Now that I've had 24 hours to process the news of 13th gen, I'm just somewhat ambivalent towards them. They need to release something for me to have any interest in the new girls. I do think people are being a little unnecessarily harsh towards Kaede though. I don't particularly care for her because I don't think that her voice is good like people say it is. It's a deeper voice which draws people to it, but I don't find her a good singer. As for her supposed attitude problem, I don't follow the Kenshuusei close enough to even know what people are complaining about. With Reina, I'm really thinking she would make a good double center with Maria. MM needs faces to lead the group. Keep the Sakura/Mizuki/Masaki lead singer trio, but put Maria/Reina front and center to push them into the minds of the general public.
With MM this year, I feel like they just coasted through it. Two singles a year for the most popular group of H!P is not a good business plan Up-Front. They even have a bunch of new songwriters so they can't use the excuse that Tsunku has too many songs to write. They need to have an album next year and at least three singles. If they want the new members to gain traction, they need to start shoving them onto as many music, variety, internet, cooking, or alien theory shows as possible. Anything that they can get them on is the point really. Now is a great time to start with the buzz from new members.
Musically, MM was once again the group with the best releases (with maybe the exception of Juice=Juice this year). Their first single was a bit blah, but Utakata ended up being fun & Tokyo to Iu is still awesome. I like to pretend The Vision doesn't exist. The entire Sexy Cat single was pretty solid in my opinion. I like Sou Janai the least but it's still cool. Mukidashite (? I can't spell to save my life this month I swear) is freaking amazing. Sexy Cat is quirky and fun. Something different for the group in it's current incarnation. Hoping next year's single exceed this year.
This is supposed to be about C-ute, but just a quick aside: Congrats to the new Musume members! I had a feeling that Yokoyama would get in because of the random buzz around her that seemed to crop up overnight. She's very pretty and I hope that she has a good voice to accompany that. As for Kaede....well. I'm very happy that she's getting to realize her dream and got to join the group with the most opportunities. I truly hope that she melds in well and is a good asset for Musume. The members both are older which is a shock (and it feels like there will be new younger members added next year too because of it) and they both fit the current mature image of MM. Congrats again to them & I can't wait to see their debut!
As for C-ute. I sooooo knew it. I KNEW they would announce their disbandment this year. Honestly, it's time and I couldn't be happier that they're leaving. That sounds awful as I do like them, but H!P needs to complete it's transition to the new H!P and pass the torch to the new members and groups. Now there's just Ayaka Wada who is pre-2010 (if you don't count Aika who doesn't do anything anyway.). I fully predict that Ayaka will announce next year as well. Maybe not graduate, but definitely announce.
As for C-ute's music this year, outside of Mugen Climax (which was such a return to form for them), nothing was outstanding at all. Jinsei wa Step was fun & even though I've mainly ignored Summer Wind, I'm coming around to it. Naze Hito was just bad & I don't even remember what the other Mugen Climax single songs sound like so that's not a good sign. I guess I can say they outdid Angerme this year and maybe Kobushi, but I'm not sure on my feelings on that. Hopefully their final single will be an awesome goodbye for them. I'm also expecting a single/B-side collection like Berryz. I will be so incredibly upset if they don't do that. I want their singles/B-sides but I don't want to have to buy all of the singles I don't have to do so. I'm running out of room on my display shelf.
#10
Mugen Climax (2016) (NEW)
#9
Kiss Me Aishiteru (2011) (-2)
#8
Kanashiki Heaven (2012; Aitai Aitai na) (-3)
#7
Crazy Kanzen na Otona (2013) (+2)
#6
Midnight Temptation (2011; Chou Wonderful 6) (-)
#5
Please, Love Me More! (2013; Tokai no Hitorigurashi) (+3)
It's kind of fitting that AKB's day lands on the same day that they debuted their 16th gen! Congrats to all the new girls! I'm excited to see new faces in AKB & I can't wait to see who gets pushed. AKB itself has been somewhat interesting this year. Takamina FINALLY left after her way too long drug out graduation, Kojiharu is also finally leaving soon, and Paruru announced her graduation. I never really minded that Shimazaki didn't seem to be overly enthusiastic about AKB. Unlike Kojiharu who I feel should've left a long time ago, I like Paruru. I think it's for the best that she announced though. Not just for her health, but I think it's always better to leave at your peak than overstaying your welcome. Nana Owada's recent graduation announcement shocked me. I can't believe she's leaving already. I figured Nishino would be gone before any of the other newer pushed girls. As for next year, I'm hoping that more old gen girls start to leave. It's time for AKB to completely transition to Gen 9 and newer. As much as I love Miichan, I hope she also announces next year. It's time for first gen to go. I also have a feeling that Mayuyu will announce next year.
