Sunday, November 30, 2014

Dance Or Die's Top Songs of November

So I decided to try something else new. A top 10 (or however many songs pique my interest) list of songs in all genres for each month and at the end of the year I'll do a top 10 list of J-Pop, K-pop, and others, and then a top 20 list of all of them combined. So we'll see how this goes. Not all of the songs on my lists will have reviews yet. Just click on the song titles to check out the songs.

The monthly lists are songs officially released for sale in that month. Dates after the song is the date of release.

#1: I Miss You - C-ute (Nov. 19)

#2: Kibouteki Refrain - AKB48 (Nov. 26)

#3: The Future - C-ute (Nov. 19)

#4: Froot - Marina & The Diamonds (Nov. 11)

#5: The Hanging Tree - Jennifer Lawrence/James Newton Howard (Nov. 24)

#6: Play - Jolin Tsai (Nov. 21)

#7: Romance wo Katatte - Berryz Kobo (Nov. 12)

I admit that I really REALLY struggled trying to come up with 10 songs released this month that I thought were worth a mention. I figured I'd be at least one short considering how busy I've been this month but THREE short?! Was November really that bad for songs or is it just me? Now I haven't listened to all of Jolin's album yet so I'm sure there's more awesome songs on that. AKB's release beyond the title song isn't all that great so nothing else from there was really worth a top 10 placement. Also, I didn't find any K-pop this month interesting from groups that I know (although K-pop has been pretty bad for the past two years anyway in my opinion, but usually there's at least one thing.) So I encourage you to check out the songs and if you know of any songs that were released by anyone in the month of November that you love, please leave me a comment! I'd love to check out something that I might have never heard of before! Or even give something another chance xD :)

Thursday, November 27, 2014

AKB48 Team Surprise - Hatsukoi no Kagi

This is the 4th Team Surprise release from the Bara no Gishiki stage and features members Mayu Watanabe and Haruka Shimazaki.

Honestly I had no expectations for the song when I saw who the unit was. I was expecting another lackluster cutesy track. I was right. The song is very bland and typical. The intro is pretty deceiving because it sounds like the song will actually have something special about it. But hey, if you like Mayu & Haruka then it's probably exactly what you expect and you'll love it. I really enjoyed the concept of the video though. It was very creative but what is up with those outfits? I get the whole persona thing when it comes to Japanese acts, but two 20 years olds dressed up as pre-schoolers is stupid. Aren't these songs supposed to be promoting gambling machines? Well, I guess they're not technically gambling machines (although they are). Learning about Pachinkos and Japanese gambling was actually pretty interesting while writing this xD It's still kind of on topic so yeah xD 3/5. Wikipedia Link for Pachinko.

Hatsukoi no Kagi MV

Monday, November 24, 2014

AKB48 Team Surprise - Hell Or Heaven

Yes this IS the fourth post of the day xD I actually have some free time. Really these four were posts that I started earlier but didn't have time to finish so I decided I'd finish them up today :)

This is the 7th Bara no Gishiki release, this time featuring Rena Matsui, Minami Takahashi, and Sayaka Yamamoto. I was really excited for this unit because it has my top SKE48 and top NMB48 girls in it (I really like Minami Takahashi too, but my number one in AKB48 is Minami Minegishi.) and it is a darker single so I was pretty excited about the song.

Of all of the Bara no Gishiki stage as of now (I'm guessing they'll probably release a couple more next year like with Juuryoku Sympathy), this is easily my favorite song. I already enjoyed Minami's vocals, but wow Sayaka sounds good! Rena really surprised me too. I wasn't sure how she would fit in this darker group but I'm pleasantly surprised with her vocals. For the video, even though you can tell that the Team Surprise singles don't get a large budget, they really do make the most out of what they have. The video really worked with the feel of the song. 5/5.

Hell Or Heaven MV

Morning Musume - Coupling Collection 2

Hopefully this post won't be really super long. I don't think it will be because the vast majority of the songs have no video to talk about for them. This is Morning Musume's second coupling collection to be released, their first being in 2009. The songs on this release go from the end of the Platinum Era with the coupling song from Kimagure Princess to the last release of 2013 with the coupling tracks from Wagamama Ki no Mama Ai no Joke/Ai no Gundan. I'm really thankful that H!P groups seem to do this Coupling Collection thing (Berryz is releasing something like it in January) it saves me so much money....only having to buy the studio albums & coupling collections. Although I'm very impatient so I buy the newest releases anyway......maybe I'll do a giveaway in the new year because I have no use for CDs that I have the songs on something else. I'd rather the CDs go to someone who really wants them :) But anyway, off topic xD If I do hold a giveaway, it wouldn't be until the beginning of next year, so look out for that!

All of the songs will be in a playlist at the end so if you don't care for reading just go ahead and skip to the end to listen to the songs!

Track #1, Aishite Aishite Ato Ippun: It was VERY weird listening to this CD today. Hearing Ai & Reina's voices again was strange (it's been a couple months since I listened to anything pre-2014 by MM). This song could've easily been an A-side (well, the vast majority of their B-sides could.). I can see why it was the B-side instead of Kimagure Princess though. 4.5/5.

Track #2, Nakidasu Kamo Shirenai yo: This song is so much better than Onna ga Medatte! I love the music of this song. It would've been nice to have this as a single. Just something a little different than their other songs during this time. 5/5.

Track #3, Tomo: I am so thankful that MM doesn't release a great deal of ballads. They sound nice and all but ballads bore me xD At least ballads like this anyway. Just going by feel, this probably should have been the B-side to Onna to Otoko since Eri, Junjun, & Linlin graduated after that single. 3/5.

Track #4, Kura Zushi Bikkurapon: When I started writing this review I totally forgot about this song. I got to the end of disc one and couldn't figure out why my track count was off....that doesn't speak well for this song does it xD. Well, the reason I forgot about this is that it's not technically a Morning Musume B-side, but a Muten Musume one. It's not a bad song. It's so happy. But it's best that it stays labeled as Muten Musume instead of Morning Musume. It's an odd track to have on the coupling collection. Actually, it reminds me a lot of Momoko's solo B-side from Cha Cha Sing. 3.5/5.

Track #5, Aisaresugiru Koto wa nai no yo: Best B-side pre-Colorful era hands down. This whole single was fantastic. Maybe it's just me being nostalgic (Onna to Otoko was the first song I discovered from MM), but this release is easily one of their best ever. 5/5.

Track #6, Motto Aishite Hoshii no: The first appearance of Gen 9! They sound so young here. This song feels like the very beginning of Tsunku's experimentation in the direction that H!P is in now. It still sounds like the Platinum Era, but there is just that new feel to it that you can tell is going to change things. 4.5/5.

Track #7, Yamete yo! Sindbad: This is the song Hyokkori Hyoutanjima should have been! I realize that there's absolutely no point in comparing songs that were released 8 years apart, but this is what I wish Hyokkori would have been. It has the silly sound effects, yet sounds more mature. And wow they still sound so young. I never really noticed when Reina was actually in MM, but she sounds young like the 9th gen does too. 4/5.

Track #8, Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai!: I totally didn't realize until a few months ago that this song was actually a B-side. It was supposed to be an A-side but because of H!P being odd they didn't include this song on Ai's graduation edition, and it had to be rebranded as a solo A-side or it would have counted as two separate singles. The song is still as great as ever. I'm so glad Riho's voice has matured though. The video is adorable too. They could do a video like this now. It would be neat. 5/5.

Track #9, Jishin Motte Yume wo Motte Tobitatsu Kara: This is Ai's graduation song. Listening to this makes me actually like Ai more. I didn't dislike her in Morning Musume, but I felt (and still feel) that her vocals are way better suited for solo material like this. The song is alright. Very rocky for a Morning Musume song, but I think it fits Ai a lot. The video is just your typical reminiscing video. 4/5.

Track #10, Kanashiki Koi no Melody: The first appearance of the 10th Gen! Now this song completely shows what direction MM is headed to. Another fantastic B-side. I personally don't hate Pyoko Pyoko Ultra (I actually believe that it was a great intro song for 10th gen and something different for MM), but I know a lot of people disliked it and this song would have probably made a better A-side. 5/5.

Track #11, Watashi ga Ite Kimi ga Iru: This is such a poor B-side compared to the A-side. Renai Hunter was THE Morning Musume song for me. It was the song that transformed me from a casual fan to where I am today. This song feels like Maji Desu ka Ska except not as good. 3/5.

