Girls' Generation - Girls' Generation (Japanese)

It really bothers me that their first Korean album and first Japanese album are named the exact same thing....even though they have COMPLETELY different songs on them. I'm also surprised at how much this sold in Japan. I know they were more popular there when this was released, but I can't believe that it sold as much as Generasia has. I didn't realize they had been that popular in Japan. I wonder if they're still popular in Japan or no....it will be interesting to see how their new single does especially since it's the first release since Jessica was fired. This review is on the repackaged version...because it's the one I have. I won't be giving any ratings for Japanese versions of Korean songs.

Track #1, The Boys (Japanese Version): I used to love this song....my friend and I even recorded a cover of it. Can't really stand to listen to it anymore though. Never play something to death if you still want to love it four years later. I'm also very used to the English version since that's the one we played to death while making the cover, so hearing it in Japanese is odd. Since I can't speak Japanese I probably shouldn't bring it up, but is it just me or is their pronunciation off? Usually when listening to Japanese songs I can pick out a few words but this really sounds like gibberish to me. It's just a small nitpick...I realize that for them that Japanese is not their first language so expecting them to sing in it perfectly is ridiculous. It's like when I try to sing in Japanese it sounds nothing like the language at all xD.

Track #2, The Great Escape (Brian Lee Remix): The most annoying thing about this repackage is that they don't include all of the original songs and instead have remixes for some. I'll provide both the remix and original versions in the playlist. Thankfully, I hadn't heard any of the album songs before receiving the CD so I didn't have to deal with knowing the originals and having the remixes instead. However, now to me the remixes are the main track and the originals sound off. For this song, I really enjoy the music of the remix, but the over-processed vocals don't fit with it. It would work better if the vocals were arranged differently. For the original version, I feel like the vocals work, but the music doesn't. The vocals certainly fit a more electronic track, but the original doesn't go far enough for them to fit. 3.5/5.

Track #3, Bad Girl (ft. Dev) (The Cataracs Remix): I always wonder how much money SM spent on getting this remixed by The Cataracs. It's not like they were complete unknowns at this time. Dev was semi-relevant then too so I wonder how the decision to make this came about instead of doing a new song...because I feel like if you're going to spend the money on well-known producers/features, why just slap them on a remix? Especially because they were testing the waters in America. They probably wouldn't have gone anywhere, but they could have had a shot (miniscule, but still) with a new song produced by a known producer. This remix also suffers from issues with the vocal track. It just sounds so quiet in the song compared to the music. The instrumental is awesome though. As a standalone song this would have been awesome...and probably a hit for an American artist. Dev is so out of place on a Girls' Generation track anyway. The original track doesn't do the vocals any favors. The chorus is stronger, but as a whole I don't feel like this song really works....in fact I keep wanting to sing the words "Hurricane Venus" over parts of the original's chorus. 3.5/5.

Track #4, Time Machine: Finally out of the remixes. This is the only brand new song on the repackage. It's all right for a ballad. The verses really make the song. I wish the feel of the verses would be in the chorus since they feel like they're building up to an explosive chorus but it doesn't. 3.5/5.

Track #5, Mr. Taxi: Another song I played to death. Also their first original Japanese song. I had first gotten this song from their third Korean album and ended up getting used to the Korean version after hearing the Japanese for so long and then having to get used to the Japanese all over again when I got this was a pain. (Horrible run-on sentence...don't want to fix it though xD). Personally, I think this would have been a better song to go with for their Korean comeback than The Boys. It's catchy, it feels much more like the K-pop scene at that time, and it's really a better song. 4.5/5.

Track #6, Genie (Japanese Version): I never paid much attention to this song at all. I know it's one of their biggest hits, but it never caught my attention. I actually think I like this song better in Japanese, which is strange. Maybe it's because I haven't really listened to the Korean version.

Track #7, Gee (Japanese Version): This one is the opposite of Genie. It just sounds so strange to hear it in Japanese. Still one of their best songs ever no matter what language though.

Track #8, I'm In Love With The Hero: I was so hoping this song would be cooler than it is when I first read the title. The beginning of the song is so incredibly promising too. However, the song suffers from the same issues as the remixes. The vocals are really over processed, and I'm not sure if it's just me or iTunes or what but the vocals sound very low compared to the rest of the song. I don't understand why they opted to over process the vocals like they did on this album because not only are the girls quite good at singing, they also were able to pull off songs like this (Run Devil Run) without the annoying effect in these songs. 3.5/5.

Track #9, Hoot (Japanese Version): Another song I played to death in Korean. I'm actually surprised how much the Japanese lyrics work with the song. It works very well and unless I'm paying attention to the song I generally can't tell if it's the Korean or Japanese version.

