Reported yesterday by Japan Today, Jero will be making his acting debut on the big screen in the upcoming movie Donju. Jero will play the role as a young punk named Akira, who’s making a living by selling books, door-to-door sales and making deliveries for a ramen shop. Director Hideaki Hosono seems to be very pleased with his performance and said that lots of offers will be coming his way. Jero received compliments for his sense of humor and good acting. I’m definitely giving it a shot when it comes out in May 2009.
You can read the full story on Japan Today.
So, what do you think about Jero, music-wise? I think he’s a good Enka singer, but I think he should drop the hip-hop thing, I don’t know about you but I don’t think Enka and hip-hop is a very good mix. I also wonder what black American hip-hop artists think about him!
In case you haven’t heard any of his songs, here’s Umiyuki.
What’s your opinion?
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
That is his selling point- Having a hiphop facade but sings like a drunken Japanese sailor spurned by love.
Besides even if it is superficial, I guess he opens up enka to younger audiences
That is a good point, I didn’t think of it that way!
I think enka is getting back into the scene with JERO there in Japan now. I think his voice and style of music fit him prefectly in Japan, However, in the states I don’t think he would be popular. Most people don’t know anything about Japanese music, or they are group it with music from china and other Asian countries. Most US people would not appreciate his talent for Enka. Now, if he were to preform straight r&b or rap.. then I think some people would notice, but then again his style would ave to be different.
I’m making a post soon about Asian artists trying to make it big int he states and why (from what I have seen working with big music companies) they don’t do well in the states. There have been a lot of Korean artists coming out with English albums, but I am curious to see how well they will do. Anyway. Jero needs to keep doing what he is doing because his voice is GOLD!
It might be a fad though, his voice is great but it’s still Enka after all. I like Enka but I don’t see it becoming popular just because of him. When you’re not looking at the videos it’s not really very spectacular, other than that it’s good Enka. alan on the other hand is surely bringing back the oriental sounds in a good way.
As for Asian artists debuting in the states I haven’t heard of too many. But I like what BoA and Utada have released so far, I think they’ll both do well.