Track #12, Egao ni Namida~Thank You! Dear My Friends~: I'm still so upset that Risa didn't get her very own solo song. I realize she wasn't that popular but come on. I think I remember hearing a rumor that she chose to do a cover over an original song, but I don't know. Doesn't stop me from being upset. I've long believed that Risa had one of the best voices in all of Morning Musume history and she was so criminally underused in songs. Her rendition is better than Aya's. I don't care if that's a bad opinion because there is no one that could ever change my mind about it. This song was my personal high school graduation theme song (Renai Hunter was released shortly before I graduated from high school). Even though the video is a typical memory lane one, she looks so pretty. 5/5.

Track #13, Watashi no Jidai: The beginning of the multiple B-sides trend (that really needs to come back...). As much as I dislike Sayumi's voice, Reina's balances it out. Reina was always my favorite member. I spent my 11th grade year of high school trying to emulate her hairstyle from the Onna to Otoko video xD. My hair wasn't very long though so it looked stupid xD. I do like this song a lot. It's very catchy and almost anthemic. 5/5.

Track #14, Aisaretai no ni: This is why Kanon needs solo lines. Probably the best B-side since Aisaresugiru and before Sakura. I would like to see the whole group do a song like this now. This is the kind of style I see perfected in Chikyuu and Senobi that Morning Musume needs to put out. 5/5.

Track #15, Seishun Domannaka: As catchy as this song is, I dislike it as a song for the 10th gen. 3 out of 4 of them don't fit this style at all. Masaki is the only one I'd say does, even then. 3.5/5.

-----Second Disc-----

Track #1, Futsuu no Shoujo A: So while I was listening to this I totally lost everything I was thinking of saying about it. I just started singing it at the top of my lungs because I remembered how amazing it was. 5/5.

Track #2, Daisuki 100 Manten: I've never really cared for this song. I can't believe how much their vocals have matured though. 3/5.

Track #3, Shinnen Dake wa Tsuranukitoose!: So even though Haruna sounds really bad in the beginning of this, it's so high energy and catchy I can't help but love it. Songs like this seem to be the closest that Tsunku ever comes to the generic idol pop song. 4/5.

Track #4, Love Innovation: Out of all the coupling songs on Wakuteka, this and Daisuki are the worst. It's always interesting to note that even the "worst" Tsunku production is still pretty darn good. I don't know what it is about his work but there's something so special about it to me. It kinda reminds me of an updated Seishun Collection, especially when they say "My love innovation" 3/5.

Track #5, Happy Daisakusen: This is easily the most boring B-side on Help Me. Really nothing that makes it stand out in comparison to the other songs. 3/5.

Track #6, Aishuu Romantic: I can't decide is this or Daisuki is my favorite B-side on Help Me. This is the Sayumi I like. The auto-tuned to death electro Sayumi. Mizuki works well with this style as well. 5/5.

Track #7, Watashi no Dekkai Hana: This song is.....strange. I love Tsunku for his experiments but sometimes they're a little weird. Ayumi can't rap. She can't. Nice attempt but no xD Haruna was still a pretty poor singer at this point too. She's still not great, but much better now. Reina's voice also sounds really annoying in this one too. 3.5/5.

Track #8, Nani wa Tomo Are: Gosh I can't believe how many B-sides per single we used to get. This song sound like an old S/mileage reject. Kanon doesn't suit these kind of songs in my opinion. Her voice just isn't suited for the cutesy stuff. 3/5.

Track #9, Daisuki Dakara Zettai ni Yurusanai: It's interesting how much better of a singer Sakura is than Riho. I actually used to hate Riho because I thought she was this annoying little kid who came to steal all of Reina's lines (not even kidding......my insane fan phase is much better left in the dark xD). I'm definitely glad that Riho's voice has matured a lot. She sounds great now. And listening to this again you can tell the difference in Sakura too. 5/5.

Track #10, ABCD Echa Echa Shitai: I played this song to death at it's release so nowadays it's kind of annoying to listen to. It's a pretty great song though. The B-sides of Brainstorming are probably the best as whole during their multiple B-sides phase. It has "Love me do" in it too xD Tsunku's Beatles fanboyness showing. 5/5.

Track #11, Tokimeku Tokimeke: This is the best song on the whole collection and their best B-side ever. Do yourself a favor and just listen to it. 5/5.

Track #12, Itsumo to Onnaji Seifuku de: This sounds like Christmas. Not even kidding. For it being the throw together unit, they got a very good song. 4/5.

Track #13, Rock no Teigi: Reina's graduation song. It fits her SO well. Even though it's got the electro sounds, I think it goes well with what she is doing now with her band. This is probably the best she's sounded all album. I love that the video is totally Reina too. Not a memory lane at all. 5/5.

Track #14, Makeru Ki Shinai Kon'ya no Shoubu: Best B-side of Wagamama. I love the feel of this song. It feels defiant. I like that. We need more songs that feel like that in the H!P catalog. 5/5.

Track #15, Bouya: The Sayu autotune song of the single. I kind of overplayed this too as this was the version of the single I bought. Looking back down it's the weakest of the three Sayu autotune B-sides. Still great though. 5/5.

Track #16, Funwari Koibito Ichinensei: I didn't care for this at all when it came out, but now it's awesome. I like the random rappers that H!P sometimes has in their songs. 4/5.

I realize I started to ramble and repeat myself a lot by the end.....it's not easy and pretty boring to think of something new to say about 31 different songs xD However, the point of this post is to not read my talking to myself but to listen to the awesome songs. So enjoy! 5/5.

AKB48 Team Surprise - Saigo ni Ice Milk wo Nonda no wa Itsudarou?

Another Team Surprise release! This is the 8th release from the Bara no Gishiki stage. The members included in this single are Rie Kitahara, Minami Minegishi, Mariko Shinoda, and Aki Takajo.

For a slower song, this actually isn't all that boring. I really enjoy the production and the vocals in this song. It's not something I'd listen to a lot, but I think it would be a nice song to play while driving. It's just got that "you need to play this in the car" feel xD. The music video is really nice too. The outfits for the most part are pretty. Rie's is the only one I dislike and Minami's reminds me of the main outfits from their mobile game. Speaking of Minami, her wig in the other Team Surprise songs looks nice, but I don't like the way it's styled here. It's too bad her hair was too short when these were filmed because her short hair is so gorgeous now. 4/5.

Saigo ni Ice Milk wo Nonda no wa Itsudarou? MV

Nogizaka46 - Nandome no Aozora ka

I've officially decided that I will not attempt to embed any more Jpopsuki videos. The reason being is that it just slows down the page a lot. I know a lot of people don't have the best computers or internet so I don't want to cause issues with that especially because of the already high amount of YouTube embeds on this blog.

Nogizaka46 is another one of the groups under the 48G umbrella. Yes, yes, they're called AKB's "official rivals" but obviously that's not true xD Rena & Rina's kennins confirm that Nogizaka is practically another sister group. What's interesting about Nogizaka however is that they are more of a "traditional" group. To be honest, I'm not really 100% sure what exactly that means. I'm guessing their style leans more to 80s-90s J-Pop? I really don't know a lot about J-Pop beyond the 2010s so I'm not sure. Unlike the 48s as well is that Nogizaka does not use the Team system and instead is only broken up by generation.

The title track is performed by the selected Senbatsu members. This single is probably the best title track of the year. It's not my personal favorite, but musically I think it's the best. Kidzuitara Kataomoi was pretty boring for me and Natsu no Free & Easy (although my favorite because it's catchy) is extremely generic and sounds like the vast majority of the 48 group tracks from this year. Nandome to me feel like a mix between Kidzuitara & Natsu. Not musically because none of the three sound like each other, but just in the feel of the track overall. I really don't care for the music video. I also don't really understand the video either xD Another reason I really should stop putting off attempting to learn some basic Japanese. From what I understand, the guy is somehow in an all-girl school, and then the girls sort of gang up on him in the end? I think? I don't know but I feel bad for the guy xD Unless he says something not good in the beginning....but I don't understand what he's saying so yeah. 4/5

Senbatsu: Erika Ikuta, Mai Shiraishi, Nanase Nishino, Nanami Hashimoto, Sayuri Matsumura, Yumi Wakatsuki, Rina Ikuta, Manatsu Akimoto, Mai Fukagawa, Reika Sakurai, Misa Eto, Kazumi Takayama, Minami Hoshino, Chiharu Saito, Miona Hori, Rena Matsui

Nandome no Aozora ka MV

The second track of the single is Toomawari no Aijou. Honestly, this song is incredibly forgettable. It's just another ballad. To me there's nothing really special about it at all. 3/5.

