:+: No Music No Life :+:

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

CD Review :: Ken Hirai - FAKIN' POP

Tracklist :

1) POP STAR
2) Kimi wa Su.te.ki♡ (You're Won.der.ful)
3) Kimi no Suki na Toko (The Place You Like)
4) Canvas
5) Pain
6) fake star
7) UPSET
8) Utsukushii Hito (Beautiful One)
9) Elegy (Aika)
10) Twenty ! Twenty ! Twenty !
11) By(e) My Melody
12) Itsuka Hanareru Hi ga Kite mo (If Some Day a Day Comes Where I'm Separated from You)
13) Shashin (Photo)

FAKIN' POP is Ken Hirai's 7th studio album . It's released today in Japan & FAKIN' POP is Ken's 1st studio offering since 2004's SENTIMENTALovers .

Prior to the release of FAKIN' POP , 6 singles were released in which 1 of them is a double A side single , a 1st for Ken in his 13th year in the music business . The songs are highlighted in bold .

In Ken's brand new album , there're 5 new songs . I say 5 because I do not count Utsukushii Hito (Beautiful One) in the pic as it's the B side of Ken's 26th Single , Kimi no Suki na Toko (The Place You Like) .

The album kick things off with Ken's 4th no.1 single POP STAR & I'm so happy that Ken has decided to include POP STAR & let it have the honour to start things off as that's 1 of my faves from him , be it song & PV .

POP STAR was included in Ken's Utabaka best album so if you didn't bought his best album then consider yourself lucky that POP STAR's in the album !

Track 2's 1/2 of Ken's 1st double A side / 28th single , Kimi wa Su.te.ki♡ (You're Won.der.ful) . It's a song that you will either like or don't like on 1st listen as it sounds like nothing that Ken would have done in his previous works .

For me I find Kimi wa Su.te.ki♡ (You're Won.der.ful) quite cheesy when I 1st heard it especially since he took his vocals to a higher level like iterally but now I like it . It's unique & the part where Ken went 'down down down down , fat' made me & my younger sister laughed .

After 2 upbeat songs , Ken decided to slow things down by a bit in the form of his 26th single Kimi no Suki na Toko (The Place You Like) . I liked Kimi no Suki na Toko (The Place You Like) the very 1st time I heard it & like I said before , whenever Ken performs this live during performances , he's always in happy spirits & it's a cheery upbeat song which I dig .

Canvas's the other 1/2 of his 28th single . Prior to Canvas , the only song that my younger sister liked from Ken was his 20th single's Hitomi wo Tojite but after she watched the Honey & Clover drama , she went nuts over it because Canvas was used as the insert & ending song to Honey & Clover .

I 1st heard the live version of Canvas in Ken's Bar 2007 Winter & it's a pleasant nice piano ballad from Ken . The piano version is even better because it presents a more stripped down vibe which's great .

Track 5's a new song in the album titled Pain . The opening sounds like Bye My Melody part 2 due to the melody that's going on which's a bit odd as with a song title like Pain , I would be expecting a ballad & in a way I was 1/2 correct .

Pain started out a bit shaky but then as the song flows , it slowly starts to take form & ends on a beautiful note . The last part where Ken went 'I can never escape this pain' is woah .

After 3 mid tempo & ballad songs , the pace is picked up at the mid point of FAKIN' POP in the form of Ken's 27th single fake star . fake star is the dark alter ego of POP STAR & I suspect due to both song titles , it kinda inspired the album title . You know FAKIN' POP ?

Anyway , I know fake star wasn't well received when it was 1st released as at this point in time , it's Ken's worst selling single . It even sold less than his debut single Precious Junk and his 15th single , Strawberry Sex .

I don't know what led to the low physical single sales of fake star but I suspect it's due to the naughty raunchy PV which was shot in Prague in the Czech Republic & I dug up some info regarding details to the fake star PV & what I found out was quite er eew .

If you watched the PV of fake star , you would have noticed Ken was making out with 2 hot chicks (not at the same time unfortunately haha) & if I never know about this bit of info , I would have assumed that the ladies were probably a few years younger than Ken but surprised surprised , they were 1/2 his age :S which shocked me cos they sure do look mature . Either that or it's probably the makeup so that 1st part turns me out , PV wise .

& 2nd , for some stupid lame reason/s altogether , 1 of the girls who made out with Ken in the PV , brought her boyfriend along & he was at the set when all the raunchy sex scenes were shot in which it's possibly 1 of the dumbest things that she or a person would do & it doesn't help matters that the boyfriend was more taller & muscular than Ken in which I think he might have pounded & beat Ken up in a pulp .

