Pour One Out for Her; The GOAT Finally Retires

/ Homicidol Maniac

I’d go ahead and blame Kerrie here, but the poor child has been so inundated with graduations lately that I don’t want to pile on and, in fact, this is the kind of development that does in fact suck but at least has the right reasons behind it. And we get to see if the greatest conspiracy of all is more true than we ever could have reckoned!

Natalie.mu has the in-depth goods, too. The very short version: With the major label release of “WHOLE LOTTA LOVE” (yes), she realized that she doesn’t need BiS and BiS doesn’t need her, and it’s time to move on. And so, at the tour final (March 4), when Saki and Aya’s trade was set to be reversed anyway, Lui will graduate.

I still don’t know her motivations for bringing back BiS, but if the belief that she’s part of the leadership team at WACK is true (it is), then she can claim to be graduating precisely because BiS doesn’t need her anymore. Getting a major record deal will do that, you know? And with the ascent of BiSH, the rise of EMPiRE and the emergence of GANG PARADE, the company could barely be in better shape, considering its origins. Lui’s probably needed more behind the scenes as a manager and (hopefully) trainer than she is as an on-stage presence. Hell, I already thought a while ago that she’d selected her successor as leader. And remember: In addition to just plain having been doing this at a frantic pace for seven years and change, Lui’s not a youngster anymore, and idol is a young person’s game.

I’m not going to cry any tears for Pour Lui. Very few people are as bold to take the steps that she did in the first place, and as talented and smart and driven (and lucky, no doubt) in total to make that bold decision work. BiS, and Pour Lui, really did change idol. It doesn’t matter if you like BiS, WACK, Watanabe, Pour Lui herself, etc. — the fact remains that there are more people than we’ll ever know who either are idoling or want to idol even since Lui got this whole ball rolling (yes, pretty much literally the whole ball), and what that means and what they can do with it are very different things now than they were in 2010.

Sayonara, Pour Lui, and arigatou. You’re the ultimate legend.

3 thoughts on “Pour One Out for Her; The GOAT Finally Retires”

  1. With the announcement of a WACK indie label this probably doesn’t mean the end of Pour Lui as a performer. We know who will get the first release on the label and I’d put money on Pour Lui being the second release. Still not sure how I feel about BiS without Pour Lui though.

  2. “idol is a young person’s game”

    I understand why this is the case (mainly they earn sod all) but I really wish there were more older women in idol because, er, reasons (and I was all excited for the half minute between first hearing the name MUM48 and then finding out what they actually were). But I really thought Pour Lui was going to be the special exception and go on for actual decades to come while the young people came and went around her. Because she’s Pour Lui and the Rules do not apply (after all idol groups never come back after disbanding, right?)

    Also GOAT? Goddess Of All Time?

  3. I had a choice yesterday, see BiS or Yurumerumo – I kinda randomly picked the latter which I admit I regret. While in line to get in I saw the news about Pooh, it kinda ruined my mood and to further add to it I realized that I didn’t actually know that many of the new songs so it was less enjoyable than usual – overall it was a good experience in spite of those things… back on topic though.

    I’m usually in disagreement with most people over groups changing members since I really just like for good songs to live on. So usually I’m not against a completely new lineup of a group.

    In the case of BiS however I feel slightly different – Pour Lui IS BiS – it was her project from the start and it was a direct continuation of her solo work (there is even one of her solo songs on the first album). But ultimately if BiS do continue I will support them, I do wish they would change the name (basically do a BRGH -> TTTs transformation) just in honor of Pour Lui.

    I’m not sure she will retire, I hope not.

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