I'll add the audio only tracks later. I just don't have the time right now to search for them/upload them myself. Sorry!

The Type A track for this single is Korogatta Kane wo Narase!. I absolutely love the video for this song! It's the highlight of the release for me. I also love that the announcer speaks in Spanish xD I can understand Spanish at an ok level (Not sure what the actual term would be...) & I was actually able to understand what was being said so I was happy. The song is ok. Certainly not something I'd play a lot without the video. 3/5 (but 5/5 for the awesome video!)

Korogatta Kane wo Narase MV

The Type B track for this single is Watashi, Okiru. I believe this is my favorite song of the release. After last single's fantastic "Koko ni Iru Riyuu", I was really hoping that there would be a track on their next single in a similar style. Although I didn't quite get that, this song has some of the same style. Unfortunately it's nowhere near as good. As for the video, honestly I only made it through about half of it. I really dislike music videos that are a lot longer than the song itself. Although if you like videos like that, you'll probably like it. 4/5.

Watashi, Okiru MV

The Type C track for this single is Ano Hi Boku wa Tossa ni Uso wo Tsuita. This another pretty typical song. It's good, but nothing special at all. Kind of reminds me of Sono Saki no Deguchi from their last single but again not as good. The video again I didn't get through. I like videos with a story but sometimes it's too much. This is a pop song not a drama. 3.5/5.

Ano Hi Boku wa Tossa ni Uso wo Tsuita MV

The regular edition track for this single is Tender Days. It's ok, but another forgettable track. What I do like about it however when in comparison to Toomawari is that this has some "country music" sounds in it which gives it more character. Too bad that it's boring for the most part. They could've gone further with the "country" theme. 3/5.

I'm honestly pretty disappointed with this release as a whole. Maybe I just had my expectations too high. The entire Natsu no Free & Easy single was very solid and had a few high quality songs. This release isn't bad, just pretty boring. All of the songs are pretty low energy and even though I'd be critical of the obvious generic idol energetic pop song, this release really needs one just to up the energy a bit. Or at least some interesting production. There were a few songs that seemed like they were heading in the right direction, but just didn't go far enough. 3.5/5. Enjoy the songs!

Monday, November 17, 2014

AKB48 Team Surprise - Youchien no Sensei

Last post for the day I swear lol. I was planning on doing all of the Bara no Gishiki stage as one post once all of the singles were out......but then I decided the post would be way too long and since the videos aren't on YouTube I wouldn't have them in a playlist and blah blah blah. So I'm just going to write about them. I know it's out of order....it's going to be....just roll with it.

Team Surprise is an AKB48 subunit/project group that is advertising for Pachinko? machines? I think. At least that's what I understand about this unit. The Bara no Gishiki stage is the second Team Surprise stage. The first being Juuryoku Sympathy.

Youchien no Sensei is the 6th single release from the Bara no Gishiki stage. This song is sung by Miyuki Watanabe, Mayu Watanabe, and Rino Sashihara. Honestly not that big of a fan of the song. It's better than Mayu's first unit, Hatsukoi no Kagi, but it's still just so generic. The video is decorated beautifully though. I just wish that the outfits weren't so odd though. They look like a child's tea party gone wrong. They also don't look very comfortable.

Youchien no Sensei MV

Ok. Was able to get the video embedded.....however it's kind of slow loading and I had to mess with the width & height and it looks kinda dumb now but I'll work on making it look/fit nicer on the page. Short post this time haha. I figure that's best for the Team Surprise singles. I just hope people will check them out since they're not "mainstream" AKB releases. 3/5.

Morning Musume - Tiki Bun/Shabadabadoo/Mikaeri Bijin

I'm positive no one wants to keep reading about Morning Musume after that last post right? Haha, well I promise this will be MUCH shorter. Also, yes, I realize their name is now "Morning Musume '14". Screw that. Still hate it, still will never use it when referring to them. Especially because it will be changing every year.

These double/triple A-sides are beginning to get ridiculous. I'm already not a fan of the double A-sides, but triples are just pathetic. Just give MVs to your B-sides and call it a day. But, anyway. The first A-side of this release is Tiki Bun, which is very much a song that fits in with the EDM style that they have been in. The funny thing is, even though Morning Musume is my favorite group, I don't think that they've had the strongest singles of the year at all. Tiki Bun is really awesome and great, but it just feels like more of the same. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE EDM and will be incredibly upset if MM just drops that style, but where are the Chikyuus and Senobis for MM? In fact this song seemed like a let down when I first heard it. Now, however, it's probably my third favorite MM single this year, behind Toki Sora & Password (although it's REALLY close to beating Password). What is a Tiki Bun anyway? I wonder what goes through Tsunku's mind when he creates these songs because I'd love to know what the heck he was doing/thinking when the words "Tiki Bun" popped into his head. I really love the music video for this song. Even though it's essentially just a dance shot, the setting is great and the girls look gorgeous. I've always thought that Haruka was a very pretty girl, but beyond that I didn't see anything special about her....until this video. The part around 1:39 in the video just stunned me. She is just oozing charisma in that part and I just cannot understand why she's been shoved to the back in most of their songs. She should be a front girl. 5/5

Tiki Bun MV:

The next A-side is Sayumi Michishige's solo song. I was really dreading typing this part because I really have nothing good to say about the song. It's just not good. Like at all. Sorry Sayumi fans. Sayumi seems like such a nice person and she is a lot of the reason why MM has been able to stay afloat after everyone of the old gens left but she just cannot sing at all and this song is kinda painful to the ears. If she had been autotuned to death like in other songs it would've been okay but ouch this song. Well actually I can say something nice about the song. I really do like the lyrics. I love how they are about her (and how she even acknowledges that she can't sing...gotta give her credit for being okay with that). Even though I hate the song, the video is adorable! SO PINK! And so Sayumi. She looks stunning in the video and she looks so happy. 2/5.

Shabadabadoo MV:

The final A-side is Sayumi's send off song, sung by the remaining members after her graduation (excluding 12th gen of course). The song is very good although I was expecting something different after hearing that it was going to be "enka" influenced. I was expecting something a little different but this song is much more pop than enka. The music video for this is absolutely stunning. I applaud everyone that had a hand in making it. I still cannot get through this video without crying. I never much cared for Sayumi, and I actually can't wait until she graduates so the completely reborn Musume can begin, but it's so hard watching this. Seeing them read the letters, feeling the emotion. I know that for us as fans, we can have differing opinions on whoever in the group and whatever goes on in the group and it doesn't actually affect us, but for those girls, this is real. Someone that they truly care about is leaving their group and it's going to be sad and painful and difficult. Sometimes I think we all need to step back and think about that. 5/5

Mikaeri Bijin MV:

Even with Sayumi's solo song, this release is still incredibly solid. It's got a little something for everyone: The EDM fans, the more traditional idol pop fans, and for the ballad lovers and those in general who just wanted to see things switched up. 4/5.

Morning Musume - Best! Morning Musume 2

What a weird album to begin my very first review on the new blog of my favorite group haha. Well I guess it is kind of fitting, have a compilation album first (even if it is ten years old). So thanks to Hello! Project being awesome and actually uploading their videos to YouTube, I'll have all the videos at the end of this post in a playlist for you to listen to as embedding them all separately might cause someone's computer to die xD This will be an incredibly long post though....so for those of you that dislike reading, scroll to the end to listen to the songs.

So a Morning Musume introduction.....to be honest, they have WAY more info than is possible to talk about in a brief intro paragraph so I'll just give a couple highlights. Morning Musume began as a five member group in 1997 after the five original members were the runner ups in a vocalist contest put on by Sharan Q. The five were given a chance to form this group and continue if they were able to sell 50,000 copies of their debut single, Ai no Tane, in five days (which I believe was more like event sales, not buying in stores or anything) and it was accomplished and they became Morning Musume and the rest is history. Currently, Morning Musume has 13 members (excluding Sayumi Michishige who is graduating next week): Mizuki Fukumura (9), Erina Ikuta (9), Riho Sayashi (9), Kanon Suzuki (9), Haruna Iikubo (10), Ayumi Ishida (10), Masaki Sato (10), Haruka Kudo (10), Sakura Oda (11), Haruna Ogata (12), Miki Nonaka (12), Maria Makino (12), and Akane Haga (12). [The girls are separated into generations here, the numbers after their name depict which generation they are in. There have been a total of 12 generations in Morning Musume so far].

