Yellow Dancer (Japanese pronunciation: [ieɾoː daꜜɰ̃saː]) is the fourth studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter and musician Gen Hoshino, released by Speedstar Records on December 2, 2015.
Japanese singer-songwriter and musician Gen Hoshino emerged as a primarily acoustic pop artist with his debut albums Baka no Uta (2010) and Episode (2011).[1] Hoshino's parents were both fans of jazz: his father was a jazz piano hobbyist and his mother at one point aimed to be a jazz vocalist, and would together "play modern jazz and R&B every day around the house".[2][3] With his instrumental band Sakerock, Hoshino performed songs inspired by funk, soul, jazz, and R&B genres, and experimented with a mixture of Japanese and African-American styles on the B-sides to his singles, such as "Yuge" on "Kudaranai no Naka ni" (2011), "Moshi mo" on "Film" (2012), or "Kisetsu" on "Shiranai" (2013).[2][4]
Whilst in the process of wrapping up recording for his third album, Hoshino collapsed to a subarachnoid hemorrhage in December 2012.[5]: 27 [6] After a three-month hiatus, Hoshino released Stranger, which brought his sound into a more up-beat direction by incorporating greater use of synthesizer and string sections.[1][7] He followed Stranger with the non-album rock and roll single "Gag" for the anime film Saint Young Men a week later,[8] but assumed a second hiatus in June after a reinspection discovered a relapse in his hemorrhage.[9] While awaiting the reinspection, Hoshino wrote the lyrics to "Why Don't You Play in Hell?" (地獄でなぜ悪い, Jigoku de Naze Warui, lit. 'What's Bad About Hell?') – the theme song to the Sion Sono film of the same name – and had it released on October 12, 2013, whilst still on hiatus. Hoshino used the song to reconsider his musical roots ("1960s jazz, soul, Motown sound black music") and was his first time incorporating African-American influences on an A-side.[10][11][5]: 27
At the start of 2014, Hoshino officially commemorated his full recovery from the hemorrhage by finishing touring for Stranger in February and performing the Fukkatsu (lit. 'Revival') Live Tour in April.[12][13] His first post-recovery single – a double A-side of "Crazy Crazy" and the J-Wave campaign song "Sakura no Mori" (桜の森, lit. 'Cherry Blossom Forest') – was released on June 11, 2014.[14] "Crazy Crazy" was written as a homage to the Japanese jazz band Crazy Cats, reworked from a somber melody created by Hoshino during his surgery's waiting process.[15][16] A love for soul artists such as Michael Jackson re-discovered during the single's production primarily inspired "Sakura no Mori",[17] and showcased Hoshino merging Japanese and African-American styles into his musical direction.[2]
A fun production on "Sakura no Mori" inspired Hoshino to write an album in the same style, and conceived Yellow Dancer after noticing similarities in the stylistic origins from African-American music in the song and "Why Don't You Play in Hell?".[5]: 27 Though the writing process of the singles were based on Hoshino focusing on what he found fun and his niche musical interests, he was encouraged to explore the styles more openly on an album after noticing a rise in popularity of Western artists such as Chich, Daft Punk, and Bruno Mars in Japan; daily airplay of Mark Ronson and Mars' "Uptown Funk" (2014) at his local Lawson convenience store and the response to "Sakura no Mori" from J-Wave listeners further motivated his work on the album.[5]: 28 [18]
One of the major obstacles in the album's production was Hoshino's discomfort replicating black music due to his Japanese nationality. In an interview with Musica magazine, Hoshino spoke of his disinterest in mimicking African-American music: "There was a hole in the middle of the obstacle [of my nationality], and I could've easily passed through. But the end of that path would just be a black music-like thing ... that wouldn't be interesting to make."[5]: 28 Instead of replicating black music, he would incorporate elements of it into a J-pop style, a method previously used by 1980s artists such as Toshinobu Kubota and Dreams Come True, who where both cited by Hoshino.[19] In a press comment included with the album's announcement, he described the result of his "respect for black music" such as soul, jazz, R&B, and jump blues, paired with "focus on the emotions of Japanese pop", as his own genre called yellow music (yellow referring to Japanese people).[20][21] In the same comment, he stated Yellow Dancer was written "having fun doing what I wanted" and shared his belief that the album would make listeners dance with "not only the body, but also with the heart".[20]
