So what do you have when you put your media player to shuffle and then place it next to a typical blockbuster movie scene; the soundtrack of life o’ course~! Big shout out to Josh from Shuffle and Repeat who gave me the idea (:
Opening Credits
Futari – Miyu Nagase: depends on the movie really, but I certainly know that I wouldn’t pick this for opening credits.
Waking Up
Reading Time With Pickle – Regina Spektor: One of Regina Spektor’s quirkier songs. Not the best song for waking up as it is slow and droopy.
Going to School
BARBiE BARBiE – Aira Mitsuki: The Asian Barbie doll song ‘eh? Doesn’t quite fit into the whole school theme, although it would be quite energetic while I walk to the bus stop.
Falling in Love
Standing Up – Tina Arena: NO! NO! NO! It needs to be mellower and more interesting XD. C’mon get some good songs already~!
Fight Song
Heartless – Kanye West: Yeah this song isn’t actually a bad one, especially for the consequent of the fight… “I did some things, but that’s the old me”. Seems like a good line for a fight to me.
Breaking Up
Lighting Strike – Snow Patrol: I love this song SO MUCH! Being nearly 17 minutes in length it’s one of the longest songs on my library. The subdued mood matches the breaking up, and also the mention about the different weather could be a metaphorical reference to the many feelings experienced when breaking up.
Prom
Under Babydoll – Nana Kitade: Nah, too much rock and the atmosphere is dark… not an atmosphere I’d like to experience at prom. NEXT!
Life is Good
See The Sun – The Kooks: The name pretty much says it all! The lyrics are sweet – “You can have it all and wrap it in the world.” Having said this it is also about the jealousy of someone else perfect life, so maybe not?
Mental Breakdown
Sakuranbo – Ai Otsuka: ROFL… COULDN’T HAVE PICKED A WORSE SONG!
Driving
Soba ni Iru ne – Thelma Aoyama: I was so hoping that Koda Kumi’s Driving would come on, but instead I was given this… which doesn’t fit the mood.
Flashback
Irreplaceable – Beyoncè: Hmmm seems to me that iTunes doesn’t want to work with me tonight… AARGH!
Getting Back Together
Emergency – Paramore: Lulz, *rolls eyes* once again a shocking song to suit the mood. Would’ve made a neat breaking up song though…
Wedding
Kiseki – Koda Kumi: Well it’s a love song, however personally I would want to be avoiding a song by Koda Kumi because her sugary pop just doesn’t suit the mood.
Paying the Dues
Tookumade – Do As Infinity: “Soo far away (from fitting the mood)” Yeah that sounds about right…
The Night Before The War
Runaway – Pink: Yeah this could work, it’s a nice song about insecurities and the lyrics “I’ll try to stay alive” fit pretty well.
Final Battle
Sunglass – Utada Hikaru: Umm yeah because a laid-back R&B song fully fits a dramatic battle… err no!
Moment of Triumph
I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write A Letter – Billy Williams: LULZ!
Death Scene
ReBiRTH – Ayumi Hamasaki: Despite the name being about birth this interlude by Ayumi Hamasaki actually fits REALLY well!
Funeral Song
Prologue ~ Trust You – Tainaka Sachi: Another instrumental that fits absolutely perfectly!
End Credits
Fully Alive (Acoustic Version) – Flyleaf: An emo song to end a movie? Hmm it could work in a few instances… or not? Lovely song though!
So lets see how I went ‘eh?
Spot on: 6
Hmmm: 5
Total miss: 9
Despite my low score that was actually really fun. I’m actually planning on making this a monthly feature now… hopefully my scores will improve XD!
Filed under: Chihiro Onitsuka, Features! | Tags: Chihiro Onitsuka, Chihiro Onitsuka Gekkou, Chihiro Onitsuka infection, Chihiro Onitsuka Memai, 鬼束ちひろ, I Love Chihiro, I Love Chihiro Onitsuka, J-POP, Japanese Pop, JPOP
Yes, so as you may have guessed from the image above this post is about my love for the singer/songwriter Chihiro Onitsuka.
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Chihiro Onitsuka was born on the 30th of October, 1980 in Nango, Miyazaki. She was strongly influenced by Western Artists such as The Carpenters and later on Jewel which is her main inspiration as a singer and songwriter.
