!December Top 4!

All opinions are my own, not your's, so, if you disagree...oops?

 

You better check this out, bisshes
I think I'll make this whole 'lovely gif of one of my biases' a trend for these monthly rankings

 

That's right, it's that time of month again - the COSMIC CHILD Monthly Top 5! -is met with total silence-

Well, anyway, though, as always, this is later than I would have liked, but, oh well. So, without any futher ado, let's get a move on!

By the way, I can't think of a 5th song so we're skipping that. I do know more song but not well enough.


4. SHINee - 1000nen, Zutto Soba ni Ite

Well, you lot in the back there, those sweaters are...ugly

 Since the MP3 seemed reluctant to get itself onto my MP3 player, I don't know this song very well, so I'm not going to say much. At all. It's a very sweet and emotional song and if I had room, it'd be on my MP3 Player. And I'll be fixing that shortly. Unfortunately, I can't remember the tune so yeah. It's nice, though.

 

3. Berryz Koubou - WANT!

 

Keep the hair, keep the hair! - an ode to Momoko

 This single's A-Side is, pretty much, everything I wanted from Berryz Koubou, no pun intended. Honestly, even if this is just a one-off, I've wanted to see the girls tackle this style for oh-so long, now. As much as I am a huge fan of their fun and upbeat tracks, and as much as their mature stage between Heroine ni Narou ka! (which was, yes, mature but it worked so it doesn't count) and Be Genki! didn't work for me at all, I love when they go for the more adult yet still upbeat and dancy style. However, what I really wanted to see the girls attempt was this exact style of autotune-ridden dance music - yes, it is extremely autotune heavy at parts but, and, oh, do I praise the powers that be!, the autotune in this is a lot less awful than some of UFP!'s recent attempts. In fact, this and MoMusu's Wakuteka give me reason to be less nervous about the application of autotune within Hello! Project, therefore making it easier for me to see past the mess that was CAT'S EYE. Anyway, this shade of maturity is a lot cooler than certain others the group has displayed. I have no desire to see the girls dabbling in  that sultry, coy genre of maturity any longer - it just looks odd, especially with Momo just looking completely out of place and Chii looking far too happy. However, this works perfectly with the girls' images. It's a bloody catchy song, too, I'm not kidding. It's actually ridiculously catchy! And the vocals sound great, even the autotune free ones. Risako and Miyabi lead so powerfully! My sole complaint about the song is that the chorus is awfully reminscent of Pink Lady's Nagisa no Sinbad's verses in terms of melody - I wonder if anyone else picked up on this?
The B-Side, Yuuki wo Kudasai!, is less impressive. It's still a nice song, definitely, but it certaintly doesn't bring anything new to the table. It's a very typical and sweet, happy-go-lucky Berryz B-side track, so, don't go in expect anything new and amazing. Of course, should you like such songs, it's actually very good. I do like the song, I like it a lot, let me make that clear, but, in comparison to the B-Side, which is something a little outside of Berryz's safety zone, the B-Side almost seems a little safe, or a little 'been there, done that'. Regardless, it's still a very nice and upbeat song~!

 

2. NEWS - WORLD QUEST / Pokopon Pekorya

 

Shige's pose doesn't quite match up with the rest, now, does it?

I also did a review of this entire single, if you'd care to give it a gander. And, as such, what else can I say about this single than it kicked Chankapana's arse (and it was bloody good). Honestly, I am so ridiculously happy that these guys are finally back.

 

1. GACKT - WHITE LOVERS ~Shiawase no Toki~

 

His hair made me so happy. Really.

 

Now, this really shouldn't be surprising, what, with my love for GACKT and all. I already did a review of this song's A-side, so there's not much to say about that, really. I mean, it was fairly in depth and there's nothing I could say here that hasn't already been said there.
The B-Side, however, was something I didn't get to talk about. ONE MORE KISS is a fast-pased and dramatic song that reminds me of Ai Senshi and (a better version of) YELLOW FRIED CHICKENz' YOU ARE THE REASON. In terms of melody, it's really quite reminiscent of older GACKT songs yet, in terms of musical arrangement, it's much closer to his newer stuff. This track really brings the new and the old together, and with fantastic results, too. It's far from being my favourite of GACKT's songs, but, with a full discography of about 200, give or take, tracks, I can't say that's really a problem. I do love this song a lot and, since I first heard it, I cannot get the bloody thing out of my head.

