The prevalence of us is already acquainted with K-pop, but only a few of us are aware of the well-known Japanese idol groups that are popular in Japan but far less renowned in the West. To stand out and advance in the competitive world of Japanese pop artists, one must be willing to take calculated risks, try novel approaches, and develop ideas that will either find a niche audience or at least make headlines. Japanese bands called idol groups are unusual because they put more emphasis on the band members than the music. As a result of the intense competition among the groups, some have turned to untried ideas to gain attention. Gimmicks or themes are a fundamental component of the innate attraction of Japanese idols. Below are the top 10 J-Pop bands having strange concepts.
1. KBG84
KBG84 is the first elderly idol group in Japan, with members at least 80 years old. The average age of the idols is indicated in the group's name by the number 84. The youngest participant in this group must be 80, and the oldest is 97. They boast about their advanced age and say it puts them closer to heaven. They are all cheery, optimistic women who show us that we should never give up on our goals.
2. Kiyoshi Ryujin 25
Ryujin Kiyoshi, a singer-songwriter, formed the group Kiyoshi Ryujin 25 with his growing circle of wives. He was said to have seven spouses as girls. This group's philosophy fundamentally reverses the idea of idol culture. Idols in the group are readily accessible, single individuals who are readily available to their followers. Those who deviate from this trend have often been subject to harsh punishments. Late in 2016, the group split up.
3. The Margarines
The members of this idol girl group came together due to their shared experience of being strangled by debt. Their tagline, those with large debts have big goals, refers to how the band was started as a solution for the members to address their combined 127 million yen in debt. They began as a group in September 2014 and broke up in September 2016.
4. Babymetal
Babymetal is a genre of metal music that combines traditional idol dance pop with diverse metal genres, such as speed metal and symphonic death metal. Kawaii metal is the name given to the group's sound. Heavy metal bands and idol groups, especially those with members in their early teens, are on opposite sides of the genre spectrum, but Babymetal can combine the two and make it sound good.
5. Niigata Rice Girls
The members of Niigata Rice Girls range in age from 50 to 70, but this is not their main selling point. Instead, it is a byproduct of the fact that the group's concept is that all of its members are actual rice farmers, and rice is the subject of both their songs and music videos. The Niigata Rice Girls' specialization in everything rice-related and their upbeat outlook on life and work make them an extremely unusual gimmick.
6. Morning Musume
The fundamental idea of Morning Musume, first introduced in 1997 by rock musician-turned-producer Tsunku, is that every band member leaves the group after a few years and then replaces it with fresh talent drawn through nationwide auditions. The Morning Musume collective can exist indefinitely because every member will graduate and get replaced over time.
7. Chubbiness
The ten people who make up the group, Chubbiness, have that as their point of differentiation. Their mantra and tagline were Chubbiness, be happy! They want to highlight Japan's rigid body type norms that girls and everyone else can be overweight, adorable, and joyful to encourage people to embrace and like their bodies, as they are. On March 9, 2019, each member received a diploma.
8. Perfume
The primary musical style of Perfume is a modern type of electronic dance music that combines bubblegum pop with dance-pop, house music, and synth-pop. Despite being skilled singers, they frequently employ voice enhancements and autotune. Female Japanese idol groups, in particular, have the propensity to favor bubblegum pop as their primary genre. They occasionally cross over into other genres, but this tends to be for one-offs or short-term experiments. Only Perfume has used Electronica as their primary idea among idol groups thus far.
9. Kasotsuka Shoujo
Kasotsuka Shoujo was Japan's top bitcoin-themed pop group, forming at a course when the phrase Bitcoin was ubiquitous, and it seemed as though cryptocurrency was ready to take over the globe. This eight-person group, known as the Virtual Currency Girls in English, was established to notify the public about the craze surrounding cryptocurrencies. With their luchador wrestling masks, each member stands for a different cryptocurrency, such as Ripple (XRP), NEO (NEO), Cardano (ADA), NEM (XEM), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), MonaCoin (MONA), and Bitcoin (BTC).
10. Momoiro Clover Z
MCZ or Momoclo are frequent abbreviations for Momoiro Clover Z, a Japanese idol female group. The four members of MCZ are renowned for their enthusiastic performances, which mix aspects of ballet, gymnastics, and action films. The basic idea behind Momoiro Clover Z is an amalgam of ideas from different sources, including anime, tokusatsu, and the conventional idol group notion. They play a mixture of music, from pop to dance to rock, which is equally varied.