Chihiro was originally signed under the label Toshiba EMI, however in 2004 she changed labels due to the fact that Toshiba EMI released an A-side album against her will. To this day Toshiba EMI still release material of Chihiro… I guess they must miss her huh?
Ironically her first single Shine didn’t even make to top 200 on the Oricon Charts, however her second single Gekkou which was of an entirely different nature, being a haunting ballad compared to an upbeat pop song, which honestly does not suit Chihiro. Her second single was followed by Cage and in 2001 followed by Memai/Edge which Best Lyrics Award at the Japan Record Awards.
Her first album Insomnia was released on the 7th of March, 2001 and currently is her only number one material to date. It is estimated that sales topped 1.4 million. From then on her popularity has declined, however she still managed to release beautiful piano-driven ballads.
In 2002 Chihiro started a new era with the release of infection/LITTLE BEAT RIFLE. Despite being possibly Chihiro’s best and most emotional song to date infection was plagued with controversy. The Western world was getting over the grief and terror of the September 11 attacks, when Chihiro released a song with figurative lyrics about a “heart-shattering” explosion. Unfortunately the timing couldn’t have been worse and because of this promotion of infection was cancelled – one of the many mistakes made by Toshiba EMI. Chihiro released a sixth single Ryuuseigun which was then followed up with her second album This Armor
A mere nine months later and Chihiro released her third album Sugar High. With very little promotion Sugar High still managed to reach two on
the Oricon. During the end of Chihiro’s Toshiba EMI days she released four singles Sign, Beautiful Fighter, Ii Hi Tabidachi Nishe e and Watashi wo Waltz wo. Then tragedy struck… Chihiro needed to have throat surgery (which is the worst type of surgery for a singer as it can permanently effect their voices) if she was to peruse her singing career. Chihiro’s voice is noticeably different and weaker on her fourth album LAS VEGAS however in later singles her voice seems to have improved.
Being the smart label that they are (cough cough) Toshiba EMI decided to release a best of album, entitled Singles Box against Chihiro’s wishes which in return Chihiro packed her boxes and broke the ties with the record label.
In 2004 she signed a label under Universal Music and released a breaking her folk barriers by released a rock inspired single Sodatsu Zazzou. Despite once again having little promotion (not even a PV!) the single reached 10 on the Oricon Charts!
And then…
…Chihiro seemed to disappear from the face of the planet…
Chihiro went on a three year hiatus in which she was stalked, at one point weighed only 36 kilograms, read comics and listened to Arashi and Tori Amos.
In 2007 Chihiro came back from the dead (or at least it seamed that way) and released two singles everyhome and Bokura Barairo no Hibi followed by her fourth and much anticipated album LAS VEGAS.
Currently after the release of LAS VEGAS Chihiro has released two singles Hotaru which was released in August, 2008 and X/Last Melody which was released on the 20th of May 2009. Another single Kaerimichi wo Nakushite is scheduled for release on the 25th of July 2009, which will hopefully be followed up by a fifth album.
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I discovered Chihiro Onitsuka purely by chance. The first song of hers I ever listened to was Gekkou and from then on I have been captivated!
Chihiro’s alto voice is STUNNING! Her head voice and most notably her chest voice is ~amazing~!
Waiting for Chihiro to release new material has been an excruciating wait, however it was worth the wait. X/Last Melody was released a few days ago (May 20 to be exact) and is amazing and shows a darker and aggressive side of Chihiro.
Chihiro is highly recommended to people who like… uh anyone really? I won’t make comparisons to other artists because the fact of the matter is that her voice is completely original and her arrangements are so ambient that she bends the rules of pop and rock to come up with emotional, heartwarming and heartbreaking songs about love, pain and loss delivered with mystifying arrangements and an exceptional voice.
Yes… I’m just slightly obsessed ^^
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When I first heard Meisa Kuroki’s music the first word that came into my head was ~NAMIE~! Both Meisa and Namie Amuro’s voices sound extremely similar, their musical style is the same and with the cover above I’m even starting to question whether they whether they are separated at birth?!
Anyhow both artists will be featured on Ironic Clown in the near future~!