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This was kind of half-arsed but I just wanted to get it up before it was too late. And I couldn't finish it. It's more of an obligation thing, ugh.



November Top 5

All opinions are mine and, surprisingly, not your's! Gahsp! Who'd have thought?

 

Here, have some adorable derp Kame. I don't care if he has nothing to do with this Ranking.

So, the time has come for the second installment of my Monthly Top 5 singles overview. Again, this ranking will be focussing soley on singles released in Japan, purely because I can't think of any other Novemember releases I actually cared about.
And, yeah, last time I said something about GACKT showing up this time but, as it turns out, Winter Lovers isn't out until December. I swear that wasn't the case before, but whatever.
Anyway, let's get on with the ranking!

5. S/mileage - Samui ne

I like this cover best, it's cute and Christmassy. But the editing isn't too impressive.

One thing I don't like about S/mileage is their song style. The cutesy act doesn't always work for me. I do love cute stuff, but S/mileage often end up being too much. Besides, I'm really not a big fan of Dawa's voice and her singing squeakier and more cutesy than normal isn't something I find particularly pleasant. I'm sure Dawa's lovely but I'm just not huge on her voice. However, this song is a more mellow and mature song. However, that cutesy feel is still retained. Also, it's a winter song. I'm a sucker for winter songs, really. This I will admit without even an ounce of shame. Basically, I would honestly like to see more of this from S/mileage. Maybe then, I'd like them better - I love the girls, particularly 2nd Gen. In my opinion, S/mileage are getting a tad generic for my tastes, but, with this single, I think there's some improvements.

4. Shoujo Jidai - FLOWER POWER

I find it odd that, despite being officially known as 'Shoujo Jidai', their Japanese single covers don't actually seem to provide any evidence of this. Also, it may just be me, but I find those outfits quite unflattering.

I'm not a huge SNSD fan - I like them enough but I'm not mad about them. I'm a casual fan. A really casual fan. I don't know if I'm even really a fan. But I do like them and there are a couple of songs of their's that I honestly adore. This isn't one of them, but I do really like it. Now, being a 'really casual fan', I haven't actually given any of this single, past the A-Side, a listen and, since I want to get this up at a decent time, unlike my last Monthly Top 5, I'm going to be lazy and not bother with them. But, that being said, it does mean that this is a good enough A-Side for me to consider among the month's Top 5 without any support from extra songs. This song is a very typical SNSD song which does do the track many favours for me. There are certain SNSD songs I'm less drawn to, but this particular kind of song is normally a hit for me. It's a very catchy song and it's got a really good beat. It's everything good about SNSD, I suppose.

3. DIY♡ / GREEN FIELDS - Forefore ~Forest For Rest~ / Boys be ambitious

The cover sucks because Miya's hair is much nicer in the PV. Okay, it doesn't actually suck. It's better than a lot of H!P Single covers. Shut up.

This single is only in these charts because of DIY♡. I couldn't actually care less about GREEN FIELDS and their generic little track. Sure, I feel like an arse for being so harsh right off the bat with this part of the ranking but it has to be said. In order to get it out of the way quickly, I'll explain exactly how I feel about Boys be ambitious! - it's not a bad song, perse, but in comparison to its coupling track, it really doesn't stand out to me at all. It is, as I said, generic. That doesn't make it an inherently awful song and I do need to stress that I don't think of it as such. It just didn't have enough going for it to get itself anywhere near this ranking alone. I kept this single on the ranking purely because I realised that, even if this single had contained DIY♡'s track and nothing else, it would still have done well on the ranking. Boys be ambitious is simply not my kind of song and the line-up, though I do like the girls, save for Yuka, purely because I don't even really know who she is, does nothing for me. Forefore ~Forest For Rest~, on the other hand, is an absolutely fantastic track and I would easily say that is one of the best songs to come out of H!P in quite some time. This, Wakuteka Take a chance and WANT! are all renewing my faith in H!P - not that I had ever lost faith, as such, but, I was certainly wavering. Please keep in mind that, faith or no faith, my support for H!P never once weakened. DIY♡'s track is ridculously catchy and it really gets stuck in my head for ages after I listen to it - it's a bloody earwig, I'll tell you! The melody is seriously good and the arrangement is among the best in recent H!P releases. I really love the melody of the instrumental break - things like that always get me. I also think it's brilliant how this a dancey song without masses of autotune (I'll admit, I basically repeat this observation later on, only applying it to a different song all together) - this is especially unusual in current H!P, so it's really nice to see. Harunan is still not too a strong a singer but this song truly compliments her voice, so that's always great - personally, though I am fully aware that she is somewhat vocally weak, I will not deny that her voice has this certain charm to it and, as such, I'm drawn to her voice. Also, lastly, in the PV, Miya's hair is great, it suits her so well. Keep this hair, Miya! Drop the extentions!
 

