J-POPSICLE
Lowdown on rising stars
By STEVE McCLURE
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fm20030216sm.htm

They sing low and they're aiming high.
Unlike the chipmunk-on-helium vocal style favored by most Japanese
female pop singers, newcomers Asuca Hayashi and Ai have remarkably
mature, almost husky voices. And in contrast to the squeaky-clean
idol crew, they're cultivating sophisticated public images that
appeal to a wide spectrum of pop music fans.


Asuca Hayashi

I heard Hayashi sing at a showcase gig a few weeks ago and was blown
away by her amazing voice and her confident, charismatic onstage
persona. The girl performs like a real pro -- and she's all of 13
years old!

Born and raised in Osaka, Hayashi became interested in music at an
early age. She got into showbiz after her piano teacher sent a tape
of her singing to a music producer, which led to Hayashi signing a
recording contract with Toshiba-EMI.

Hayashi's music is very much in the R&B/pop-fusion vein of artists
such as Utada Hikaru, with a dash of rock to give it some guts.
Hayashi's first single, "Ake-kaze (Morning Wind)," is a vocal tour-
de-force, with the diminutive (154 cm) Hayashi hitting some very low
notes before zooming up a couple of octaves for some piercing high
notes.

I'm surprised that "Ake-kaze" only made it as far as No. 14 on the
Oricon singles chart, but I think Hayashi has what it takes to
become one of J-pop's biggest artists in the years to come, whether
here or overseas.

I'm not the only person who thinks so. Norman Cheng, who heads up
EMI's operations in Southeast Asia, was so impressed when he heard
Hayashi at a promotional event last year that he got EMI Taiwan to
release "Ake-kaze" on the same day (Jan. 22) as in Japan --
unprecedented for a debut single by a Japanese artist.

In contrast to Hayashi's more pop-oriented material, Ai's music is
much more in a straight R&B vein. In fact, she sounds way
more "black" than most Japanese R&B divas.


Ai

Her background has a lot to do with that. Ai was born in Los Angeles
in 1981, and both her Japanese father and her half-Japanese, half-
American mother exposed her to soul, R&B and rap from the word "go."

"When I was 3, we moved to my dad's hometown of Kagoshima. And we
always had music in the house," Ai told me in a recent
interview. "We always used to listen to Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan,
Whitney Houston -- I love Whitney Houston! -- Tina Turner . . . "

After graduating from junior high in Kagoshima, Ai returned to Los
Angeles to attend L.A. County High School for the Arts, where she
wanted to study voice, but wound up studying dance because the voice
class was full. She had taken tap-dancing lessons from her mother
since she was 2, but says she's always thought of herself as a
singer first and foremost.

Ai found life in the United States hard going at first. "Since I'd
been in Japan from the age of 3, I'd forgotten some of my English,"
she recalls. "I couldn't read or write English, but I could
understand when people spoke."

After graduation, Ai returned to Japan with one goal in mind: to
make it as a professional singer.

"I always wanted to sing to people," she explains, "because there
are lots of people who think negatively, who don't have confidence.

"Everybody around me used to say that I couldn't make it as a singer
or a dancer. But I wanted to sing really bad since, like, I was 12,
so I kept on going -- I didn't care what people said."

That can-do attitude paid off, as Ai soon found herself with a
record deal after she returned to Japan.

Her positive take on life comes through strongly on "Saishu Senkoku
(Last Words)," Ai's first single for the Def Jam Japan label. The
song -- a slow number with a smokin', sinuous groove and lyrics
penned by Ai -- urges girls to stand up for themselves and leave a
relationship that doesn't work anymore instead of hanging around
passively:

"Because these are my last words 'Get the hell out of my life!' "

Ai sings the track in an assured, mature way that immediately sets
her apart from mainstream J-pop female vocalists. In other words,
she's got soul.

One thing Ai had to get used to once she was back in Japan was that
Japanese audiences tend to be somewhat less vociferous, to put it
mildly, than those in the U.S.

"When I was performing in L.A., if you were good, people would be
really honest and tell you they love you . . . but if you were bad,
well . . . " A scowl momentarily crosses Ai's face, making it very
clear just how tough and unforgiving American audiences can be.

"When I came back to Japan, I expected the same kind of audiences,"
Ai says, "but everybody was just staring at me, and I wondered, 'Did
I sing all right?' I mean, I sang very well, but the audiences were
so quiet. Nobody danced, nobody moved -- they were just watching me."

Lately, though, Ai says she's noticed that people are loosening up a
little at her gigs. "Now they know how to move!"

Ai isn't shy about revealing her ultimate career goal: "I really,
really want to get a Grammy! I know I have to try really hard, but
that's my dream."

And why not? With her drive and determination, Ai is the kind of
artist who could just do it. You go, girl!

Listen to Steve McClure's radio program, "Beyond the Charts," which
brings you the best in new alternative Japanese music, Friday at 2
a.m. on 76.1 InterFM. Amateur/unsigned musicians are asked to send
demos to Steve at InterFM, 4-5-4 Shibaura, Minato-ku 108-8070. Each
week, two demos are broadcast on the program's "Great Hunting"
segment.

The Japan Times: Feb. 16, 2003