Morning Musume has released the dance shot for their upcoming single "Help me!!", the debut of the 11th Generation.
This song combines the new electronic dance sound of Morning Musume with the more familiar sound that Hello! Project fans might recognize from album songs. Similar to their previous two singles, they have decided to release the dance shot before the regular music video. Personally I don't think this is a good idea as it tends to lower the views that the regular MV gets, but I'm sure many fans are happy to have a sneak peek. With Morning Musume having a stronger focus on choreography lately, releasing the dance shot is a good way to get fans excited.
While the choreography isn't as strong as something you'd see from a group like Fairies, it is pretty impressive as it's very eye-catching and makes you want to pay close attention to every move. The fast movements in the intro invite you to dance along, and the unique formations allow you to focus on all the members. Following the intro, the girls move low to the ground, which combined with the quiet vocals gives a bit of a sneaky and mysterious feel. Near the chorus, we get to see our new member, Oda Sakura, shine with great vocals and all the members dancing around her.
What really makes this dance shot is the backgrounds in the city. Though it starts out dark, with only the enormous moon lighting the area, the lights all burst out in neon colors to give an energetic start to the chorus.
The outfits are quite interesting as well. Leopard print on top of hot pink tutus, and every member has a unique hair piece, with Kudo Haruka's sideways cap probably being the most memorable.
The only thing I don't like about this dance shot is that it's clearly edited, and the random "jump" in footage can get pretty annoying. Of course, this is a minor complaint when you're enjoying everything the video has to offer.
Fans can only hope that this will not be another let-down like the overly-sparkly "One Two Three" or the finished "Wakuteka Take a chance" that was worse than the temporary version (which is exactly why I didn't review it). But if my observations are correct, I think we'll be getting a more fair line distribution and screen time in the future. 2013 will definitely be an interesting year for Morning Musume!
Girls' Generation, my second Kpop group, will always hold a special place in my heart because of their song "Gee". That song just wouldn't stop showing up in my recommended videos on YouTube, and that's why I'm a Kpop fan today.
Well, get ready for a bit of nostalgia, as they take us back in time a full five years in their newest video, "Dancing Queen".
Honestly, I thought when they pulled out that time machine they would go back to like the 80's. Not that you could blame me, since I actually was pretty convinced it would be a cover of the ABBA song (technically from the 70's). Well, I was partially right, because it was a cover. A cover of... Duffy's "Mercy"? ...what?
This is the last song I would ever imagine Girls' Generation covering. The vocals are great, but it's just not the same.
According to some comments, this was actually filmed back in 2008, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was. If it wasn't, then whoever did their hair/makeup is pretty talented.
The whole video is reminiscent of "Gee", especially with the dance scenes with the jeans, white t-shirts, and white background. The café scenes remind me more of the Japanese version.
At the end of the video, they transport back to the future/present (2013) and reveal their outfits for their upcoming single "I Got a Boy". Personally, I think these outfits are quite ugly and overly complicated. What happened to Girls' Generation, anyway? They're definitely not the same girls as the ones who sang "Into the New World". It's not that I hate the new GG, I just liked them best before last year.
Back to "Dancing Queen", there's not much to say about this song since it's a cover, and the video looks exactly like something we would've seen in 2008. But hey, I'm not complaining. At least we got a Korean song in 2012!
It's been a while since I have done a review, so let's do a review for a new music video! Due to some issues I've been having with YouTube, you'll have to excuse the fact that there are no screen shots.
Today KARA released their PV for the B-side of their latest single "Electric Boy" (another song I was going to review but never got around to it). Of course when I saw a screenshot for the PV, I assumed "Oh, this will just be another incredibly boring sad song music video." And in a way, it does have a few of the ingredients for a mundane, forgettable video: sitting around, looking sad (yet pretty at the same time), slow motion "acting" scenes; and yet, I found this video totally captivating.
The song is a bit typical, but I'm sure after a few listens it will grow on me. In fact, it was actually a bit hard to pay attention to the song because I was distracted by the sheer beauty of the video:
In the first half of the video, KARA keeps it basic with beige and white filling the room. This simple beauty actually interests me, as I wonder how it will be used in the video. I think simplicity often allows you to pay attention to the intention behind the song and video, and really become absorbed in the story.
If I understand the lyrics correctly, the girl in the song is missing someone, wanting to tell him she loves him. As Hara peeks through the telescope, she sees the constellation Orion, hoping that he'll see it, too. (Okay, well she probably can't actually see anything since there's light coming through the window, but you get the point.)
I love their outfits in these scenes, with the beige and pink looking lovely and calming together. But the real beauty is in the next scene, in a white and silver sort of winter wonderland where they wear gorgeous long gowns: some sparkly, some frilly, all totally regal. The best of all is Gyuri's dark blue dress. I mean, it's just absolutely perfect, from head to toe.
Somehow, KARA always manages to look perfect in all of their videos. Hair, make-up, outfits; everything is flawless, and I think this visual appeal is really what captivates me in videos like this. Very simple, yet elegant at the same time.
