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Throwback: Wink

by kbrecordzz December 21, 2020 1980s, J-pop, Japan, throwback, Wink

I wanted to talk about how charming the Wink girls are, but I realize they’re not. They just stare at me and make weird hand dances. I have never seen them express an emotion or react to a situation. They are aliens.

While listening to Wink, I recognize that around one of four songs are covers of famous Western songs. After a while, I understand that even more than that are covers. I’ll probably come to the conclusion that all songs are covers and that they’ve never created anything in their lives. They got away with this, maybe because Japan’s music scene was pretty isolated. Today, we have a great insight into Japanese music, so we can choose which version of each song we like. I love the Wink version of Anki Bagger’s “Where were you last night”, because I can make up my own lyrics instead of listening to the cynical original lyrics. And because it has a ridiculous music video! Look at those exxaggerated visual effects! Look at the expressionless dancing! Stone face. They never give more effort than needed. Always quiet and mysterious. One of the singers said the reason she never smiled or laughed was because how concentrated she was on doing her thing. Talk to the hands, cause the face ain’t listening (cause it’s concentrating on coreographing the hands). So, apparently she was concentrated for seven years, and apparently everyone in Japan loved them during this time.


Wink - Where Were You Last Night

Their music is good, but their videos are top class. I love the abstract colors and the 80s effects (reminding of Mami Yamase), and “Sexy Music” is one of the most visually pleasing music videos I’ve seen. It’s really impressing for being a video from 1990. They used techniques of the time (which in other cases often were used way to aggressively) in a careful manner, and still managed to make it crazy and fun. How anyone could make a tasteless 80s video become tasteful is a mystery.

Music videos:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Where were you last night
Sexy music


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