Material specifically for the new album was written by Hoshino throughout 2015. The first song written with the concept of yellow music was the Kokoro ga Pokitto ne [ja] drama series theme song "Sun", which was released as the album's third single on May 27, 2015. It helped Hoshino envision what kind of album Yellow Dancer would be, and was in the middle of songs created; half of the others songs on the album were written before it, and the other half after.[5]: 26–27 [22] All fourteen tracks were written and produced by Hoshino solo; he also handled principal arrangement, with violinist Mio Okamura and saxophonist Satoru Takeshima credited for the arrangement of strings and horns, respectively.[23] Lyrically, contrasting to his earliest work, Hoshino said he had grown to enjoy writing about the specific emotions of "someone", scenery, and situations, rather than focusing on himself or a story.[5]: 29, 31 When questioning what he wanted to express against the black music-inspired sound, he decided to focus on what he described as "Japanese scenery", such as the four seasons, morning and night, or ocean and mountains.[5]: 29, 31
Yellow Dancer was recorded and mixed by Shojiro Watanabe, and mastered by Takahiro Uchida.[23] Production was intersected with Hoshino's acting work (such as on the television drama Dr. Storks, or the sketch variety show Life! Jinsei ni Sasageru Conte), which he said particularly provided difficulty in recording vocals.[5]: 26 [24]: 37 Since Hoshino's schedule was largely dictated by dates of shootings decided around three days in advance, he would plan around this to book studios and schedule with the engineers. The acting work would also influence parts of the album's writing; Hoshino believes his role as an obstetrician on Dr. Storks unconsciously inspired the lyrics of the album opener "Tokiyo" (時よ, lit. 'Time'), which uses the word aka-chan (lit. 'infant').[24]: 26 Recording was still in progress during Hoshino's interview with Musica on October 1, 2015, and one unspecified song was still without final lyrics; however, alongside the album's announcement on October 14, Hoshino stated that Yellow Dancer had been completed.[5]: 26 [20]
Art direction for Yellow Dancer was handled by designer Yuni Yoshida.[25] The front cover artwork was unveiled alongside the album's full track listing on October 28, 2015, and features a wide arrange of objects, foods, and animals such as bananas, books, plates, a fork, and a cat, arranged to resemble a maiko (apprentice geisha) from the back.[26] News writers for HMV Japan and Billboard Japan called it a poppy expression of Yellow Dancer.[27][28] An alternate cover with a cherry blossom pink background created for the album's analog version was revealed on January 7, 2016, which Natalie.mu writers thought had a "warm" impression.[29] At the 2016 Music Jacket Awards, the Yellow Dancer standard cover art was named winner of the Grand Prix by voters of the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), beating out 49 other nominees including the runner-ups Inu ni Shite kure by Wasureranne yo and Window by Drop's. Alongside all other nominees, the RIAJ announced that the cover would be displayed at the Music Jacket Gallery 2016, a one-week exhibition at the Takashimaya Times Square [ja] department store in Shinjuku, Tokyo.[25] Hoshino continued to work with Yoshida on future projects, including on his follow-up album Pop Virus (2018).[30]
The title of Yellow Dancer was conceived by Hoshino and literally means "Japanese dancer". Though a lover of dance music and dancing, Hoshino thought there was an impression that Japanese people are poor at it and lack individuality in their moves, so named the album from a desire to see people in the Japanese market dance freely.[3] Hoshino accredited his use of the word yellow to refer to Japanese nationality to Haruomi Hosono of the electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra, who were a key innovator in the contemporary electronic scene according to AllMusic's Jason Ankeny.[5]: 33 [31] Hoshino names Hosono as his mentor and a major influence in his music;[3] he formed the Sakerock band as a fan of Hosono, before they profesionally acquintated at the backstage of a festival around 2007. Hosono was later the one to encourage Hoshino to work on a solo debut, and was described as a "person who [Hoshino] is indebtured to" by Daisuke Kikuchi of Rockin'On Japan.[32]
Retrsopectively, Hoshino expressed regret over the album's title in a 2020 interview with Flood Magazine. Though he denied intentional cultural appropriation and voiced support for the Black Lives Matter movement, he stated: "Now that I think about it, it was wrong of me to give it that name. The album Yellow Dancer was strongly influenced by black music, but it was also influenced by music from many other countries that I love, including Japan. It's absolutely impossible for me to paint my music ... into that one color: 'yellow'".[3]
All tracks are written, arranged, and produced by Hoshino, except where otherwise noted.
Credits adapted from the Yellow Dancer liner notes.[23]
* Sales figures based on certification alone.
Lokasi Pengunjung: 52.15.83.130