Jpop: YOHIO (ヨヒオ)

Yohio's buddy Seike in Seremedy

You wouldn't be honest if you were to say that the Japanese style Visual kei is very established or even known in Sweden, but some 25 years ago in the 80s this would not have been that far away from what one could see here; just take some glam metal and add a little bit more androgynous looks and -viola- you have visual kei:

Glam rock

Glam rock

Visual kei

Visual kei

Following up on that logic, the last decade has seen several glam bands competing in the Swedish "Melodifestivalen", a music competition which ends in one winner who goes on to compete in the European Song Contest. This is actually one of the largest media events in Sweden, and just being one of the 32 contestants usually means a big step in your career. Yesterday the first qualifying competition saw Yohio from Sundsvall competing, and winning one of the two places in the final that was up for grabs. In a rather meager evening, his heavy metal song "Heartbreak Hotel", with his positively sparkling performance, made all the difference to make the whole event worthwhile. Could this mean visual kei will establish itself in Sweden, or glam metal have a new golden age? ;-)

• YOHIO - Heartbreak Hotel
• YOHIO - Sky Limit
• YOHIO - Our Story
• Seremedy - No Escape (band with yohio as front figure)