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)
Ah Angerme. It seems like they're the current "golden child" of H!P fans. They are always praised to the heavens by just about everyone. I don't get it personally. I like Angerme. I do. I like the members, they're talented. But their music is no better or worse than the rest of the H!P groups. It's exactly the same. For me personally, I actually like Angerme's newest material less than everyone but Kobushi. Their EDM-ish tracks are so lame and one note. The girls sound bored singing them. Their rockier tracks are even worse. I've been indifferent to everything they've released this year. Itoshima Distance was probably the highlight and even then it's kind of meh. So disappointing for Meimi's final single. I really hope they get better music next year, or at least have some energy while singing the songs.
Member wise, Angerme has been somewhat surprising this year. Moe was pretty surprisingly added (although I don't remember if that was late last year or early this year. Whatever. She had her first single this year so it counts). Moe seems to be very talented, but I don't find myself drawn to her like everyone else seems to be. She also really looks like Zoe Barnes from House of Cards to me. I don't know why. I didn't like Zoe. She was annoying and I'm glad she was killed off super early into season two (I'm on episode 3 I think of season two so far, such a good show). Off-topic but ANYWAY, I'm indifferent to Moe. Momona though. Gosh I really dislike saying I don't like certain girls because I don't know them personally and they're all younger than I am and it's their dreams to do this job, but I really don't like Momona. They couldn't have picked a more horribly awkward girl for Angerme. She needed another year or two in the Kenshuusei in my opinion. I know that Maho was super awkward at first and she's amazing now, but Maho has a quality that drew me to her from the get go. Seeing Momona in official pictures makes me cringe because she is so out of place. I'm just somewhat disappointed in Angerme all around this year.
#10
Suki yo, Junjou Hankouki (2012) (-2)
#9
Aa Susukino (2014) (NEW)
#8
Ee ka?! (2013) (NEW)
#7
Mystery Night (2014) (-)
#6
Uchouten Love (2011) (-1)
#5
Smile Bijin (2010; from Ganbaranakutemo Eenende) (+1)
#4
Shin Nippon no Susume! (2013; from 2 Smile Sensation) (-)
I wish SKE hadn't only gotten two singles this year. As they're the second most senior group after AKB, they should get more releases tbh. And what happened to that album? Did management forget about it or something? SKE's really feeling pretty forgotten recently. Their first single this year, Chicken Line, was REALLY good. Now that's the type of song SKE pulls off the best. The music video was amazing too. The B-sides were largely forgettable, although Is That Your Secret was good. Kin no Ai the A-side was nice. The concept fit SKE even though the song was just ok. The B-sides though...is it just me or were they all the same song? Seriously, they all sounded so sameish and bland. The group also lost a lot of strong members in the past year. Aya Shibata leaving was certainly a downer. They really need to focus on the new girls and stop relying so much on Jurina cause the older established members are starting to drop like flies.
Ah NMB....they could be so awesome and they do have great moments, but fall flat so often. Was it only me that found NMB's releases this year bad? Amagami was ok at best & Boku wa Inai was sad. Their newest single sounds like it's going to be awesome, but it's too late in the year to really think about for this post. I also wish that there wasn't any "rapping". No one in 48G can rap so please, please stop it. They sound worse than the token K-pop rappers. I was right last year when I thought that the big members were going to begin to graduate with Miyuki leaving this year. I'm still guessing that Sayaka will at least announce hers next year. I think NMB will be fine without either girl, they just need to stop relying on Sayaka so much. Ririka makes a good center & this "Ayaka Yamamoto" girl (gosh when they saw her name they must've seen dollar signs) seems to be coming up so they have other options. Sayaka will still sell a bazillion handshakes whether she centers or not.
I think very few of my rankings changed from last year. Ouch NMB.
