[album] Koda Kumi – UNIVERSE

UNIVERSE, released on 2.03.10, is Koda Kumi’s 8th album. It is released as “BEST -third universe- & 8th AL Universe” with her 5th best album and is disc 2 of the release.

[single] Tohoshinki – BREAK OUT!

BREAK OUT!, released on 1.27.10, is Tohoshinki’s 29th single. BREAK OUT! was used as the theme song for drama Tomehane!.

The title track 「BREAK OUT!」 is a neat synthesized track. Yoochun starts with “I keep praying, don’t forget it, baby we keep the faith eternally” which is a message about the (still!) ongoing court case between Yoochun-Junsu-Jaejoong. The verses are sung strongly and with a cool attitude as they go into an autotuned chorus, “BREAK OUT! BREAK OUT!” The third verse quiets things down as Yunho sings his solo very well, going back wonderfully into the last choruses. Autotuned vocals is something new for them, but it fits in nicely with the instrumental.

「XIAHTIC (JUNSU from TOHOSHINKI)」 is the Japanese version of Junsu’s solo song that he performed during their MIROTIC tour. It’s a very hot dance track with a simple, but seductive instrumental. Junsu doesn’t sing very loudly, but enough to sound like a heated whisper, which adds more to the atmosphere for the song. The original Korean version had featured Key (SHINee) rapping in the song, but sadly, it isn’t included here so there is an awkwardness in the instrumental’s silence where the rapping was. Still, this is a great track, though I like the Korean version just a bit more.

「BREAK OUT! -New Jack Swing Mix-」, like its name, is a Jack Swing mix of the song. It slows down the original vocals a bit, but I like the original version more for its fast-paced beat and instrumental.

A PV was made for BREAK OUT! Sadly, there are no group-shot scenes, only solo shots. The PV takes place in what looks like dark alleyways and other scenes with one of the members surrounded by five dancers in the “dark open air”. The whole PV is dark and has that creepy feel to it (there is one scene as Jae is walking that arms shoot out to grab him), which, whether purposely or not, adds to the fact that this song is about their current situation as well.

It’s been a long time since the group has released a group single and the first after the court case, too. While I’m saddened by that fact, this is a great single nonetheless. BREAK OUT! is interesting and definitely has a different feel than other Tohoshinki songs while Junsu brings his solo XIAHTIC to the Japanese music scene. Hope things get resolved, because really, it’s been too long already.

[mini-album] 2AM – Can’t Let You Go, Even If I Die

Can’t Let You Go, Even If I Die, released on 1.21.10, is 2AM’s first mini-album.

「Intro」 is very grand and Final Fantasy-like (my first thought about it really) and opens up the album really nicely as the boys sing the opening lines of the next song over and over again.

The real jewel of this album is definitely 「죽어도 못 보내 (Can’t Let You Go, Even If I Die)」. A sad love ballad, the boys sing of not being able to let go of the person they love. Jinwoon and Seulong are the ones in charge of the verses (sob, I wanted Jokwon or Changmin to have solo parts so I can hear their singing potentials, but I’m not going to complain since Jinwoon and Seulong both have very good voices) as they lead nicely into the chorus, which starts immediately with “I can’t let you go even if I die”, which provides a very haunting feel to it. I really like how at the end of the third verse, Changmin sings a lone “I can’t let you go even if I die,” as the instrumental goes silent, before coming back again for the final chorus.

Next is 「웃어 줄 수가 없어서 미안하다 (I’m Sorry I Can’t Laugh for You)」 which starts with two voices, male and female, as they say “hae oh chi cha (not sure what this means)” before the boys enter as singing with a sweet acoustic guitar instrumental. Although the title of the song sounds a bit sad, the song is bright as the boys sing with great vocals (really really love their vocals here.)

「I Love You (feat. 백찬, 주희 (Baek Chan, Joo Hee) of 8eight)」 is a neat R&B track with the boys’ singing with wonderful vocals along to the beat of the music. The chorus is cute as well, as they sing “I love you (I love you), I need you (I need you).” Overall the song is a really cute love song.

Chansung brings 2PM’s “beastliness” to 2AM with 「그녀에게 (To Her) (feat. 찬성 of 2PM)」 as he raps in the opening. There is a short pause, before the 2AM boys come in, with slight autotune used. This song has some techno elements to it, but is something different for 2AM, which is good. Chansung adds a certain attitude to the song with his rap and it makes the song all the more better. The ending is really haunting, as a voice (almost makes me want to believe it’s Jokwon) sings a long ending note.

The album ends with 「웃는다 (Laughter; Outro)」, which gradually grows in volume as 2AM speaks (I’ll try to find the translation, but for now, I have no idea what the heck they’re saying XD) and whispers are heard. The outro, as if to echo the ending to To Her, also sounds a bit haunting.

This is my first time listening to 2AM and I LOVE them so far. This mini-album is amazing and it’s a rarity for me to like all the songs in a release which happened here. I really love Can’t Let You Go, Even If I Die; it’s composed so wonderfully and their vocals are to die for in this song.

