Ballsack’s J-Pop Midlife Crisis, pt. 21: みんなのこどもちゃん

Starting sometime last year, I started really getting into Japanese music. This came as a bit of a surprise to me, because I had always thought I hated singing in Japanese. Turns out I don’t! In the night threads for the following week, I’ll write a little about each of my favorite artists that I’ve discovered, and share a streaming album for you to dutifully ignore.

Minna no kodomo-chan were a self-produced idol unit somewhat aligned with the ‘kawaii metal’. That genre seems to often be applied more expansively (and derisively) that maybe it should, and I don’t really think this band entirely falls into it. Yes, they have a more typical ‘sweet’ sounding vocal style, and their sound can be more bright than you might typically get in ‘tru’ metal. But they still remain fairly heavy, and ten to have a foundation of melancholy.

Unfortunately, they only came produced one album, 2018’s 『壁のない世界』 (Kabe no nai sekai). One of the members, Honoka, left in 2019 after sustaining an injury during a live show and effectively retired. The remaining member, Cinnamon, dispasbanded the project in 2023 after a few (not particularly notable) singles. Cinnamon, apparently, performs solo under that name, though she hasn’t released anything. Oh well.