At the time of the release of this album, the members were much different, with only Sayumi Michishige from the current line up (until next week) being part of this release. Because this is a best album, I'll put in each review which members participated in what since the lineup fluctuated a lot during this time period.

Just a disclaimer: For the most part, I enjoy all of Morning Musume's music so this is going to be the most biased review ever xD But the point of my blog isn't so much reviews (it's just a way for me to write about things), but more about hoping to spark some interest in listening to something new you might have never heard before, or getting back into a song that you haven't listened to for awhile. So above everything else, I hope you enjoy the music!

Track #1, Go Girl ~Koi no Victory~: This was the second song to be released with the sixth generation girls. Although this song is enjoyable, it's also very forgettable. I personally never remember it's existence, probably because it's release is in between two of their best singles: Shabondama and Ai Araba It's All Right. The interesting thing about this single, however, is that there is no solo lines at all. All of the lines were sung by the groups that you can see in the music video. I wish they would do a song like this now, since everyone seems to fight about who gets solo lines and whatever anymore. Even though it's not a Christmas song, it feels like one. I'm guessing it's the feeling they were going for since the release was in November of 2003. So I was originally going to say that this video was pretty good compared to some of their other earlier videos, but then I re-watched it and was reminded of those awful soccer (yes, I'm from the USA. My family is really into the NFL so in my head I can never say football for soccer cause I grew up around everyone calling the NFL football and soccer was practically nonexistent xD I know, very off topic...sorry xD) shots that have no business being in this video. I'm guessing that when it was released, it was some kind of support song for a soccer team or that Gatas Brilliantes thing that H!P used to have or still does.....idk I don't like sports so I never researched that lol. But now, it just looks so tacky and out of place. They should have released two versions of the video. 4/5

Performing Members: Kaori Iida (1), Natsumi Abe (1), Mari Yaguchi (2), Rika Ishikawa (4), Hitomi Yoshizawa (4), Nozomi Tsuji (4), Ai Kago (4), Ai Takahashi (5), Asami Konno (5), Makoto Ogawa (5), Risa Niigaki (5), Miki Fujimoto (6), Sayumi Michishige (6), Eri Kamei (6), Reina Tanaka (6)

Track #2, Do It! Now: It's always been incredibly difficult to rank my favorite MM songs because there's so many great ones, but I would say that Do It! Now would be in the top 5 if I were to sit down and actually make a list. I had first heard the song when I was going through some of their older ones to see if there was anything interesting. As I was not a big fan at this point, nothing was really sticking out to me until I came to this one. I was so shocked with how good it was and really it helped to fuel my love for the group because it got me interested in not just what was being released by Morning Musume in 2011, but also what was being released during the earlier years of the group (When I first started looking into them, I had no idea about the concept of the "Golden Era", the "Platinum Era", the "Colorful Era" or whatever else fans label these "eras" as, but I viewed everything pre-Kanashimi Twilight as "the early years".) The video for this song is pretty fantastic too. It seems to me that for Morning Musume, the videos from I Wish to Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari are their best in terms of quality. Almost all the videos pre that are either awful or incredibly dated and everything after that tends to be either very formulaic (most of them) or just plain BAD (The Manpower, especially). Also, random, but doesn't anyone else think that Kaori Iida and Haruna Kojima are strikingly similar in terms of looks? I do xD. 5/5

Performing Members: Kaori Iida (1), Natsumi Abe (1), Kei Yasuda (2), Mari Yaguchi (2), Maki Goto (3, final single), Rika Ishikawa (4), Hitomi Yoshizawa (4), Nozomi Tsuji (4), Ai Kago (4), Ai Takahashi (5), Asami Konno (5), Makoto Ogawa (5), Risa Niigaki (5)

Track #3, Koko ni Iruzee!: This song was one of those that was just meh to me....until within the last few weeks. Something finally just clicked and I really love this song now, especially the end where it starts talking about "lonely boys and girls". Maybe it was from listening to it without the video (which although good, is just kind of weird). The video had never really made a lot of sense to me. The rainbow part reminds me of chimney sweeps who joined a circus or something and then the other part shows them as like miners and other random jobs involving....dirt? I guess. As someone whose Japanese doesn't go much further than "Arigatou" or "Konnichiwa", I'm guessing I just don't get it because I'm sure it makes more sense with the lyrics. Maybe I should start learning Japanese one of these days. 5/5

Performing Members: Kaori Iida (1), Natsumi Abe (1), Kei Yasuda (2), Mari Yaguchi (2), Rika Ishikawa (4), Hitomi Yoshizawa (4), Nozomi Tsuji (4), Ai Kago (4), Ai Takahashi (5), Asami Konno (5), Makoto Ogawa (5), Risa Niigaki (5)

Track #4, Ai Araba It's All Right: I already mentioned earlier that this was one of my favorite songs by them (which I have a lot of....it's really not a special classification), but the reason I love it is because of it's ultra sing along nature. The final chorus is it's ultimate point and I would LOVE to see this done live with EVERYONE singing along. It'd be absolutely amazing. The video really isn't anything special though. It's probably one of their weakest between the videos I mentioned earlier. 5/5

Performing Members: Kaori Iida (1), Natsumi Abe (1, final single), Mari Yaguchi (2), Rika Ishikawa (4), Hitomi Yoshizawa (4), Nozomi Tsuji (4), Ai Kago (4), Ai Takahashi (5), Asami Konno (5), Makoto Ogawa (5), Risa Niigaki (5), Miki Fujimoto (6), Sayumi Michishige (6), Eri Kamei (6), Reina Tanaka (6)

Track #5, The Peace!: It's probably bad for me to say that I prefer the Updated version of this song to the original isn't it? It probably is, but I do. I mean, I like this song a lot, but I just like the Updated version more. Personally, I don't think the song works as well without the video. I'm not one to think that the video makes a song or anything, but The Peace's video is just so crazy and fun that it makes the song more enjoyable than it actually is. If anything, just watch the video and enjoy the crazy. Probably one of my favorite MM videos. 4/5

Performing Members: Kaori Iida (1), Natsumi Abe (1), Kei Yasuda (2), Mari Yaguchi (2), Maki Goto (3), Rika Ishikawa (4), Hitomi Yoshizawa (4), Nozomi Tsuji (4), Ai Kago (4)

Track #6, Mr. Moonlight ~Ai no Big Band~: This song I'm not too keen on. I love the big band feel to it, but only Hitomi can really pull off the male vibe. Maki just sounds silly and Natsumi....well I've never really cared for her to begin with so she's just there. I also find it incredibly interesting how Risa gets the opening line and Makoto is super prominent in the video. Back then were they designated as the "aces" of gen. 5? Because that has always confused me how in gen. 5's debut single the two of them got the most spotlight. To be honest, I wish Risa had become the "ace" of gen. 5. I've always preferred her singing voice to Ai's. 3.5/5

Performing Members: Kaori Iida (1), Natsumi Abe (1), Kei Yasuda (2), Mari Yaguchi (2), Maki Goto (3), Rika Ishikawa (4), Hitomi Yoshizawa (4), Nozomi Tsuji (4), Ai Kago (4), Ai Takahashi (5, first single), Asami Konno (5, first single), Makoto Ogawa (5, first single), Risa Niigaki (5, first single)

Track #7, Shabondama: This is my favorite song of the Best Album and also my favorite song of the pre-Platinum era Morning Musume. Even though I can't speak Japanese at all, when I was in high school I learned all of the lyrics to this song and could sing it by heart....even the monologue xD That's how much I was in love with this song. I'm weaker at remembering the lyrics nowadays (as it's been about 3 years since my "Insane fan" phase when I first began to get really into them), but my love for the song hasn't stopped. The video is another of the weaker ones from the era, but it's not bad. 5/5

Performing Members: Kaori Iida (1), Natsumi Abe (1), Mari Yaguchi (2), Rika Ishikawa (4), Hitomi Yoshizawa (4), Nozomi Tsuji (4), Ai Kago (4), Ai Takahashi (5), Asami Konno (5), Makoto Ogawa (5), Risa Niigaki (5), Miki Fujimoto (6, first single), Sayumi Michishige (6, first single), Eri Kamei (6, first single), Reina Tanaka (6, first single)