The reasons why I know all of these is because Ken mentioned details of the fake star PV in an interview with MUSIC STATION , prior to the performance of the song last Sept . Maybe because of these 2 reasons , somehow the sex scenes in the PV doesn't looked er naturally to me & not to mention shocked people .

BUT my point is regardless of the PV or not , I adore fake star even though the physical single sales were poor . The melody's super catchy , I love the hooks of the melody which's going on in there & to me , the Pv of fake star's nothing . You should watch the PV of Strawberry Sex , it's even up there but somehow the humor factor's sorta dampens the sex factor in the video . Strawberry Sex cracks me up like seriously .

& the ~Ken's swingin' jazz~ version of fake star which's found on the fake star single's gorgeous & so smooth . Not to mention , the single cover of fake star's 1 of the hottest Ken covers out there , be it albums or singles wise .

Ok enough of fake star , time to move onto the 2nd new track of the album . With a song title like UPSET , you might be expecting another ballad but you'll be surprised it's nothing like what you imagined & yes it's an upbeat no. & I think it's great that prior to UPSET , fake star was there to set the mood .

UPSET's hot . I 1st heard a snippet of it on Ken's official site & I was psyched to hear the full version of UPSET & that didn't disappoint me . It's super groovy , sexy & I adore the saxaphone in the background which's great .

UPSET is used in the CM for the new LG L705iX mobile phone for NTT Docomo .

The mood has now changed to a slower pace & what better way to start with Utsukushii Hito (Beautiful One) which's the B side of Kimi no Suki na Toko (The Place You Like) . I was surprised that Ken has decided to include Utsukushii Hito (Beautiful One) in the mix as I didn't expect this coming from him but regardless of which , I love Utsukushii Hito (Beautiful One) as it's a piano driven ballad which I adore .

Track 9's Ken's 25th single Elegy (Aika) & this's 1 of Ken's most serious & amazing works to date . The song was written from the perspective of a woman & it's easy to see or should I say hear why Elegy (Aika) is deemed 1 of Ken's finest songs to date .

Could tell that Ken put a lot of his heart & soul into the song which's awesome .

Soon after , the mood is changed in Twenty ! Twenty ! Twenty ! . I have heard Twenty ! Twenty ! Twenty ! prior to the release of FAKIN' POP & I'm glad to see it being included in the album as it's such a catchy song .

Bye My Melody's up next & this's Ken's 24th single . Bye My Melody's 1 of Ken's poppier songs to date . Not that it's a bad thing but it's good to see Ken venture outta his music comfort zone .

The last 2 songs on the album are 2 ballads . Itsuka Hanareru Hi ga Kite mo (If Some Day a Day Comes Where I'm Separated from You) is track 11 & this rather complicated sounding song is the longest track on the album , clocking in at about 6:35 mins !

Itsuka Hanareru Hi ga Kite mo (If Some Day a Day Comes Where I'm Separated from You) is a nice piano ballad , reminded me of Ken's previous piano driven ballads but I thought it's a bit too long for my liking but other than that , no further complaints coming from me .

I think it's a great way to close the album with Shashin (Photo) & I think it's the best track on the album for a non single simply because from the start to the end , Shashin kept me occupied with its great melody & the melody to which the song closes , it ended in a very dramatic note which sent goosebumps on my spine .

Shashin reminded me of the B side of POP STAR aka Tameiki Kippu (Sigh Ticket) & the same thing happened regarding Sentimental which incidentally is a great ballad which closed off Ken's last album SENTIMENTALovers with a fantastic note altogether .

& it's said that Shashin was written for Ken's dad who unfortunately passed away in Nov '04 due to cancer so bless the both of them . There is 1 part in Shashin which goes 'I really think it's good to be your son' .

FAKIN' POP is a great album & despite the fact that almost 1/2 the album was released before FAKIN' POP was announced , I honestly enjoyed FAKIN' POP right from the start to the end .

The sound consistency is there & I like the fact that Ken switched the mood vibe of the album from up tempo to ballad within a 2-3 songs interval & the remaining 5 new songs were the missing pieces to complete the jigsaw puzzle of FAKIN' POP .

FAKIN' POP deserves my vote to be 1 of the top albums for '08 . Here's to more great material from Ken Hirai in the near future !