The Musume in America Experiment: Part 1

Based on what Kuri of Morning! Kuri did with her younger sister (tested Momusu on her), I decided to try out a similar experiment. I tested the big three in H!P right now on my [soon to be] step-sister. She’s your typical teenage girl, 15, and a freshman in highschool. The only thing not so normal is that she’s a pretty strong Christian. Based on that, I thought that she would probably be less inclined to see girls dancing around in hardly anything singing about the hardships of love. But I was wrong. Ooooh so so so wrong.

Evidence:

The first video I showed Emily was Morning Musume’s Kanashimi Twilight. I figured this would be a good start as it’s pretty similar to what’s popular in America–rock. At first she was kind of like “Woah… what? What’s this?” But about half way into it, I asked her if she wanted me to stop the video. She responded: “No way, this is so cool.” With me rather surprised, we finished it. Then she goes, “I love hearing new things, and I’ve never heard anything like this. It’s so cool.” I also asked her who her favorite was, and without hesitation she immediately pointed to Yossie, saying her voice was so powerful and she seemed was so cool. I didn’t have the heart to tell her her favorite wasn’t in the group anymore, in case I might jeopardize gaining a fellow fan that’s also a close friend of mine.

Conclusion:

Morning Musume = win

Evidence:

I wasn’t planning on showing her anything else, because I thought for sure she would think I was some kind of freak and want it turned off right away. However, with her enthusiasm over Kanashimi Twilight, I decided to show her the next of the Big Three, C-ute. And what better song than their award-winning Tokaikko Junjou?

Emily’s initial reaction to this one was “What are they saying??”, in which I tried to explain the “story” of the song to her. I kind of failed. I wish I had remembered subtitles existed then. Anyway. So we watched it, and she was shocked to find out all of their ages, especially Maimai. She was also beyond delighted to see Airiin, who has the exact same cute yet funky teeth that she does. Overall, she really liked the song [and even laughed with me at Chisato’s “WTF MAIMI MY BALL!!” face]. Her favorites for this one were Kanna (“She looks really cool”) and Airi (“She reminds me of me”).

Conclusion:

C-ute = win

Evidence:

So, after those two having won with her, I decided to bring on the last of the Big Three. Berryz Koubou. I wanted to show her Kokuhaku, but for some reason I didn’t think a ballad would fly with her (dunno why), so I decided to go with Munasawagi Scarlet. We were laughing a lot. It’s a funny video. Emily didn’t like the outfits too much (“Those are weird clothes to be doing a dance like that in”), and the makeup kind of confused her (“What are they trying to do??”). However, overall, she liked the song and thought their voices were very cute. Her Berryz favorite: The one with her hair in the side ponytail and the flower in her hair [AKA Risako] (“She’s so pretty and has such a nice voice” to which I thought: “UGH. GAG ME.”).

Conclusion:

Berryz Koubou = win

Overall, Emily was really fascinated by it all. She thought it was incredibly unique and wanted to hear more, so I said some other time I’d show her more. She thought all of the voices of all the girls she had heard were really nice and she really liked them. And they’re all really pretty.

Next time I’m going to conduct a very similar experiment on my metal-head brother, but he’ll critize it harshly.

So. My hypothesis based on the reaction of your typical teenage girl is:

Of course she liked how it sounded.  The sounds of H!P are similar to those of two of the top dogs in American girls’ hearts right now: Hannah Montanah and High School Musical.  However, I think she was a little turned off by not knowing anything that they said.  But a little subtitles never hurt anyone.  And forgein music has sold in America before (J-Lo and Shakira come to mind), so I don’t think that would hurt too badly.

Althought, on the other hand, I really don’t see Tsunku ever coming to America (maybe besides Buono!, but that’s not really his turf, it’s Pony Canyon’s).

Who knows?   It’s Tsunku.

PS-

I also showed Emily some Super Junior.  Initial reaction to Don’t Don: “This sounds so neat!”  Then we looked at my calendar and she kept going “Oooh!  He’s cute!  HE’S CUTE!!!!”  (And for Cinderella: “…Is that a guy??”)   Her favorite was, without competition, YehSung (“HE.  IS.  SO.  CUTE.”).  Followed by DongHae and HanKyung.  :3  (Her reaction to SungMin’s cuteness: “Uh… wow…”)