Track #8, Souda! We're Alive: I cannot figure out what I really think about this song. I like it, but the shouting parts get annoying after a while and the structure of the whole thing is nuts. It's like "fight song", then the music sounds like a remix/mashup of their really early material, then into the verse which sounds very Renai Revolution/Do It Now (yes I realize Do It Now was released after this), chanting, "fight song", generic idol pop, back to the verse style, more annoying chanting, then the bridge turns into a weird Koi no Dance Site feel, then back to generic idol pop, then the final annoying chants. It seriously sounds like 5 separate songs.....but thanks to it being a Tsunku production it works. The video is equally as strange and disjointed as the song. I'm wondering if Tsunku meant it to sound like a combination of their past songs....especially since 2002 would have been their 5th anniversary. Hm. Interesting to think about. 4.5/5

Performing Members: Kaori Iida (1), Natsumi Abe (1), Kei Yasuda (2), Mari Yaguchi (2), Maki Goto (3), Rika Ishikawa (4), Hitomi Yoshizawa (4), Nozomi Tsuji (4), Ai Kago (4), Ai Takahashi (5), Asami Konno (5), Makoto Ogawa (5), Risa Niigaki (5)

Track #9 As For One Day: I've really never thought about the existence of this song very much. I think before today I had only listened to it in full once before. The song and the video both remind me of an earlier Naichau Kamo. It's a pretty good song though. Not sure why I never paid any attention to it. 4/5

Performing Members: Kaori Iida (1), Natsumi Abe (1), Kei Yasuda (2, last single), Mari Yaguchi (2), Rika Ishikawa (4), Hitomi Yoshizawa (4), Nozomi Tsuji (4), Ai Kago (4), Ai Takahashi (5), Asami Konno (5), Makoto Ogawa (5), Risa Niigaki (5)

Track #10, Morning Musume no Hyokkori Hyoutanjima: So. This song. I don't hate it, it's just....a glaring difference in their discography. I truly mean I don't hate it, it's actually kinda catchy (and the only MM single I truly hate is Roman), but I also really wish it wasn't in MM's discography. It's like a MiniMoni song. Very childish. MM's done crazy and cute songs before, but this is just overly childish. I know it's a cover of some old Japanese kids' show theme song, but why? I really don't understand why they released this. Why not as an album song? The music video's cute though. I'm guessing it has something to do with the old TV show? 3/5

Performing Members: Kaori Iida (1), Natsumi Abe (1), Kei Yasuda (2), Mari Yaguchi (2), Rika Ishikawa (4), Hitomi Yoshizawa (4), Nozomi Tsuji (4), Ai Kago (4), Ai Takahashi (5), Asami Konno (5), Makoto Ogawa (5), Risa Niigaki (5)

Track #11, Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru: So this song is actually not a single, but the B-side of The Peace! I have no idea why it seems to be on all of their early releases. Seriously. I own three copies of this song from three different CDs and when I buy their first Coupling Collection I'll have four! I'm guessing it was a huge concert crowd pleaser. It seems to have the same feel as Ai Araba, so it does seem like a crowd pleaser. It's certainly not as good though. 3.5/5

Track #12, Yah! Ashitai!: This is the only new track on this release. Today was the first day I listened to this song and I really enjoyed it. It sounds like it could fit in with their music today. 4.5/5

Sorry Souda is last...I accidentally forgot to add it to the list at first and I don't know how to move videos.

So I apologize for this incredibly long post, but I hope you at least check out some of the songs in the playlist above! For the release as a whole, it's an incredibly strong showing for their singles during this time period. 4/5.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

ZE:A - Spectacular

So I'm going to do something I've never done before.....an album review. I'm fairly certain by the end of this post I won't be saying anything constructive at all but I thought I'd try it. What I'll do for album reviews is review the title track(s) and music video(s) first and then review the rest of the tracks & embed the songs (hopefully) in a playlist from YouTube so I don't fill up the page with videos and make it super slow to load. So hopefully I can figure out how to do that. I'll also put my individual track ratings at the end of each track review and put the full album review at the end. I'll try and keep album review posts brief I promise.

ZE:A is a male K-Pop group that formed in 2010. They currently have nine members: Kevin, Kwanghee, Siwan, Lee Hoo, Taeheon, Heecheol, Minwoo, Hyunsik, and Dongjun. I personally have never been much of a fan of ZE:A. They've got some cool songs, but nothing really interests me about them. However, I tend to not care about male groups anyway so... xD. This album is their second album which was released in 2012. The only reason I bought this album in the first place was because it was super cheap during a sale and I needed to hit $39 for free shipping on YesAsia xD. But in the end it wasn't a bad purchase. Note of caution: I can't speak Korean at all, so any English titles of songs that have Korean titles are titles I got off of Generasia or Google Translate....can't promise they're accurate.

The single for this album is called Aftermath. Honestly this song is just meh. Usually the lead tracks for K-Pop albums pre-2013 were really good (I say pre-2013 because for me, K-pop took a huge nosedive in quality starting in 2013). It's not a bad song, just uninteresting. The music video I feel is the same way. Uneventful and doesn't do anything for the song. 3/5.

Aftermath MV:

Track #1, Love Is Gone: This song definitely feels like an album opener. From what I've noticed in K-pop CDs, the first track of an album if not an intro or the lead single, is a midtempo track that begins with some kind of spoken piece. This is very much that. Again, it's just an average song. I do really enjoy the electro undertones throughout the song. It's too bad they weren't more prevalent. The pre-chorus is also very nice with the vocals. It also features a completely irrelevant dubstep piece in the bridge. I forgot that 2012-2013 had that weird dubstep influence phase in K-pop that totally didn't work at all except in a few cases. 3/5.

Track #3, Hunter: I'd have to say that this my favorite song on the album, which probably isn't saying much in an album full of very average tracks. I do wish that the song was a little more powerful though. For a song called Hunter, it seems more restrained than it should be. And again with the random out of place dubstep....to be honest the track could earn a 4.5 if it wasn't for that. 4/5. [For the record, I like dubstep, but no K-pop company can incorporate it properly where it doesn't sound out of place or stupid.]

Track #4 Coy Girl: This song is one of the better ones on the CD as well, however it falls into the generic category of EDM-ish influence. My definition of generic is just that it's a sound that you've heard A LOT from other songs from anywhere. There's times when generic can be fantastic, and then there's times where it just doesn't work. This is in between those two. It sounds cool, but by the time I heard it, I had heard so many songs just like it that this seems second rate. 4/5.

Track #5 Body To Body: Before I even started the song to remind myself what it was like, I had the chorus running through my head. I don't think a whole lot of this song, but one thing it does right is it's catchiness. It's been a few months since I checked out any of the tracks from this album (according to my iTunes I haven't since May 2014) and it says a lot about a song if you're able to remember even a piece of it after not hearing it for a while. 4/5.

Track #6 Never End: This song suffers from being in the middle of the album and right after three fairly good songs. It has the same kind of feeling that the lead track has. The instrumental is more interesting than the lead track, however it still isn't enough to make me pay attention to the song. 3.5/5.

Track #7 Begin With Kiss: Have I ever said that I hate ballads? I realize that this song is really more on the border of midtempo than ballad, but this is just boring. There are very VERY few ballads, especially K-pop ballads, that I can sit through and enjoy. This is not one of them. I guess the English in the song actually sounds good? Despite the Engrish title. Such an average ballad, at least it's not obnoxiously long like most ballads. 3/5.

Track #8 Daily Daily: This track actually was their third Japanese single first. This is the Korean version of it. I've never heard the Japanese version, so I can't say if this is any different besides the language. It's too bad this song is boring too. It's a really really bad idea for pop artists to put two ballad-type songs right next to each other. And when I say pop artists, I obviously mean singers that have the pure pop, EDM, dance influences. I realize that there are pop artists that do exclusively ballads. I just don't listen to them. Again, this is an average track. It's better than Begin With Kiss though. 3/5.

Track #9 Someday: Ah. Now I remember why I found this album so uneventful. THREE ballads in a row? Please no. This song would've been so much better if the violins were all the way through it. Not even it's more "powerful" chorus can inject any life into this song. I could actually go for a power ballad right now. And the rapping? Gosh it sounds BAD in this song. Now, I know nothing about rap either, but it just does not sound good. This one also just drags on for over 4 minutes. Blahhh. 2.5/5.