Track #10, Let It Rain: This is my favorite of the new songs on the album. I can't really explain why I love it so much because it's not the type of song that I usually latch on to on an album like this. I guess it's a mixture of the fact that the vocals aren't ridiculously over-processed and it reminds me a lot of Jordin Sparks' Let It Rain, one of my favorite songs. They don't sound alike, they just have the same type of feel to them. 5/5.

Track #11, Beautiful Stranger: This has nothing on f(x)'s Beautiful Stranger. Just saying. I don't get why the more upbeat/K-poppy/electro tracks have such horrible vocal processing. Was it intentional? Is it just me? Cause I never really noticed that until I started this review....it would explain why I never play many of the songs from this album. They would be so much better if the vocals didn't sound so off. 3.5/5.

Track #12, You-aholic: This one is slightly better on the vocal issue, the verses are blah but the chorus sounds ok. As a song, this is one of the better new Japanese songs. It's very catchy and I'm not sure if I've ever heard them do a song like this in their Korean discography. There might be, but I haven't heard it. 4/5.

Track #13, Run Devil Run (Japanese Version): Funny story, I actually heard the Ke$ha version of this song before I heard SNSD's version. And to be completely honest, Ke$ha did it better. SNSD's version is still one of the best K-pop songs of all time though. I don't think this one works super well in Japanese though.

Track #14, Born To Be A Lady: And again the vocals sound fine here and it's a slower song. I don't get it. Were the dance tracks just mixed really badly or is my brain having processing issues. Whatever. Doesn't matter at this point. Really this song is kind of boring. The bridge is probably the only interesting thing to me because of the beat. 3.5/5.

Girls' Generation (The Boys) [Audio]:

Now that I get through it again, I can't understand why this album sold as much as it did. It's ok, but certainly not up to the quality that SNSD can do. I've always wondered why I could never remember how this album went at all, and now through writing this I finally understand. It's just very underwhelming. 3.5/5.

AKB48 - Labrador Retriever

Since we're now in Sousenkyou season for AKB it's probably a good idea to review last year's summer single lol. It's actually kind of funny that that played out this way. This single comes up for the next review right as applications for this year's Sousenkyou begin.

The title track, Labrador Retriever, seemed to really divide opinions when it was released last year. At least that's what I saw. Personally, I hated it when it first came out. It felt so blah and boring. However, when I bought the CD, I was immediately hooked on the song. It's one of those songs you need to hear in CDQ honestly. It's probably my favorite summer single after Everyday Katyusha. The music video I could do without. It's so long...and I really don't care for the bikini MVs for various reasons. And there are WAY too many girls in the summer singles. I don't see the point of having 32 girls when most won't get any recognition. I realize that it's a big deal to the girls, but it's just too many. 5/5.

Labrador Retriever MV:

The main B-side across all versions is Kyou Made no Melody, Yuko Oshima's graduation song. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of the song. It's just not my type of song. It's nice for what it is, but for me it's boring. What I do really love about it though is they brought back a lot of the graduated original Team K members to see Yuko off in the song. I thought that was a neat touch. The music video also features the returning members which is also pretty cool. It's way too long though. 3/5.

Kyou Made no Melody MV

The Type A B-side is Kimi wa Kimagure. Like Labrador, I wasn't too sure about this song when I saw the video. It just seemed average. When I received the CD, it's catchiness caught me. It's not the best B-side on the single, but it's pretty good. It's very much your standard AKB song, but it's certainly high quality for that type of song. The music video is pretty enjoyable for an AKB video. The concept is really cool and I like how all the performers got a chance to be in the spotlight. 4/5.

Kimi wa Kimagure MV

The Type K B-side is Itoshiki Rival. While this is the best coupling song on the single, it pales in comparison to Team K's summer song last year. Sayonara Crawl's B-sides were just on another level. The trend for this single has really been not liking a song at first and then coming to like it. This song is the same case. When I saw what the concept was going to be for the video, I was expecting a dark electro track a la Uza or an Ikiru Koto type song, so of course I was disappointed when I heard the song. It's still "darker" than the rest of the single, but it's not that type of song. The melody? (I guess...the musical terminology section of my brain doesn't really exist so I'm half guessing...) sounds too bright to be that type of single and that turned me off of the song at first. Couple that with the concept of the video being what it is, I was disappointed. Again, the CDQ of the song changed my mind. It's a pretty good song for an AKB song. Like I said before, the video really doesn't seem to go with the song at all. I guess it kind of can work with the lyrics, but they attempted to make it much more dark/gritty/"cool" than the song is which doesn't help the song's case at all. 4.5/5.

