In a surprising move (after the fuck-it way "Sangatsu Kokonoka" rolled out) Crystal Kay has released a music video for the second release from her upcoming covers album, "Utautai no Ballad". But it doesn't feature Crystal Kay all. It's been 2 years since fans have gotten a music video from Crystal and a bitch ain't even in it.
There have been countless videos such as these in J-Pop. But for this to be released by Crystal now, at this point in time, it smells like anti-Blackness, even if it wasn't the intent of the creators of the video. For a Black artist to put out a music video in which they don't feature, and for two non-Black folk to feature in it instead just looks bad coming from a Black artist in Japan. And I know it's part of this play that's been about making Crystal stand in better favour with general audiences ever since the release of Shine, but it doesn't erase the fact that the optics of this music video at this point in time we're at now, aren't great. It's all the more reason Crystal should have featured.
'It'll do well' doesn't make the music video and the casting choice any better or any less anti-Black. Even if they just had separate shots of Crystal walking around like she's been doing in all of her damn music videos since "Nando Demo", it would have been something. But for Crystal or for no Black girl to have any presence in this video at all was a bad choice.
Crystal shouldn't have to cap her Blackness for the sake of her sales and popularity, and that's what it's looking like to me between the shift in her sound and this.
💿 Crystal Kay album reviews: For You | Shine | Vivid | Spin The Music | Color Change! | All Yours | Call Me Miss...
📀 A Crystal Kay Dance album: Euphoria
👓 A question: Is race the obstacle preventing Crystal Kay from big success in Japan?
🔙 CK Flashbacks: J-R&B? Nailed it. | Girls who flop together, flock together
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