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The story
A thread went up on 5ch’s Hello! Project board about songwriter/composer Aoi Yamazaki, whose profile has been rising thanks to her work for Hello! Project. Known for hits like Juice=Juice’s “More! Mi Amore,” the thread saw some posters claim she’s “surpassed Tsunku♂ at his peak,” while others pushed back, arguing she’s overrated and that “AKB48 and Nogizaka46 don’t hype up a single writer like this.” Information about unreleased tracks — including Juice=Juice’s upcoming song “Kareinaru Revenger” and Fukumura Mizuki’s solo track “Moshimo” — was also shared, fueling comparisons with other songwriters.
What people said
"Hankouki!" (Hello! Pro Kenshuusei Hokkaido)
"Nakenaize… Kyoukan Sagi" (ANGERME)
They won't let her.
Just one hit is enough to keep a member's career going strong.
"More Mi" has such a great arrangement that it's actually addictive though.
"More Mi" wins purely on the strength of its melody,
which is why you can happily sit through YouTuber covers that don't come close to the original vocally.
Looking at her track record, the standouts are "More Mi" and "Hitosore."
Those songs have basically become her calling card.
The stretch where ANGERME and Tsubaki Factory got preferential treatment was such a waste.
Come back, great master Aoi 😭
But he's off having fun in Hawaii and doesn't even know the members anymore, so they're worthless either way.
Nothing like this happens with AKB48 or Nogizaka46.
I can't imagine Yoshimasa or Sugiyama getting hyped up like this.
I get the overrated point, but those guys get hyped up plenty too.
Inoue has a lot of interesting songs, but Sugiyama's just average.
Juice=Juice "Kareinaru Revenger" (lit. "The Gorgeous Revenger")
Lyrics: Aoi Yamazaki
Composition: RUSH EYE / Anna Kusakawa
Arrangement: RUSH EYE
Fukumura Mizuki "Moshimo" (lit. "If")
Lyrics & Composition: Aoi Yamazaki
Arrangement: Akihiko Nakamura
Yeah, the lyrics definitely have a feminine touch.
That kind of song might be Yamazaki really hitting her stride at her age.
I wish Juice=Juice had gotten something like that back when they were floundering around with the city pop direction.
Same goes for the Tsunku and other songwriters' tracks released around the same time.
Maybe Yamazaki's only ahead because of "More Mi."
Morning Musume, BEYOOOOONDS, and ROSY can just stay as they are.
I've given up on BEYOOOOONDS ever getting an Aoi or Takui song, and they don't need a Tsunku song either — but in exchange, prioritize giving them Ame Kodama and Hoshibe songs.
Save experiments like Asahi for ROSY.
For someone with only modest success like Yamazaki, that's too high a bar.
The sheer number of shots he's fired off is on a completely different scale too.
She'd have to keep landing hits for another ten years just to catch up.
Neither of them is even around anymore.
Give it up.
Background and points of debate
Tsunku♂ is the founding father of Hello! Project, known since the Morning Musume era for tailoring lyrics to each member’s individual character — but in recent years he’s said to be based mainly overseas, and posters in the thread note that his position within the group has shifted. Aoi Yamazaki, meanwhile, is the songwriter who has raised her profile through hits like Juice=Juice’s “More! Mi Amore,” and the thread saw a split over how to judge her body of work across multiple groups. Some argued that “no other agency hypes up one specific songwriter like this,” while others countered that “she genuinely has a signature hit to her name,” making it a debate that goes beyond simple taste. The thread also buzzed about unreleased songs she’s provided to Juice=Juice and Fukumura Mizuki, drawing attention as information on upcoming releases.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “[Breaking] Tsunku♂’s Successor ‘Aoi Yamazaki’ Has Fully Come Into Her Own wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww [Hello! Project/Juice=Juice/More! Mi Amore].”
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