Filed under: Yuna Ito | Tags: Ito, J-POP, JPOP, Mahaloha, Utada Hikaru, Yuna, Yuna Ito, Yuna Ito Mahaloho
Tracklist:
1. Mahaloha
2.Shining On
3. stuck on you -Reggae Disco Rockers Kiss & Tell Remix-
4. Mahaloha -Instrumental-
Mahaloha is Yuna Ito’s 8th single. It reached 5 on the Oricon charts, selling 43,233 copies.
Mahaloha is feel good pop. The song opens with simplistic guitars and some percussion instruments. Yuna transitions between Japanese and English so well in this song. About half of the song is in English. Yuna’s voice is calm and relaxed, and very crisp. The song sounds Hawaiian, and the name is a giveaway too, as the song name is Mahalo and Aloha merged together. This upbeat track is very easy to love.
I’m not as keen on the second song – Shining On, but the opening line is so powerful, which had me captured from the first moment, this song also has a surprising amount of English in it too, but then again I guess it not that surprising as Yuna’s first language is English. It features a nice instrumental solo about three quarters through the piece. The only reason that this song isn’t as good as the A-Side is because of repetitiveness. Otherwise a great song.
stuck on you -Reggae Disco Rockers Kiss & Tell Remix- is a great remix, with Yuna speaking on the phone for the introduction, which is very kawaii. This is a song about a crush Yuna has on a “Bad Boy.” It features good percussion and brass, which makes it very catchy; towards the end Yuna speaks on the phone again, which is possibly the best part of the song, because she sounds so cute.
Mahaloha is a great island pop song and matches Yuna’s heritage. It showcases nice vocals and great arrangements… highly recommended!
Rating
4½ stars
