- (Tom) That was so awesome.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Pedro) I think I like that one the most.
- Yay!
- (Jeannie) I like their music videos.
♪ (upbeat intro) ♪
- J-pop.
- Laser Beam.
- (Jeordy) Is this K-pop?
- (Tom) K-pop.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Ethan) What?
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Kaelyn) Oh, is he gonna do the robot?
- (speaking Japanese) - (Jeannie) What?
- (Tom) He's a polar bear. Yes.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Tom) Watch out, it's a bomb.
- (Ethan) Really? He's distracted by an apple?
- (Sophia) What?
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Tom) No, we're gonna keep him as a pet.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Tom) That was so awesome.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Tori) Yes, sparkles, okay. - Okay.
- (Tom) This reminds me of Kingdom Hearts.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (David) That's a lot of people.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Jeannie) I love, really, really, really good guy dancers.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Sophia) Okay. That was interesting.
- (Tori) That was kind of amazing.
- AKB.
- (Jeannie) Whoa, this is so colorful.
- (Tori) I love this so much.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Pedro) The music videos are better than ours.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Jeordy) What sleepovers are like.
- Exactly.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Tori) Is this supposed to appeal to guys?
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Troy) Okay, I didn't know there was a mirror there.
- (Sophia) Getting a little suggestive.
Calm down, everyone.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (David) Oh, so we were peeping through the door.
- (Troy) That's a little weird.
- (Tom) That's kinda messed up a little bit.
- (Past FBE) What we just showed you was
three different bands that are actually part of J-pop.
- (Jeordy) Oh, that was J-pop? I'm so sorry.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Past FBE) So, before we go into specifics,
how would you describe what you saw and heard overall?
- (David) It's very different depending on what
artist you watch.
- (Tori) They put a lot of effort into their
music videos.
- (Jeannie) Bright and bubbly.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Past FBE) So, the first group we showed you was Perfume.
What did you think of their song
and music video? - (Pedro) I think I liked
that one the most. - Yay.
- (Jeannie) I like their music video.
- (Tori) And it had a polar bear in it.
- (Troy) The mugged a polar bear.
- (Sophia) See a deeper message, but I didn't
really ever come to a conclusion. - (speaking Japanese)
- (Past FBE) Exile, who have sold more than 20 million records.
- (Troy) Holy crap.
- (Tom) That's all of them?
- (Jeordy) There's 20 of them.
- (Kaelyn) All the fan girls don't have to share now.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Past FBE) Here is AKB 48. - (Sophia) There's so many
of them, too.
- (Tom) Let's see how many pretty girls we can
fit into a band.
- (Kaelyn) That's too many mood swings right there.
- (Past FBE) They currently have over 130 members.
- (Jeordy) Why do they need that many?
- (Jeannie) Oh my God, that's a lot of girls.
Mayday.
- (Past FBE) Part of what audiences love is to watch
regular people grow from inexperienced to professionals.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Jeannie) It's kind of hard for independent
music artists to try to even make a big name
for themselves. Basically, it's a lot harder
for just people who wanna do their own music
instead of following a company.
- Exactly.
- (Past FBE) To abide by or even get fired
or demoted. For example, in some
of the groups, you're not allowed to date.
- (Tom) What?
- (Past FBE) And one of the AKB 48 members
not that long ago ended up in a scandal where
she was seen coming out of a guy's place
from another group and she got demoted
and ended up cutting off her hair.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Troy) That's pretty harsh.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (David) Extreme, much.
- (Jeordy) They should get three strikes or something.
- (Tori) It's probably good for younger people in Japan
so they could look up to them because they're so pure
and amazing and everything.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Jeannie) Coming from Asian culture,
if I do something bad, I have to do something
to show that I show remorse, but she signed that contract herself
so she put herself in that position.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Past FBE) Last question. Now that you have listened
to some J-pop, are you gonna start listening
to any of these groups? - (Troy) No.
- (Ethan) No.
- (David) I don't think so.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Shant) Not really.
- (Jeordy) I don't really like pop music.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (Jeannie) I'm playing some hip-hop,
I can change it up and play some J-pop.
- Yes.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (FBE) So Perfume, first of all, it is so cool
for us to have you here with us today.
- Thank you. - Thank you so much.
- (FBE) So this video we made years ago
and we never imagined that one day we'd actually
get to show it to you.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (FBE) How have you viewed your place within J-pop
and its history over time?
- (speaking Japanese)
- (FBE) What was it like today to see these teenagers
from a few years ago reacting to your music
and also to J-pop as a whole?
- (speaking Japanese)
- So pretty.
- (speaking Japanese)
- (FBE) So you guys have been together since 2000.
It's rare to see groups that stay together for such
a long time. Can you talk about your journey
and how you've managed to stay together
for all this time?
- (speaking Japanese)
- (FBE) Music from Japan and Korea in recent years
has crossed over in a big way into America and to the West.
Compared to when you started 20 years ago to now,
how much of a difference is the reach of your music
in other countries?
- (speaking Japanese)
- (FBE) You are the first J-pop all female group
to ever preform at Coachella. What was that experience like?
- (speaking Japanese)
- Amazing.
- (FBE) So finally, you recently went on a North American tour
that had many sold out shows. You also have a new album
out that debuted at number one in over 20 countries.
- Yay. - Ooh.
- (FBE) After almost 20 years together, could you guys
have ever imagined you would still be having
this amount of success?
- (speaking Japanese)
- (FBE) But are you happy that you're still here?
- Yes. I'm so happy!
- Thanks to FBE for making video. - Our new videos
are a lot cooler. - So make sure to
check them out. - Bye!