Have you ever fallen out of love with your favorite band? Perhaps you grew out of their message or you couldn’t get used to their new sound. Whatever the reason, it can be a kind of devastating feeling when you think back on how happy they’d once made you. No, no, this isn’t going to be about Yutaro. Hahaha. If you can believe it, there was another before Yutaro—or rather, FOUR others in a band named KEYTALK. I was a big fan from maybe….2012? I was slowly coming out of my Japanese boyband phase at the time. My cousin had sent me a KEYTALK video because he knew I was studying Japanese and he’d wanted me to tell him the title. So, from this video: Traveling, I discovered the world of Japanese rock. Before, my knowledge of Japanese rock had been Visual Kei bands like the Gazette, so finding KEYTALK was game-changing.
In fact, I was such a big fan that from America, I followed their music religiously and kept an ear out for all their new stuff. The moment I stepped foot into Japan in 2015 for study abroad, the first thing I did was a search for KEYTALK stuff. I even got to see them live in Osaka, which was a bit surreal. They hadn’t been as big as they are now, so when they played their new song at the time “Monster Dance“, the fans didn’t really know what to do. However, when I saw them at Metrock, EVERYONE danced. To every song. Hell, the fans knew dances not even I knew, and I felt a little guilty that I couldn’t catch a lot of the references being thrown at me because of how out of the loop I’d been. For instance, when the band suddenly put on colorfully framed sunglasses, everyone began cheering and—while I joined in–I had no idea what the fuss was about. In a sense, I was a bit jealous, too, because when I saw them in Osaka, I had known every lyric to every song. When I saw them at Metrock three years later, I could only sort of blindly follow everyone’s lead, even when they graced us with old favorites like 太陽系 リフレイン. It was heartbreaking when you realize just how crazy I was about these guys.
In fact, I have a very vivid memory of when I went to Universal Studios with my friends for a volunteer event back in 2015. I was wearing my KEYTALK shirt and one of the clerks at the souvenir shop said: “Yagi (the drummer) is cute, huh?”
At first, I didn’t quite catch what she meant because she’d said it so suddenly, but when she pointed to my shirt, which had his face on it, I was like, “WHAAAAAT??? BESTIE”. And we high-fived each other. I was excited enough to high-five a stranger simply because she knew my favorite band.
However, despite my apparent love for them, I kind just stopped listening to them after they dropped their album “HOT”, which was the last thing I bought of theirs. To be completely honest, I wasn’t completely impressed with what they’d been putting out since then. It wasn’t because “it didn’t sound like them” or that it sounded “different”; I just didn’t like the songs. And it’s not even that they were putting out BAD songs, they just weren’t my taste, y’know? Frankly, one of the reasons my cousin and I love KEYTALK is because of their musicianship. Even if you don’t like their songs, you can recognize that they’re good at what they do. So, let’s just clear that up: they never had a sucky period, just a period that was out of my taste. So, with that in mind, after seeing them listed in the Metrock line up for Sunday, I decided to give them another shot.
Then, a few months ago, my new friend suddenly brought up KEYTALK during our karaoke session. At that moment I became my university-age self and began naming off a slew of songs we could do together. It was like finding a picture of your best friend in high school: you might’ve gone to different colleges, started making new friends, and eventually found yourselves living completely separate lives. There was never any bad blood behind it, but a natural dissolve. Then you find that picture, and you get teary-eyed because you remember how much you’d loved them. You call them up and it turns out they’ve been thinking about you, too.
Once I returned home, I found myself delving into all of their old albums for the next month. What initially began as a sort of forced-attempt to hear KEYTALK at Metrock became something to look forward to. But what’s funny is that as fun as their performance was, I still didn’t find myself so interested in their new songs. Hahaha! Still, I decided to buy their newest album this coming weekend because I only know the few songs that have been advertised via music video. Maybe my attachment to them seems a bit extreme, but I dunno…these guys were before The Salovers, before Mrs. Green Apple…before Brian the Sun. They were the very first and seeing them live again rekindled the love for them that I’ve always had, even if I don’t like everything they put out.
While I’ll be seeing 2 in a few weeks, I’m excited to be exploring KEYTALK again. Sometimes listening to the same bands can get a little stale, so it’s refreshing to be returning to these old videos I’d used to watch almost daily. Here are some of my favorites, which are not relevant at all anymore:
“a picture book”
“fiction escape” (I remember swooning over Teranaka’s half-blonde look. I wanted my hair just like that. And looking at the date, I think I might’ve actually done it. Hahaha!)
“MABOROSHI SUMMER”
“S.H.S.S.”
“コースタ”
I also used to love to watch this video, perhaps because it was new at the time. I think watching these videos also really aided in my studies.
They’re such a fun group. They really haven’t changed at all. I look forward to actively following them again.
that foreign music blog🌎 
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