The rise of m-flo
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- Опубліковано 1 лип 2024
- One of the most influential and experimental groups in Japanese music has to be m-flo. Made up of three people -- Verbal, Lisa, and Taku -- the group officially debuted in 1998 and was recognized for their unique music.
Rather than play J-pop and J-rock, the two most popular genres in Japanese music, m-flo blended hip-hop, R&B, nu jazz, and funk. The "2 guys and 1 girl" concept was a breath of fresh air. They would take this concept to even new heights when Lisa left the group in 2002 and they would do the "m-flo loves series."
When Lisa came back 16 years later in 2018, it signaled a return to m-flo. Let's see their journey 20 years ago, why they're so influential, and how they blended a mixture of genres to sound darn good.
#mflo
REFERENCES:
aramajapan.com/aramaexclusive...
otaquest.com/m-flo-reunion-int...
www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/...
THUMBNAIL CREDITS:
The m-flo fanbase Global Astroliner
/ globalastroliner2000
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Intro music - Infinite H's "Pretty" instrumental version
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One minor mistake: It was Verbal (not Taku) that was hospitalized in a car accident in Hokkaido. Thanks to Otaquest for spotting this error.
m-flo’s songs never get boring for me. I always come back to them. Top 3 groups of all time for me.
Nice video on M-flo. Hope you can do one on Crystal Kay
Oh man, I'm all about Crystal Kay! Love her R&B style of music.
Found this video by randomly searching up m-flo as you do. I've been listening to them since 2003 and I've always been a huge fan of their stuff. If I don't know what to listen to I'll just listen to m-flo. Good documentary.
I did not see this coming, great video! I love M-flo! I would also love more videos on j-pop
I like to keep my audience in suspense sometimes :) I also mentioned earlier that I'd experiment with some J-pop videos to see if the Popsori audience likes them.
Thank you so much for making a video like this!! I've heard of m-flo before, but it was difficult to get their music back then other than just their mainstream albums. Got tired of most of the Jpop, but m-flo songs always stood out for me, but never realized all the collaborations they had. I'm going to be busy looking up all their different creations after this. That BoA collaboration was really nice. Sad BoA was given a song like "Eat you up" during her USA debut.
Clazziquai Project and Epik High are the only groups I can think of at the moment that I would put them on par with in terms of their creativity and sheer talent. It would be an absolute dream for them to collaborate on something unique to shake up the pop scene. ⛄
No problem at all! I remember those days of trying to get any sort of m-Flo merch outside of Japan. Like yourself, m-Flo stood out to me too for their musical sound and vibe. Do check out all their different creations, as I'd love to know your favorite songs. One of my favorites is during the pre-Love series with Lisa called Orbit-3 (2001).
As for BoA, loved her in the m-flo collab.
Clazziquai Project and Epik High are two of my favorite groups as well for their musical style. I would agree 100% I would put m-Flo on their level in creativity and sheer talent. If all three collaborated, I think my world may explode!
ohhh! they are new to me... Im looking forward to their music.
Please do a video on MONKEY MAJIK. They're my favorite band!
Exploring other famous artists like Utada, Namie, or Ayu would be good too.
Ooooh you hit some huge J-pop names hah! I'm still in testing to see if the Popsori audience likes me covering J-pop trends and artists, because I would love to cover the big names you mentioned on a regular basis. Hopefully, the demand will be there!
I had no idea that M-Flo is back together again, I had no idea that they released new music this year, I had no idea how long I've stopped breathing.
I got into them during the Loves Best series & went from there. When I first got into Jpop they were one of the main groups I listened to since they had a similar sound to the stuff I listened to in English. I guess you can saw that they had a Western vibe, or influence. Either way I had no idea how much of a big influence they were to other artist.
Thank you for covering them in a video. I'm definitely glad I subscribed to this channel a long time ago.
I'm glad you've been following me for so long. I'm hoping the video quality has gotten better and less cringey :)
As for m-flo, you got into them at the right time with the "loves best" series. Like yourself, I also noticed a Western vibe to them, but other than a few Japanese blogs in the mid-2000s, it was really hard to get new info on m-flo. I was hoping in the future I could do a video on m-flo, since there wasn't that much info on them, and glad I finally got to do one.