As for the music this year, it's been very up and down. Kimi wa Melody was pretty good to me, even though I saw a lot of people not really feeling the song. That single also featured two super awesome B-sides: Make Noise & Mazariau Mono. Tsubasa wa Iranai, both the song itself and the B-sides, were so bland. NGT's song on the theater edition is cool, but everything else was SO disappointing, especially for the summer single. Love Trip as a song is awesome, but I didn't think the other A-side or the B-sides were anything special at all. I never really care for the B-sides of the Sousenkyo single though. High Tension I think is on par with Kimi wa Melody as far as the total package. The A-side is great & there's two super great B-sides: Seijun Tired (best B-side this year from them) & Shunsuki (? I think I spelled that wrong...) Adrenaline. Overall though, I didn't feel like there was that great of music from AKB this year. Hoping for something different next year. Maybe another UZA-type A-side? That'd be nice instead of more slow songs or funky songs. Change it up please!
My ranking has drastically changed from last year. I finally got (almost, missing Pajama Drive, the Himawarigumi stages, Renai Kinshi & Saishuu Bell) all of the stage albums and I LOVE so many of the songs from them. Much better than their singles and normal albums tbh.
I said I was going to do this again and I'm going to try my best to post on time for each day lol. The format will be exactly the same as last year except this year I'm going to the places each thing moved (or is new) from the past year. Mainly because I just want to see how my interests have changed over the year. So here we go, entry #1!
So I feel like last year's list was completely all over the place. 2015 was the first year since 2012 that I had had much interest in new K-pop and due to that, my list was so scatterbrained and I had forgotten about so much. This year I think I have a much more accurate idea of my top 10 K-pop songs of all time.
#10
Oh My Girl - Closer (2015) (-)
This song made the list last year even though it was practically brand new. Closer really reignited an interest in K-pop for me. It's just an incredible song by an incredible group. If the song continues to hold up in the future, it easily could be in my top three.
#9
Girl's Day - Expectation (2012) (NEW)
I really got back into this song this year. I loved it when it came out, but I finally picked up the album this year and have played it a lot since. This song in my opinion was Girl's Day's peak. They've had good songs since, but this was their peak musically for me.
#8
Girls' Generation - Into The New World (2007) (-4)
Out of all of SNSD's songs over the years, their debut remains my favorite. It's actually aged rather well as opposed to once great songs like The Boys or Run Devil Run that just sound like they should've stayed in 2011. It's just a fun & uplifting song.
#7
Chocolat - I Like It (2011) (-4)
I still miss them so much. Years ago this would've been number one for me, but quite frankly it just hasn't aged well at all. I still love the song and I still love them, but there's so many other songs that are sounding better than this.
#6
Wonder Girls - Loved (2015) (NEW)
So last year I had I Feel You pretty high up, which was only because I couldn't think of half the tracks that I should've featured. But as much as I love that song, after listening to the album over the past year, Loved is such a stand out track. In my opinion, it's probably the single greatest K-pop album tracks ever released. It's just 80s filled amazingness.
#5
After School - Dressing Room (2013) (+1)
I'm still upset at myself that I haven't purchased the First Love EP yet. I want to, but I keep feeling like I can't justify buying K-pop EPs anymore because they cost the same as full albums & none have come up for cheap on ebay that I've seen. Oh well, eventually. This is After School's greatest song and should've been a single. I couldn't decide if this & Loved should've been switched around so I just kept them in the order of release.
#4
2NE1 - Come Back Home (2014) (NEW)
Quite frankly the reason this is so dang high is because of their disbandment. However, this is an incredible song and unlike the vast majority of their other material, I feel like this will hold up over the years.
#3
Orange Caramel - Bangkok City (2011) (-2)
The beat in this song is still fresh 5 years later. The ultimate K-pop club track in my opinion. Orange Caramel needs to release something else like this.
