonde hair. It was big in the late 90s. Gyaru is more a style of dress, and ways of speaking and behaving. Gyaru are stereotypically silly and childish and care more about making fashion statements than anything serious. They are also said to be overtly sexual. These are, of course, only stereotypes.

3. It's very possible that this could be one thing keeping sifow down. Even though other huge stars like Koda Kumi have called themselves gyaru, sifow makes this trend her entire platform ("Gyaru Kakumei" - "Gal Revolution" being her pitch). sifow is trying to break all those stereotypes by singing about friendship and love and show people that being a gyaru isn't such a bad thing. But many people still think it's shameful to follow this trend. I once mentioned sifow to a good friend of mine from Tokyo, for example. My friend is young and fun and hip and modern and open-minded, and her reaction to sifow was: "Yeah, she's okay, but I think she's a gyaru, so..." sifow's image really does set her as an underdog. I'm glad avex has kept her around this long, because i didn't think she'd make it this far.

[fanmail]

^^^ great explanations ..... everything is correct!

[Partino]

nothing to add

[Weslicious]

Although @ question 1, I'm pretty sure that her CD's are still limited in number to an amount avex know they will sell. She built up her fanbase with her indie releases and just releases enough for people who will buy.
Her music is less promoted because her CD's themselves are promotion. She only started singing as a quick way to get attention for 'Gal Revolution', and her main priority is her shop.

Nothing else to add, although I will say the Ganguro image probably hasn't held her back. She's never really been Ganguro neither has her music too much. Her indie songs (Under sifow) were not Para Para based which is a Ganguro's signature music/dance preference and her avex stuff hasn't been too para para based.
evolusian pretty much covered why the 'Gyaru' image might affect her though.

[*Petit*]

Judging from her sales on oricon I think she might have just a big base of fans buying CDs abroad as in japan. Her CDs frequently appeared in the top 100 on yesasia and also on CDJapan.

One thing I'd also like to add to what evolusean mentioned is the fact that she was never a "singer" and music is not the most prominent part of her career. She has also written books, publishes a lot of stuff and has her own life style company.

[Raleigh]

1. She probably doesn't chart because she's not heavily promoted like the big acts around. Also as evolusean mentioned her genre is outdated in Japan so few people are bound to buy the releases either.

Finally I believe she's not exactly seeking a heavy schedule in music due to the fact she has many more other activities. As Petit mentioned, sifow is more interested in spreading her lifestyle. She's planning to open a school, has a company and a clothes outlet. She's pretty busy so probably her avex career is just another of those activities to enhance her gal mission. For her getting with avex was pretty lucky since they rarely kick off artists like certain record labels.

3. I think her image probably doesn't help much as evolusean again mentioned. Many people don't consider gals seriously and are more bound to overlook her more. Plus the music industry is full of newcomers and most people would choose a "normal" artist over sifow's gal image.

[*Petit*]

Originally Posted by evolusean

I like sifow too!

They are also said to be overtly sexual. .

I was just wondering about this, because they are considered sexually unattractive for most because of the distance from beauty standards, but still I've read what you wrote from other sources.. It's contradicting, but still not, as being "sexual" is not part of the standard woman stereotype I would guess.

Originally Posted by *Petit*

I was just wondering about this, because they are considered sexually unattractive for most because of the distance from beauty standards, but still I've read what you wrote from other sources.. It's contradicting, but still not, as being "sexual" is not part of the standard woman stereotype I would guess.

I meant that they are stereotyped to be "sexual", though, not "sexy". Sexual means that they place a large amount of importance on lude or sexual behavior, not just image. In other words, gyaru are thought to be ****ty.

[*Petit*]

^
Yes, that was what I ment. But if no guy wants you because you're viewed as ugly, how can you be ****ty?