#10
Junjou U-19 (2011) (NEW)
#9
Ibiza Girl (2013; Sekai no Chuushin all versions) (+1)
#8
Renai Petenshi (2015; Don't Look Back (Type N) (-)
#7
Kitagawa Kenji (2012) (-1)
#6
Todokanasoude Todokumono (2013; Bokura no Eureka (Types A-C)(+1)
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
It actually freaks me out how long ago this was released. It's been five years already since this album. I remember being so excited that SNSD was releasing an English version of the song and releasing the album in the States. Thinking about it now, I actually cringe a bit at the over excitement over K-pop stuff. I'm thinking that every teen fan of K-pop goes through that phase. Personally, I'm just glad that I was older in high school before K-pop began to become a thing so I avoided most of the middle school-esque insane fangirling. Beyond that, this was the first SNSD album I owned. It was also the first SNSD comeback I had seen in K-pop. I had listened to some of SNSD's songs before, like Run Devil Run and Hoot, but I hadn't been a fan during an actual comeback period before. It was crazy seeing all the hype of the release. As for the album itself, I remember thinking it was awesome and how much I wanted it. Nowadays, I don't think it's aged super well. Most K-pop albums never do.
Track #1, The Boys
The big title track. I remember it being absolutely huge. I was obsessed with the song. It seemed like the biggest thing ever to come out of K-pop at the time. Now, I think this is their worst aged title track. I don't know if it's because I listened to it so much back then, or if it just truly has fallen apart with age, but I'd rather not listen to it again. The only lead singles I think are worse are their newest stuff. It just kinda has that sound where you can tell it was released a certain year in K-pop, much like 2NE1's older material feels. I guess that happens with genre defining groups and singles, they become representative of the time they were released and sound odd outside of that scope. 3.5/5.
Track #2, Telepathy
I think this is one of songs on the album that has held up the best. The music is lighthearted and not that kind of heavy, noisy K-pop sound from 2009-2011. It fact, I could see a group like DIA or Oh My Girl releasing this now. 4/5.
Track #3, Say Yes
This song pretty much typifies the K-pop album of this era. In my opinion, most K-pop albums from my earlier years knowing K-pop outside of 2-3 songs are pretty bad or boring. Like all of the effort was put on the title track and they just randomly chose some songs from a vault to stick on the rest of the CD. It's probably just me though. I've never been a fan of the overly flowery cutesy track sound like here. 3/5.
Track #4, Trick
This song really sounds like a remix of Hoot in the chorus. It has that sound that I was talking about with The Boys, but not as noisy. The verses are the main culprit of the noisiness but the chorus is still really nice today. 4/5.
Track #5, How Great Is Your Love
Yawn. Oh, sorry. I mean, this song is one of those slow, boring, K-pop ballads that are a dime a dozen. Listen to pretty much every K-pop album ever released and you'll find one. I guess it's well sung. I can say that. 2.5/5.
Track #6, My J
I'm resisting the urge to talk about Tomomi Itano's Dear J in this lol. This song is like How Great Is Your Love except in a different way. Just like the boring ballad, there's also almost always one of those "quirky" tracks that are weirdly sung that don't sound like they were supposed to be done that way but the were. That's this song. 2.5/5.
Track #7, Oscar
My absolutely favorite song on the album when I was in high school. I just thought it was so catchy and awesome. It hasn't held up as well as I wish it did, but I get really nostalgic listening to it. To me, it feels like a sister song of Super Junior's Opera. They have that same sound to them. 4/5.
Track #8, Top Secret
To be honest, I'm uncertain if I liked this one a lot after Oscar or if that was Telepathy. It's been a while since I've listened to this album. It's another Hoot sounding song, with the whole James Bond thing going on. Whether or not I liked this a lot years ago, it's certainly held up better than Oscar. 4/5.
Track #9, Lazy Girl (Dolce Far Niente)
I hated this song then, still hate it now. It's another My J situation with the way it's sung but worse. The way the very beginning of the song annoys me so much. It sounds like the voice you make when you're mocking someone. The rest of the song is so sugary sweet it's terrible. 2.5/5.
Track #10, Sunflower
Here's where the album has really started to fall off. Before the song started, I couldn't even remember anything about it either good or bad. When it started, I still couldn't remember it. It's just a extremely generic K-Pop ballad. Bland and boring. 3/5.
Track #11, Vitamin
This is another track that was also just sort of there when I was younger. Now, it's kind of catchy to me. It's not like "how did I miss this?!" but more like "hey this is better than I remember" is a cutesy song but not an annoying one. Kind of catchy. 3.5/5.