2. Kis-My-Ft2 - Ai no Beat

So, is Tama-chan just going to adopt the trademark Yamapi glare? I mean, they're both beauts, so I can work with that.

This single is pretty interesting - it's got a pretty substantially-lengthed tracklist with 4 tracks; 2 A-Sides and 2 B-Sides, but that's not the best part (cause that's not actually very interesting at all, is it?). The great thing about this single is that it features two different versions of the A-Side - the Dance version and the Rock version, both of which sound really good and equally, quintesentially Kis-My-Ft2. Both versions have a different feel to them and they have such different approaches taken toward them, regarding arrangement and so on, but they both work so well. It's really impressive - well done to the people who wrote this one.  On top of that, the lyric s are fast, at parts, yet easy to sing along to (granted you know the lyrics or have them on you, of course), which is always great~ Stuff like that makes for memorable lyrics!
As brilliant as the Dance version is (even with its intro sounding exactly like part of a JLS song), my favourite of the pair would have to be the Rock version. Though, that makes sense, seeing as my favourite artists are GACKT and KAT-TUN. Actually, as much as this song could only be a Kis-My-Ft2 song (this is something I love about KisuMai), there are elements to the rock version that remind me somewhat of KAT-TUN's pre-debut songs, namely 'SHE SAID...'. Honestly, I just the fast-pace of the rock version; the drums are bloody effective. It just sounds so cool, really. Though, it's probably worth noting that's not really that rocky at all. There are clkear rock elements, but it's still pretty poppy, if you ask me.
The B-Sides are both really nice, too. First off, there's Winter Lovers which is a nice, relaxing song. The first time I heard it, I was trying to sleep on a bus, so, yeah. It's a pretty little song and it's really perfect for the winter season. It sounds like it would be perfect to listen to on a snowy morning, with a clear sky. But, that kind of clear where the sky is that really weird shade of pale blue. I hope Scotland gets that at some point - we do like our horrendous grey skies, it seems.
Lastly, we have Never End LOVE. Personally, I think this sounds really nice. The verses, at least, remind me kind of Yamapi's Ao and some NEWS songs. In fact, this whole song sounds like it should be an older NEWS song back from when they still had eight members. In some ways, it's like a less cheesey version of Private Hearts, except..not, obviously. If you get what I mean. But, it's so typically JE without being one of those cheesey messes chock-full of prepubescent 12-year-olds.


1. The MONSTERS - MONSTERS

This is one of my favourite single covers of the year, by the way. It's so cool.

So, this month's winner is this little jem of a subgroup. This group was formed to perform the theme song to drama, MONSTERS - oh, and it's worth mentioning that the members actually play the main characters of the drama. Funnily enough, the last time JE formed a duo with two members of a drama cast and got them to sing the theme song, Yamapi was involved, as he is this time. However, MONSTERS doesn't have much on Shuji & Akira's Seishun Amigo, I find - some may call it Kame-bias, but I just call it fact. Okay, no, really, I just think that Seishun Amigo's a better song.