I’ve seen this circulating through a few of the J-Pop blogs and thought I would give it a go… ^^
What was the first Japanese song that you ever listened to?
Well I know that everyone says this, but my first Japanese song I ever listened to was Simple And Clean by Utada Hikaru. However unlike the majority of J-Pop fans who heard this song first from Kingdom Hearts, I actually didn’t! My friend was showing me a song that she thought I might like, and yeah I liked it… and then the snowball effect happened…
Did it inspire you to like that group/singer, or did it turn you away?
Definitely inspired me! At first I would ONLY listen to Utada Hiakru and then eventually I started to branch out into different Japanese artists until it became an obsession.
What is the one song that you have been listening to for the longest time?
Haha, well obviously Simple And Clean, but the song that has never ever gotten old for me and I have listened to it for years now without getting bored of it is Keep Tryin’ and Dareka no Negai ga Kanou Koro.
What group/singer have you liked the longest?
Utada Hikaru for sure~! I still adore her, but she needs to release stuff more frequently than she does. Having said this pretty much everything she does release is of exceptional quality.
What is the song with the most plays on your iTunes player?
Surprisingly it’s not a Japanese song. It’s actually a song that released not too long ago, it’s Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait. Yeah I had an absolute obsession with it not long ago and left it on repeat for about a week!
Is that song your favorite?
Um, well I’m not really obsessed with it anymore, but I still love it because the lyrics are sweet.
If not, what is?
Well, at the moment I really like It’s All Love by Koda Kumi & misono, however I’ll eventually get over that, but for the time being it’s just so damn catchy!
Hmm for all time that’s a bit of a hard one. I absolutely love Rie fu’s Romantic because it’s just so unexpected and at the time I first listened to it I could relate to the lyrics a lot. Dramatic I know.
As far as English language music goes; Nicest Thing and Foundations by Kate Nash are two songs that I can listen for an eternity and never get over them
Is there any one group that you can listen to all/most of the songs by? If so, who?
I’ve got a confession to make… I don’t listen to any boy bands! Shocking I know. So I guess in answer to this I would have to say Perfume, because they are one of the only Japanese “groups” that I listen to… in short I prefer solo artists…
What is your favorite agency?
That’s a hard one mainly because an artist’s performance doesn’t usually have to depend on the label they have. For some reason I have this sneaking suspicion that Toshiba EMI isn’t a very good label because many people change labels when they are with Toshiba EMI
What is your favorite group/singer?
Again, that’s a tough one. I guess I would have to say my all time favourite Japanese singer would have to be Utada Hikaru, but I don’t listen to her that much. Some (not all) other Japanese artists I really like are; Rie fu, Faray, Chihiro Onitsuka, JYONGRI, KOKIA, MiChi, Miwako Okuda, melody., Perfume, Namie Amuro, Meisa, Eri Nobuchika, Koda Kumi, Yuna Ito, BoA, Thelma Aoyama… and yeah the list could pretty much go on forever…
My overall favourite English artist is Kate Nash, but I also love Regina Spektor, Adele, Jack’s Mannequin, Lily Allen, Beyoncé, Angus & Julia Stone, Flyleaf, Ela Soza, DeVotchKa, Gabriella Cilmi, The Hoosiers… once again this list could go on forever~!
In general I can listen to most artists if they have a good voice and interesting/catchy arrangements…
Filed under: Thelma Aoyama | Tags: Aoyama Thelma, ONE WAY, Soba ni Iru ne, Thelma Aoyama, Thelma Aoyama - DIARY, Thelma Aoyama DIARY review
Track list:
1. My Beginning
2. Soba ni Iru ne [feat. SolJa]
3. ONE WAY
4. My dear friend
5. Last Letter
6. RHYTHEM
7. GOOD TIME MIX [feat. MIKU from YA-KYM]
8. HIGHER
9. Paradise
10. This Day [feat. Dohzi-T]
11. Kono mama de
12. Anata ni aete Yokatta
13. Mama e
14. DIARY
DIARY is Thelma’s Aoyama first studio album. It was released on the 26TH of March, 2008 and reached number three on the Oricon Weekly Charts selling a total of 372, 375 copies making it the 26th best selling Japanese album of the year.
