Japan’s hit pop duo Puffy sweeten up L.A.
By Daily Bruin Staff
June 30, 2002 9:00 p.m.
By Alex Palmer
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]
 www.girlieaction.com/puffy
Japanese superstar duo Puffy play their brand
of genre-breaking, catchy pop tunes at the Roxy on the first stop
of their U.S. tour.
Japanese duo Puffy Amiyumi march to the beat of their own drum.
Actually, they march to a sugary blend of everyone else’s
drums. But it works, and boy do the Japanese love it.
Puffy Amiyumi will be playing their first U.S. concert this
Saturday night at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood. It will give
American audiences a chance check out Japan’s biggest musical
act.
But audiences be warned: Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura, the
members of Puffy, aren’t used to small clubs like the Roxy.
In their native country, the two regularly sell out entire arenas.
They also move millions of albums (over 14 million sold), their
songs appear in more commercials than Moby’s, and the two
host their own hugely popular TV variety show
“Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Puffy.”
Known simply as Puffy in Japan (but urged by a certain P. Diddy
to change their name in the States), the two were brought together
by a record label in 1995. By 1996 they had a massive hit,
“Asia No Junshin” (“True Asia”) on their
hands. Their popularity has only grown.
But, as is the case with so many foreign acts, Puffy has yet to
break into the U.S. market. Their tour that kicks off at the Roxy
is part of Puffy’s push to capture Americans’ ears and
promote their second stateside album, “An Illustrated
History.” But the women aren’t that worried about
succeeding in the United States.
“We are really looking forward to playing in front of an
American audience, but we do really well in Japan, so it’s
not like it’s do-or-die or anything like that,” the
non-English speaking Onuki said to Flaunt magazine.
The duo is aiming to get America’s attention on their own
terms, in their own language and with their own style. The petite
pop stars shy away from the Britney/Madonna formula of innocent
ballads and raunchy dance tracks. Instead, Puffy throws itself into
a hodgepodge of genres and styles.
“An Illustrated History” jumps through more musical
eras than Britney’s Pepsi commercials. Borrowing the
sensibilities of songs as far-ranging as “You Can’t
Hurry Love,” “Ticket to Ride” and “Dancing
Queen,” Puffy devours it all, seeing no difference between
Robert Palmer, the Who or Gloria Estefan. It’s all just about
hooks and the catchy chord changes to them.
“The music I want to make is anything that I can have fun
with and enjoy listening to,” the non-English speaking
Yoshimura told AP magazine.
The result is pop music that is instantly familiar and joyously
silly. You know that the background “la la la’s”
are going to kick in on verse two, but that’s the point.
Puffy’s sound is fine-tuned by Andy Sturmer, the former
drummer of ’90s pop group Jellyfish, and Tamio Okuda, a
Japanese rock star in his own right. These varied talents and
cultural influences come together to form the hard to define Puffy
sound.
Like any decent pop group, Puffy’s look is as crucial as
its sound.
The J-pop princesses are just as indiscriminate in their fashion
influences as they are with musical ones, sporting artfully ripped
jeans cuffed up a few inches, along with the occasional cowboy hat
or fuzzy pink sweater. Their video for “Boogie Woogie No.
5″ unapologetically mirrors a Gap commercial with its white
background and choreographed dancers.
“An Illustrated History” doesn’t take long to
make one forget that the girls are singing in Japanese. The riffs
and hooks are meant to be so toe-tappingly catchy that the listener
gets lost in the sugar rush. You aren’t supposed to think
about the meaning of the lyrics, just that the group doesn’t
care about the historical or cultural meaning behind the styles
from which they borrow.
That’s because amid the musical pilfering lies an
innocence and genuine joy to Puffy Amiyumi that contrasts with
America’s image-conscious, barely-legal divas.
Saturday’s show at the Roxy will be a rare opportunity for
American audiences to see exactly that ““ that what’s
cooking in Japan is a little sweeter than American dishes, but
without all the artificial flavoring.
