Most of us by now are well aware that some strange, confusing and wonderful things come from the country of Japan. We here at The-Arcade would say Kyary is a prime example, a young Japanese star that is definitely bringing the phrase ‘Only in Japan!’ back with a bang.
So, let’s get into who we’re talking about; Kiriko Takemura, better known as Kyary Pamyu Pamyu started out as a fashion blogger, who went on to become a professional model for Japanese Harajuku magazines such as Kera! After achieving a measure of fame in this industry she quickly went on to establish herself as a business woman, releasing her own line of fake eyelashes; ‘Harajuku Doll Eyelashes by Eyemazing x Kyary’.
Now, Kyary has taken the music world by storm with her debut in the summer of last year. All this and Kyary is only nineteen years of age, having just celebrated her birthday on the 29th of January. And she’s only getting started, folks.
Kyary skyrocketed to fame with the release of her first single, ‘PonPonPon’, the music video quickly becoming a viral hit; understandable to anyone who has experienced the joys of watching the strange, psychedelic music video. If you are one of those who have not seen it and thus don’t understand what I mean, take a look. If you’re like us, you may need to watch it a second or third time to really get your head around it.
“I’m good at unicycling and pogoing” Kyary states in an interview in regards the PonPonPon music video. “I like eyeballs and gross things too: they’re not just scary, they’re also kinda cute. When I told the director all of this, he used it in the video”. The results were as follows;
The above video gained over 15 million views on Youtube and the single itself even topped the Belgian and Finnish iTunes electronic download charts. Even Katy Perry shared the above video on her twitter – which we’re sure must have been nice for little Kyary, given that she has stated that Katy is one of her idols, alongside Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera.
Kyary even states that Gwen Stefani and her Harajuku Girls were what sparked her interest in Harajuju fashion, thus leading her to become what she is today.
“When I saw Gwen’s ‘Harajuku Girls’ vid, I started thinking, ‘Wow, Harajuku girls are super kawaii and totally awesome’, and that’s what got me where I am now. I started out as a model right after that. Gwen really opened my eyes about style”
Having been given an iTunes gift card for Christmas that had not quite been spent, this writer even decided to digitally download Kyary’s first mini album, titled ‘Moshi Moshi Harajuku’ out of curiosity, despite how daunting such a feat seems after watching the above video, leaving me not entirely sure as to what I should be expecting. Despite the strangeness of both the j-pop singer and her videos, her songs are actually not bad and turn out to be rather catchy, which could explain why the album spent a time at number 2 in the Japanese iTunes download charts. While some songs on it are in line with the upbeat, pop-y PonPonPon, she also manages some cute ballads too, such as with the song ‘Jelly’.
Her second, Alice in Wonderland themed music video, in keeping with the first, is an interesting watch to say the least. Readers are likely to be mesmerized by the following video, much like we ourselves were, although we’re still not sure what our feelings are. After watching PonPonPon numerous times, we were confident we were prepared for anything Kyary could throw at us next. As it turns out; we were wrong;
After having made her US debut in Los Angeles in autumn of last year, it seems clear that her strange videos are getting her somewhere, and she’s only just getting started. With her rapid rise to success, Kyary definitely seems like an artist to keep an eye on.
If you find yourself intrigued, go check out Kyary’s Blog! We here at the-Arcade will be sure to keep you all updated on anything else Kyary has to offer us in the future!
