Tuesday, March 3, 2009

»» This week in singles

So far, I've downloaded 3 singles that are going to be released tomorrow: AKB48's 10nen Sakura, Yuna Ito's trust you, and ARASHI's Believe / Kumori Nochi, Kaisei. I'm not a huge fan of any of those three acts, so I think I can be fairly impartial about these releases.

First off, AKB48. I'm not familiar with them at all. I always knew they existed, but had never tried any of their music. I must say 10nen Sakura didn't dissapoint me at all. The song is very happy and fun, and I love the pitch changes in it. The girls sound decent (though I have no idea who's singing this. There are 48 of them, and I don't know a single one.) and the chorus is a real explosion of fun! The bridge is absolutely catchy. I might check their previous works very soon, really. The b-side, Sakura Ito no Sora no Shita de continues the sakura concept, and is very sweet, with a nice and well-thought melody, though a bit generic.

Now, on to Yuna Ito. Yuna Ito has many awesome ballads under her belt. ENDLESS STORY, Precious, Faith, Truth, you name it. They're all terrific. That's exactly why trust you doesn't stand out. If if was released by any other singer, it would be an epic ballad. But Yuna Ito has the brightest background when it comes to ballads. She is made of epic ballads. trust you isn't one. On the bright side, if you try to forget about all those other amazing songs, or if you're a new fan, this works very well, it's still pretty good. Brand New World, the b-side, is a bit lackluster. She's been trying this new "groovy" sound since her preview single Koi wa groovy x2 (which was great), and it worked pretty well back then, but this time it feels like trying a bit too hard. It's quite generic and sounds like everything that's been done before. The Koi wa groovy x2 remix in the single is very cool and really gives the song a new feeling, kind of a little samba thing or something. I like it :) The single is consistent, and I really wish her the best of luck. Her sales are dropping reaaaaaaaaaally fast. Koi wa groovy x2, for example, was a great song and sold 5k. Really sad. I really hope she can pick it back up.

I'm not a big fan of ARASHI. In fact, I think they're terribly overrated. They've been around for 10 years, and the only decent song from them I've ever heard is truth. Still, they sell like crazy. Believe is the second decent song from them I've ever heard. It's a great pop song, very catchy, fast chorus, and somehow stands out. It's formulaic, but at the same time it's not. This is really a great effort. Vocals are as good as JE goes. One of them sounds a bit off, but I have absolutely no idea which one. I don't even know their names, really xD Kumori Nochi, Kaisei is the second a-side song. It's got a feel-good feeling, with little piano riffs (not played on a real piano, but still), and a "friendly" melody. This is the kind of song you sing in the end of your concert, right after the encore emotional ballad. It's pretty fun, but doesn't really stand out. Is it sung by only one member of the group, or do they all sound similar? Tobira is the b-side song. It's another happy song. It's a huge filler, so many singers have sung this exact same song in the past. It's still enjoyable if you're not paying too much attention to it, though.

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by Sairo!