This video just brought back my childhood and college years XD I've been into m-flo since the EXPO EXPO days, which is my most favorite album ever, and I actually still have that in possession somewhere. And I LOVE how you even mentioned beatmania too! XD that was a game I played religiously back in the days.
m-flo's Verbal joined forces with another group that I'm not very familiar with, called PKCZ (said PK-Seez), and they recently featured a song called "Cut it Up" with 2NE1's CL. This is a good connection between m-flo to Kpop
Same! I feel m-flo is one of the most underrated groups in Asian music. I think if they had more exposure and were better promoted, a lot more Westerners would really like their indie, experimental sounds. As for Beatmania, gotta give a shout out to the Beatmania crowds, as I grew up with DDR in the late 90s growing up in Japan :)
As for CL recently doing a song with Verbal and PKCZ, good stuff! Love it when groups and singers from different countries collaborate. And it's good to see CL doing stuff post-2NE1 as well.
m-flo is so stinkin' amazing. I found the group during the loves series years back (thanks to their collab with BoA, a favorite of ours) and I boight a CD of their Supernova album from Japan. I remember my wife and I were really big into them!
I enjoyed the Loves series and even listened to some older stuff ("Been So Long" is so good). Their return with "Square One" was pretty wild, and a shift in their style that I still enjoyed.
Super happy to see and hear them back with Lisa this year! 😄
So true! I feel that a lot of people discovered m-flo during their pre-love series in the late 90s and early 2000s. Then after the love series, a lot of people kinda forgot about m-flo, since Verbal and Taku were doing other non-m-flo stuff. But now with Lisa back, I'm hoping to see a lot of the older school m-flo fans, like yourself, as well as newcomers, listen to their music again!
As a person who loves m-flo instrumentals in 1999 and early 2000’s this a good vid and it’s not much interviews and pictures of them around 1999 to 2000 when verbal had the locs
For me, one of the best jpop groups ever! Almost everyday I play some m-flo music on my car here in Brazil!!!
My favs of all the Times. I've been waiting for their return AND now that they are back with the sound that only they know how to do it I'm really happy... DJ taku... Drop it!
Haha "Drop it!" Damn, I should have added that line in my video.
Awesome video! I first discovered m-flo back in the early 2000's via their appearances in beatmania and DDR, but it would be a while before they really grew on me and I'm glad they did.
I'm glad they did too! I hear a lot of gamers that got into them from "Flo Jack" from the rhythm, Beatmania and DDR games.
@@Popsori been so long was also in the initial 3 songs they featured. After that beatmania also saw Mirrorball Satellite 2012, and L.O.T (Love or Truth) which is the song that got me hooked and is still my favorite track of theirs.
You're totally right that Mirrorball Satellite 2012 and L.O.T were also on Beatmania. Good catches! I won't lie, L.O.T is on my top 5 m-flo songs too. Ever hear of Orbit-3? I'm all about that song.
@@Popsori Sure have. Favorite track on Expo Expo
@Ashura96 ** bows in respect **
i actually never heard of them but now i will check them out
Please do! I think you'll like some of their songs.
@@Popsori
I saw astrosexy first
Love them like listen to them like wow that lot
I love mflo my favorite album of theirs is best space nine
I think I'm first... Yay! Second view!
Haha, you're a fast one Zane!
i remember my first hit of that sweet drug called m-flo back in the early 2000's been hooked since
A sweet drug indeed. Been hooked myself too.
I remember the name dimly. Probably I've listened to their music due to BoA. I miss the days when m-flo and BoA were in their heyday. Early 00s Japanese culture was cool. It reminds me of good memories.
I disliked Mnet's collaboration with AKB48 so bad. Some people might say, "Koreans are too nationalists". But I love Japanese culture in the 80s~early 00s, much more than today's kpop. I don't know if I am a nationalist or a pro-Japanese.
You should do Red Velvet
Apls doesn't come close to holding a candle to mflo..
For sure, I agree. It's pretty obvious they got their inspiration from m-flo. With that being said, I think if they kept doing their thing in Korea, apls could have carved out their own "mflo-ish" niche there.