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Article written by Sheila B. for the music magazine Cha Cha Charming In America, any mention of Puffy will obviously bring the recently popular rapper/producer Puff Daddy to mind. In Japan, Puffy means Ami and Yumi, two young girls who made their singing debut in early 1996. Puffy are the product of Okuda Tamio, a well-known singer/songwriter in Japan's music industry [For more information about Tamio, visit my Okuda Tamio or Unicorn pages - Mason]. While Komuro Tetsuya and the Avex label were churning out techno dance tracks that dominated the Japanese charts, Okuda decided to take a risk with Puffy whose music was much more wholesome, unpretentious, and poppy.
The answer lies in the complete Puffy package. Music, image, and persona, make up a duo that's downright irresistible! Puffy are some of the best moments on your all-time favorite records. For Okuda Tamio, the powerful influence of Western music was vital in creating the music for Puffy. Take their third album Jet CD (released in April of 1998) which covers the entire history of American music. On "Kore ga watashi no ikiru michi" (by far the most impressive Puffy track to date) Puffy pay an obvious tribute to the Beatles and the sixties sound. "Kore ga watashi no ikiru michi" (meaning this is my life's path) was even recorded in mono and is the closest a 90's band has come to recreating the sixties (girl group fans, I'm talking to you!!). And while Puffy are undeniably about their influences, there is something entirely unique and fresh about the Puffy sound. Puffy was revealed to the world on May 13, 1996 with the release of "Asia no junshin", an excited ABBA-esque guitar rock song with Ami and Yumi chanting the names of international cities over the top! Kirin Beer picked up the already blossoming Puffy craze, and contracted the girls for their TV commercials. Soon after "Asia no junshin" came AmiYumi, a seven track album which boasted Puffy's wholesome and healthy image. "Nagaiki shite ne", "Puffy's hey Mountain", and "Toku suru karada" make up an album of folk, rock and melodic pop songs. AmiYumi was a strong debut, but nothing could have prepared fans for the stunning single that would come next.
One month later came the Puffy beach anthem "Nagisa ni matsuwaru etcetera." It's all the disco and pop you could hope for from this loveable duo. Puffy even honor American blockbuster king, Harrison Ford on this track: "Stop at the tree. There's Harrison Ford!! We are very lucky girls!" It was another instant success. By this time no one could escape Puffy. Open a magazine, and there are Ami and Yumi on their Vino scooters, turn the page and they're selling a new line of Shiseido skin cream. Turn again and see an ad for their tour video called "Tour Puffy Tour!" It was Puffy mania.
Puffy are the reason I became interested in J-pop. The twin pleasures of Ami and Yumi, backed up by great songs and a unique sound, make Puffy the perfect primer for anyone interested in pop, Japanese style. -
Sheila B
Updates from Mason Since Sheila wrote that article quite some time ago, our unstoppable power puff girls have continued to release great music. Their 1999 album Fever * Fever turned out to be one of the most addictive releases of the year, despite being a relatively dysmal year for music. I obtained the album shortly after it was released and still it remains in heavy rotation in my CD player. The songs on Fever * Fever present a return to more folk based influences as well as plenty of nostalgic pieces for variety. Overall the songs on this album gel together far better than any of Puffy's previous efforts. All in all it forms a unified album. I mean all of the songs feel like they truly belong together and the order they're placed in couldn't be more perfect. Never at any point does it feel as if a song was placed as an afterthought. Later in '99 their rather interesting remix album titled PRMX was released. Since I was growing weary of the same tired future-sound techno or eurobeat remixes that get made these days, I was unsure at first. However once I gave the album a try, I was quite pleased. As far as remix albums go, it was pretty well done. Most of the remixes are done very much in the spirit of Puffy's light-hearted music and shies away from the stereotype of what a remix is expected to sound like. It's a great companion to their other albums. In the year 2000 Puffy released their own 'greatest hits' album. It was inevitable. Every Japanese recording artist releases one sometime, whether they've been around for long or not. In this case it turned out to be a pretty definative collection of Puffy's hits and most memorable songs. It also included their Mandarin Chinese version of Ai no Shirushi and Kore ga Watashi no Ikiru Michi. Nearing the end of the year Puffy's new studio album came out, titled Spike featuring recent hit singles such as Umi e to and Boogie Woogie no. 5. I just got it myself and am starting to get familiar with the new songs. While I still feel Jet CD and Fever * Fever are far superior albums, so far this album feels to be a worthy addition to their canon.
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In
collaboration with folk-rock icon Yosui Inoue, Okuda Tamio took Osaka
native, Yoshimura Yumi and Tokyoite Ohnuki Ami under his wing and began
grooming them for success. Though Puffy might appear to be the musical
project of childhood best friends, Ami and Yumi, like most idols, were
scouted, schooled, and packaged by Epic Records for mass consumption.
But unlike many of the past idols who averaged about a two month career,
Ami and Yumi survived their untimely fate by releasing quality singles,
videos, commercials, and TV shows, while maintaining the happy-go-lucky
Puffy image that so many teens grew to love.
With
the tousands of new bands and artists that hope to break through in
Japan, how is it that Puffy became such a phenomenonal success after
the release of only two singles? After all, the Japanese certainly never
have fallen short on their supply of female music acts.
"Kore
ga watashi no ikiru michi" was released in October of 1996 and sold
millions of copies; it was Puffy's biggest single. Shiseido cosmetics
used the song for their TV commercials. Girly magazines such as Zipper,
Cutie, PeeWee, and Pati Pati gave Puffy numerous covers making the Puffy
jeans and college sweatshirt look a new trend in fashion. More sponsors
were knocking on Ami and Yumi's door with the release of "Circuit no
musume" released
in March of 1997. It was Okuda's attempt at the Beatles' "I Saw
Her Standing There" with a touch of the 50's rock n' roll sound.
Yamaha used "Circuit no musume" their vino line of scooters.
A
second album called Solo/Solo was released in August of '97. Ami and
Yumi are featured seperately with their own CDs. Ami teams up with mostly
American songwriters (including Andy Sturmer of Jellyfish, who would
go on to write numerous songs for Puffy), and Yumi sticks with a Japanese
songwriter named Tetsutaro Sakurai. She even gets Pizzicato Five mainman
Yasuharu Konishi to write her a track titled "VACATION" (one
of the highlights of Solo/Solo). While Yumi's album is much stronger
in the songwriting category, Solo/Solo is not the same stuff that the
previous Puffy singles were made of. Puffy are equally Okuda Tamio as
they are Ami and Yumi; without Okuda, Puffy fail to release high quality
music.
Let's
jump to April 1998, for that was the month that Puffy's third and most
spectacular album, Jet CD was set for release. It's a must for anyone
interested in Japanese pop music. Jet CD compiles the five best Puffy
singles, plus another seven tracks of electronic pop ("Cake is
love"), a Black Sabbath rip-off ("Kobijin"), a jazz number
("Lemon kid"), and a straight ahead rock n' roll ("De
Rio"). Okuda's non-traditional approach to rehashing American tunes
with Japanese vocals and melodies, makes for an utterly unique listening
experience. While you might recognize key influences, you have never
heard anything like this before.