Itoshiki Rival MV

The Type-B coupling track is B Garden. Not a huge fan of this song. It's the exact same concept as all of the 'Team Oshi' songs and some other stage songs. Songs like that are best left to the stage. It doesn't help that this is a very run of the mill AKB song....and Team B Oshi is so much better. The music video on the other hand is great. It's colorful and has a funny story to it. The guy standing in for Rina Ikoma is so funny. Forever going to be sad that they just cancelled her concurrency....I really liked Rina in AKB. 3/5.

B Garden MV

The Type 4 coupling track is Heart no Dasshutsu Game. I want to like Team 4's songs. I really do. I adore Minami Minegishi and this is (well...was...now she's back to K YESSSSSS) her team so I wanted to like them, but they're too childish for me. This song is just another of the average AKB tracks. Pretty sure I heard it from them at least 20 times. The video is at least semi-interesting. I generally dislike videos that are longer than the song, but this one doesn't feel like it drags on. 3/5.

Heart no Dasshutsu Game MV

The final B-side of the single is found on the theater edition, Futari wa Dekiteru. What's interesting about this song is that it's sung by Haruna Kojima and one of the staff members, Kenji Kitagawa (yes, the same one NMB's song is named after). The song's nice, but not something I'd listen to on a regular basis. It really sounds like something SDN48 would have put out, in fact it reminds me A LOT of Kudokinagara Azabu Juuban. Haruna's voice is pretty nice, and for a staff member, Kitagawa's voice is nice too. 3.5/5.

Video clip of Futari wa Dekiteru (Low Quality)

One great thing about AKB's summer singles is that they tend to have a lot of variety. This release is nowhere near the quality of Sayonara Crawl (and I'm uncertain they can ever release something as cohesive as that single ever again), but it's still a nice release. It has a little something for everyone. 3.5/5.

Super-7 - Mai Luo Suo

I'm sure people will just love this post lol. If anyone remembers back a few years ago that Taiwanese girl group that said something about SNSD & everyone got all mad? Yeah, that's these girls. I think they're actually still a group today, but it's really difficult to find any kind of information on them. I'm going to probably have an unpopular opinion: I don't hate them. I think it's pretty pointless to hate people you never met just because they said something you don't like. If anything, hate their company. They probably made them say what they did and were the ones in charge of concepts for their songs. But anyway, onto the music.

Track #1, Mai Luo Suo: I bought this album mainly because of this song (the fact it was $2 on YesAsia helped too...). It's not the best produced song in the world, but it's extremely catchy. It's too bad that these girls have such a stigma attached to them because of that incident because this song is on par with most of the small company K-pop groups out there. 4/5.

Track #2, Kiss Me: This song I'm not that interested in. It just gives off a vibe that bothers me. The song is Indian influenced right? I'm not sure if that's exactly correct, but I love the influences of the song. I really would like to get into other countries' pop music besides the "big" music scenes that people usually think of (You know, like the US, Japan, etc.), but it's so difficult to find any type of good info online...unless I've just been looking in the wrong places. I guess I got really off track there huh? lol Well the song pretty much goes nowhere so you do check out halfway through. 3/5.

Track #3, Ai Dao Mo Yao Yi: And here's where I'm unsure if my romanizations are correct. Since it's very difficult to find information on the group, I haven't found a place that says what the titles would be in English or if I even have the proper romanizations....if anyone knows for certain I'd love if you could tell me. This is the best song on the EP. It's well produced, catchy, and should have been the title track. I think they could have gotten less backlash if this had been their lead single. 5/5.

Track #4, Qingchun Wudi: This song isn't exactly a ballad, more of a midtempo, but it's so boring. It has the same issue Kiss Me has. There is nothing about it that makes it stand out. 3/5.

.Track #5, Peng Zhi Shou Zhongxin: This is the second best on the album. Very catchy. Sounds well produced, vocals aren't beaten to death with autotune. It's nice. 4/5.

Mai Luo Suo (Audio-excluding track #5):

So I couldn't find track #5 on YouTube. I'll upload it someday but I don't feel like putting together a YT video a the moment. Sorry.

Altogether the EP is actually pretty good. Well, at least it's better than the internet would make you think. I hope that anyone who remembers the incident will put aside the hate to at least check out the songs based on their own merit. 3.5/5.

Song Recommendations (March 25, 2015 Edition)

It's been awhile since I've done one of these. It's been a not very good week for me so I figured doing one of these would cheer me up a bit and I hope that anyone who reads this can find a new song to make them happy :D

Crayon Pop - FM

This is just a dance shot for their new song as the MV isn't out yet, but wow I was really impressed with this song. I've liked Crayon Pop since before Bar Bar Bar and had been excited to see them get a lot of attention and was ready to see what they'd do next. Then they released Uh-ee. I find that song so bland I was very disappointed. This song makes them exciting again.