#2
Swan.B - Be All Right (2011) (-)
Why does no one know this song?! WHY?! Yes, it's super duper indie & there's no clue what ever happened to the group that did it but it's just so good. Eurobeat is sadly not featured in K-pop ever.
#1
KARA - Step (2011) (NEW)
I don't think there will be anyone in K-pop who will ever release anything quite as amazing as Step. It's one of those songs you can never get tired of and sound like they could be released tomorrow and still smash. I didn't list it last year because I forgotI forgot about it when I when I made the list. Kinda upset that I did that lol
This list was SO DIFFICULT. It's no secret that Morning Musume is my favorite group of all time. I've never heard a group where almost their entire discography is listenable for me. Unlike with all of the other groups on my countdown, I've actually heard all of Morning Musume's songs which just made this ranking all the harder. I'm kind of glad I've been too lazy to listen to 48G stages or Berryz albums, for example lol. This is also probably the only list of I've done where all of songs might not be ones I like to listen to the most, but songs that have a lot of meaning for me & my following of Morning Musume. Like how Onna to Otoko is the first MM song I ever heard, or Only You is the song that made me from a casual listener to a fan, or Renai Hunter which turned me from a fan to someone who actually cares about the actual group itself and not just the music. As much as I love Hello! Project & 48G, as a whole they just have good songs. Morning Musume is the only artist that I've ever connected to on the level that I have.
Ah, finals week is over for me!! Congrats to those of us who made it through & good luck to those who have them coming up!! C-ute has probably been the most blah of all the H!P groups this year. Their last single wasn't for me at all & I rarely listen to anything from their other single this year. I'm hoping their album is cool but what I've heard so far is just more blah.
#10: Forever Love (2008)
#9: Crazy Kanzen na Otona (2013)
#8: Please, Love Me More (2013)
#7: Kiss Me Aishiteru (2011)
#6: Midnight Temptation (2011)
#5: Kanashiki Heaven (2012)
#4: Adam to Eve no Dilemma (2013)
#3: Tokaikko Junjou (2007)
#2: Aitai Aitai Aitai na (2012)
#1: I Miss You (2014)
Enjoy! What are your thoughts on C-ute this year? Enjoying the new direction or no?
Like SKE, this actually wasn't as hard as I thought lol. I haven't listened to all of the stage albums yet (I actually just bought all of them for myself for Christmas lol) so I'm sure this would've been much more difficult if I knew all of the stages as the only one I've heard is A6 and it is their best release ever lol. There's no video for #7 as I can't find it. Sorry. :(
I was so positive I did a post on this before. I'm still confused that I didn't see it while looking back. I know I couldn't have done it on the old blog because I didn't own the CD then. I don't know....well, if for some reason I'm THAT tired that I completely missed it even after searching the title and turning up no results, just tell me & I'll delete one.
I believe I've mentioned before how to me early C-ute was very average. Most of their songs from their early stage are meh, but this one is an exception. It's really not one of the kinds of songs I would attach to, but the chorus is so catchy that it's hard not to love it. Sometimes I just sing the song title in my head because it's that much of an earworm. It'a also crazy how good Airi's voice is even back then. H!P really struck talent gold with her. And Maimi's annoying voice wasn't that difficult to listen to back then! I don't dislike Maimi, but her vocals are grating. She has a very unpleasant tone and every live I've seen of them she seems very off on the notes she's supposed to hit. With the video, I'm surprised that people complain about the videos we get NOW. At least they're attempting to do different sets and colors and other stuff, but this video is pretty much just them dancing in front of badly painted backdrops in a white room. I guess you could kind of argue that the different props and stuff back then change the feel of the video, but at least nowadays the videos don't look extremely tacky. 4.5/5.
The coupling track for this single is Bishoujo Shinri. For a B-side back then, this is really an incredible track. Maybe that's why I was so confused about writing this up before because I tend to never listen to the B-sides of older H!P singles unless I'm writing a review for them. But this song is very awesome. I'm not really sure how to describe it, but the music reminds me a lot of their newer music. You could take this song, put it on an album in 2015 with updated vocals and it'd still fit their image. 5/5.
For an early C-ute single, this is a pretty stellar package. A very catchy A-side and an incredible B-side as a compliment. 4.5/5.
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 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.
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!