The only part of the video I didn't care for is the crying at the end of the video. I don't care how heart-wrenching the song is, I just can't stand to see people cry in videos. (There are a few exceptions, but not many, I think.)
Of course I didn't expect this to be a monumental video, as it's just for a B-side, but I think that they did a good job with it; I don't feel like it was time wasted for a pointless PV, you know?
I hope you enjoyed my review! I'll continue to work to improve my writing skills, and I hope you continue reading!
To start off this post, I would just like to make it clear how ugly blogger's new layout is. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but it sucks when they don't give you a choice...
So, now it's time for my first full review (on this blog)! Huzzah!
WAKUTEKA TAKE A CHAAAAAANCE! (temporary ver.)
I've been watching the dance practice for this video almost every day lately, and have been anxiously awaiting the video. You have no idea how happy I was to see it! But then I was a little ticked off to see the word "仮" (temporary) on there (I only know what it means because of Up Up Girls, lol). But I suppose it's better than nothing, so I'll take it. (and then I was irritated that I couldn't get it to load on YouTube, and still can't, so I have to watch it embedded on H!P Wiki...)
I'm going to try to do this piece by piece so I don't lose what I'm about to say, because I have a lot to say about this!
I gasped when I saw these electric bed thingies. They're so epic looking!
Oh crud, it's return of the sparklies! They're so bright... so beautiful... so distracting.... oh, wait, I'm supposed to be watching a music video? I thought that was just a background for the cheap effects...
Seriously, though, whoever edited these -- cut it out. It's annoying. It's fake and distracts from the video itself.
I really love these light bars. For some reason I thought there was a name for them, and then I just ended up calling them fluorescent light bulbs. XD
The effect on these scenes are cool, too. It makes it darker so it contrasts from the light, and it gives off this cool, haunting, out-of-this-world kind of look.
Am I the only one who thinks Momusu is supposed to be aliens in this video? There's a picture in the background of earth (from space), and there's another one on the side that I think looks like a galaxy, and maybe on that looks like a UFO. So maybe they're aliens and that's where they abduct the humans and do those weird experiments or whatever those crazy people say they do. :D Or maybe it's the other way around and some humans found them and that's why they're behind those bars. Hmm...
No, no, wait... the other girls all trapped Ayumi in the cell because they're jealous of her dancing skills and won't let her in the dance shot. XD (jk, she's injured...)
Or maybe this video just has no plot whatsoever and just looks cool.
What the... SHE'S ON FIRE! How the heck did that happen?
Mizuki is considerably less boring in this video. Just look at that smile!
I really love the angles they do in this scene. It's so epic!
Other thoughts:
Sayu looked really pretty in this video. I couldn't get a good screenshot, but if you just watch the video you'll see.
I kind of hate and love Haruna's hairstyle at the same time. It looks a lot better than what she had in One Two Three, but her hair is just so much prettier when it's down...
I looooove the feathery black things they have on their costumes; it's so cute!
I love how the video kind of has a more mature feel to it, but some members (especially Masaki) keep it youthful as well. That's the variety I love about Morning Musume!
Obviously I love the song and the dance; pretty much every day I'll start doing the dance in the middle of the house, but of course I look ridiculous doing it. :D But they do it perfectly, and I love the "shake it up" move.
I liked that during the part where the members all get solo lines, they showed close-ups of all of them, instead of switching to a random scene during the least-liked members' parts. Though I wished they could have shown the dance shot at that part, too, but there would be a gap without Ayumi so it wouldn't work.
The last part of the dance where they turn their heads quickly... I feel like that's a key part of the dance, and I feel like the MV didn't show that. If I was editing it, I would have quickly cut to a close-up of Riho as they turned, then switched to black. Maybe I'm just being picky, but I always think of how I would've done it when I'm reviewing videos.
I think that's most of what I have to say. Overall I'd say I like the video, but if this is just the temporary version, then I cannot wait to see the real one!
Alright, so, I'm sure you've noticed that I never made a part 3 to my Hello! Project Mini-Reviews series, and I'm finally telling you the reason why.
If you have read my reviews, you likely came here from idolminded.com, as Ray was kind enough to add my posts to the Recommended Reading. I actually didn't even notice it until after I posted part 2 (ironically, I actually read some of the posts from that day, but I was too distracted by the announcement of Girls' Generation-TTS to even notice my name XD).
When I first saw my post I was ecstatic! I was so happy it had been chosen. But almost immediately I started freaking out; I'm not really sure why, but I think the pressure of knowing that people (though it was not really a large amount) were reading such a big project stressed me out; I had originally started it thinking that no one would read it. So I panicked. I set my blog as private and hid.
I've been delaying having to do this for a while, but I can now tell you that this project is cancelled, or at least on hiatus. It's not that I got bored, or just didn't feel like doing it; I'd actually love to finish it! But honestly it's just too much pressure and it's not something I feel comfortable doing right now.
I'll still continue to blog here a little bit, and I'll actually use this blog for just blogging about media (video, music, books, etc.).
Hope you understand and continue to read my blog! I'll try to not do any series for a little while, and when I do start them again I'll do little ones.
