Jpop Wiki:Terminology

This is a list of definitions of terms related to Japanese Music.

Check out wanted terms if you wish to expand this further.

Anison
Anison (アニソン; or "Anisong") is a term that is short for Anime song, but is also used generally to refer to all anime music with a focus on opening and ending theme songs, but also applies to songs in-between known as "insert songs". By some definitions anime songs include songs in anime-style video games and anime-style visual novels. Anison crosses all Japanese music genres, but tends to feature up-beat J-pop and J-rock ballads most of the time.

Theme music composed for anime (instrumental), films, tokusatsu (monster and superhero special effects shows), and Japanese television dramas are considered a separate music genre. While musicians and bands from all genres of Japanese popular music have recorded songs and scores for Japanese television and film, there are several prominent musical artists and groups who have spent most of their musical careers performing theme songs and composing soundtracks for visual media with a focus on anime.


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 * Anison at the Animanga Wiki

Enka
Enka (演歌) is a popular Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern enka, however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ryūkōka music (Japanese music post 1920s that is an umbrella term that generally divides Japanese misic into Enka and "pop" or everthyng else like J-Pop, J-Rock, etc.), popular during the prewar years.

Modern enka, as developed in the postwar era, is a form of sentimental ballad music. Some of the first modern enka singers were Kasuga Hachiro, Mihashi Michiya, and Murata Hideo. The revival of enka in its modern form is said to date from 1969, when Fuji Keiko made her debut. The most famous male enka singers are Shinichi Mori and Hikawa Kiyoshi.


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Idol
J-Idol, Japanese Idol, or just Idol (アイドル, aidoru) is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements by talent agencies, while maintaining a parasocial relationship with a financially loyal consumer fan base.


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 * THE COMM - IN SEARCH OF AN IDOL: THE ORIGINS OF IDOL CULTURE by The COMM 03/03/2021
 * THE COMM - IN SEARCH OF AN IDOL: THE ORIGINS OF IDOL CULTURE by The COMM 03/03/2021
 * THE COMM - IN SEARCH OF AN IDOL: THE ORIGINS OF IDOL CULTURE by The COMM 03/03/2021

Chika Idol
Chika Idols (地下アイドル) or underground idols are independently managed idols who perform at small venues.

They differ from mainstream idols in the sense that underground idols are active through live performances rather than through exposure from mass media or CD releases through major record labels, thus making them more accessible to fans in comparison to mainstream idols. Their business model promotes a closer relationship between idols and fans, promoting handshake events and taking instant camera photos (known as "cheki" (チェキ)) with fans after every live performance.


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J-Pop
J-pop (ジェイポップ, jeipoppu; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviation for "Japanese pop"), natively also known simply as pops (ポップス poppusu), is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional Japanese music, but significantly in 1960s pop and rock music, such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys, which led to Japanese rock bands such as HAPPY END fusing rock with Japanese music in the early 1970s. J-pop was further defined by new wave groups in the late 1970s, particularly electronic synth-pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra and pop rock band SOUTHERN ALL STARS.

Eventually, J-pop replaced kayokyoku ("Lyric Singing Music", a term for Japanese pop music from the 1920s to the 1980s) in the Japanese music scene. The term was coined by the Japanese media to distinguish Japanese music from foreign music and now refers to most Japanese popular music. Popular styles of Japanese pop music included new music/city pop in the 1980s and Shibuya-kei in the 1990s.


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City Pop
City pop (シティ・ポップ, Shiti poppu) is a loosely defined form of Japanese pop music that emerged in the late 1970s and peaked in popularity during the 1980s. It was originally termed as an offshoot of Japan's Western-influenced "new music" (ニューミュージック, Nyū Myūjikku), but came to include a wide range of styles – including funk, disco, R&B, AOR, soft rock, and boogie – that were associated with the country's nascent economic boom and leisure class. It was also identified with new technologies such as the Walkman, cars with built-in cassette decks and FM stereos, and various electronic musical instruments. While remnants of city pop are still around and it sees occasional resurgence, it is largely considered to be just an older style of J-pop.


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New Music
New music(ニューミュージック, Nyū Myūjikku) is a genre of Japanese popular music that was popular from the 1970s to the 1980s, but recognized much until the early 1980s. In terms of composition, it added elements such as Western rock to folk songs, and in terms of lyrics, it was new music that excluded the politics and lifestyle that had been characteristic of folk songs up to that point. However, there are discrepancies in definitions depending on the literature.



Shibuya-kei

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J-Rock
Japanese rock (日本のロック; Nihon no Rokku), sometimes abbreviated to J-rock (ジェイ・ロック; Jei Rokku), is rock music from Japan. Influenced by American and British rock of the 1960s, the first rock bands in Japan performed what is called Group Sounds, with lyrics almost exclusively in English. Folk rock band HAPPY END in the early 1970s are credited as the first to sing rock music in the Japanese language. Punk rock band the BLUE HEARTS and heavy metal group X JAPAN, led Japanese rock bands in the late 1980s and early 1990s by achieving major mainstream success. Japanese rock music has become a cult worldwide, being widely known in Asia and has survived through decades competing with its contemporary derivative local style J-pop. Many argue that J-rock is really just a sub-genre of J-pop. Despite the difficult distinction, many people see J-metal, J-punk, and Visual kei as offshoots of J-rock


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Group Sounds

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Visual kei

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Member Color
Member color or image color is a color assigned to a member of a group (usually idol groups) as a way of representing them. These colors are often present in their costume and are used by fans in clothing and penlights as a way of showing support towards a specific member of the group.

MV
Short for Music Video.

Nico Nico
Nico Nico (ニコニコ), and formerly known as Nico Nico Douga (ニコニコ動画), is the Japanese equivalent of YouTube.

Throughout the years, there have been made several tags for "I tried xx", which mainly is "Utattemita" (歌ってみた; I tried singing), and "Odottemita" (踊ってみた; I tried dancing). Many have become popular and also began uploading to YouTube as well, but some have taken the next step and entered the entertainment world, either solo or in a group. Nico Nico is also the place Vocaloid Producers posted their music.

PV
Short for Promotional Video.

Utaite
Utaite (歌い手) is a Japanese term for people who cover previously released songs and post them on Nico Nico Douga and YouTube under the utattemita category. The term "utaite" is unique to Nico Nico Douga singers, making it different from Kashu (歌手), which means "singer" in general.


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 * Utaite at the Utaite Wiki

Wotagei
Wotagei (ヲタ芸), also known as Otagei (オタ芸) is a style of dance with unique movements usually coupled with chants performed by idol fans at concerts as a method of cheering dedicated to idols, voice actors, etc. The etymology of the word is an abbreviation for "the art of idol otaku" (アイドルオタクの芸).


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