When I was writing a list of the order I would review each “classic” Musume, I was quite amused to find that the topic of today’s entry, Abe Natsumi, is only a couple days younger than Kaori. This puts Abe at turning twenty-seven this year, and she doesn’t even look as if she’s aged a day in her lifetime.
Intriguingly, I knew her name before I even “met” the Morning Musume concept and was very surprised to find she had been a part of that. Of course, it was in reverse order (Natsumi Abe), and it still sounds so familiar to me in my mind. But Abe (I’ve never called her Natsumi or Nacchi, strangely), to put it broadly, was fantastic. She was the best singer out of her generation, and as such, she appropriately got many lines. Not enough to overshadow everyone else (Tsunku you need to quit while you’re ahead man), and even with the release of “Furusato” which was her song, I can’t muster the strenght to get pissed off about it. I just felt it was allowed, that she deserved it. Maybe because, in some way, all of the girls in that lineup shared the feeling of that song as one, only Abe was the voice of it. It’s become a Morning Musume classic and a standard for auditions nowadays, but I don’t think anyone will ever come close to matching Abe’s emotion in her original vocals.
As a personality, Abe made a great foil to the girl I consider her “counterpart”, Kaori. Kaori definitely had more modern features; she was tall; kind of awkward, but endearing in that awkwardness. Abe seemed to have it all from the get-go: she was the short, charming, traditional-looking girl with a calm and mature aura, yet retained that innocent youthfulness that guided her through Morning Musume after the big image overhaul. She blended better than, I think, Kaori did, but her departure from the group may have caused the most irreparable damage to the future of Morning Musume’s longevity. To a lot of people, Abe was the Morning Musume. She was the face of the group, although she lost that title when Maki showed up, just to find herself with it again when Maki left. When she graduated, the original meaning of the term “Morning Musume” must’ve died a little in everyone’s hearts and minds, and with some it perished completely, but I still feel right now that Kaori kept it going until she graduated as well.
Another interesting trait about Abe is her singing voice. As I’ve said (numerous times, by now), all five original Musume had their own distinctive sound to their singing. Abe can be compared to the likes of Satoda Mai and Linlin, except unlike the latter two, Abe has never really stressed the natural nasal component in her voice. I guess the only time she would ever need to is with a more uptempo song, but still, I have to applaud her on that. Like Kaori, she never really changed her image completely when Morning Musume became an idol-oriented group. I can see that now there is a lot of fuss made about how cute and youthful she is for a 26-year-old woman, and she’s definitely played that side of her up more comparative to the way she presented herself during the early years of Momusu.
Abe Natsumi, écru
Though, this is why I really think photobooks are the best way to represent an idol. In Abe’s écru, I saw many varied sides of her “personality”. She even had a little bit of sex appeal in that book, which is something I don’t think many people consider when they first see Abe. “Oh, she’s probably cute and bland”, they might think, only to be blinded by CLEAVAGE! the moment they check out a PB. I can appreciate how she is multi-faceted and not dumbed down and stereotyped like a lot of idols tend to be.
Though, to be fair, she can border a little on annoying, and sometimes come across as downright fake. People unacquainted with her or who don’t fully understand her leap from someone whose maturity was front-and-center in singles like “Daite HOLD ON ME!” to having to keep that side of her down in “Happy Summer Wedding” can find her supaa kawaii seishun image unsettling in an “oh my god, act your age!” way. I admit to being disenchanted with Abe at certain periods of time. Then again, she was never an idol I connected well with, so my liking to her relies purely on her vocal talent and the less cutesy half of her persona, and the latter isn’t really on show anymore. Still, I do admit to being fond of her, as I am with everyone of “thine olden days”.
Abe Natsumi, Cam On
As for her solo career, well… I’ve never listened to any of her songs except “Sweet Holic”, which is a fantastic track and very fun — yet calming — to try ones hand at karaoke with. I think it would be very interesting if Abe released a single that was like a throwback to Morning Musume’s original musical style. Hunt down an oldschool arranger like Sudou Go & LH Project (I love “Tatoeba”), or Maejima Yasuaki, and have Tsunku channel those old low-key sexy vibes. I would really enjoy it, and I think a lot of other people would as well, especially people who are fans of that genre Momusu used to tackle repeatedly.
In short, my advice on soloists would be to have each other keep their own unique style that is representative of their idol persona or, barring that they don’t have one, the personality they most project onto commercialized media. Stop worrying about everyone keeping a rooted sound in bubblegum pop; I would much rather see Yasuda Kei, who has been around since forever, have a kind of “big band” style to any solo releases she comes out with than one of generic pop music. Something with an ensemble of instruments that she can also play, like saxophones, pianos, flutes, etc. (Though, to be fair, Kei is much more into being an actress than a singer in my opinion, but she’s multi-talented, so giving it a shot couldn’t hurt. At all.) Someone like Kaori, if she were to want to continue with her “career” in H!P, should continue to release Mediterranean-styled singles and albums, and give them all decent promotion compared to the lame low-radar crap UFA did before, regardless of whether or not it sells good because she would still find herself with a dozen fans who like her and her music. Yaguchi Mari should also do a style of music that is suited to her image or actual personality, if she were to become a soloist, though I honestly feel that she’s lost her place in H!P since leaving for a brief period (something I will definitely touch on in my upcoming article about her). Matsuura Aya needs to do a song that isn’t a ballad but instead has an uptempo, mature sound.
And Abe, well, Abe can do everything, I’d just like her to bring back a little of that old Momusu flair. Just for me. :)
I just love reading there. They’re so in-depth and even a little bit touching, in a way. It’s a good way for me to learn about the original members of Morning musume, as well.
As for Matsuura Aya, I think the perfect style of single for her is something like Ki Ga Tsukeba Anata. It was upbeat and fun, but it wasn’t childish and hyper, either.
u have really written a long entry on a former member of momusu and it really has given me a lot of details of her coz i don’t really know about the ex-members other than hearing abe natsumi’s name somewhere before. like now, i could try looking for her songs.
thanks for this entry.