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Friday, March 07, 2008

CD Review :: Yuna Ito - WISH

CD Only Cover :

CD + DVD Cover :

Tracklist :

1) Power of Love
2) alone again
3) Anata ga Iru Kagiri ~A WORLD TO BELIEVE IN~ (As Long as You are Here) (with Céline Dion)
4) Urban Mermaid
5) HEARTBEAT
6) Colorful
7) Unite As One
8) Mahaloha (with Micro of Def Tech)
9) A Long Walk
10) Moon Rabbit
11) I'm Here
12) Wish
13) Tokyo Days
14) MY HEART WILL GO ON (Bonus Track)

WISH is Yuna Ito's 2nd album . It was released in Japan last month on 20th , Wed & its debut peak position was no.3 on the Oricon weekly album chart .

4 singles were released from WISH & they're highlighted in bold with the inclusion of a B-side .

Contrary to what you might think , Yuna's not born in Japan . Rather she was born in US & raised in Hawaii . English's her 1st language while she speaks Japanese as her 2nd language .

She got her big break when she was picked to play Reira Serizawa (the vocalist of TRAPNEST) in the manga adaption of NANA 1 & NANA 2 which were screened in movie cinemas in Japan & she sang the ever so awesome ENDLESS STORY under the name REIRA starring YUNA ITO & that song was released as her debut single & that was the song which got me interested in her music .

She attained further more success when she released her debut album HEART , a year & 4 months after the release of ENDLESS STORY . HEART managed to debut at no.1 on the Oricon weekly album chart & to this date , HEART has sold about 527,655 copies in Japan & was the 14th most sold album in Japan last year .

Unfortunately or not , after the whole NANA hype died down , she doesn't seem to fare well with singles that she has released after Truth but that's a different story altogether .

The album kicks off with Power of Love , an energetic dance no. with quite a bit of spunk in it .

The next 2 tracks are ballads . alone again is a nice ballad & undoubt 1 of the strong links in the album for a non released single . If I'm correct , alone again was used as a radio single to promote WISH prior to the release of the album .

Track 3's Yuna's 10th single Anata ga Iru Kagiri ~A WORLD TO BELIEVE IN~ (As Long as You are Here) & it's a duet with none other than Celine Dion . By right the original title's A World To Believe In . This track can be found on Celine's 10th Eng album Taking Chances .

The duet came about when Celine heard Yuna's rendition of MY HEART WILL GO ON which Yuna covered in a tribute album titled TRIBUTE TO CELINE DION which Yuna & other Japanese artistes covered certain classic songs that were sung by Celine originally .

Celine was so taken back & impressed with Yuna's rendition of My Heart Will Go On that she contacted Yuna personally to do a duet hence this brillant collbo between the 2 ladies .

If you ask me , it's more like a remake in that sense cos A World To Believe In was originally done in English but depends on how you see it . You can find the original version on Taking Chances .

I really like Anata ga Iru Kagiri ~A WORLD TO BELIEVE IN~ (As Long as You are Here) when I 1st heard it . Yuna wasn't overshadowed by Celine vocals wise & it was good to see that her vocals are on par with Celine & both their voices blended really well together which's great . My only gripe was that I wish Yuna should have sang certain parts of the song in English as it's her 1st language after all but still it's a good song & no doubt it's the strongest single that she has released outta the 4 singles found on WISH .

Track 4 was Yuna's 9th single , Urban Mermaid . The song was used in the Unilever Japan LUX Super Rich Shine shampoo ad . Urban Mermaid has been described as a "cheer-up tune" to all women & I think so too . It's a cheery no. which will lift your spirits up on a rainy gloomy day .

The next 2 tracks in hand are 2 more dancey upbeat no.s . HEARTBEAT's a pleasant no. while Colorful's the B side of Urban Mermaid . I don't know why Colorful's doing down here . Must have been sloted in to fit in the same vibe as HEARTBEAT .

Not that I don't like Colorful but I was hoping that the B side of Mahaloha ala Shining On would be included instead as that's a much stronger song but oh well .

The 1/2 way mark's here & in comes track 7 , Unite As One . Funny enough if you were to pronounce the title as fast as possible , it sounded like Yuna's full name but anyway that's just me .

Unite As One is the longest track on the album , clocking in at a whopping 6:47 mins which's almost 7 mins long ! It's a ballad & it's something that you either like it or not depending on whether are you willing to spend 7 mins + to listen to it .

For me I'm alright with it but I realise the beginning of the song sounded really boring but at least Yuna managed to pick up the pace before I decided to switch to the next track .

