S/mileage's great winter single 'Samui ne'

I have never really been too much of a S/mileage fan. I liked plenty of their songs, and the girls were all good fun but as a group I always regarded them as a little too balanced if that makes any sense. All 4 original members were on a fairly level playing ground in terms of talent and personality and the even number of members meant a set formation was difficult to have.

 After the dramatic line-up changes last year I was slightly worried about the group and if it would work but with the fantastic singles 'Suki yo Junjou Hankouki' and now 'Samui ne' I wonder why I ever doubted the new S/mileage at all. These songs are among the group's best in my opinion and although the S/mileage girls aren't the best performers in H!P they are now one of the most diverse groups and I hope that they can regain that possible success that we saw with the earlier line up.

 

Anyway, back to the single.

The song itself a great, fairly mellow, slightly 'turn of the century' styled affair that utilises synths and piano to create a intriguing sound. 

The video is also fairly pleasing with surprisingly decent use of lighting that manages to integrate the typically S/mileage outfits into the more mature song. Comparisons with C-ute's 'Aitai Lonely Christmas' are easily made but that video was also rather good so I won't be complaining!

In Conclusion, this is a very good release and has become the first S/mileage release I have bought the physical copy of. If that's not a good sign, I don't know what is!