Track #10 Dirty Cat: Heh. I CANNOT take this song seriously. Even from the first time I heard it, it was just laughable. I mean that spoken intro? It's just HILARIOUS. It's too bad that this song is so hilarious because the song itself sounds cool. I'll give this song a 4 just because of it's novelty. CAT CAT CAT CAT CAT xDDDD. As an owner of way too many cats, it makes this song even FUNNIER. 4/5.

Track #11 SAD (Something In A Dream): This is the final track of the album (besides the instrumental of the lead track). This song also feels like an album closer. It has the same overall feel as track #1. Even though I really like midtempo songs, I tend not to like K-pop midtempos for the same reason I dislike K-pop ballads, but this song works VERY well. It's a good song that closes an overall average album. 4/5.

Album playlist (audio only; doesn't include the lead track):

This album really would have worked better as a mini album. Cutting out at least five of the tracks would have served it better. Although even out of the good tracks there was nothing completely amazing. The album as a whole is easily a 3/5. It's just average. Enjoy listening to the tracks!

℃-ute - Tokkaiko Junjou

See this post for more background on the group if you've never heard of them.

So the good thing about when I talk about a group's music more than once is I won't do the intro paragraphs again so the posts won't always be such a huge wall of text lol.

Tokaikko Junjou is C-ute's third major single and was released in 2007. For me, this is C-ute's first great song. I had said in my first post about C-ute that when C-ute releases great music, it's REALLY great. Tokkaiko Junjou is a fantastic song. It's actually sad that their next great song wouldn't be until 2011 with Kiss Me Aishiteru. The only thing I don't really care for in the song is Maimi. Yes, I do not like her. It's not her I dislike, it's her voice. It just annoys me so much. I'm very glad that the group was more centered around Airi's vocals as even when she was this young she was very good. Maybe that's the reason I don't care for the vast majority of C-ute's early singles....because it was before Chisato was a main vocal and it was pretty much just Airi & Maimi leads. For the video, it's just so much better than their other singles released during this year. The dance shot still looks kind of poorly shot, but at least there's no horrendous costumes or bad sets. In fact, the setting and the "storyline" of the music video is very nice.

Tokkaiko Junjou MV:

The single's B-side is Shiritsu Kyougaku. I admit I'm really disappointed in the song. Today is actually the very first time I heard it as I just received my copy of the single (and I'm just WAY too lazy/busy to listen to all of their B-sides on YouTube), and I was really hoping for a song that would be cool like the title track. I don't understand why I was hoping for that though. One thing I've noticed with H!P B-sides from the early years of the H!P kids groups was that they just aren't very good. Like at all. It seems like they're all just filler (well....I guess that's what B-sides are but still....their newer B-sides just seem so much better.) Maybe I just dislike the earlier B-sides because they tend to be slower than the title tracks and the vocals are just......ok. I always do have to remind myself that even though these girls are in their early 20s (besides Mai) now, in 2007, they were in their early teens so of course their voices wouldn't be at the level they are now. I guess that's a bit of the difficulty of not knowing a group from the beginning.

Shiritsu Kyougaku (audio only):

The title track of the release is easily a 5/5. The release as a whole is closer to a 3.5/5. Tokkaiko is amazing, but the B-side is really boring and just drags on. Just a side note: if any of these YouTube videos ever go down for any reason, just comment on the post and let me know so I can either find another video or upload the track myself. Thanks & enjoy the music!

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Juice=Juice - Senobi/Date ja nai yo Uchi no Jinsei wa

Juice=Juice is no longer the newest Hello! Project group! It's actually a little weird to think about. Juice=Juice was the first new H!P group that I experienced being formed (I discovered Morning Musume in 2010, one year after S/mileage was formed), so it was really exciting to be able to follow a group from it's very beginning. I was also pretty happy I wouldn't have to play catch up with getting all their CDs like I've had to with other H!P groups lol.

Juice=Juice is a Japanese girl group under the Hello! Project umbrella that formed in early 2012. They are currently comprised for four former Hello! Pro Kenshuusei members: Tomoko Kanazawa, Sayuki Takagi, Karin Miyamoto, and Akari Uemura with one member who was a part of Up-Front (H!P's parent company): Yuka Miyazaki. They originally had five members from the Kenshuusei, but member Aina Otsuka left the group shortly before their major debut.

It's been pretty interesting to see these girls grow in the past two years they have been a group. When the group was formed I didn't think much of the members except for Sayuki as I liked her voice a lot. At the start of the group to me, I viewed Yuka as incredibly awkward, Tomoko as the next best singer, Sayuki as the main girl I focused on, Karin as the overrated one, Aina as the one with the annoying voice, and Akari as the one that was just there for some reason. Fast forward two years and my opinions have completely changed. Although Aina did leave (and don't hate me for this but I'm kind of glad....her voice was just grating to listen to. At least as far as I know, she's currently trying to become a solo singer so kudos for her not giving up on her dreams even though I personally am not a fan of her vocals.), in the two years since then, Yuka has really grown as the leader and for the most part has left that awkward phase, which I'm very impressed with how she's changed. Tomoko.....well.....I don't know what happened but she's become my least favorite. In their early songs her vocals sounded fantastic but now something seems off with them. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Sayuki's vocals, to me, don't seem as impressive either. Go figure that out, my former top two within the span of two years aren't that anymore lol. Karin has managed to win me over. I had originally disliked her because I knew she was "the popular one". The one everyone had hoped would be main vocalist, center, visual, everything. However, she's probably my favorite member now. Her vocals are pretty good and I've come to see that "spark" that she has that drew everyone to her in the first place. Akari has also really impressed me. Her voice from their most recent songs sounds very good, and I really hope that she is more utilized in their music. I know she's the visual, which is totally deserved, she's absolutely gorgeous, but she could be a main vocalist too.

Well I got pretty off track with that last massive paragraph xD Let's try and get back to this release lol. The main A-side for this single, Senobi, is probably my favorite Juice=Juice song yet. I know that it probably wasn't a favorite of a lot of people because it's more in the vein of Morning Musume's current style than what JJ has been putting out, but wow is this song ever good. One thing with the EDM-ish direction that Tsunku has been going in for the past few years is that it's consistently getting better. This song and S/mileage's Chikyuu wa Kyou mo Ai wo Hagukumu are two fantastic examples and I really hope he keeps going in this direction in the future. The song really fits the girls' voices too. For the music video, although it is simple, it's beautifully shot. I mean, I know zero about video shooting and production, but I think it's very nice. To me, it seems like Hello! Project has finally gotten it right with their videos. Could they be more extravagant or more in depth? Probably. However, the videos look like a professional production now instead of the tragedies that we had seen in years past.

Senobi MV:

The secondary A-side, Date ja nai yo Uchi no Jinsei wa, is ok to me. Juice=Juice always tends to have one fantastic A-side and then the other is kind of meh. It's not a bad song at all (in fact it'd be extremely difficult for me to think of any Hello! Project song I think is bad), it's just certainly not as great as Senobi. One thing I appreciate about the song is that it has a very "Juice=Juice" feeling. Due to their indies singles, I associate JJ with brass instruments. So even though the song isn't one that I'd replay to death, I enjoy the fact that JJ has a certain style that at least one of their A-sides sticks to. It makes them have something that stands out about their music in Hello! Project. The video isn't as nice as Senobi's to me either, but it still is very nice. I swear I've seen that brick wall in a video before though....I know K-pop has that brick building that everyone shoots videos in, but I feel like H!P's used this set before....just can't remember for what video lol. Or was it a single cover I'm thinking of? I don't know xD It's unimportant anyway. Reusing sets is cost-efficient and doesn't have to seem redundant if you do something different with it each time.

Date ja nai yo Uchi no Jinsei wa MV:

Not sure how to do the final review with this one....I suppose I could rate both songs separately and then give a whole release rating. This is one of the reasons it bothers me that H!P only does double A-sides with no B-sides anymore lol. I do understand the no B-side thing though. As much as it sucks to have less music, with Tsunku being sick and all it's best that he doesn't work himself too hard and gets the necessary rest to beat the cancer. Although H!P could go back to one A-side and a B-side....the B-side could still have an MV....the 48Gs do it....so H!P could too xD. Ok off track again...sorry xD. Ratings. Right. Ok. For Senobi, it's absolutely a 5/5. Fantastic song. Date ja nai would probably be a 4/5. It's great but can't hold up against Senobi. The whole release would be a 4.5/5. It's not perfect, but Senobi is just amazing. Enjoy listening to the tracks!

