ON REPEAT: Erika De Casier, NewJeans, Tentenko, Nabihah Iqbal, Jun Togawa, Madeline Goldstein
今日覚えた言葉、boner
Let’s talk pop, of the K, J, UK, LA and Denmark varieties, with a slight pro wrestling diversion.
As always you can hear these songs on this Spotify playlist.
NewJeans “Cool With You”
Yep, I’m recommending K-pop. It was inevitable! But this one has sincerely been on repeat because it’s basically a song by Erika De Casier, one of my favorite musicians of the past few years. She’s been working with NewJeans and that article is an interesting read.
NewJeans (Hanni, Haerin, Minji and Danielle) have only been a unit since 2022 and have previously collaborated with such heavy-hitters such as Levi’s, Coca-Cola and McDonalds. I don’t mind the music-as-pure-commerce machine that K-pop seems to have mastered, despite a week in NYC where I got caught in a BTS stan-throng on three separate occasions. And in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, there are a bunch of CD(!) stores that exist to serve this ravenous audience.
At least the music can be interesting! It’s an inspired choice to recruit such a pop music powerhouse as De Caiser (more on her later) to recreate her “Scandanavian Janet Jackson” sound for a humongous audience.
And let’s talk about that video! It stars HoYeon, who I know from Squid Game, a show I did not watch. She’s something of a cupid figure here but isn’t impervious to falling in love herself. But why won’t the guy notice her? She’s so beautiful! Don’t worry, this is only part one!
“Side B” sees her get her way until a reveal at 1:50 that made me audibly gasp. Who knew heartbreak can come in such a hot package!?
It’s a testament to director Wooseok Shin, who makes me care about a thing that I’m not 100% sure I understand. I’m convinced this K-Pop thing is a beautiful, intricate psyop that is 20 steps ahead of everybody and I’m weirdly honored to finally be steamrolled by it.
Tentenko “Good bye, Good girl”
J-pop almost seems quaint after all that. In my second music video of the “cool girl walking through a city” variety, I pick Tentenko! Admittedly, I’m a little late to the party on this one, as evidenced by this 5-year old Vice article that I will sum up.
She was a first-generation member of the on-the-nose-titled BiS (Brand-new Idol Society), one of the many Japanese idol groups filled with like twenty young girls who get replaced periodically when they get too old (like, “ew, you’re 23”). This one, however, was a unique addition to the scene, as they collaborated with legit noise rock artists and drank motor oil onstage before the project reached its natural end one year after its creation.
Tentenko then bought a Roland sampler and began making music of her own, eschewing the system to crowdfund records which jump from dub to techno to 80’s pop like this one, with names like Deep & Moistures and ALL YOU NEED IS CAT. Fun fact: her two cats are named Haack and Cosey, named after Bruce Haack and Cosey Fanni Tutti respectively.
Tentenko’s story reminds me of Maki Itoh, a pro wrestler whose independent solo career branched from her own idol experience as a member of LinQ. She was deemed “not cute enough” to continue with the group, with someone in charge making note of her large head. (Personally, I don’t see it.)
She turned to the world of joshi pro wrestling, which has been weirdly linked to pop music for decades, since the days of The Beauty Pair and The Crush Gals. I guess it makes sense that singing and dancing are not all that different from pro wrestling.
Maki used her story to influence her character, “The Cutest in the World,” an annoying, loudmouth, vulgar fired idol with a chip on her shoulder who CRAVES attention. To boot, she also used her “big head” as an indestructable weapon.
Long story short, Tentenko is the Maki Itoh of music, or vice versa.
Jun Togawa “Suki Suki Daisuki”
I made this! The previously covered Jun Togawa’s whiny character made a perfect fit for Maki annoying the hell out of the stern Minoru Suzuki.
Her character got over big in Japan, and her unique Twitter presence gained her a following in the English-speaking wrestling scene as she let fans follow her journey of learning the language.
This would lead to appearances in AEW and the U.S. independent scene, and I’ll be watching her tonight at a GCW show in Los Angeles! She’s recently been hanging out with noted gang-affiliated, pizza cutter-weilding bank robber Nick Gage, and I’m afraid she’ll be a bad influence on him.
Nabihah Iqbal “This World Couldn’t See Us”
Here’s another cool girl walking around a city. In this case it’s Nabihah Iqbal, who I first caught via her show on NTS, an always interesting listen, with a melange of genres from “classical Indian” to “Palestinian reggae.” She was an early collaborator with Sophie, and even contributed vocals to the legendary “Lemonade.”
Madeline Goldstein “Seed of Doubt”
Here’s another cool girl walking around a city. Madeline Goldstein is an LA native, who came up in the Portland scene and she’ll be playing the Substance Fest in LA with previously featured bands like Special Interest, The Mall, MSPAINT and more, which has me seriously considering spending four separate nights at The Globe Theatre. (And not for PWG!)
THE GOLD STANDARD
Erika De Casier “Do My Thing”
Here’s a cool girl biking around a city! Erika De Casier’s perfectly-titled Essentials was my 2019 album-of-the-year, and her follow up, Sensational, was the same in 2021. It’s hit after hit on those fuckers.
Erika De Casier is a pop star but she’s not a POP STAR. She’s got this laid back quality that makes her sometimes feel like “one of us” and sometimes feel like the coolest person in the room. It might be the fact that she’s Portuguese-Danish, which sounds like the setup for a Norm MacDonald joke, but isn’t.
She does these little winking flourishes in her songs, like listing her morning routine, that wouldn’t feel out of place in a song in 1999 but may feel silly now. I got to see her perform at El Cid last year and was pleased to see her laughing her way through some of these moments. Also the live drums made every song so fun to watch.
Erika De Casier is a genius. I don’t throw that word around lightly! And if the K-Pop overlords task her with writing their megahits, I’m not the only one that thinks so. Patiently awaiting the next collection of jams, I expect Erika to save a few for herself.