Tag Archives: J-pop

Nakashima Mika – Nagareboshi Review

17 Nov

Today, I’m starting something new on this blog by actively reviewing songs, albums, singles and releases. Hopefully I’ll also have time to review other things, such as movies, television shows, books and videogames. I hope to strike a nice little balance between news, personal musings and reviews. Wish me luck! Please also feel free to leave me feedback about my reviews; it’d be greatly appreciated.

For the first review, I’m going to review Nakashima Mika’s Nagareboshi (translated as Shooting Star).

中島美嘉 – 流れ星
2009.11.04

1. 流れ星
2. Memory feat. DAISHI DANCE
3. 流れ星 (Instrumental)
4. Memory feat. DAISHI DANCE (Instrumental)

Mika’s new song continues to to show her love of soul music. The song has a great soulful vibe, helped by her mellow vocals. Mika seems most comfortable singing songs with an r and b or jazz touch to them. When I first became interested in Mika’s music, I loved her distinctive soulful voice combined with pop melodies. But nowadays as her music as progressed and I’ve come to appreciate so much in the music I hear, it is her more jazz orientated releases that I find coming back to time and time again. The best quality about Mika’s work is that her voice soothes you like the sweet smell of spiced apples in Winter time. This song is no exception. In fact, the production values, complete with bells and shimmering noises make this a great Winter song. Listen to it as you walk down the dark street and you’ll definitely feel warmer.

The b-side is another DAISHI DANCE production, Memory, following on from 2008’s SAKURA ~Hanasugami~. Memory is actually taken from DAISHI DANCE’s latest album, Spectacle. It’s quite a nice little electro-pop song, although it’s not electro-pop like Lady Gaga or Black Eyed Peas. It’s more kind of… late 90s Ibiza trance music. Lots of piano. I actually quite like it though, the melody is very simple yet really endearing. Something about the simplicity I guess. Mika sings in English for the entirety of the song which is a pleasant surprise. She’s by no means perfect at it, but kudos for trying. The song reminds me a little of Lumines era Nobuchika Eri.

The PV for Nagareboshi is very emotive. Scenes of Mika are cut with scenes of a woman travelling on a train. Mika looks beautiful in a gorgeous dress whilst she swings at night-time. I’m not sure why, but she looks pretty all the same. The actress on the train is very good and you really get quite emotional as you watch her. It’s all rather voyeuristic, but interesting nonetheless. The single sleeve is also pretty; I think Mika looks amazing in her dress. I don’t know who the designer is, but it’s very cool.

Overall, this is a pretty nice little release, it’s not going to set the charts on fire (it hasn’t, it debuted on the weekly Oricon charts at number 10; which is still a pretty good success). I think Mika might have lost something along the way… I’m not sure what, I can’t explain it. Actually, perhaps it’s the fact that she’s making music that she wants to in the way that she wants to, but this just might not be commercial enough.

Rating – 6/10 peaches.

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Utada – In The Flesh Tour

16 Nov

By now, if you’re a fan of Utada Hikaru then you’ve definitely heard about her upcoming US & UK promo tour. I have no idea why she’s doing it, probably trying to raise publicity of her second album, This Is The One and rumoured second single, Dirty Desire. I am beyond amazed because she’s going to be perform one date in the UK and I’ve got tickets! I’m soooooooooooo happy I could cry. My wonderful boyfriend managed to get us tickets because sadly I was out of the country. All the tickets sold out in a few hours – I think people all over Europe are going (which I think is slightly unfair, but nevermind). I’m so amazed that she’s coming here! This has been one of my life’s dreams for so so long. I’ve been a fan of Utada for almost 10 years now – that’s half my life. I love her so so so much. She’s my favourite artist of all time, she sings my favourite song of all time and just argh! I just can’t quite believe it. Boyfriend laughed when he said I might cry when I see her, but I don’t care!

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BoA – まもりたい ~White Wishes~ (Mamoritai ~White Wishes~)

2 Nov

BoA is back with yet another J-pop song! Such a quick turn around from her USA promotions. This time, as I blogged about earlier, she’s back with the image song for the new Tales of game. It’s a pretty sweet pop song. She’s releasing it in time for Christmas, so I’m guessing that there’ll also be a Christmas themed song as a B-side. The song is starting to grow on me actually, it’s pretty cool. I have to say that BUMP BUMP was one of my favourite BoA songs in a wee while so it’s nice that she’s following it up with something slightly different. BoA is pretty awesome, she continues to evolve the stye and direction of her music and isn’t afraid to take risks. The PV is pretty simple, but it fits with the song well :) Enjoy~

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Younha – 好きなんだ (Sukinanda)

2 Nov

Younha is one of my favourite Asian pop-rock singers. It’s easy to forget that Asian countries like a bit of guitars too, what with all the super polished pop groups bouncing around on stage. Younha has a beautiful voice and writes really sweet songs that are just as catchy. She originally debuted in Japan with a hit before getting great acclaim in her native Korea. Now she’s finally back with another J-pop song, Sukinanda. I quite like it. She is definitely going for the sweet, cute vibe. It’s quite a summery song, so maybe a slower song would suit the time of year better, but I still like it.

