Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is back on her bonkers bullshit for her music video for “Focus Focus”

Can you believe that “Focus Focus” is the first music video that Pussy Pam has released in 3 years despite releases several singles during this time? Nope. Me neither. Prior to this, her last video was for “Isshin Doutai” in 2022 — which feels like it was WAY longer than 3 years ago. In this time Pussy Pam became Mrs. Pamyu and gave birth to Poko Pampers. Damn. Time really be flying.

This was a great video. It’s really cool to see that Kyary’s creative team can still put together music videos which feel fun, super creative and on brand. And what’s cool here is that Kyary’s look is ‘cooler’ and more ‘grown’, but it’s still very Kyary. It’s been interesting seeing Kyary balance her image over the past 10 years. She still wears some of the bat-shit crazy stuff she did when she started out. But especially around the time of her second studio album, Nanda Collection — when Kyary was at the peak of her popularity — it felt like there was a concerted effort for Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to always be seen wearing her bat-shirt crazy outfits and for that character to always be on. Where-as now it feels like less of a requirement and a necessity and Kyary not only branches into building a Penty Beauty style Empire with cosmetic ranges, but as she gets older.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Focus Focus | ASOBIMUSIC

Over the years, Kyary has shared more glimpses of her personal life and day-to-day goings-on and we see this side of her bleeding through into some of the looks she wears in her music videos. It’s a smart move for her to still retain an aesthetic and look, but not always feel beholden to it ALL of the time. We saw Lady Gaga go through a similar thing in her career — going from ALWAYS being seen as Lady Gaga and wearing the craziest shit to ‘Girl, lemme just throw on a wig, a Pleaser and a winged eyeliner’. Having to keep up with the performance of a character is exhausting. You have to keep up the act, regardless of whether you’re in the mood to or not. Every public appearance becomes a performance, so you’re never off the clock. And this is a HUGE expense, because you have to keep playing dress up and you can never wear the same thing twice. It’s just not sustainable. Not just financially, but mentally too. The headache of having to pick clothes out is why I dress like a cartoon character and pretty much wear the same outfit every day. I’m a big ‘Clothing as a uniform’ kinda guy. I could not deal with having to think out and plan different looks and sometimes multiple looks in one day. Even with a stylist doing this, it would exhaust me. Fuck that shit.

HENNYWAY.

I am really flummoxed at why the single art for “Focus Focus” was so boring and from the same shoot that produced the single covers for “Kuru Kuru Harajuku” and “Genjitsu-Touhi”, when literally ANY still from this music video could have been chosen as the single cover instead. The opening shot would have made for an amazing cover. The damn thing is even in a 1:1 ratio. Mess.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Focus Focus | ASOBIMUSIC

It’s so [turns and looks into the camera] ✨crazy crazy ✨ that “Focus Focus” had no tie-in with digital cameras, meditation classes, yoga classes, glasses or a campaign for people to get regular checks with an optometrist. Kyary is a tie-in girl. She is not about the life of releasing a single with one. Tie-ins are a HUGE part of what helped her become so popular. I was in Japan in 2013 and I remember Kyary being EVERYWHERE. The Japanese singles business being so contingent on tie-ins can really suck if you’re a smaller artist who is struggling to get brand interest. Because the reality is brands will only go with music acts who are popular. And despite Kyary’s music sales being in the toilet, she is still a known name with some cachet. So it’s weird that her team had her release a single with no tie-in.

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💿 Single reviews: Fashion Monster | Crazy Party Night ~Pumpkin no Gyakushuu~ | Oedoedo | Focus Focus
💿 Album reviews: Nanda Collection | Pika Pika Fantajin | Japamyu | Candy Racer

📀 Special Edition: A makeshift Kyary album - Super Pamicom