Of course, that being said, I still think that this is a really good single. The A-Side is quite dancey without being an autotune fest, which is always interesting. I mean, I'm not adverse to autotune but sometimes it's used purely to make a song seem dancey which is a bit of a cop-out. I mean, if it sounds great, that's fine, but, y'know. There are a lot of vocal effects in this song, though, I won't deny it, and there's probably some autotune in there, too. This song is bloody catchy and I find it totally engaging. It's quite nice hearing Shingo tackling this genre, because I swear you don't hear all that much of this from SMAP (I mean, you do occasionally - take Just Go! for example). My favourite part is the whole bit at the end with Shingo singing all low, with Yamapi doing adlibs in the back. It sounds seriously cool.

The B-Side, Monster or Monsutaa, is a cover of a classic Pink Lady song and it's absolutely fantastic. In fact, I actually prefer it to the A-Side. I haven't had much experience with Pink Lady aside from UFO and the songs covered by various Hello! Project artists, but, even so, this song is so obviously a Pink Lady song, it's odd. But, I do like Pink Lady's songs, as far as melody and beat go. I love when a favourite artist of mine covers one of their songs. Funnily enough, though, this rendition of the song reminds me of H!P at times, probably because of the obvious influences Tsunku has taken from the classic duo. It's amazing, though, how well this pair work this song. In fact, I'm all for Yamapi singing more songs in this genre because his voice sounds so lovely here. I really love the electronic twist on the song that kicks in from the second chorus onwards, it sound so cool. And the shouting lines are brilliant, too. This whole song is a fabulous, fabulous success for me and, on top of that, it's wonderfully catchy. This is one of my favourite tracks of the year, quite honestly. I am so glad this happened.

 

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So~ That's all for November~

Check back next month to see whether or not GACKT will lose to a certain Johnny's quartet on their world quest? Or, could it be that Berryz Koubou could get that spot? - they do want it so bad~

(major awful pun alert)

 



October Top 5

All opinions are my own, deal with it, ect

 

 

!OCTOBER TOP 5!

 

Since I'm on the school library's PC, I can't make an actual graphic, so, have some amusing GACKT instead

 

Okay, I admit it's a little late to be doing this now, but, it's something I've wanted to do for a while now. A ranking of my personal Top 5 single releases of the past month, that is. For simplicity's sake, I'm limiting it to Japanese releases this time. I'll probably add K-Pop in next time, when I actually work out what I'm doing...maybe something else will make its way in there too? Doubtful, but, who knows?

 

5 . Sexy Zone - Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu

It looks like a Christmas card, cuuuuute!

Okay, so, I'm not huge on Sexy Zone - I like their debut single a lot but Lady Diamond didn't work for me at all - okay, no, I can listen to it quite happily but it didn't draw me to them as a group. They have some nice B-sides, though, and I realise I should pay them a little more attention.
Anyway, I've only listened to the A-Side once (need to check out those B-Sides) but it still deserves a place on this ranking. The reasons I only gave it one listen and the reason for it appearing on this list are the same...or, rather, there's only real reason (okay, no, it's a nice song anyway) - it's a Christmas song. I love Christmas songs and J-Pop artists handle Christmas songs so well! Trust me, this song will die of overplaying once December hits (I prefer not to get into the real Christmas mood until December - November's too early, you know, and, besides, my birthday's the 1st of Decmember, so I starting off the Christmas period with a celebration of my existence).
The A-side, despite its somewhat confusing title that had most people pretty stumpted when the single was announced (Was it a Summery song? A Christmas song? Neither? What?), is really fun and cute. And, yes, it's definitely a Christmas song, without a shadow of a doubt. The melody is Christmassy, the backtrack is Christmassy, it's all Christmassy. I especially love the use of church bells in the background - it's very reminiscent of old Christmas Carols. This is something often seen in British Christmas songs and, being British, that's what I grew up with. The fact that you hear these bells a lot in J-Pop, too, makes me feel quite nostalgic~! It's a cute song with a cute video!!

4. SHINee - Dazzling Girl

Now, Jjong, if you sit down, no-one will know you're tiny. Ignoring that you're still taller than a bunch of Japanese male idols.