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鬼束ちひろ (Onitsuka Chihiro) – everyhome

23 Oct

I’m going to do something a little bit different a post a video from a couple of years ago. Chihiro Onitsuka is something slightly different in the J-pop world. To be honest, I’m not an avid fan but I do love this song. She sings with such emotion it’s hard not to be moved. She has a tone to her voice not oft found in Japanese music, it’s very soulful and bluesy. I love it.

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BoA – White Wishes

20 Oct

The image song for the new Tales of game is BoA’s White Wishes! I quite like it… it reminds me of BoA circa Best of Seoul. I like how BoA can be modern without losing her ‘sound’. She also sounds very pretty on the track. The video’s not been released yet but it remains to be seen whether there will be a video or not. I guess Namco are following on from Squenix’s take on image song (having also employed BONNIE PINK for a previous release).

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BoA – BUMP BUMP! (feat VERBAL (m-flo))

5 Oct

If you read my blog (who am I kidding, no one read this thing!) then you know I’m quite a bit fan of BoA! I’ve liked her for almost 6 years (I think?) and she is definitely one of my favourite artists. She seems to winding down her American promotions and is returning to Japan! I think she makes her best music in Japan, not to knock Korea, China or the USA, but I just prefer it. I don’t know why, maybe avex is just a very smart record label. Anyways, BUMP BUMP! is her new single and it kind of reminds me of… Do The Motion mixed with Eien and a little bit of Sweet Impact thrown in for good measure. It also reminds me a bit of Beyonce’s Crazy in Love and Amerie’s 1 Thing with the trumpet hook (I wonder if it was produced by the same person)… I really like it! Hope it does well!

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alan – 久遠の河

25 Sep

So… if you’re interested in Chinese/Asian cinema, like me, you will no doubt have heard about the epic Chi Bi (or Red Cliff). It’s a 2 part, 4 hour long film based on the period of Chinese history known as the Three Kingdoms. It features some of China’s finest actors and actresses and is meant to be really epic. I guess it’s a bit like Gladiator or something. I love Chinese history, not just because I’m half-Chinese but it’s so amazingly interesting and had so many amazing wonders. A lot of the time the Eurocentric West fails to respect Chinese and Asian historic legacies, and instead treats them as mere curiousities of the Orient.

alan is a Chinese/Tibetan singer who focuses mainly on the J-pop scene. I’ve heard of her before, most likely because he name sounds so silly being a male English name, but I’ve never actually heard her sing before. When I found out she sang the theme songs for Chi Bi I just had to listen! I was pleasantly surprised. You can tell their theme songs, but still really good! Also, her single ranked number 3 on the Oricon Weekly chart, the highest place ever for a Chinese singer in Japan. I think this is great news and shows that Asian countries are starting to become more open and accepting.

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Oricon Weekly Charts

23 Sep

1. Koda Kumi (倖田來未) – Alive / Physical Thing
2. °C-ute – EVERYDAY Zekkouchou!! (EVERYDAY 絶好調!!)
3. Shibasaki Kou (柴咲コウ) – lover soul (ラバソー)
4. Hikawa Kiyoshi (氷川 きよし) – Tokimeki no Rumba (ときめきのルンバ)
5. B’z – Ichibu to Zenbu / DIVE (イチブトゼンブ / DIVE)
6. Cocco – Cocco-san no Daidokoro CD (こっこさんの台所 CD)
7. Angela Aki (アンジェラ・アキ) – Ai no Kisetsu (愛の季節)
8. DREAMS COME TRUE feat. FUZZY CONTROL – Sono Saki e (その先へ)
9. Domoto Tsuyoshi (堂本剛) – RAIN
10. Porno Graffitti – Kono Mune wo, Ai wo Sasu yo (この胸を、愛を射よ)

So that’s this week’s Oricon Weekly. I’m not really surprised by anything there. I’m really happy for Angela Akisan, because <3. It's definitely great to see that she can still chart in the top 10 of Oricon after all this time! Maybe she will be able to have a long career. I never would have thought it though with her style of music being very middle of the road. I'm a little surprised Kumi is number 1, mainly because I don't think the songs are her best, but I guess that's just how the cookie crumbles :)

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Mika Nakashima – Candy Girl

17 Sep

Mika Nakashima is releasing a new song at the end of the month called Candy Girl. No PV yet, but the audio sounds pretty cool! It reminds me a bit of Pixie Lott… I’m not sure if that’s good or bad?

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