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

HKT48 - Hikaeme I Love You!

I call this post "Only done because I'm avoiding doing a project and studying for a test." LOL xD

I'm guessing HKT48 doesn't need too much of an introduction, but since I did one for C-ute I'll do one for HKT too, just in case no one knows them. HKT48 is the Hakata, Fukuoka based sister group of AKB48. They are the newest Japan-based sister group and formed in 2011. Their first single was released in 2013. To date they have released four singles. If anyone wants more information on the group, please check out this link; as the 48 groups just have way too much information to really talk about in a music recommendation/review blog.

The title track of this single, Hikaeme I Love You! is sung by the Senbatsu members chosen for this single. This is the first single that member Haruka Kodama has centered. Their past three singles were centered by Meru Tashima with Mio Tomonaga becoming co-center in their second and third singles. Even though HKT experienced a change in the center girl for this single, they did not have any different of a title track. To be honest, Hikaeme is even less memorable than Sakura Minna de Tabeta was. No matter how many times I listen to this song I cannot remember how it goes. I was hoping that with the change to Haruka we would see something a little different. I wasn't expecting them to all of a sudden pull off a Beginner or an UZA because that would be an incredibly dramatic shift, but seeing something more along the lines Love Shugyou or even a Namida Surprise type song would have been cool. A song with some character, yet still fitting of the cute image that HKT has. Maybe next year they'll release something a little different. I can only hope. I mean, neither this nor Sakura Minna are bad songs. They're just kind of....there. The extremely generic idol pop stuff that every single group puts out that can only be interesting so many times. At least if you go that route, do it like Kokoro no Placard where it at least has that super catchy "Palalalalalala" part that gets stuck in your head lol. The music video for this song was ok. Certainly my least favorite video of their main tracks. The outfits are adorable though. It's too bad they look like they're made out of plastic with the shine in some parts.....I cannot think of what they are made out of (I can't remember the word I'm looking for....this happens a lot xD), but it makes them look cheap which is sad because they're so cute.

Hikaeme I Love You! MV Sorry about it not being embedded....for some reason I cannot get Jpopsuki videos to embed, even though I remember being able to do it on the old blog.

Hikaeme I Love You! is performed by Senbatsu members: Chihiro Anai, Haruka Kodama [center], Yui Kojina, Rino Sashihara, Meru Tashima, Miku Tanaka, Natsumi Matsuoka, Nako Yabuki, Mao Yamamoto, Aika Ota, Mio Tomonaga, Kanon Kimoto, Sakura Miyawaki, Aoi Motomura, Madoka Moriyasu, and Sae Kurihara.

The next track of the single is Ima Kimi wo Omou. Admittedly, there is very few ballads that I can enjoy sitting through to listen to. This is not one of them. It's just boring. Sorry to all the ballad fans out there. I am slightly confused about who sings this song. I know that it's kind of a send off song for Marika Tani and Chiyori Nakanishi as they were transferred to different 48 groups, but the liner notes just state the singers as "HKT48, Marika Tani, and Chiyori Nakanishi" I'm taking this to mean that it's the entirety of HKT & those two girls singing it. Even though I'm not a fan of the song, I think it's really nice how the two girls got a sendoff from their original group.

Ima, Kimi wo Omou (Audio only) [Note: I know that 48 group songs tend to get taken down, and I did upload the song unlisted, but if I get a copyright strike on my account I'll be taking down all my songs and not putting them back up, sorry. Not a big fan of the system, but I don't want to lose my YT account either just so some people can check out songs. Another note: If you enjoy the songs, please buy the CD! If not from actual stores/online vendors, as they are very expensive I understand, please buy used/second hand like off of eBay. You can can 48 Group singles, especially theater editions, REALLY cheap off of ebay for the CD only.]

The next song is a Type A exclusive and is called Idol no Oujya. Just as another note (I know, I'm being annoying xD), I'm going to try to avoid the word "idol" as much as possible when I talk about J-Pop/K-pop groups because of personal feelings toward that categorization, so please don't correct me or say anything about that because I won't use it unless I have to like when talking about "idol" pop (As a music genre, not the groups). As a song, it's better than Hikaeme easily and probably would have made a better title track. It still fits the HKT image, but has a much more memorable feeling to it. It's also my favorite song of the single. The music video is fantastic too. This song is sung by Team H.

Idol no Oujya MV

The next song is a Type B exclusive and is called Natsu no Mae. This is another of those generic songs like Hikaeme. I'm actually extremely disappointed with this song. It's not a bad song, but I had a really high expectation for Team KIV's song. Their coupling song for Sakura Minna was SO GOOD.....and we get THIS as a follow up?! It's just incredibly disappointing. The music video is very beautiful though. One thing about this single is that the outfits for the videos are so pretty. The stylists did such a great job with this single.

Natsu no Mae MV

The next song is a Type C exclusive track and is called Namaiki Lips. I remember hearing this song being sung by Nako and Miku on some TV? show, I think. I remember hating it because they didn't sound too great lol. Fast forward to the studio release and music video and......it's still not great, but it's certainly better than the performance that I remember. Probably my second favorite song of the single. It's too bad that it suffers from the vocals of Nako and Miku. They don't sound terrible, but their voices seem too young to fit the instrumental. Maybe in a few years they'll sound better with it. The music video also suffers from the girls' young ages as well. It's not inappropriate or anything, but the girls and the song just do not fit the video. The video reminds me of like dark back alley gambling places from movies or something. It also feels like American Pickers. The two don't really go together, but that's what it feels like to me lol. Such a random location for the song. The clothes are adorable though. Congratulations HKT48 stylists, you did everything right this single haha.

Namaiki Lips MV

The final song of the single is featured on the Theater edition and is titled Watashi wa Blueberry Pie, sung by the single subgroup Blueberry Pie (Yui Kojima, Hiroka Komada, Riko Sakaguchi, Misaki Aramaki, and Sae Kurihara). It's another meh song. Not bad, not good, just there. It's too bad the majority of the single is like that.

Watashi wa Blueberry Pie (Audio only)

For the title track only, I give the song a 3/5. It's just another typical release from the 48s which is sad considering they could do so much better. For the release as a whole, it's still only a 3/5. Even the slightly more interesting songs do not do enough for the release to make it any more enjoyable. Hopefully HKT's next release will be better than this one. Sorry this post is so incredibly long.....the 48s just put too many songs on each single.....not looking forward to writing about Kibouteki Refrain in the future haha xD. Please enjoy listening to the songs and comment with your thoughts!

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Chi-Chi - Love Is Energy

It's seriously tragic that this group disbanded. Yeah they started out not so great (even though I personally loved their debut), but by the time of this release, their final, they were pretty incredible. They should've at least released a mini album so we would have more than like 6 songs of theirs. I also believe that I blogged about them when I discovered they disbanded.....but I deleted that so here we go again lol.

Chi-Chi was a Korean girl group that debuted in 2011 and disbanded in 2013. They had a few lineups in their 2 years as a group. The group debuted with the song Don't Play Around with seven members: Sui, Semi, Azi, Boreum, Nara, Peach, and Ji U. During the period before their second single, Longer, three of the members left: Nara, Peach, and Ji U, and they added a new member: Shine. After Shine joined, they debuted in Japan with the Japanese version of their first single. Needless to say they flopped pretty badly in Japan. Not sure if that attempt was ever a good idea considering they had no footing in Korea and were from a very small company. After their attempt at cracking the Japanese market, they released their single single, Love Is Energy. After this release, in 2013, they were confirmed to have disbanded. (Side note: thanks to Generasia's wiki page on them for helping me keep my information straight.)

I still hold the opinion that Love Is Energy is one of the best K-pop songs of 2012. So much wasted potential with this group disbanding. They even started to get some recognition for this song! (Yes, I'm still very bitter that they disbanded.) The music video was gorgeous too, except for the wings that the one member (Sui I think, not sure) was wearing.