Track #12, Mr. Taxi (Korean Ver.)
So that's my thoughts on one of the albums that defined my last year of high school. If it seems I was hard on it, it's because I was. I tend to review things I find very nostalgic with a sharper edge than things that don't have that nostalgia factor for me. I believe I do it that way because I want to remember it the way it was five years ago, but it's not and never will be the same again. Wishful thinking I guess is a big part of it. 3.5/5.
I know, I know....I missed another day. I was doing so well with being on time for things (even having some things typed up early!). I will try not to fail for the few days I have left lol.
This pretty much covers any former group, subgroup, and soloist of HP/48G. So essentially none of the current main groups. Of course the vast majority of the list is Hello Project, mainly because I haven't heard much from the subgroups and soloists of 48G yet. They just have SO MANY songs to get through lol. The list was pretty difficult to come up with because of the massive amount of songs to pick from, but I think I like the way the list is. Maybe next year I'll have more 48G representation.
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 Berryz. One of the first J-pop groups I was ever introduced to and one of the first J-pop group disbandments I've witnessed. I've decided to include them in my countdown this year as they were still a group in the beginning of this year and I think it's only fair to mention them. The fact that it's been almost a year since their end is mindblowing.
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?
Of course this includes S/mileage as well lol. Angerme's had an okay year I guess. I feel like I'm in the minority in that I don't think Angerme's been all that mindblowing this year as everyone keeps saying (to be honest H!P in general has been on a downturn). They haven't released anything bad (except maybe Desugita....there's only so much shouty attempts at "singing" a "metal" song that I can take before turning it off), but nothing beyond one or two songs have been amazing in my opinion.
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. :(
It actually wasn't as difficult to come up with the SKE list as I thought it would be lol. I didn't realize I had a pretty set top 10 with SKE. Like before, some videos are linked instead of embedded and some may need a proxy to view.
Now it's NMB's turn! Even though I vastly prefer NMB to HKT, it was MUCH harder to come up with a top ten. With NMB, the problem isn't that they don't have enough songs I enjoy, it's that besides the top 3-4 I really don't know how to rank them lol. It's going to be really incredibly difficult from here on out because of the sheer about of material SKE & AKB have lol.
Hey everyone! I'm in the middle of papers & tests galore but came up with a fun idea that I'd like to do. So for every day up until Christmas (I will try my best to be on time lol), I will post a new "Top" list. They're going to be a variety of different topics in music so I hope people find them interesting and maybe find a new song to love! I won't do any kind of "review" or commentary on any of them (because I'll never get through them xD). Today's topic is my top 10 K-pop song of all time. Enjoy!
#10: Oh My Girl - Closer (2015)
#9: f(x) - Beautiful Stranger (2012)
#8: Wonder Girls - I Feel You (2015)
#7: Nine Muses - News (2012)
#6: After School - Dressing Room (2013)
#5: Shinee - Sherlock (2013)
#4: Girls' Generation - Into The New World (2007)
#3: Chocolat - I Like It (2011)
#2: Swan.B - Be All Right (2011)
#1: Orange Caramel - Bangkok City (2011)
So that's my list! What's your favorite K-pop songs of all time?
To everyone in the States: Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! Enjoy the day off if you have it :)
Track #1: Clique Girlz - Never Gonna Fly
So this is something completely different than what I've put up before. The Clique Girlz were a three member preteen girl group that released only one album (and only in Japan) before disbanding. Some people may have heard of Destinee & Paris, a spinoff group from this featuring the sisters. I was obsessed with this group when I was younger and even today a lot of their songs have held up really well despite being very "teenybopper" Disney stuff. This song in particular is my absolute favorite of theirs. Imagine something Hannah Montana would have sung and that's really what you can expect from the song, but don't let that turn you off. Hannah Montana had some great songs lol.
Track #2: Dalmatian - Lost In Love
Dalmatian is currently DTMN (if they still exist because idk lol). They were known as Dalmatian before switching companies. Of all of their songs, I consider this their best track. It's also one of the best K-pop songs ever released by a male group. It's such a tragedy that it was doomed to be an album track on something that would go out of print. It's a sweet midtempo track with great vocals and catchy beats.
