Juice=Juice -- Don't be spiteful, but embrace me

I've been getting so much mail asking me what Juice=Juice is up to, and I always give the same answer, "Juice=Juice is just being Juice=Juice." I've recently received a few violent threats, so today I'll be giving a more concrete answer. One of the girls' newest songs is entitled Don't be spiteful, but embrace me in English. This is a horrible translation. It should be something like, "Don't be mean. Hold me." Anyway, it marks something of a change in direction for the gals. You'll remember that in their first single Hug me before I ask you to they wore socks symbolizing which type of fruit they were. That seems to be a thing of the past. Perhaps the group hasn't been as successful as they were hoping, but the music and their overall style are different as well. I can't really describe it. It's kind of like if a guy was having trouble getting girls to notice him and then decided to take up tap dancing.

Again, there are some questionable lyrics. Some of the members are still in junior high, and they were made to sing:

Hey, what do you like about me.
Hey, touch me.

Maybe those don't sound so bad, but the first line could be translated, "What part of me do you like?" (this could be a physical part or not) and the second line could more accurately be, "Touch me and see." If the girls were writing their own music that would be one thing, but Tsunku (a 45-year-old man) wrote it.

Juice=Juice

Juice=Juice (the = is silent) is the latest girl group presented by Hello! Project, the people who brought you Morning Musume (basically the group AKB48 is based off of). Juice=Juice is a great name for a band. It's like, you never really think about it, but it's so true. According to their site, the name was chosen because they're "freshly gathered," "freshly picked," "natural," and "100%." It seems perfectly natural for a group of old men to form a band of junior high girls and refer to them as "freshly picked," and then to make their first single, "Hug me before I ask you to." The oldest member is 19, and two of the members are only 14. One of the 14 year old girls is that amazing dancer with the dweeb shirt (if you don't get that shirt, then you're just too old, grandpa). Like other groups in Japan and Power Rangers, all the girls are assigned a color (look at their socks). But what's really new and hip is that the colors correspond with fruits this time! So you can say things like, "She has great dance moves, plus, I'm super into grapes, so she's my favorite."