Krewella - Somewhere To Run

I love them. I do. So much. However, I've been unsure how their new music was going to go since the guy left, but this is reassuring. It's not as good as anything on their first album, but it makes me less nervous about the direction of the new album.

C-ute - The Middle Management ~Josei Chuukan Kanrishoku~

This really is the only good song from C-ute's new single tbh. Tsugi no Kado wo Magare is ok and GamushaLife is pretty much your generic idol track that you're pretty sure you've heard the 48s do 100 times. I don't like this Tsunku-less H!P....

Orange Caramel - The Gangnam Avenue

Kind of an older song (from last year), but this is such a gem in Orange Caramel's discography.

Up Up Girls - Bijo no Yajuu (Beast of Beauty)

Gosh this song. THIS FREAKING SONG. Why had I never paid attention to UUG before...

Predia - Na mo Naki Shiroi Hana wa Kie Iku

Such a wonderful song. They're a group I really need to look further into.

DIA - Paradise

This song is so beautiful. I don't know why I never knew it before. It actually made me cry when I watched it with the translation up. Gorgeous.

Country Girls - Itoshikutte Gomen ne

I usually don't like this amount of cutesy but I adore the retro feel of the song.

Fall Out Boy - Fourth Of July

Thought I'd end with this. Absolutely blew me away when I heard the album. Can't wait to do a full review on this CD

Enjoy!

Cupitron - Battery

This is another group I discovered thanks to internet forums. They were described as being like Perfume except more pop which intrigued me. I like Perfume a lot and another J-pop group called Kus Kus has close to that same style & I like them, so I figured this group would just be an extension of that. Unfortunately at first, I didn't care for the music at all. That changed with the release of this single though.

Cupitron is a three member Japanese girl group that consists of members Nichika Yamakawa (blue), Saika Hamada (pink), and Rina Miyawaki (Green). As of this post, they have released two singles and a digital single.

The title track for this single is Battery. Some of you may have seen my earlier recommendation post where I included this song. It was at that point that I knew I just had to get the actual CD. Even though I don't know what the song is literally saying (and I can't find a translation online yet), I really love the lyrics at the end of the first and third choruses. The whole "Revolution, high power. Do you wanna follow me?" part. When I heard that it really struck me and got me hooked on the song. Even though I've heard of them described as like Perfume, I don't get that comparison beyond them being a 3 piece and doing electropop. Perfume is much more techno/electropop, while Cupitron is more pop with electro influences. Kind of like what Morning Musume would do if they dropped the dance and ramped up the autotune. It actually hurts a bit to admit, but this song is better than anything Musume has done in the past year except for their newest single, Watashi wa Watashi Nanda, and TokiSora. When it comes to the music video, I still can't get over how much Rina looks like an Aika/Sayumi mix and Saika like Sayumi, especially in the outdoor shots. I think the video as a whole is very nicely done for an indie idol group (at least I think they are right?). I'm hoping to see more of this style from them in the future. 5/5.

Battery MV:

The first coupling track which is found on the regular edition is Warp Warp. I was expecting another electropop song much in the Battery vein from this song when I saw the title. I was half right. It's still electropop, but it's nothing like Battery. In fact, this sounds a lot more like something Perfume would put out. If they are actually trying to be more like Perfume in music style, this is the direction they need to head in. Personally, I would prefer to see them stick with the Battery route. I don't know of any other idol group that's doing that at the moment and I'd like to see them not be compared to Perfume all of the time and find their own style. 4/5.

Warp Warp (Audio):

The second coupling track on the regular edition is Pipopatoku. This is the more standard idol song of the single. It's another song more like Warp Warp in terms of musical style, but the overall feel of the song is more standard idol in my opinion. It's my least favorite of the single. The autotune is way overkilled on this. I get that's the point, but it just doesn't feel done well to me. When Perfume does songs more like this, the autotune (or whatever the effect is on their vocals) is so well integrated into the song and into who they are that it just works. For Cupitron, the vocal style that Battery has works much better for who they are. 3.5/5.

Pipopatoku (Audio):

The final coupling track for the single is Denshi Keisan Ki no Yume which is found on the limited edition. I got the regular edition because it was cheaper, but I'm wondering if I should have bought the limited too because this is my favorite coupling track on the single. It's much closer to the Battery style than the other coupling tracks. 4.5/5.

Denshi Keisan Ki no Yume (Audio):

All together the single is fairly strong for a new idol group. It keeps up its theme well throughout all of the songs. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what they'll be putting out next. 4/5.

Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing

In two years this album will be ten years old. That's unbelievable to me. I remember being in sixth grade and having my friend show me the song "Girlfriend" and it becoming very popular among our circle of friends. Interestingly enough even though that song was popular with me when I was younger, I've never actually listened to this album before today. I've heard all of the singles from it and "The Best Damn Thing", but I haven't listened to any of the other album tracks. So this will be fun.

