I can't tell you how pleased I am!
The 11th generation audition has officially delivered what it promised to deliver! Sakura is a very talented young girl who i can tell will become an incredible force in the future. While she seems, at the moment, shy when she isn't performing I am not really worried about that as girls like Riho, Fukuchan, Eripon and Masaki have all managed to come out of their shell and develop a character. But hey, since people are already declaring her as a new (but much less fidgety and nervous looking) Aichan maybe that her shy nature is something that will be moulded but not removed. I try not to jump to conclusions but she will make a great front-runner alongside Riho once Reina says tatty bye. All the best lead duos have had a strong contrast. I predict Sakura will be the Nacchi to Riho's Goto, or the Ai to Riho's Reina.
So, Morning Musume have just released their new album '13 Colourful Character' and after last years very enjoyable, if oddly titled, '12 Smart' I was hoping for something of the same standard. And while this new album is by no means bad, it does not excite me like the last did. At the moment it sits around the middle of my album ranking along with the likes of 'Rainbow 7' and 'First time'. If anyone is curious I would classify albums 2,4,9,10 and 12 as favourites, 1,7,8 and 11 as good but rather "meh" in the grand scale of things and the remainder (3,5 and 6) as albums that have good tracks on them but don't work as a single entity.
The regular edition cover is one i reckon looks better in the flesh (well, plastic) . . .
The limited edition cover meanwhile, is actually one of my favourite Momusu album covers ever.
The album opens with the recent single 'One.Two.Three' which makes sense, given the song's success. It then moves on the the brilliant 'What's Up! Ai wa Dou na no yo' which is an infectious blend of all the things I love about the group recently before arriving at 'Be Alive' which I guess you could regard as this album's 'Loving You Forever' or 'Seishun Collection'. The melody is uplifting and in a way nostalgic but i feel something more could've been done with the arrangement. We then get to hear Sayu's solo song 'Lalala no Bibibi' which is cute and generally ear-pleasing if a bit of a rehash of last year's 'Suki da na Kimi ga'. This is followed by 'Dokkan Capriccio' which is frantic, full of 'crowd noises', and very similar in style to the 2011 album track 'Ok Yeah'. I won't dwell on 'The Mantenrou Show' as it feels we can't get away from it lately . . . So, moving on. While it's nice to hear the non RR member's voices a bit more 'Zero Kara Hajimeru Seishun' is a wee bit of a snooze fest. 'Renai Hunter' is still great and 'Chikyuu ga Naiteru' is not quite what I expected from the title but is passable and some of the vocal melodies in the verses are good fun. I do however feel that we could've done with something slightly less hyper from this particular track. Reina's solo 'Namida Itteki' is in fact very interesting. Despite the r&b styled beats the melody is very 'Japanese' in style and feels like it could've been written decades ago. The 9th and 10th gen song 'Waratte You' is perfectly pleasant but not particularly remarkable and well, 'Pyoko Pyoko Ultra' . . . is best forgotten.
In conclusion, 'What's Up! Ai wa dou na no yo', 'Lalala no Bibibi' and 'Namida Itteki' are where it's at in terms of new tracks and they are the ones you should be skipping off to itunes to purchase!
The past week or so has been fairly exciting, with new music from three of the Hello! Project groups. (Well, there has also been a radio preview of C-ute's new single but it was too short to tell anything from really.)
First up is S/mileage's 'Suki yo, Junjou Hankouki'.
I have too admit, I loved this song as soon as I heard the concert rip. The 'Suki yo, suki yo, suki yo' part of the chorus is just too infectious! The costumes, that we saw way back, are somewhat unrelated to the song but, hey, they are a cute pointer towards the current Olympics. The choreography is actually pretty decent but I think S/mileage have always been fairly fortunate as far as routines go. Also, the main set seems, to me, what High King's 'Cinderella/Complex' should have been. The set is similar in terms of lighting and colour palette to that of 'C/C' but is much larger than that of the former, allowing the dance routine to flow and not seem overcrowded. The lighting of some of the close-ups is, in my opinion, a bit too wishy-washy but all in all I would say that this was a successful music video for a great little song. This also is the first single where I feel the 2nd generation members are placed on the same 'tier' so to speak, as Dawa and Kanyon. I also really appreciate this amount of spotlight on Rina. She is a lovely girl with a sweet voice and it's about time she got to rock some more solos!
Next is two new songs from the upcoming Morning Musume album '13 Colourful Character' that are also being used as audition songs.
First off, Reina's trousers are mightily distracting! Also, I noticed that Sayumi actually dances very well these days.