Step aside Yuna Ito, Thelma Aoyama is here! From the beginning it’s quite clear that Thelma’s voice is absolutely amazing and matches perfect with the pop music that she makes. Her voice is soft, smooth and emotional which makes the entire album come to life and without her amazing voice the album wouldn’t be half as good as it is.
The beginning immediately tells us that this album will be a typical sincere, love based album. In the introduction track My Beginning Thelma says (in a quite well executed English) “This is way, my words, my message, my story, this is my… diary.” The piano backs up these lines to add to the sweet feel of this track. It’s a great way to start an album as it gives us a taste of what we can expect.
The introduction track flows immediately into the second song Soba ni Iru ne which is an lovely and rather mellow song. It features SoulJa which as usual doesn’t add any creative input and to be quite honest I would be perfectly happy if he wasn’t even in this track because his rapping ruins the mood. However this might be slightly biased coming from a person who can’t stand most rappers.
From ONE WAY to This Day Thelma shows her pop side with the occasional ballad thrown in here and there. Thelma’s pop tracks are produced well because she keeps things simple and balances it out with acoustic instruments, mainly the piano. This works well for the majority of the tracks, however a couple of tracks (mainly This Day) can tend to get on the boring side, and once again the rapping doesn’t do Thelma any favours. For a debut artist Thelma has collaborated with a fair amount of people. She worked with Soulja in Soba ni Iru ne, MIKU from YA-KYIM in GOOD TIME REMIX and Dohzi-T in This Day. Surprisingly none of the “featured” artists add anything special to the album and as I have said before I would be perfectly happy if they weren’t even included in the first place.
DIARY has a total of five (six if you include the introduction track) ballads. Some may call this a lot, but personally I think this is a perfect balance. Thelma performs her pop ballads at top quality, much thanks to her amazing and calming voice. She manages to convey a lot of emotion in her voice and can hit high notes well. She sings with a head voice that is clear and tranquil. The ballads do tend to sound the same, however I quite like all the ballads so this doesn’t have to be seen as a bad thing.
Thelma uses a moderate amount of English. The most can be seen in the introduction track, obviously, as it is completely in English. Thelma tends to say random phrases in English such as; ”Every night I’m missing you. Every night I want a new… Namida…” and “Don’t leave me alone, please don’t go away. You’re my everything.” and other cliché phrases like that.
Some may not like the track listing because most of the ballads seem to be squished at the end, but personally I don’t mind this track listing because it makes the album flow better and ends the album on a sincere note. The flow of the album is pulled off nicely, especially between My Beginning and Soba ni Iru ne which seem to flux into one song. Perhaps an interlude could have been included between This Day and Kono mama de, however even without an interlude the album seems to flow relatively well.
Overall DIARY is a great album. I think Thelma’s voice matches the type of music that she creates excellently. Even though this is Thelma’s first album she still manages to sound professional and genuine. She has released feel good pop music that is lightly sprinkled with synth to create a felicitous album with warm vocals a laidback feel.
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Hits:
My Beginning | Soba ni Iru ne [feat SoulJa | ONE WAY | My dear friend | Last Letter | Paradise | Kono mama de | Anata ni aete Yokatta | Mame e | DIARY
So-so:
RHYTHM | GOOD TIME REMIX [feat. MIKU from YA-KYIM] | HIGHER | This Day [feat. Dohzi T]
Misses:
N/A
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Overall Rating:
4 stars
Yes, that’s right… I’m moving… no, not moving blogs or anything drastic like that! We’re moving house, which is pretty exciting?
So what does this mean for me?
Well unfortunately for the next two months my blog will be slightly inactive because of the fact that we are moving house AND half yearly exams are coming up soon too. So I WILL still post, but maybe not as much. I really am sorry… T_T
Filed under: KOKIA | Tags: J-POP, JPOP, KOKIA, KOKIA - KOKIA – AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ Review, KOKIA AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~, KOKIA – AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~, KOKIA – AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ Review
Track list:
1. Wasure Mono
2. Ooki na Senaka
3. Obaa-chan
4.Crape-myyrtle no Yureru Koro
5. HOME
6. vintage love
7. brige
8. Hajimari
9. infinity
10. Sekia no Owari ni
11. Tsumihoroboshi no Uta
AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ is KOKIA’s 9th studio album. It was released on the 18th of March, 2009 and reached number 51 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and charted for a total of three weeks. It was released on the same day as her OTHER album KOKIA∞AKIKO ~balance~.