Track #1, Girlfriend: Who else remembers the versions with all the different languages? I do. I remember listening to Open House Party one night and hearing that and being so confused xD Now, this song is no masterpiece. In fact it's probably one of the most cheesy songs I know. However, it's so great in it's way. I love how it doesn't even try to be a serious song. It's the middle school girl in all of us. 5/5.

Track #2, I Can Do Better: The lyrics of this song are still very much in the rebellious teenage vein that Girlfriend is in. The song is just okay to me. She's done the theme multiple times before and has done it better on her earlier albums. It's a fun song and all, but at this point in her career, I would have liked to see some growth. There's nothing wrong with releasing songs like Girlfriend and this as they're all in good fun, but one right after the other when you're practically seven years into your career and you're an adult? Wouldn't be my choice. 3.5/5.

Track #3, Runaway: Maybe I shouldn't focus on lyrics when I listen to Avril's music. I would never have a great deal of good things to say. Much like the first two songs, this still seems immature for her. It's not quite as bad lyrically as I Can Do Better, but still. I enjoy the song as a whole much more than the previous song though. Well, ok, I'll look at it like this. If she's going for the stereotypical rebellious teen lyrics, she's absolutely nailing it. 3.5/5.

Track #4, The Best Damn Thing: And here's where I wonder how I can be such a hypocrite. Ok, maybe not a hypocrite, because I believe that this song's lyrics are just as immature has the earlier songs, but I still really this song....it's from my young teen years and I loved it then so it's kind of got a sentimental factor to it. I can at least say that the annoying cheerleader-esque bridge can go away. 4.5/5.

Track #5, When You're Gone: The lyrics of this aren't much better than the earlier songs, but it certainly is an improvement. Also, the tone of the song makes it feel more mature. Like I said before, my problem with Avril's music isn't so much that the lyrics can be immature, but more with issues of the music. If she had more songs like this between songs like Girlfriend and I Can Do Better it wouldn't be so grating. 4.5/5.

Track #6, Everything Back But You: Oh man the beginning....well the mood from the last song didn't last too long. I know people were complaining about Avril's newest album not being mature, but it's MILES better than what this album is. This is just....no. This should have been on her first album, not her third....especially because Under My Skin was more mature lyrically than this. I've been able to look past the lyrics to like the song for everything so far but this one is ridiculously cringe worthy. Ouch. 2.5/5.

Track #7, Hot: I remember never liking this song in the past. Don't remember why, but I'm curious if I still feel the same way now. Well, I like it more now and it doesn't have that super annoying teen drama feel to it. It sounds really familiar as a song though. I'm thinking Kelly Clarkson? Maybe from her All I Ever Wanted era? Can't tell. I'm not sure why I hated this. It's not horrible at all. 4/5.

Track #8, Innocence: Wow the lyrics to this are completely different than I was expecting. I like this. I have a feeling the second half of this album is going to be a lot better than the first. This is closer to the Avril we have now and is a nice progression from the rebellious teen image. 4/5.

Track #9, I Don't Have To Try: The song title doesn't give me much hope. Yeah, I was right. Avril, I don't care that you don't care, this song is bad lyrically. I wouldn't be so harsh on the lyrics of this album if it was her first album, if she wasn't an adult when this was released, if her previous album wasn't much better lyrically, and if there was only a handful of songs that were like this. A whole album of them? No. Just no. There comes a time when you have to grow up, whether you like it or not. Glad that her newer albums have begun to embrace that. Seriously wondering if she wanted to release this or if her label was trying to cash in on her "rebellious teen girl" image. Like I said earlier, there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing a song like Girlfriend, it's all just fun. But attempting to put together a whole album of Girlfriends? You should just stick to being a singles artist if you go through with that plan. 2.5/5.

Track #10: One Of Those Girls: Man this sounds like a Disney song. Which is actually kind of a compliment for this album. The lyrics aren't as horrifically bad as the track before. It really seems like it would fit better on Let Go though. It's much less pop than other songs on the album. 3.5/5.

Track #11, Contagious: So there is a little bit of a heightening in quality towards the end of the standard album? Interesting. Again, like the song above, the lyrics are still kind of immature, but it's not the type of immature that makes you want to throw the CD out of the airlock. I'm kind of enjoying this one. It's catchy. 4/5.

Track #12, Keep Holding On: I adore this song. One of her best really. It's too bad it's stuck on such a mediocre record. 5/5.

Track #13, Alone: One of the two songs on the limited edition of the album. This is nothing like I was expecting. I was hoping for something a little more personal/emotional like some songs from Under Your Skin. I don't know why I expected that, considering the rest of the album. It's a very average song. Would have preferred it in the place of some songs on the standard though. 3.5/5.

