report from Yahoo Japan News, 18 March 2021
Music producer Akimoto Yasushi (62) appeared live on NHK’s Gogonama. He spoke about the idol group Keyakizaka46 (now Sakurazaka46), which he produces, and revealed that he used their un-idol-like appeal to create their debut single Silent Majority.
This unpredictable charm gave him the idea that when parents
and teachers told them things they did not believe themselves, modern young
people may wonder if they might not be able to express their own ideas. That was the beginning of the group’s debut song Silent Majority.
“Although there were people at the time who criticized the paradox
that it was an adult who had them sing ‘Don’t let adults tell you what to do’,”
he explained, “I thought that was the way of doing it which would be most effective.”