I'm finally back with part 2 of my mini-reviews! Today we're doing 5 different videos -- two groups', and two soloists'!
Morning Musume - Morning Coffee
It's Morning Musume's official debut single!
I'm sure nobody knows this, but I love this song! It's actually one of my top Morning Musume songs. From a composition standpoint, this song is much, much, much better than "Ai no Tane"! The layering of harmonies is just beautiful, and the music is lovely as well! All of them have beautiful voices, but Abe Natsumi stands out far above the others in both vocal ability and stage presence (or... camera presence?).
The video continues the singing-in-the-town theme like Ai no Tane had, but it also has some lovely scenes in a dimly lit room, which I feel focus more on the members themselves and show us their beauty.
You can see that the members have gotten slightly more comfortable for their video this time! They are all smiling when needed and remaining serious when needed, and I feel like they conveyed the emotions of the song very well. There were some slightly awkward parts where they were just standing there like statues with nothing moving but their lips, but these moments were brief so I'm not even going to count that.
All together, I give this lovely song and video a 7/10. As you can see, I'm not being very lenient with my scores yet. :D
Heike Michiyo - Sotsugyou ~TOP OF THE WORLD~
Heike Michiyo follows up with her second single, a Japanese version of The Carpenters' song "Top of the World".
This is by far my favorite Michiyo song. The vocals are absolutely stunning, even with a fairly simple melody. The guitar in the background also adds a nice touch.
Okay, so Momusu gets a great PV, and then they give Heike Michiyo this? Sitting on a chair is hardly entertaining. "Okay, so let's switch it up; we'll have her sit on the stairs during this scene!" *facepalm* Alright, I'm slightly exaggerating, but really, there's hardly anything special about this. The only thing I liked was the random balloon thing (for some reason I find balloons to be fascinating).
One thing I have to point out is that despite having a lovely voice, I actually don't think she was ever fit to be a soloist. She entered a competition to be in a band; she won the competition to be in a band; she has the stage presence of a lead singer of a band, and suddenly she's made a soloist. To me she just has the kind of voice and presence that would better fit a band. Oh well, guess it's way to late to complain.
Overall, I give this PV a 4/10. The only reason it even got that high of a score is because the song is awesome.
Morning Musume - Summer Night Town
Double dosage of Momusu today, and now we have the 2nd generation's debut song!
Remember how I said how much I loved Morning Coffee? Well, I love this song 10x more! I can't tell you how many times I've blown out my voice jamming to this song. The first generation once again completely owns the vocals. All the second generation got to do was sing the background vocals on the pre-chorus bridge. I feel kinda bad for them, especially since they were in the back during the whole video. They're definitely the most unappreciated generation; in fact, they're the only generation in which I can't remember a single person's name (family or given).
Back to the video: this isn't their best video. The cool thing is that it's the first video in which they get to dance, but of course the dancing is mostly just side-stepping and arm-swinging. I loved the scenery of the city at night. I wish we would've gotten to see more of that in the video. The costumes were nothing special at all. The lighting in the video was so odd; I felt as if I could barely see anything.
So I guess this is yet another case of "amazing song, sucky music video". Go figure. I give it a 6/10, simply because the song is amazing.
Nakazawa Yuko - Karasu no Nyoubou
It's Nakazawa Yuko's solo debut single!
Okay, before I talk about the actual song, can someone tell me what genre this falls in? I don't know what to call it. Also, was the piano at the beginning and end supposed to sound like The Turtles' "Happy Together"? That's all I can think of whenever I hear this song. Anyway, other than that, I love Yuko's voice in this song! It's hauntingly beautiful.
I love seeing PVs that are outside (especially since it looks like Momusu will never go outside again...) and the scenery here is just too pretty! I especially love it when PVs have water in them (weird thing about me) so the little stream in the background just made me happy! Another thing I loved about this PV was Yuko's kimono! She looks absolutely lovely!
Overall, I really like this music video, although there doesn't seem to be much of a plot to it. I'll give it an 7/10. It might have gotten more if it wasn't so forgettable.
Tanpopo - Last Kiss
It's Morning Musume's first sub-group, Tanpopo!
Oh...Em...Gee! It's been forever since I've heard this song; I forgot how much I love it! The keyboard part gives me chills every time. The instrumental, melody, and harmonies are just so haunting and sad. It makes me feel like I'm a part of this song (or whatever, I don't know how to explain it). I mean... GOSH!
Okay, back to the PV. To be honest, I can barely even pay attention to it because I'm thinking about the song the whole time, but the music video was beautiful as well! Everything felt dark and cold, which helped project the feelings of the lyrics. I loved the parts where they kept fading in and out. It reminded me of the past, slowly fading away. You can remember it, but you can never go back.
Yeah, I'm making no sense. Whatever! This song is amazing, the music video is good, so I give it an 8/10.
FYI, I started writing this post a week ago and never finished it until now. Can you say "lazy"? I'm really sorry it took soooo long, but I hope it was worth it! Until next time! PEACE!