Alone:

Track #14, I Will Be: Another song from the limited edition. If you've never heard it and are wondering why it sounds so familiar it's because Leona Lewis released it as a single a few years back. Now THIS is what I would expect from Avril at this stage of her career. I understand why it went to Leona/is just a bonus track. It doesn't fit Avril's "image" at this point....which is so sad. Would've made a wonderful single. 4.5/5.

I Will Be:

The Best Damn Thing (Album audio)

Spotify Link

I have no idea why Spotify doesn't have an embed option anymore....that's just stupid. I'll have to make an album playlist on YouTube & link it when I have time.

I'm honestly not sure what I was expecting from this album, but whatever it was I sure didn't get it. Even though it doesn't seem like it from this, I do like Avril a lot, which is why I'm being so harsh on this album. Out of her albums I've heard so far (haven't listened to Goodbye Lullaby in full yet), this is absolutely the worst. I'm very disappointed. 3/5.

84LY - Girls Secret Party

I'm pretty sure that I posted on this CD last time too, but I don't really remember. I really don't have any particular interest in this group. I bought the CD cheap from one of YesAsia's sales. All I really know about the group is that they haven't released anything else since this album. If I were to guess, they have disbanded.

Track #1, 84LY Style: I don't get why K-pop groups make intros seem like actual songs. It's so awful. You get into it and then it ends. Prime example: Sistar's Here We Come. I'm forever bitter that it's not an actual song. 84LY's intro is much more "intro-like". Not particularly interesting.

Track #2, Girl Talk: This is the main song of the mini album. Not a big fan of the chanting of "this is 84LY Style", but for a really unknown "indie" (I realize this isn't the correct terminology here, but I don't know how else to describe what's in my head.) group, it's pretty good. The vocals are a little over-autotuned, but the music sounds well produced enough. 4/5.

Track #3, Pride: I don't think this is better than Girl Talk, but I do think it would have made for a better first single for promotion. It has less autotune, and it seems like a song that is more mainstream. They could have done a cute music video for it and maybe they could have gotten some attention. The song is very catchy as well which would have helped. 4/5.

Track #4, Papillion: Butterfly: My favorite of the three songs. It's a little over-autotuned in some parts like in Girl Talk, but I think it takes the best parts of that song and Pride and mashes it into this song. It's not super special, it's your typical K-pop song from 2012, but I find it to be very high quality for a very unknown new group from a small company. 5/5.

Track #5, Girl Talk Instrumental: Just the instrumental. Eh.

84LY - Girls Secret Party (Audio only):

For a debut from a group from a small company, it's actually pretty strong. It's sad that they didn't at least release one more song. They had quite a bit of potential. 4/5.

AKB48 Team Surprise - Sono Mama de

The third single from Team Surprise's first stage, Juuryoku Sympathy. It features members Tomomi Itano, Aki Takajo, and Yui Yokoyama.

I really don't care much for this song. Their vocals are incredibly grating and the music doesn't fit the vocals at all. The most annoying thing about this song though is that even though it's not good, it's a bit of an earworm. Whenever I read anything about it, the "sono mama de kawaranaide" part from the chorus runs through my head. It's annoying. The video doesn't really help the song either. It's got the whole "street" theme to it & it does not fit the song AT ALL. The song has Tomomi in it....it should have been closer to a club song than this. 2.5/5.

Sono Mama de MV

Little Mix - Salute

It's too bad that Little Mix isn't really popular in the US. I don't understand why female soloists do so well but female groups flop...even when they're singing the same type of songs. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. This album is a lot different than their first release. Not certain which style I prefer for them.

Track #1, Salute: This song should've been a smash. Sometimes "girl power" songs come off really cheesy and ridiculous but this one is really strong. I like the military theme of it. Perfect album opener. 5/5.

Track #2, Move: Their first single from the album. I'm not sure how it did in their native UK, but I think it could've been at least a moderate hit in the US. This song sounds a lot like the direction that Fifth Harmony is going in now, pop music with some urban flavor. The song's great to dance to. 5/5.

Track #3, Little Me: The lyrics to this song are what really struck me more than anything else about it. Sure, it's sung well and the music itself is very appealing for a ballad, but the lyrics truly make the song. To me, it doesn't feel like your typical "love yourself" anthem. It hits a little deeper than that. 5/5.

Track #4, Nothing Feels Like You: You'd think with the way I've been rating this album so far it's the perfect CD. That's not the case. The first three songs are just incredibly strong. This song certainly isn't as strong as the first three, but it's still good. It takes the urban-influenced pop sound from Move but not the happy, danceable feeling. The structure of the vocals of the song are nice. I don't think that the instrumental would sound nearly as good without the way the vocals are arranged. 4/5.