The song, titled 'WHAT'S UP? Ai wa douna no yo~ is interesting and experimental. Just in this short clip we already have great synths, rap and speech like lines. It really is something. Opening song?
Part of me wants to know who that is on the chorus now that Ai 'chorus voice' Takahashi is no longer in the group. Whoever it is has done a fine job.
The dance has a sort of 'The Peace'-like move at the beginning and other parts remind me of a much more technically demanding 'Kiiroi Osora de BOOM BOOM BOOM'. I am really looking forward to seeing this one live.
The other song is 'Be Alive', a warming ballad. It is a very nice, while not being terribly innovative, song that really sings out 'Morning Musume'. The vocals actually sound fairly pleasant, especially considering that this is now a rather inexperienced group. Overall, I think this creates a rather good impression of the new Momusu.
Last but in no way least is Buono! with 'Never gonna stop!' from their upcoming mini-album 'Sherbet'.
I always like Buono songs but at times I thought some of them were just a bit too musically similar for my tastes, probably due to them being pigeonholed into the sort of pop/rock sound. Of course songs like 'Partenza let's go' were amazing breaths of fresh air and I think that while not going such an extreme again Buono has retained a certain variety this year with 'Hatsukoi Cider', 'DEEP MIND' and now 'Never gonna stop!' all being very differently styled and I really appreciate that.
This time they have gone with a very optimistic and bright style however the vocals and parts of the instrumental have a much heavier edge making this song very fun to listen to.
The music video is very sweet and I love how they included footage from the concert in France as it just shows how far Buono have come as a group and just how they are 'Never gonna stop!'.
I have created a new blog named 'is this love' that will cover a broader range of Japanese pop than the H!P focused 'THE Blogpower'. I will of course continue to write on THE Blogpower as usual.
Just the other day, the music video for Berryz Koubou's latest single 'Cha Cha SING' was released.
When I first heard a radio-rip of the song (a cover of a popular Thai song 'Row Mah Sing') I thought it was just plain odd but now, seeing the video, I love it! The tune is insanely catchy and the girls sound great. We should be able to keep this perfect line distribution forever.
The video, while simple, works well. The costumes, dance and set operate around a common theme and really help the viewer to create an image of the song.
I would say that this is looking to be a success for the Berryz.
In other news, Morning Musume's new single 'One.Two.Three/The Mantenrou Show' has sold just over 100,000 copies in it's first week, making it the first single to do so since 'Koko ni Iruzee' back in 2002.
The MV for 'Chou HAPPY SONG', a mash up of the Berryz Koubou album track 'Because Happiness' and the C-ute album cut 'Shiawase no Tochuu', has been uploaded to the official Mobekimasu channel.
Personally, I feel that this is a much better release and is undeniably more interesting than that lame graduation song Berikyuu released last November (talk about weird timing). I've got to give the thumbs up to Tsunku for this one for coming up with such an intriguing idea and for writing the 2/3 songs well. Also, I am pleased with the decision to release it as an actual physical single.
Now, onto the MV.
Although it is simple I found this MV a brilliant watch as it was just great fun from start to finish. It also helped that the oufits are rather cute.
The video starts off with Momoko and Airi taking their respective groups album and playing them in the cd player. Rather clever, I thought.
There are many scenes in the middle a bit like this one. C-uteness overload. Actually watching the whole video, Risako really is getting the girls.
The girls change outfits near the end of the video and reappear in these ones that spell out the name of the song.
This shot wraps up the MV nicely.
Overall, I think that this is a great release for the Berryz and C-ute girls and admire how it was executed. A great way to commemorate their 10 year anniversary.
The regular edition of the single can be bought here:
Just recently I was thinking about how much of a great idol Mano Erina is. There is something about her and her style that fuses all the best bits of older 'classic' idols and the idols of today (the so-called warring idols period).
I first saw this new MV for her new single 'Song for the Date' about a week ago after it was streamed on NicoNico. However, since there seemed to be something weird with the balance on the youtube upload of this streaming, I decided to hold off until the full video was released on Mano's official channel. And now it is!
The video is very interesting and is one of the best h!p videos I have seen, well, ever.
The storyline is intriguing, the colour palette effective, the cinematography good. What's not to like?
Add that to the fact that this is a good song sang by a great idol and we have one of the most well rounded h!p releases so far this year. And another bonus is that the covers are fairly bearable.
The Limited A cover is my personal favourite
Overall, another success for for Mano Erina as she performs a hat-trick with 'My Days For You', 'Doki Doki Baby / Tasogare Kousaten' and now 'Song for the Date'.