When I said I'd keep to Japanese releases, I meant singles released in Japan on the Oricon charts, purely because it's easier to keep track of what was released this month in just one country and...well, South Korea don't seem to do singles very often. I wasn't just going to cut out K-Pop - It's a genre I love!
Regarding the A-Side, this is far from one of my favourite SHINee track - it's a cheesefest and there's nothing else to it. Well, cheese can be great. In this case, it's actually pretty good - I love the chorus and it's great to bounce around to. However, the verses are, at least for me, far less memorable. The chorus is ridiculously catchy and it took me about two listens of the short CM preview alone to have the tune memorised yet, until only recently, I couldn't remember the rest of the song past that. This song only loses out to me for that reason - even though it has a brilliant choruses, it simply lacks everywhere else. However, as I'm growing to know the song more, I'm simulataneously growing to love it. It is not anywhere near being a favourite SHINee track of mine, though.

The B-Side, Run With Me, is a beautiful track. Truthfully, I've listened to it less than Dazzling Girl, but it was a treat for the ears, I will tell you that. It's a sweet and emotional ballad song, with a fast-paced tempo and laid-back melody, a combination I love. At first, it sounds like nothing more than your painfully generic K-Pop boyband ballad, but, then, the verse kicks in and it all goes uphill from there. When I first heard this, I was going home late at night by car and it totally fit that environment, with the windows being all heavily condenced and the orange glow of the streetlights reflecting against the raindrops - okay, all that sounded well naff, but it fit perfectly with the mood created by the song. I love how the verse builds up to the chorus, and though the chorus shares melodies with that cheesey thing at the start, the choruses actually sounds really cool and powerful. This song also gets lots and lots of bonus points for all of Minho's singing lines - he does sing in Dazzling Girl, I know, but he gets more solos in this song than normal. I really love Minho's voice, it's actually my 3rd favourite voice in SHINee. His rap is awesome, too. Key's last solo is so powerful and strong - I needed to say it. And, of course, this song is rounded off fantastically by the fabulous Taemin, my SHINee bias (for the record, Jongyun is second on both the bias list and the favourite list, with Taemin topping both - Jjong can sing better but I prefer Taeminnie's voice - Also, these two lists are essentially the same but the bias list has Onew 4th and Key 5th while the voice list has them both tied for 4th).

 

3. Weather Girls - Koi no Tenki Yohou

Pretty in pink! Like, seriously, they're so pretty! And, hey, UFP, this is how you make your group look cute yet also cool. Also, hey, UFP, THIS IS HOW YOUR FARKING DO A DECENT GRAPHIC EDIT!

 Here we have the debut single of T-Pop girlgroup, Weather Girls - and I don't mean Japanese debut, like with all those K-Pop groups lately but, rather, actual musical debut. Regardless of that, I believe that they are actually, in fact, the first Taiwanese girlgroup to debut in Japan. Go them, paving the way for Taiwanese music in a way that UFP was never able to! Prior to the release of this single, these girls were just, quite literally, weather girls. Weather Girls started out reporting weather on Taiwanese weather and there were actually a huge number of girls involved, all revolving according to a wota, however, for the Japanese debut, in order to make things a lot less complicated, they limited the group to seven girls - one for each day of the week. They weren't even pop idols in Taiwan...just weather girls. Their weather reporting gig seriously wasn't for me - I'm not one for watching a bunch of girls in cosplay reporting the weather in overly-cutified voices and, often, broken English, but that's just me. The sexualisation of weather reporters has always eluded me, is all.
However, them as a pop group...that is something I can latch on to easily. The reason this song found its way on to this ranking...well, there isn't one straight reason, of course! In this case, as opposed to the weather reporting thing, the whole cute yet also 'sexy' image appeals to me a lot and, probably, because this 'sexy' is less blunt and more...well, it seems like a subtle kind of maturity, which is blended quite sweetly with a cutesy image. It's the balance I love. They're mature but not so much that they're just sexualised beyond all belief and they're cute but not so much that I end up with toothache. The girls make the PV extremely watchable - they have so much charisma and chemistry with the camera! And, with little doubt that'd it be thanks to their previous occupation, they handle close-ups so well. These girls are the queens of facial expressions.
On top of all that, the song is horrendously (and, I promise you, I mean that in the nicest of ways) catchy. It gets stuck in your head so easily - I listen to song once every so often and it finds itself stuck in my mind for ages after.
The dance is also eye-catching and looks like fun! The girls' actual execution of the moves is sharp and looks somewhat effortless.
This is an amazingly promising debut single, I feel. I also think that, soon enough, these girls could potentially gain a lot of interest in their slick tying together of Taiwanese culture and clear influences from both Japanese and Korean pop music (the latter being a hit in Japan, the former...well, same thing, obviously).