Track #3: David Cook - Bar-Ba-Sol
Much like the Clique Girlz song, this is a bit different than what I usually post here. Some might know David Cook as one of the winners of American Idol. I've said many times before that I don't care for rock music much so it might be surprising that this is a rock song. Or, well, the most rock song there is on a pop rock album by an American Idol alum.
It is very very rare anymore for me to find a new super unknown kpop group that I like a song for. While K-pop in general has been truly much better this year than the past two, the new unknown groups still aren't standing out like they used to. Which is why I was very surprised when I heard this song in a music countdown from a YouTuber I subscribe to. Unforuntely, I don't really know anything about the group. I honestly don't even know if I have the track name 100% right. Their name makes it nearly impossible to find anything in English, and I don't understand Korean well enough to go digging through Korean webpages. If anyone does know anything about them, please comment! The song is a K-pop EDM track that strongly resembles the style that T-ara had been doing with Sugar Free.
Track #2: S/mileage - Smile Bijin
This song was the B-side to S/mileage's second major label single, Ganbaranakutemo Eenende. I chose to put this song up because of it's striking difference in style compared to their other songs from their early career. Instead of being over the top cutesy with high pitched vocals, it sounds a lot like something early C-ute would have done. It's certainly not a song to look over in their discography.
Track #3: Gangkiz - Tonight
Gangkiz was a K-pop group that debuted in 2012 under the same company as T-ara. Unforuntely, they did not last past their first release and disbanded. I'm uncertain how much attention they actually received when they released their only mini album, but I remember when I came across this song in particular. I hadn't cared for their title track and was floored by this track after I had practically written off the group. It's unfortunate that they never were able to release anything else. The song is a electro-tinged midtempo track.
I've actually never listened to this album the whole way through. At least I don't think I have. I find that odd since it contains some of my favorite tracks ever released by Selena. I'm hoping to find some other songs of the same quality for her final album with The Scene.
Track #1, Love You Like A Love Song: For some reason I kept thinking this was on A Year Without Rain. I was very confused when I started to do that post & this wasn't on the track list. I associate this album with songs like Hit The Lights which are more mainstream dance pop while this sounds like a continuation of Naturally and A Year Without Rain. That's a good thing though. Undoubtedly the best single of her career, I really feel like this song helped to bring her to some public attention for her music. 5/5
Track #2, Bang Bang Bang: It's crazy how great this style works for Selena. I don't know what the heck she is thinking going in the direction that she is with her new single. She can do whatever the heck she wants, but gosh she has such a winning formula with the dance pop stuff. I find the song pretty lyrically immature, but the music of the song saves it. It's probably closer to synthpop than electropop or dance pop. Stylistically, it's close to Love You Like A Love Song which made it an ideal candidate to be a pre-release single. 4.5/5.
Track #3, Who Says: So a funny story about this song. A friend of mine didn't like Selena at all. Like she would mention it whenever she saw her on TV. About a year or so after this came out, she sent me a message about it and how she liked it. Coming into the present, she really likes Selena's music. I've always found that amusing lol. For me, it's not one of my favorites from her. It's okay, I'm just not that into pure pop/pop rock songs anymore. The content of the song is good though. 3.5/5.
Track #4, We Own The Night (ft. Pixie Lott): As a fan of Pixie Lott's music, I had been very excited to hear their collaboration when I saw the tracklist. The song is unfortunately such a let down. It's more pop rock (which is closer to Pixie's style at the time) and it sounds strange coming right after Love Song & Bang. Beyond that, the chorus goes nowhere. It's so flat and lifeless. Pixie's vocals in the song are pointless as well because you can barely hear her in anything over Selena's vocals. 3/5.
Track #5, Hit The Lights: Even though I love her Stars Dance album, this is my absolute favorite Selena song. There really isn't anything super special about it that makes it stand out. It's just a standard dance pop song like everything that you could hear on the radio from like 2010-2012. It just hits me in a way that none of her other songs do. 5/5.