Less than six months after the release of her Christmas themed album Christmas gift KOKIA is back! If anyone knows how to make albums efficiently it’s KOKIA. Considering it took less than six months to make, I didn’t have my hopes too high… but man was I surprised!
All eleven tracks on the album are soft laidback songs, with a unique alternative edge. Much like The VOICE, AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ shies away from KOKIA’s pop/folk past and goes for something a little more original. The beginning of the album starts off with Wasure Mono a relaxed track with outstanding vocals. With Wasure Mono being almost seven minutes in length, one would think that this song quickly get boring, however like previous albums KOKIA’s vocals are outstanding and never get tiresome.
AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ shows the use of piano quite frequently. In vintage love, Obaa-chan and Hajimari the piano is the only instrument that can be heard. This adds to the unfeigned feel of the song, and makes KOKIA’s vocals the main attraction. AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ is balanced out with guitar to add a light touch to the album. Ooki na Senaka, Crape-myrtle no Yureru Koro and bridge have guitar as the main and at times only instrument of the piece. The way that KOKIA can make a song that sounds so raw, yet so interesting is very intriguing and she has mastered a very fine art.
Unlike The VOICE, KOKIA’s latest album has lost the European edge and as far as I know has not been scheduled for a European release, unlike her previous album. This is understandable though because compared to previous albums AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ has little English. Most of the English throughout the entire album can be heard on bridge. KOKIA’s English is as good as they are on previous albums and at times the English can be hard to understand, but that’s mainly because the vocals are rather soft on bridge. I think that it’s a good thing that AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ doesn’t have all that much English on it, because even though KOKIA’s English vocals are cute an all, they can sometimes sound as though they were sung by a four year old. When listening to her English works it becomes quite evident that her Japanese voice is much nicer.
Lots of songs have similar arrangements so that’s a plus when it comes to the flow of the album. I would like to see KOKIA vary her songs, but at the same time I believe that KOKIA performs soft tracks the best and I would be quite happy for her to sing songs like this for the rest of her career… yes, I did just commit doublethink.
KOKIA’s vocals on AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ are varied. In songs such as Obaa-chan KOKIA’s vocals are thin, but strong. In Hajimari KOKIA’s vocals are fuller and she holds her notes for a longer amounts of time, which can sometimes tend to resemble opera. In all of these circumstances KOKIA seems to be able to sing with ease and her lyrics are smooth and flow well. KOKIA’s vocals are melodic she uses the right arrangements to match her voice. Most of the songs on the album could be used as a lullaby to drift me off to sleep, especially vintage love which is one of the simplest but best songs on the album.
KOKIA is a truly unique Japanese artist and really can’t compare to anyone in the Japanese music industry. In an industry plagued by same-sounding generic pop tracks KOKIA comes along and balances the music industry out with some much needed peaceful and lightly produced music. Add a sprinkle of guitar, piano and even panpipe to match wonderful and diverse vocals and you’ve got AKIKO∞KOKIA ~balance~ which truly is a gem to treasure in any music collection.
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Hits:
Wasure Mono | Ooki na Senka | Obaa-chan | Crape-myrtle no Yureru Koro | HOME | vintage love | bridge | Hajimari | infinity | Sekai no Owari ni | Tsumihoroboshi no Uta
So-so:
N/A
Misses:
N/A
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Overall Rating:
5 stars
Well, first of all I have some news to announce…
As you may have already noticed I’ve added a new page The Monthly Rant. Yeah it’s pretty much me rambling about whatever really. As the name suggests it will be updated monthly! Oh and my internet is slow (used up our downloads for the second time EVER!) and my internet refreshes on the 10th of May. The internet isn’t painfully slow, however the speed has dropped dramatically, so posting is a bit more of a hassle, however I plan to have KOKIA’s new album KOKIA ∞ AKIKO ~ balance~ up by the end of the week… so stick around for that XD~!