I cannot find the official music video on YouTube for this anymore. I cannot even find the video uploaded by other people except for "male" versions and like one subber. But here's the only one I found:

Love Is Energy MV:

The coupling track of this single, Leon, is at the same level or possibly even better than Love Is Energy. Just so great. Why do all the good K-Pop groups disappear/disband. Just wait until I blog about Chocolat, that'll be even more of a rant than this xD But anyway, even though I love this song, I cannot listen to it without thinking of Resident Evil xD Not sure if anyone that would read this would know that video game series, but my friend has made me play it and in some of the games of the series, there's a character named Leon. That's pretty off topic from music, but I can't listen to the song anymore without images of Resident Evil 6 popping up in my head xD

Leon (Audio only):

The whole release is a 5/5 hands down. If you've never heard of Chi-Chi, I urge you to listen to these two songs. In fact their whole discography is pretty fantastic....all six songs of it. Just avoid the Japanese coupling track Sexy Doll (which is actually sung in Korean, it was just on their only Japanese single). It's probably their only true bad song. It's just kind of tragic.....I swear they're saying the words "Sex Doll" in the chorus instead of saying what the lyrics say "I'll be your sexy doll". Odd thought process to end on lol. Enjoy the tracks!

Saturday, November 8, 2014

℃-ute - Sakura Chirari

I know this single is really old, but I decided that whenever I receive any CD I might as well blog about the songs, since it's probably the only way I'd post with any regularity.

C-ute is a Japanese girl group that was formed in 2006 as part of Hello! Project. Today, they are currently comprised of five members: Maimi Yajima, Saki Nakajima, Airi Suzuki, Chisato Okai, and Mai Hagiwara. Maimi was also recently named the new leader of Hello! Project after Sayumi Michishige (from Morning Musume) graduates at the end of November. So congrats to her! When this single was released, however, C-ute had seven members. Along with the current five members, Erika Umeda and Kanna Arihara were also members until 2009. Sakura Chirari was released in February of 2007 as C-ute's first major label single. Before this release, they had four indies singles.

I have to admit that up until recently I was not a fan of C-ute. They released some good songs, but I never cared to check out any of their older material. Even when I did hear some of their older songs nothing really caught my attention. Personally, I think out the of current Hello! Project acts, C-ute has the weakest early singles. There's some good ones here and there, but as a whole, up until 2013 their music was weak to me. I really dislike how average the majority of their early singles are because when C-ute releases good songs, the songs are easily some of the best releases in Hello! Project history. Tokkaiko Junjou, Kiss Me Ashiteru, Aitai Aitai Aitai na, and a lot of their recent material are some of the best Japanese songs of all time for me.

Now I became a fan of Hello! Project in 2012, after I had been a fan of Morning Musume for a couple years before that, so I never experienced this song when it was released. When I first heard it, I was listening to a lot of Hello! Project songs to understand more about their history (I was using past concert setlists off of the Hello! Project Wikia for this xD It's actually a pretty good way for a new fan to get acquainted with the main songs of all the groups.) and I admit I did not care for it all that much. I became a fan of Hello! Project mainly for the EDM flavored songs they had begun to put out so this song just seemed like a kooky J-pop song that I had no interest in. Fast forward two years and I really like it. I guess the main difference is that I've really come to appreciate C-ute as opposed to 2012 where to me they were just "that other group that H!P has".

As for the song itself, it's catchy and cute but I am very glad that Hello! Project has gone in a much different direction 7 years later. C-ute's also grown up a lot too. I mean, when watching the video for the first time I couldn't believe how little they were and how much they've grown now. It must've been really cool to follow them from the start and watch them grow as they've changed quite a bit. Also with the music video, it's just.....not good. I don't understand why people complain about Hello! Project's music videos now when in the past they were SO BAD and SO TACKY xD. The outfits are just terrible. I realize it's a cute, fun song about flower blossoms by a very young group but gosh the outfits just look bad. The second "normal" outfits are so much cuter and would've been better for the entire video. To be honest I'm pretty glad that H!P doesn't do all that many "costumes" for their singles anymore, and when they are all "costume"-like, they are so much better.

Sakura Chirari MV:

The coupling song for this single, Jump, was much better on first listen than Sakura Chirari. However, to me it doesn't have any replay value while Sakura Chirari does. Figure that one out....I'd rather listen to the song I find to be worse xD I'd say that Jump reminds me more of their material from 2008-2010 than their earlier material.

Jump (audio only):

For the title song, I'd give it a 4/5. It's just fun and catchy even if it isn't even remotely one of C-ute's best. For the release as a whole, it would still be a 4/5. Both songs are good, but nothing special. Still, it's great to listen to this single if you are a new fan just for the wow factor of where they were versus where they are now. Enjoy the tracks!

Thursday, November 6, 2014

GALETTe - She Is Wannabe!

No better way to start off a new blog than with one of my favorite groups! GALETTe is a Japanese girl group that began in 2013. I discovered them through their 'G' video shortly before they released their second single. They currently have four members: Saki Shishima, Ayano Hosaka, NONOKO, and Yui Komori (who is formerly from HKT48). To date they have released four singles: G, Jajauma to Yobanaide/Candy Pop, Brand-New Style, and She Is Wannabe. Their newest single, She Is Wannabe, charted at #11 on Oricon and sold over 10,000 copies, which is pretty fantastic considering their 3rd single only reached #21 and sold over 3,000 copies. So I'm really glad that they are gaining fans because they're really awesome!

The title track, She Is Wannabe! is a track that goes along with their other singles in terms of sound. As a song, I personally like it. It certainly is not as good as Brand New Style, which is probably my favorite single of the year, but after playing it a few times I was hooked. If you enjoy their other main singles, you should enjoy this song as well. The video reminds me a lot of a Hello! Project video, mainly because of the curtain lol. The outfits are a massive step up from the Brand New Style ones though.

Honestly I'm pretty bad when it comes to figuring out HTML and whatever else these things take, so I cannot figure out for the life of me how to embed this music video. If it was on YouTube it'd be simple but it's not. Oh well, sorry. Just click the link & it'll take you to the site. If the link clicking works....if not just highlight & paste into the website bar. The preview of the post wouldn't show it working so.....yeah. Obviously I'm very blog illiterate xD I'll figure it out eventually and fix it I swear...I used to know how to do it....

She Is Wannabe! MV:

http://www.jpopsuki.tv/video/GALETTe---She-is-WANNABE%2521-/58a9e6fd4260dfd9bdad95e696490714

This is their first single to have more than one coupling track. This time there is three: Natural Sweet na Kuki, Dress Code wa GLT, and Beautiful Love World. When I found out they were having multiple B-sides this time around, I was both excited and upset. Excited because it meant more new GALETTe music and upset because it meant I had to spend a lot more money to get all of the songs (as I don't collect CD types, just the music). Even though I'm glad that I bought the three types, at the same time I'm disappointed. I enjoy the coupling tracks, but none of them are really anything special. Beautiful Love World is my favorite at this point and Natural Sweet na Kuki my least favorite. I believe that none of the B-side really stand out because they are all in the same musical style. That's probably going to sound really hypocritical in the future when I talk about Hello! Project, because I am an EDM lover and every song can sound the same from them and I'll love it, but these three songs just run together for me. Perhaps after listening to them more I'll not be so disappointed.

Natural Sweet na Kuki:

Dress Code wa GLT:

Beautiful Love World:

For just the title track, I give the song a 4.5/5. It's catchy and enjoyable, but it just can't reach Brand New Style. For the release as a whole, I give it a 3.5/5. The B-side tracks are ok, but they just don't stand out. Enjoy checking out the tracks!

Back to Blogging

Here's something I didn't think I start up again: music blogging. I originally stopped because I was trying to go over every release and just got so overwhelmed between the releases, work, and classes that I just deleted the whole blog. Well, now I'm back. My best friend asked about the blog about a week ago and that made me want to start again because I really did like sharing my opinions (and it was the least stressful way to do so, as forums tend to give me a lot of anxiety), so I chose to restart this. For anyone that comes across this and wants to read it, I won't be updating almost everyday like I had used to attempt to do. It's just not possible. If I update once a week it'll be surprising. I also am not going to stress myself out with trying to tackle every single new release like last time. I'm mostly going to be talking about releases from Hello! Project, 48G, and some K-pop; however I might talk about some other stuff too! Depends on what catches my attention. Also apologies to anyone that had previously come across this and maybe wondered where it went & why I deleted it......I just couldn't handle it so I felt at the time it was a good decision to just delete everything with no explanation. To be honest I really regret it because I wish I had saved what I had posted or just kept the whole thing up But I hope that people enjoy reading my opinions and commenting! And if anyone has any suggestions for me to blog about feel free to comment :) And even suggest a new name, because this title is just awful lol. Happy reading!