Cover for both CD & CD + DVD versions
1) Sorry Not Sorry
2) FLY
3) My Boo
4) Drippin' Feat IO & YOUNG JUJU
5) Yume ga Samenai You ni
6) Interlude -Yume no Tsudzuki-
7) Because of you
8) milk tea
9) ItsumoBlue
10) FIRE
11) speechless
12) Tokyo
Shota's last album release was last March's PROUD . FLY includes 2 single songs & a B-side track .
All songs in FLY were written & composed by Shota himself .
Kicking things off in FLY is Sorry Not Sorry which was 1st released digitally on 7th June . The 1st new album track is followed by the song that shares the same title as the album .
My Boo is Shota's 21st single & it's described as a message song to loved ones & for that important person in life .
Drippin' is the 3rd album track & it's also the only song in FLY that featured a collaboration . For this , Drippin' featured the vocal rap contributions of IO & YOUNG JUJU .
After a considerable amount of auto tune driven tracks , things are slowed down in Yume ga Samenai You ni prior to Interlude -Yume no Tsudzuki- .
The next album track Because of you was 1st released digitally on 21st June followed by milk tea which was originally included as a B-side in My Boo .
After milk tea , the next album track ItsumoBlue is 1 of the more heavily auto tune driven tracks in FLY as compared to FLY (the song) .
FIRE is Shota's 22nd single . The song compares one's feelings with fire using lyrics , such as "burn anything & everything" and "I want to see you even if I lose everything ."
speechless is the last 2nd album track & it's also my favourite song in FLY as it's a very simple piano driven ballad which showcases what Shota does best without the reliance of auto tune . It's a shame that speechless is also the shortest no. in the album .
Concluding FLY is Tokyo & just like Sorry Not Sorry , it was also released digitally on 7th June and unlike the other album tracks , Tokyo is the only 1 that has a video made .
Over a year since his last , Shota Shimizu returns with his new album FLY . Continuing his musical roots of soul & hip-hop , the album comes with 12 tracks including the singles FIRE & My Boo .
I did not quite like Shota's previous album PROUD as he went overboard with the usage of auto tune . FLY overall is a bit better but the fact that Shota still relied on autotune considerably in the album tracks , that's something I can do without .
While I like the use of autotune , sometimes too much of it can backfire which's evident on Shota . Shota himself is a good vocalist & some of my favourite songs from him have little if not no autotune involved . I'm not sure why in recent times Shota wants to market himself as a vocaloid driven artiste as that doesn't suit him , likewise with the whole hip hop sunglasses image he undertook recently which made himself look like a hip hop reject artiste .
End of the day , FLY felt underwhelming for me . If I want to listen to Shota's best works , I rather go back to listen to COLOURS & ENCORE which're still 2 of my favourite Shota's albums . I do hope that Shota would consider to go back to his older music roots in his future releases (ideally toning down if not eliminating the use of autotune) as that's what Shota does best as right now , his current image doesn't sit well with me .