[album] GIRL NEXT DOOR – NEXT FUTURE

NEXT FUTURE, released on 1.20.10, is GIRL NEXT DOOR’s 2nd album.

[single] Nakashima Mika – ALWAYS

ALWAYS, released on 1.20.10, is Nakashima Mika’s 31st single. ALWAYS was used for Sayonara Itsuka, BABY BABY BABY for LOTTE “Ghana Milk Chocolate”, and SPIRAL for KANEBO KATE.

A twinkling instrumental (xylophone and chimes i think?) begin 「ALWAYS」 which is another ballad (yay!) from Nakashima. She sings with a slight breathiness but it matches nicely with the instrumental. After the bridge gradually builds up into the chorus, Nakashima is singing very strongly as she sings of wanting to see her loved one. She really brings another great ballad, you can really imagine a starry sky to go along with this song.

「BABY BABY BABY」 is a jazz-styled song complete with what sounds like could be staccatos when she sings the verses. The chorus is more smoother but I didn’t really like how she ended it with a long vibrato. She sings the last chorus before we get 2 minutes of just pure instrumentation. From first listen, this song seemed really forgettable, mainly because it felt so slow and although the jazz in it was neat, I would’ve liked if they went all the way with the jazz.

Last is 「SPIRAL」 which is an electronica song. Her vocals are slightly vocoded in the verses while in the choruses, Nakashima sings “spiral” and holds the note a bit in a higher key. After the first chorus, the instrumental changes for a bit (giving a slight techno feel to it) before going back to the original instrumental before the chorus comes up again.

A PV was made for ALWAYS. The PV is really simple; Nakashima sings in a dark bar (the whole video doesn’t have lighting at all sans a bit so we can make how the images) and there is another scene where she stands, her white sheer dress dancing around her.

I really liked ALWAYS but listening to it some more, it blends too much into the background of other similar ballads and thinking like that, I can’t really say it wows me. However, Nakashima did a really good job with it. Both BABY BABY BABY and SPIRAL felt forgettable to me and didn’t really have that impact to make me like them.

[single] YUI – GLORIA

GLORIA, released on 1.20.10, is YUI’s 16th single.

The sound of the guitar and YUI’s sweet ad-libs start up 「GLORIA」 with a bright note. Each line follows a sound pattern (the way YUI sings each line sound so similar to each other) and things pick up as the chorus comes in. She sings, “Aiyaiyaiaiai~” and other lyrics similarly. After the third verse, things quiet down as YUI sings one chorus before things pick up once again and the instruments return.

「Muffler」 has a sweet, acoustic guitar instrumental that has that nice winter feel to it. The way YUI sings is soft and gentle in the verses; once in the chorus, her vocals become stronger. The same pattern repeats until the last few choruses with a slight change in instrumental. The song is simple, which is a nice change since YUI has been focusing on heavy rock instrumentals lately.

「It’s all too much ~YUI Acoustic Version~」 is exactly what its title suggests. I’m really liking this version however, mainly because the original seemed so IN YOUR FACE with its rock instrumental.

A PV was made for GLORIA. It features Hayashi Kento and Okamoto Anri (Shokojo Seira co-stars!) as students that are studying for high school exams but are struggling. YUI and her band is shown in a snowing forest (with dead leaves on the ground?) Later in the PV, YUI is seen with red roses as Kento and Anri run forward. A neat PV and if I remember, this should be the song that YUI was writing for exam students?

This single is pretty good. GLORIA gets a great message across to struggling students and their exams and is a great song as well. I’m also liking both Muffler and the acoustic It’s all too much for their simpleness in contrast to GLORIA.

[single] Koda Kumi – Can We Go Back

Can We Go Back, released on 1.20.10, is Koda Kumi’s 46th single.

「Can We Go Back」 is a cover of Kelly Clarkson’s song of the same title. Immediately, there is a heavy rock instrumental as Kumi sings, “Can we go back to the way we used to be?” Kumi’s voice really suits this song, but when it comes to the chorus, she slightly squeaks at the end of each note/line. Gets a bit annoying, but I can deal with it. While I haven’t heard the original song (I am wayy out of the American music loop), the song has a neat traditional rock feel to it and Kumi’s really working her vocals. Neat song, but I can’t say I was very wowed by it.

A happy, bright song is what 「Good☆day」 is. The sound of the song is light but very girlish and cute. The way Kumi sings has that bright feel to it as well, with the end of her lines being echoed. The chorus is peppy as she repeats, “I’ll be there for you,” along with her Japanese lines. This song really seems to kind of theme song you’d think would fit a shoujo anime but it’s really cute and I like it.

A PV was made for Can We Go Back. At first glance, the PV is very dark as Kumi is chained to the wall and she thrashes about, singing to the song. There is another scene where she is with a visual kei band and for a while, the two settings alternate. Then, you see the crowd running in the midst of a fire and soon after there is a dance break (which is very MJ-style).

