Country Girls - Kaite wa keshite no "I love You"

『書いては消しての “I Love You”』

So first off, I am not a big Country Girls fan. I have nothing against them, I just was never a big fan of their music. But there is a logical reason for this. I entered the fandom around 2013, then in 2014 I went to law school, so, naturally I feel off a bit with my Idol Loving ways. Before Law School, Berryz was still a group, after I left law school (2017) Both Berryz and C-ute had disbanded... So I heard Momochi was in a new group. I listened to some of the songs and was not impressed. Fast forward to the first suspension of country girls after Momochi graduates and they split the girls up.

This sets the stage for how I begin to learn about the individual girls in Country Girls. I learned of chii-chan when she got added to Morning Musume, I learned of Funnaki when she was added to Angerme, I learned of Yanamin when she was added to Juice=Juice, I learned of Yammaki by Sayu commenting on her audition video. So I met these girls at the end of ther tenure. However, they all really affected me deeply after learning of their struggles. Anyways, I  saw their charms too late. In fact, it was an article on wota in translation that alerted me to their charm, a wota mentioned Peanut Butter Jelly Love, and it showed me the way to their charm.

But now we come to the recent news of Country girls disbanding and most graduating. It is a travesty. Even as a non-wota for the group I realize that this break-up was wrong. They could of handled that better and why mess around with the girls and the fans. If you did not want them, you should have just disbanded the group after Momochi left, don't just let them flounder ad slowly asphyxiate.  They deserved better. If they are publicly saying how they strongly felt for the group and each other in their blogs, just imagine what they told management privately. If it was about money, why not just reduce the budget? The biggest slap in the face is the starting of a new group.

I do have negative feeling about chii-chan not graduating with the rest of Country Girls, but its her choice. However if the Country Girls Reboot has her as the leader I will definitely view it even more negatively. But I do understand her enjoying her spot in Morning Musume.

Anyways all that drivel above this can be summed up with, "Country Girls deserved better."

So on to my honorary song review to celebrate Country Girls. The song that I associate with them because it was BGM on Hello Stage.

Lyrics and Composition: Maeyamada Kenichi (Hyadain)
Arrangement: Suzuki Tomoki

Now this is the first song I have reviewed by Hyadain. I was a fan of his before H!P. I remember watching and covering his videos on Nico Nico Douga. The one that left the strongest impression with me was the Final Fantasy IV song,"Four Fiends of the Elements" (FF 4で、ゴルベーザ四天王登場！). I am a gamer and VGM remixes got me through my young adulthood. So I am very happy to be able to talk about his musical ideas.

This song was used as the intro music for Hello! Project Station from August 2018 to March 2019 until the episodic format was dropped in favor of short videos.

So about the charms of Country Girls. If Morning Musume is Cool, then Country Girls, as expected of a group led by Momochi, is sugary sweet kawaii idols. Like textbook idol. There were groups like S/milage that was Ero-kawaii, but Country Girls was just fluffy cotton candy and ribbons cute, like kawaii-culture cute. Their song lyrics and sonic profiles matched that aesthetic. So most of Country Girls sounds sounded.... cute. This song is no exception. Bouncy Bass lines, Tubular bells, and tambourines, just a very cutesy sound.

The lyrics are FANTASTIC! They are a huge selling point for the song, great cutesy protagonist who lacks confidence. Standard 3rd cutest girl in the class viewpoint. Its great.

The protagonist says things like its too old school to write a letter, but there is no way I can tell my love interest to their face that I like them... So there is no option... but I keep ripping up the letter, it takes me forever to write anything. Man this is gold! Too shy to talk in class, so looks like I have to write a letter after all. A tender, cute, and frantic, Hatsu Koi song, we really are spoiled as H!P fans...


Anyways, I am using this song review to voice my frustrations with the direction the management is taking with this group. Country Girls deserved better...