I absolutely adore the way this song was written. It's beautifully bittersweet, and the first time I heard it I felt like crying. The song, as I interpret it, is about a loved one who has passed away, or even a love that has just ended. It kind of reminds me of Selena Gomez's "Love Will Remember". Even when the love you have on earth is gone, somewhere deep down, beyond time and space, you still have that strong bond and a love that will never truly pass away. It's rather deep when you think about it, and it's something I don't normally see idols singing about; at least not in this way.
But... (why does there always have to be a "but"?) Tsunku is really the only one who gets any credit for making this single amazing. First of all, the arrangement; that dang repeating broken chord drives me nuts. If you're going to use piano in your song, make it sound pretty and not all disjointed and... unoriginal like that. I did hear a little bit more piano going on at the beginning but it was hard to hear because of the STUPID LOOPING CHORDS!
(Okay so I'm the only person on earth who's enraged by that but for real... it annoys me.)
The entire arrangement to me is just too staccato and broken. It's like someone just took a bunch of sounds that they think sound cool and threw them all in a pot with no though about how they would flow together, and this is what we got.
Oh yeah but throw in some violin and people will say it's beautiful.
It is definitely possible to make a song that sounds pretty and sad but still using electronic elements. I'm going to use another Selena Gomez example here and say "Forget Forever", which did have a different tone from "Toki wo Koe..." but still managed to make me rather sad during the main instrumental part by using only electronically created sounds.
I mean I'm honestly no musical expert or anything so maybe I'm just crazy, but in my opinion the arrangement for this could have and should have been much better.
The girls' voices could have also been a bit stronger, but they sound all right and I've ranted enough about this song already so I'll just leave it at that.
Going back to positives, I also love that they're mixing it up a little more with Morning Musume's singles. I think when "Ai no Gundan" was released was when I realized that their sound was starting to get a little stale. Immediately after that, though, they put a little twist on it by releasing the happier, more idol-like song "Egao no Kimi wa Taiyou sa", still keeping the EDM elements but making it stand out from the rest of their singles. Even beyond just the style they experimented with a unique rhythm for the vocals which took some getting used to but ultimately was awesome. (Because H!P is obsessed with multiple A-side singles they also included two other songs which are good but forgettable and I don't even want to talk about them.)
With this single they're doing their first ballad in a while, and I think many people are responding well not only because of the music but because of the variety. In the golden era, I believe Morning Musume was famous partially because of their variety. Their fluctuating line-up was the most obvious example, but they also were able to experiment with different styles of songs while still keeping the same energetic image that made them popular.
I think the key to keeping Momusu relevant is to grow with their new sound, instead of letting it hold them back as if they feel they have to do the same type of single every time in order to keep sales up. From what I've seen so far this year, I believe they are taking steps in the right direction.
(Now if only we can get rid of the double A-sides, because "Password is 0" is boring.)
The song is really the main focus for me, so I can't really say too much about the video. The outfits are pretty, and I like seeing the girls barefoot. The special effects are average. I did like the set for the dance shot, as it truly felt as though they were in space. To me, the whole setting and colors artistically reflected the beauty of the song, even if it was fairly simple.
The dance wasn't their best but it's not really a dance song so who really cares.
The first minute or so of the video did bother me at first because it seemed as if the girls were more focused on looking pretty instead of feeling the emotion of the song. But as the video went on I felt it a lot more from them.
Overall, the song and video give me mixed feelings, but the positive outweighs the negative. It's a beautiful song that can be interpreted in different ways, and I love that. Definitely worth purchasing for any Morning Musume fan.
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