Mahaloha is Yuna's 8th single & it's 1 of my faves from her . Incidentally , chart & sales wise , Mahaloha is the most successful outta the 4 singles that made the cut in WISH , in which its peak position was no.5 . Urban Mermaid's peak position was no.10 while Yuna's duet with Celine was no.8 .

I like Mahaloha the very 1st time I heard it & you can definitely tell it's a summer song . Could tell that Yuna was trying to bring a bit of her place that she was raised in ala Hawaii back to Japan which's cool & I like Micro's rapping on the song & both artistes's vocals go hand in hand together .

Track 9's A Long Walk & up to now , I think this must have been the strangest song I've ever heard to date , musically . Initally when I 1st heard it , I thought what's going on in the music cos the synth & guitar beats were very dis-oriented . For a moment I thought the song's corrupted or something .

If you were to put it in a different light , the concept's refreshing but somehow I'm quite annoyed with the distortion of the synth & guitar beats , for the beginning & ending of A Long Walk . At least the 'meat' of the song sounds good .

Next up in line is Moon Rabbit . I know weird/strange title for a song but surprisingly , it's 1 of my fave tracks on the album . It's a very catchy no. & I like the way Yuna's vocals goes with the flow in Moon Rabbit . It's a smooth groovy no. although the opening of the song wasn't catchy but still I like this !

Track 11's Yuna's 7th single I'm Here which was the weakest outta the 4 singles that Yuna released . Its peak position was no.14 . I suspect it's because people were shocked that Yuna suddenly did a 360 degree turn & came up with something so aggressive sounding , in your face type of no. where she's more known for her ballads .

I'm Here is ok for me but here & there , Yuna seems to be screaming into my ears .

Next in line is the title track of the album . I think it's very disorganised that from an upbeat no. , you suddenly jump ship into slow vibe mode but anyway Wish is a pleasant ballad but I personally feel it's not as good as alone again .

In fact I had to give Wish a couple more listens before I can remember how the song sounds like to begin with .

After Wish , it's another dancey upbeat no. (again) Tokyo Days . You might be thinking with a title like Tokyo Days , it might sound Japanese-ish of sorts but surprise surprise , the song is filled with Carribean beats which took me by surprise .

In fact Tokyo Days was the 1st song I heard from WISH , for a non released single & since then it has become 1 of my fave songs from the album .

& what better way to close the album with a bonus track in the form of Yuna's rendition of the famous classic song from Celine Dion ala MY HEART WILL GO ON & I'm impressive with Yuna's take on the song & that she did not went over the top & just let her vocals do the talking or should I say work .

Now I have a confession to make , I have heard the original countless times til my love for the song turns to hate & in this case , I feel Yuna's take on My Heart Will Go On is a great one . It's due to this cover from Yuna that Celine personally contact Yuna to do a duet with her which turns out in the form of Yuna's 10th single Anata ga Iru Kagiri ~A WORLD TO BELIEVE IN~ (As Long as You are Here) .

In general , I find Yuna's latest studio offering WISH a pleasant listen although this time round , sales wise , WISH has not yet suppressed/on par of what was achieved from her debut album HEART .

Minor gripes of the album are that there seems to be quite a lot of dancey upbeat no.s floating in WISH & they somehow tend to overshadow the ballads which's quite a shame as I really like it when Yuna does ballads .

I suspect it's because of this , WISH did not do as well as expected as I think the public would want her to stick with ballads instead of moving towards dancey upbeat no.s . Either that or it's just the typical 2nd album syndrome/slump .

I have a feeling Yuna's doing that cos maybe she doesn't want to be pigeonhole & people will only remember her for her ballads as they were superb (think ENDLESS STORY , Precious , Truth) .

Also the sound consistency is not really there especially when you switch from I'm Here to Wish . I would rather Yuna grouped all the upbeat no.s in maybe the 1st 1/2 of the album & then ballads for the 2nd 1/2 of WISH .

I have not heard her debut album HEART yet but I read reviews that the A sides were the only strong tracks on the album while the rest of the album were just fillers . That I cannot comment cos I never heard the non released singles from HEART .

In short , in WISH , I feel the singles & non released singles on the album are on par with each other as this time round , the singles were not as successful as compared to the singles from HEART & on certain occasions , the non released singles tend to outshine the songs that were released prior to WISH .

Whether you perceive this as a good or bad thing , it depends on the individual but WISH is a good listen .

If you're looking for an album with a mixture of dancey upbeat no.s & ballads thrown in the mix , then WISH might be the album for you .