 

 

2. Morning Musume - Wakuteka Take a chance

GIANT RIHO OF DOOM, STEALIN' UP ERIPON AND HARUNAN'S SPACE - screw you, graphic editor, screw you. This is pretty shoddily edited, too.

I won't dwell on this one so much, as I already did a pretty in-depth review of this single. I seriously adore this single. This, like the #1 single on this list, is, in my opinion, the respective artists's best single since late 2009. I also adored the number of coupling tracks and the line-ups for said coupling tracks. There were some interesting combinations and all the songs were absolutely brilliant, being some of the best B-Sides in some time - all of them. This is one of the very best overall singles, tracklist-wise, in Morning Musume history, I feel. Also, yay for UFP using promotion and money to make things look, and sound, better! Most of all, that A-Side is farking love.

 

1. GACKT - 白露 -HAKURO-

Hello there, Baby Setsugekka

 Okay, the title needed to be in Japanese. Hakuro -HAKURO- is a stupid looking romanisation, and I like shoving in hyphens wherever possible, so, it had to be this way if you're wondering why...Hyphen = KAT-TUN fan, so, yeah).

Anyway, that aside, I doubt it's of any surprise to anyone that the GACKT single was the one to win me over - there are probably more than enough hints that I like GACKT scattered around this blog, after all (though, there does seem to be a common misconception among people I know that I prefer Kame to GACKT - sure, I'm more obsessed with Kame, but I have more love for GACKT).

Truth be told, this is my favourite GACKT single, as a whole package with B-Side included, since Setsugekka -the end of silence- from back at the end of 2009, with my favourite A-side track since Stay the Ride Alive which was, in all honestly, released on New Year's Day 2010. So, basically, this is my favourite GACKT release in 3 years. And, why? It's the most GACKT-y, so to speak. All of GACKT's singles are quintesentially GACKT, of course, but, this one is especially so. And why do I say that? I'd say that this song features more of the typically-GACKT details that we see in many of his older songs -  softer verses contrasted with heavier choruses, OTT drama with tear-jerking potential, flutes and other instrumentals that can be used to give a uniquely Japanese undertone (i.e; a bit of Japanese folk in there), gorgeous falcetto lines contrasted with deep and powerful lower vocals, ect. If you know GACKT, you'll know what I mean.

Regarding the A-Side, I have but one criticism - the theme of the video/single cover. It's like Setsugekka 2.0! I did come to the conclusion that this may just indicates  a continuation of a specific storyline, as GACKT has done before with the Moon Saga (Moon, Crescent & Diabolos) and Rebirth & RE:BORN. It wouldn't be anything new to fans if that were the case, after all. As such, this lone criticism is extremely minor.

The B-Side, Jounetsu no Inazuma also more than makes up for this. This is also my favourite B-Side since Setsugekka's B-Side, 斬～ZAN～ (stylised as such for the same reasons as Hakuro was). So, basically, yes, this single is the best thing in 3 years. That's the simple truth. Not that I haven't loved all the releases since then, of course. But, the B-Side is amazing. The B-Side really matches up to the brilliance of the A-Side, while setting an entirely different mood and tone. It's a perfect combination because of the differences. A truly fantastic single through and through, and, I assure you, deserved the #1 spot on this ranking for reasons other than biased DEAR love.

 

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So, that's all for now. Until next time that is~

How will the November results turn out, then? Will GACKT claim that #1 spot yet again or will The Monsters and their single which is already well-loved by me try to challenge him? Will DIY♡ dance their way into my heart, or will I be forced to bow down and kiss the feet of a certain Johnny's septet? (lamelamelamelame).

Check back at the end of November (or, more likely, the start of October) to find out! ♡♡