Overall, the single is okay. Can We Go Back was good, but not really my taste. I liked Good☆day, mainly because it’s very bright and happy and the beat kinda makes you think of bubbly things, haha.

[album] LANDS – Olympos

Olympos, released on 1.13.10, is LANDS’ (KAT-TUN’s Akanishi Jin and Kobayashi Takeshi; fictional band from movie BANDAGE) debut album.

[mini-album] C.N.BLUE – Bluetory

Bluetory, released on 1.14.10, is C.N.BLUE’s debut Korean mini-album (The group initially debuted in Japan).

Opening up the mini album is 「외톨이야 (I’m a Loner)」 which starts with a neat mix of acoustic and electric guitars that give off a very indie-ish feel. The vocals are energetic and bright, which goes along great with the light feel of the music. The chorus especially really shows us that the boys’ can handle their vocals as they sing high in key. The third verse is really interesting as soft, yet high vocals sing slowly, the gaps being filled in by energetic raps before going into the last chorus. From the first listen, I really like this song. It’s energetic, light, and most of all gives a simple but fun feel.

「Love Revolution」 opens with electric guitar as the boys’ sing in lower vocals. The verses are sung really nicely, as the boys’ show us great attitude and personality through their vocals. Like “I’m a Loner”, this song also is nicely composed but at the same time, is simple and provides great, energetic vocals. Really liked how it ended with a held (with slight vibrato) note followed by an ending instrumental.

The acoustic guitar takes over for 「Y, Why…」 to give us a melancholy song. The vocals start as low and sad at first but the vocals grow stronger after, “I wanna hold you”, as the electric guitar enters. This rock ballad is really nice; slow, but careful singing brimming with emotion and the composition is also wonderful in this song. The sharpness of the electric guitar against the acoustic guitar along with other instruments provides the song a great amount of emotion that we can feel.

This time the electric guitar reins in 「Now or Never」. After a solo guitar verse, the bright vocals come in and there is a slight way in how they sing that makes the song unique (sounds like a slight lisp that’s done on purpose?). The chorus is just as bright as they sing, “Baby it’s now or never,” and they harmonize really nicely together. The guitar solo in the third verse is great and leads well into the next part where things quiet down a bit for an slight a capella-ish line before going back into the chorus.

Last is 「그럴 겁니다… 잊을 겁니다… (I Will… Forget You…)」 which starts up with the soft sound of rain followed by the acoustic guitar and melancholy vocals. Just listening to their vocals makes me very calm and is very soothing. Instead of a grand change for the chorus, there is a slight note for the chimes before going right into the chorus. Simple but at the same time saddening as they reassure that they’ll be alright; I’m really liking this song.

I’ll come out clean: I only intended to listen to C.N.BLUE because I loved Jung Yonghwa in You’re Beautiful. While the boy isn’t as good an actor as his co-stars were, his abilities as a band member is amazing. I’m loving all of these songs and they remind me of F.T Island (of course, they’re in the same company) but a more “free” version of them (if that even makes sense) in terms of music. I especially love “I’m a Loner” and “I Will… Forget You…” is amazing as well. I highly recommend this group; I am SO glad I decided to give them a listen.

[single] ZE:A – Nativity

Nativity, released on 1.07.10, is ZE:A (otherwise known as Child(ren) of Empire)’s debut single.

「Love Coach」 begins the single with a light techno-like instrumental and a short narration in the beginning, “You know what, what I want to do? Love, and Love.” The verses are light and do well to show us each boys’ vocals which then go into the chorus, where they follow a rhythm pattern as they sing in high vocals. The third verse is a bit different, with one of them singing strongly, a bit of an awkward pause, holding a note that goes into the last chorus as well.

Next is 「New Star」 which introduces the autotune to the boys. The autotune here is used nicely, matching with the synthesized instrumental. Not really much I can say about this song (hard to describe, even after listening to it a couple times already…) but the song seems a bit messy.

Last is the promotion song 「Mazeltov」 and gives us more autotune. The boys give the song a strong attitude in the verses and, going into the chorus, they sing “Mazeltov” over and over again before saying/singing the days of the week. The third verse is mostly rap before going into the last chorus. Not much I can say about this song either, heh.

A PV was made for Mazeltov. The only thing you need to know about the PV: it’s filmed in a setting similar to DBSK’s Mirotic and the outfits are similar too. The PV itself also feels a bit sci-fi-like but besides that, I feel that PV could have been better, but it’s already okay considering their company’s situation right now.

Ah, what can I say… I was looking forward to their debut since a couple months back, but I can’t say I’m very impressed with them. There’s a lot of autotune usage and I liked Love Coach, but that part where a long note is held after a weirdly placed pause kinda ruined it for me. I mentioned earlier in Discomunication that I preferred ZE:A over F.Cuz, but now I’m not too sure. We’ll just have to watch out for both boygroups’ future performances for now.