Track #6, Whiplash: Another of my favorite Selena songs. It sounds so much like something Britney would do, but unlike the track before that sounds like Katy, this works. It's like if Toxic was done for Blackout instead of earlier. I swear this is what Toxic would have sounded closer to. Should've been a single. 5/5.
Track #7, When The Sun Goes Down: I had big expectations for this song because the title reminded me a lot of Stars Dance which is one of my favorite songs by her. I don't know what possessed me to think I could be excited over a song by a title. I don't really care for this song. This is something Katy Perry should have done and doesn't suit Selena at all. 3/5.
Track #8, My Dilemma: I guess there had to be a Disney-esque track on the album didn't there (I don't count Who Says as Disney-esque since most pop stars were on that whole "love yourself" train a few years ago.) I don't hate Disney music, in fact quite the opposite, it's just weird when the singles of an album are trying to say "I'm trying to be mature!" but then there's songs on the album that sound like Kiss & Tell. Even though this song doesn't mesh with the album concept well, I like it. It's a catchy tune. 4/5.
Track #9, That's More Like It: Ah. Perhaps I spoke too soon with track #7. This is way more Kiss & Tell. In fact, My Dilemma is much more mature than this. The "make my dinner, bring it to me" line is so cringy. Yikes...spoke too soon again. The bridge is even worse. 3/5.
Track #10, Outlaw: The verses of this song are so promising. They are along the lines of Hit the Lights & Whiplash. Unfortunately, the chorus and bridge fall so flat in comparison. They're just absolutely lifeless. 3.5/5.
Track #11, Middle Of Nowhere: The most disappointing thing about this album is that in a lot of the songs, the verses are so good but the choruses just fall flat or change style too much. This song is just another example of that. It's verses are like a tamer Whiplash, yet the chorus is Kiss & Tell. It's disappointing. 3.5/5.
Track #12, Dices: The Spanish version of Who Says.
I really don't care a whole lot for this album. The songs I like from it are fantastic, but the album as a whole is very average. I was expecting more due to my love for some of the songs on the album. 4/5.
I'm sure everyone's sick of all my posting recently lol. The reason I'm posting SO MUCH STUFF is because my semester ended and I have a week off from work so I'm using this time to catch up on my list of things to be reviewed.
I still find it strange that Berryz is actually gone. I knew it was coming before the announcement and I wasn't emotional when they left, but the fact that they're not there anymore is such a weird feeling. I'm glad that they're all doing what they want to though. I heard that Miyabi was thinking of putting together a group of her own much like Reina has with Lovendor. I think that's pretty cool.
The title track for this single is Aa, Yo ga Akeru. This single has always ranked fairly low among Berryz's releases for me. When it was released, I knew who Berryz were, but I really only cared about Morning Musume. Actually, when I saw the video, I was like "why are they dressed in nightgowns they look stupid." The Berryz I had known were the ones who released Special Generation and them suddenly being adults threw me off (it hadn't really clicked in my head that they had been a group for YEARS before hand yet), so I wasn't too impressed with them "all of a sudden" doing something "sexy". Coming forward to now, I still think it's one of my least favorite Berryz singles. The disco-ish/EDM-ish beat in the chorus is nice, but as a whole the song almost feels like it doesn't flow well. All of the adlibs from Miyabi in the bridge don't help it's case either. She can sing wonderfully, but it just doesn't work in the song. The video is still weird for me to watch. Sometimes it's hard to shake first impressions. What I do like with the video is the sets. I think this is what H!P had been missing (and are starting to work back in). Quality settings. Because let's face it, it's not like H!P is the only company that does dance shot + closeups. It's not that uncommon. H!P's problem is they have crappy set design. Country Girl's MVs were a step in the right direction. 3.5/5.
The B-side of this single is Otona ni wa Naritakunai Hayaku Otona ni Naritai. Really long title lol. I think this should have been the title track. It fits with the more "cool" song theme they were going for at this time. It would've made a great follow up to Ai no Dangan. It's got that electro-ish/rock sound. 4.5/5.
Although this isn't one of my favorite Berryz singles, it does have its positives. 4/5.