Track #5, Towers: Another ballad. This one although sung very well, is kind of boring. I want to care more about it because the vocals are great and the violins in the song are pretty, but it just doesn't do anything for me. The verses really remind me of a song I've heard before too...pretty sure it was something from Disney Channel. Not sure if that's good or bad. 3/5.

Track #6, Competition: When I first was listening to this song, I got a totally different meaning out of it than the lyrics intend xD I was thinking it was about them liking the competition when the girls are actually telling him to stop being so annoying. I felt pretty stupid when I actually thought about it haha. The vocals at the end of the choruses make this one of the best songs on the album for me. Would have made a good single. 5/5.

Track #7, These Four Walls: Their vocals are nice in the song, but these type of ballads don't really do anything for me. If the chorus just picked up a little more it'd be a much more memorable song. 3/5.

Track #8, About The Boy: I had read somewhere before that Little Mix's new direction in this album was reminiscent of Destiny's Child and other late 90s to early 2000s girl groups. To me, most of the songs don't feel like that, but this one certainly does feel like an updated version of music from then. It's a nice enough song, but not really my style. Never have been a big fan of the late 90s music style beyond a few songs. 3.5/5.

Track #9, Boy: It bothers me that there are three songs on this album with the word "boy" in it. What's worse, they stuck two of them right next to each other. Now this one sounds like it would fit perfectly on a Destiny's Child album. In fact, it sounds very similar to that one song of there's that I can't remember the name of. Again, not really my type of song. It's sung nicely though. 3.5/5.

Track #10, Good Enough: As much as I have an irrational hate for ballads in general, I adore this song. The lyrics are wonderful, it's sung well, and you can really feel the emotion in their vocals. Absolutely a highlight of the album. 5/5.

Track #11, Mr. Loverboy: "Boy" part three! This is my least favorite of the three boy songs on the album. It's pretty different than the rest of the album in my mind. I think it would have fit better on DNA as it has that funky teen pop feel to it. 3/5.

Track #12, A Different Beat: The end of the standard album. Pretty much a mix of the DNA album style and Salute. It works very well as an album closer, much like Salute being the opener. 4.5/5.

Track #13, See Me Now: The first track from the deluxe version. Reminds me a lot of Stereo Soldier from their first album. It's a great song. Personally I'd replace Mr. Loverboy with this on the standard. 4/5.

Track #14, They Just Don't Know You: Oh the lyrics of this make me cringe. It sounds like one of those stereotypical teenagers in movies & TV shows that rejects everything everyone is saying about the person they "love" because they're obsessed. It bothers me. The song itself actually sounds quite nice. It's an interesting sound and I'm certain there's another song out there that sounds like it but I can't think of what it could be. 3.5/5.

Track #15, Stand Down: So I avoided listening to this song for the longest time because when I first heard it I heard the whole "Daddy said..." line as something TOTALLY different and it really bothered me. Now that I'm sitting here listening with a much better pair of headphones I feel silly for thinking what I had thought....because if it did say what I thought it did I'm positive I would have read about it somewhere xD Ignoring all of that, this song is really good. It should be on the standard definitely. Would have made a good single. 4.5/5.

Track #16: Little Me (Unplugged): Just an acoustic version.

Track #17: Une Autre Personne: This song is only on the French version of the album. So I just heard about this track's existence today from looking at the tracklist on Wikipedia to make sure I didn't miss any song. From what I can see, the song is actually by a French singer named Tal and Little Mix is only featured. I tried to find out if this was originally a Tal song or if it was done special for this album but I couldn't find that information. I know almost no French so I don't know what's being said, but the song is okay. I don't have a strong opinion either way for it. The chorus is nice, but the verses don't seem to fit with the music. It also doesn't help that when they sing "Je Suis Une Autre Personne" I hear "[French words] Pants on!" xD 3/5.

Une Autre Personne (Audio Only):

Salute album (Audio):

Personally, I believe their first album is better as a whole, while this one has stronger single tracks. I've heard that they're back in the studio recording for their third album so I'm definitely looking forward to that! 4/5.

Song Recommendations (March 4, 2015 Edition)

The ice in this area ended up cancelling all of my classes today so I have a little more time to write stuff (although I should really be studying for an exam tomorrow but whatever.). I like doing these recommendation posts a lot. I hope those that read them like it too. Makes it easier to maybe find something new than my usual posts.

Alyson Stoner - Beat The System

I've really been enjoying this song today. The lyrics are wonderful. She should be as big as Demi & Selena now tbh.

Zedd - I Want You To Know (ft. Selena Gomez)

Yeah it's generic blah blah blah. But it's GOOD. Like beyond good.

After School - Triangle

After School's first Japanese album was wonderful so I don't know why it took me until this week to listen to their second one. The album's good but this is my standout track from it.

