JASMINE - HERO
In an unusual twist of events, JASMINE released her latest single, HERO, 2 months after her previous! Someone's working hard! Further foraying into the EDM scene, HERO is a song that sends out an encouraging message, what with "don't give up", "you are my hero", "you is good, kind, important", you get the drift. It starts off rather slow before building up until the chorus where the bass drops and things really pick up from there. I really like the "your wish will change the night" part though; a pity it only appears once throughout the song. It gets a *tad* repetitive after a while, but overall I still like it.
The b-side, Missing, is a Kubota Toshinobu song that's been rearranged with a fuller electronic and R&B sound meshed together. It's a nice addition to the single, but doesn't really work for me. Somehow I feel that the arrangement sort of strips away the magic of the original song. On the other hand, I absolutely love Why (T.O.M Remix for JAS VEGAS). I normally don't enjoy ballads remixed, but this actually worked pretty well because it didn't sound forced. The arrangement complements the song really well and meshes together very smoothly.
Unfortunately, as a lead single to her sophomore album to be released in a month, it does fall flat and doesn't seem like a good choice to be released if they're trying to create hype for her album release.
The b-side, Missing, is a Kubota Toshinobu song that's been rearranged with a fuller electronic and R&B sound meshed together. It's a nice addition to the single, but doesn't really work for me. Somehow I feel that the arrangement sort of strips away the magic of the original song. On the other hand, I absolutely love Why (T.O.M Remix for JAS VEGAS). I normally don't enjoy ballads remixed, but this actually worked pretty well because it didn't sound forced. The arrangement complements the song really well and meshes together very smoothly.
Unfortunately, as a lead single to her sophomore album to be released in a month, it does fall flat and doesn't seem like a good choice to be released if they're trying to create hype for her album release.
6/10
Koda Kumi - Summer Trip
It's that time of the year again when our favourite skank-ass ho drops her new summer single. As with all her weird-ass summer singles with their random-ass interludes, a radio-show concept is used for this which probably has the worst script ever. It's like the DJ didn't have enough content to talk about the song so he starts describing the music video out like we give that much of a damn.
LALALALALA is your classic summer Kuu song which reminds me a lot Hashire! in the verses somehow, lol. It's like a better version of Poppin' love cocktail. The song is catchy and probably sounds great live too. You know a song is gonna rally up a crowd good when you put in not one, not two, but 5 freakin' Las in it.
While the usage of grammar in IS THIS TRAP? is questionable in typical Kuu fashion, it's unquestionably a catchy electropop song that once again captivates the listener with a shit-ton of OH WOAH OH OH!s. It's like a watered down version of TABOO / ECSTASY, but in a good way, and is probably my favourite song off this single. The interlude before it talks about how the song is about Tokyo, where Kuu achieved her dreams and sings about the ups and downs (the traps) in it. Pretty interesting and actually something worth listening to lol
TOUCH DOWN easily wins me over simply because it's ghetto as hell. The song was also previously recorded by JoJo 100 years ago, just not officially released. Whatever man, ghetto Kuu is all I need in my life. Frippers up! Frippers up! It's a little electronic, a little rock, and a little hip-hop, resulting in some real twerking action.
Summer Trip offers three awesome summer songs in three different genres, it's like a freakin' buffet. But as with all Kuu releases, they all just sound like shit that's been done before. You've seen people said this a thousand times, but there's no denying to it. While I enjoy the songs now I honestly don't know if her next album is anything to look forward to at all, but that's another post for another day.
LALALALALA is your classic summer Kuu song which reminds me a lot Hashire! in the verses somehow, lol. It's like a better version of Poppin' love cocktail. The song is catchy and probably sounds great live too. You know a song is gonna rally up a crowd good when you put in not one, not two, but 5 freakin' Las in it.
While the usage of grammar in IS THIS TRAP? is questionable in typical Kuu fashion, it's unquestionably a catchy electropop song that once again captivates the listener with a shit-ton of OH WOAH OH OH!s. It's like a watered down version of TABOO / ECSTASY, but in a good way, and is probably my favourite song off this single. The interlude before it talks about how the song is about Tokyo, where Kuu achieved her dreams and sings about the ups and downs (the traps) in it. Pretty interesting and actually something worth listening to lol
TOUCH DOWN easily wins me over simply because it's ghetto as hell. The song was also previously recorded by JoJo 100 years ago, just not officially released. Whatever man, ghetto Kuu is all I need in my life. Frippers up! Frippers up! It's a little electronic, a little rock, and a little hip-hop, resulting in some real twerking action.
Summer Trip offers three awesome summer songs in three different genres, it's like a freakin' buffet. But as with all Kuu releases, they all just sound like shit that's been done before. You've seen people said this a thousand times, but there's no denying to it. While I enjoy the songs now I honestly don't know if her next album is anything to look forward to at all, but that's another post for another day.
7/10
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