- CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
- The Who "Tommy" 1969 (UK)
In Japanese theatrical rock news, today Dempagumi.inc is releasing their first single of 2021, which is also the first release since Eitaso retired in February and they unveiled FIVE new members to fill her spot. The new song "Dempa Princess Power! Shine On!" is mainly a vehicle to introduce the new gals but also twists princess metaphors through their cheery girl power vibe (turn on closed captioning for the English lyric translation: since Prince Charming is an illusion "the princess alliance is building our own castle"). So far I have mixed feelings about the new lineup: with 10 members they definitely seem more like a Broadway dance troupe than a singing group now, which is not out of line since choreography is such a large part of what they do, but I feel it could lead to a "dilution of awesomeness". For example: Pinky is one of their best singers, she's been with the group nearly 10 years, and she only gets two solo lines to sing in this song (poor Rin only gets one line!?) It will also be "interesting" to see how they reconfigure classic songs from the six-girl systems of the past for a much larger group - the five new girls can't just share Eitaso's old lines, so I guess they're going to reassign solo parts from the veteran members? Or some members will only sing on the choruses and not get solo lines? So far they have only performed two songs as a ten-piece (for the encore of their February concert, and only one of those performances has been released online). Dempagumi's first full concert with the new lineup happens in Tokyo next week, so we'll find out soon enough.