Burning Ambulance

Teenaged fashion blogger turned J-pop idol Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, who I first wrote about back in July, has a new single and video out. It’s called “Tsukematsukeru,” and here’s the video:

Like her first single “Ponponpon” (and, indeed, her entire Moshi Moshi Harajuku EP), it was written and produced by Yasutaka Nakata of capsule and Perfume fame. It comes from her full-length debut album, which will be released next week. “Tsukematsukeru” is about false eyelashes, and is apparently tied to a line of KPP-branded lashes; see below:

As far as the song and video go, I don’t love either. The song’s a little too simplistic and kiddie-show for me, though I suspect that’s a large part of Kyary’s thing—she seems like she’s ideally suited to appeal to little girls, and this is a song they could learn and sing pretty much instantly. But at the same time, her thin, childish voice wouldn’t really mesh well with the kind of harsh track Nakata creates for capsule; it would just seem creepy and fetishistic, and lose a lot of the innocence that’s crucial to Kyary’s whole image. The video isn’t as eye-searing as the one for “Ponponpon,” either, and seems like it was put together rather quickly. They plopped her on a chair, put two dudes in lion costumes up front to uprock, and voila! A video! I do like the dress made out of what look like snack-chip packets that she wears in the clip’s second half, though. That’s just random enough to be awesome.

I don’t know if I’m gonna review the full album or not. The EP was just OK. In fact, five months later, I have no memory of what it sounded like. It’s (hell, Kyary’s) pretty much the definition of disposable, short-shelf-life pop product—momentarily diverting but utterly forgettable.