This is one of the main differences i notice between the current state of music industry here in the West compared to Japan... It seems like in Japan they still value a lot the instrumental part, you notice it in any genre of music there, from the super technical japanese metal bands to "J-pop" groups. Lately in the West it seems they make everything about the "front man", people only paying attention to the lyrics or the singer. Sometimes they are just straight up ignoring instruments and singing over eletronic backing tracks...