Lovelyz - Hi~

K-pop's been very meh for the past few years. Not a very huge fan of this style, but I can't stop listening to this song. I guess that's a good thing right?

Jeanne Maria - Kindan no Suites

I really hope I romanized that title right....sometimes Google Translate doesn't do that properly xD. Saw this MV on H!O. I really love the general idol thread there & I'm thankful for the people that post there cause I've found some really great songs on that board. Wasn't certain I liked this at first but I think it's pretty darn great for an indie? idol group.

Enjoy!

S/mileage - Aa, Susukino/Chikyuu wa Kyou mo Ai wo Hagukumu

More S/mileage! Really excited to talk about this one because it contains my all time favorite S/mileage song. This is also their final release as S/mileage, as they now go by Angerme and have added three members.

The first A-side of the single is Aa, Susukino. I didn't think much of this song at first. It wasn't as interesting as the other H!P songs coming out around the same time to me. Listening to it more has made me like it though. It sounds like the perfect mix of Platinum Era Musume and the new EDM direction of H!P. I'd be okay with this style of music being used more. Still not fond of the talking bits (mainly because I just don't care for the break in singing like that in any song), but it's not as disjointed as some other songs. I have to give H!P major props for this song's video. It's nothing more than the usual dance shot & closeups, but the setting of the song was just perfect. Can't imagine how expensive it has to be to rent out an airport for a video shooting. It goes to show that even the most conventional videos can be impressive with the proper setting. 4.5/5.

Aa Susukino MV:

The secondary A-side is Chikyuu wa Kyou mo Ai wo Hagukumu. Aka the best song S/mileage ever did....perhaps one of the best H!P songs ever. Last year was ridiculously strong for the H!P groups in terms of musical quality. MM seemed to be the only group that didn't have that besides their album & Toki Sora. This is J-pop-EDM done right. I really like the music video for this too. It has a very Mass Effect feel to it....probably just because I'm writing this while playing the third one & the globe lights remind me of the star in the system I was just in xD. Joking aside, this video made me like Ayaka. I never hated her, but I couldn't stand her voice so I tried to ignore her existence. She's so gorgeous and charismatic in this video though. It's hard to not focus on her. Not to mention that I've really seen an improvement in her vocals recently too. 5/5.

Chikyuu wa Kyou mo Ai wo Hagukumu MV:

So far, this is definitely my favorite release from S/mileage/Angerme. The release seems like it would work for the majority of H!P fans, something a little more Platinum era & something a little more EDM. I hope that they'll do another release like this in the future, although now that they're Angerme I don't know what direction they'll be headed in. If they stay in the Taiki Bansei/Otome route then they're good. 4.5/5.

S/mileage - Atarashii Watashi ni Nare!/Yattaruchan

I'm fairly certain that this was one of the releases that I talked about the last time I had a blog. Still wish I wouldn't have deleted it...then I wouldn't have to type this all over again. Oh well. This is their 18th single and was released in 2013.

The first A-side is Atarashii Watashi ni Nare!. To me this single always represents a clear break in their discography. It comes right after their second album and is along the new mature, electro-ish track that H!P was headed in in 2013. S/mileage was probably my least favorite H!P group until the release of their second album. I wasn't into the more "idol-y" songs that they put out except for a few so I just didn't pay much attention to them. After they started releasing music like this, I started paying more attention. Out of all their "mature" songs, I'd say this one has the most old S/mileage feel to it. I'm not too fond of the music video for this song though. The shadowy shots aren't done very well, the outfits are meh at best, and the set is just white. It's a little hard to look at because of how bright it is. A little splash of color (or at the very least a curtain...) would have made it better. I do enjoy the shots of them holding the lyrics and the dance though. 4/5.

Atarashii Watashi ni Nare MV:

The second A-side is Yattaruchan. This is one of those crazy genki S/mileage tracks, much like Yume Miru & Uchouten Love. If you're going to do a crazy idol song, this is how you do it and make it good. Also, Meimi's voice.....WOW. I say it everytime she sings in a song, but HER VOICE. She's easily one of the best vocalists in H!P, maybe even the best....not sure if Airi beat her or not. Would need to hear them sing together in a concert. The video is also a perfect example of a good video done on a low budget/H!P normal sets. It's not so much the set as it is what you do with the set. Atarashii is the prime example of what not to do, this is a good example of what exactly you should do. The girls shine in this video. 5/5.

Yattaruchan MV:

S/mileage really has improved since this single. It's a great single and yet the ones they released after this are even better. It'll be interested to see how Angerme plays out. Taiki & Otome were fantastic starts so I hope they can keep that momentum. I don't want to see them end up sadly generic or sounding too much like non-H!P idols. That takes all the fun out of H!P. 4.5/5.