CD Regular
CD Limited
2 CDs + DVD
Standard tracklist for all 3 versions
1) White Love
2) BANGER NIGHT
3 Dance The Night Away
4) Jooubachi
5) One & One Makes Two
6) Mae mo Muke
7) TO THE GALAXY
8) Jealous guy
9) Mata Kono Basho de
10) Saigo no Love Song
11) Precious Girl
12) FLASH
13) Swinging days
14) City Wander
15) We Believe
16) OLÉ!
17) Journey
Only available in CD Regular
- YOU & I
Only available in CD Limited
- Virtual Butterfly (Hey ! Say ! 7)
- SundaDance (Hey ! Say ! BEST)
Only available in the 2nd disc of 2 CDs + DVD
1) Do it again (Yamada Ryosuke)
2) 159 (Chinen Yuuri)
3) Waiting for the rain (Nakajima Yuto)
4) Jouken Hansha (Inoo Kei)
5) Bubble Gum (Arioka Daiki)
6) Daimei no Nai Monogatari (Takaki Yuya)
7) PINK (Yaotome Hikaru)
8) Ryuusei no Uta (Yabu Kota)
This album is the group's 1st studio album since 2016's DEAR. & it's their 1st record to exclude member Okamoto Keito who took a leave of absence to pursue studies overseas starting from last month onwards .
SENSE or LOVE was released in 3 versions , CD regular , CD limited & 2 CDs + DVD . 3 Singles Precious Love , White Love & Mae mo Muke are included in SENSE or LOVE while the album tracks do not feature Okamoto , vocals wise .
Are You There? by special unit A.Y.T. & 23rd single COSMIC☆HUMAN are not included in SENSE or LOVE .
All 3 versions of SENSE or LOVE have different bonus tracks included . The CD Regular version has 1 bonus group track , the CD limited version has 2 bonus sub unit tracks while the 2nd CD in the 2 CDs + DVD version includes 8 solo songs which's the 1st time in Hey ! Say ! JUMP's discography for them to do something like this .
Kicking things off in SENSE or LOVE is White Love which was released as Hey ! Say ! JUMP's 21st single .
White Love was used to promote the movie Miseinen Dakedo Kodomo Janai that member Chinen Yuri starred in . The group's 1st Christmas inspired single , White Love centres on forever love & the 4 minute long love story is about the beginning of love which brings colour to a white world like magic .
Hey ! Say ! JUMP previous 3 studio albums had instrumental introduction(s) so for them to decide to start things off in SENSE or LOVE with White Love was an interesting choice but I have no complaints as it's still a great song & it's 1 of the rare Christmas driven no. that I enjoy listening to be it during the Christmas occasion and/or after .
BANGER NIGHT is the 1st album track in SENSE or LOVE & it's also the only song to have a video made .
The album's lead song , BANGER NIGHT is Hey ! Say ! JUMP's most aggressive dance song to date with it being described as having a great momentum with the members taking on the challenge of equally difficult & fast paced dance moves .
There're other great album tracks in SENSE or LOVE but it's quite a no brainer on why BANGER NIGHT is the only song that had a video made cos it's the most aggressive in your face no. that Hey ! Say ! JUMP has ever came up with to date .
The 2nd verse of BANGER NIGHT is my favourite where the melody shifted to an even more aggressive edgy sound and it's no doubt that the song deserved to have a video made .
The next 3 album tracks after BANGER NIGHT are all back to back dance driven no.s but they're all pretty good in their own standing . Dance The Night Away is quite a standard dance song while Jooubachi is a smooth mid tempo Jazz Bossanova driven no. which's 1 of my favourite songs in SENSE or LOVE .
On the other hand , the emphasis of autotune can be felt considerably in One & One Makes Two .
Mae wo Muke is Hey ! Say ! JUMP's 22nd single & it was used to promote NTV's drama Momikeshite Fuyu ~Wagaya no Mondai Nakatta Koto ni~ starring member Yamada Ryosuke .
Described as an ultra-positive track with an encouraging message , Mae wo Muke sees the members singing about the grit of standing back up again & again , even when a person falls , make a blunder or look pathetic .
The next 4 songs are album tracks . TO THE GALAXY is a fun space driven dance song while Jealous guy to me is 1 of the weaker links in SENSE or LOVE as I find it doesn't stand out as compared to the other album tracks .
The only album ballad in SENSE or LOVE , Mata Kono Basho de is a fantastic emotional no. & after a series of back to back dance driven songs , it's nice to slow things down with a ballad even though from the sound of things it's the odd 1 in the album since most if not all the tracks are dance driven .
From Jazz Bossanova , in comes Saigo no Love Song that has considerably strong Spanish influences . I thought it might be another ballad to compliment Mata Kono Basho de & even though my guess is wrong , I enjoy what Saigo no Love Song offers .
Precious Girl is the 1st A-side of Hey ! Say ! JUMP's 20th single Precious Girl / Are You There ? .
The last single song included in SENSE or LOVE , Precious Girl was used in the ads of Kose Cosmeport's Fortune & it's described as a colourful song with a hint of strength + it's a fight song for women in love .
The last 6 dance driven songs are all album tracks before the conclusion of the album , standard tracklist wise .
Just like Jealous guy , I feel FLASH is a bit on the weaker side but at least the Rock influences in the song saved it from being not memorable .
And similar with Jooubachi , Swinging days is a funky finger snapping Jazz driven no. which I like while City Wander has a cool futuristic undertone to it .
We Believe is quite a good memorable empowering dance song & OLÉ! had the potential to be used to promote a football event as it's a very heavily sports driven cheer delay type of no. .
Concluding things in the standard tracklist in SENSE or LOVE is Journey which's a great album track to wrap things up on a positive sounding note .
YOU & I is a bonus group track that's only available in the CD Regular version of SENSE or LOVE and it's described as a song that will make everyone happy & revitalised , something that's guaranteed to get fans excited .
I'm honestly not a fan of YOU & I as it sounds like something Hey ! Say ! JUMP might come up with if they 1st started out in the business so I leave it as it's .
2 different sub unit group songs are available as bonus tracks in the CD Limited version of SENSE or LOVE :
- Virtual Butterfly (Hey ! Say ! 7)
- SundaDance (Hey ! Say ! BEST)
Following the celebration of Hey ! Say ! JUMP's 10th anniversary last year , to achieve their new goals both sub units share their thoughts & opinions in the creation of these 2 new songs in the form of Virtual Butterfly (Hey ! Say ! 7) & SundaDance (Hey ! Say ! BEST) .
Between both sub unit group songs , I surprisingly like Hey ! Say ! 7's Virtual Butterfly as it has a really cool futuristic flair to it & the 2nd verse of the song is my favourite as it sounds awesome .
On the other hand , I'm not so keen on Hey ! Say ! BEST's SundaDance as it oddly sounds like something straight from the 90s , with it having a cheesy sounding melody that a video game might use .
These 8 solo songs are only available in the 2nd disc of 2 CDs + DVD of SENSE or LOVE :
1) Do it again (Yamada Ryosuke)
2) 159 (Chinen Yuuri)
3) Waiting for the rain (Nakajima Yuto)
4) Jouken Hansha (Inoo Kei)
5) Bubble Gum (Arioka Daiki)
6) Daimei no Nai Monogatari (Takaki Yuya)
7) PINK (Yaotome Hikaru)
8) Ryuusei no Uta (Yabu Kota)
I will just give a brief overview thoughts on Hey ! Say ! JUMP's 1st attempt in including solo songs for the 1st time in their release .
The solos that I really like the most out of the lot are Takaki & Yabu as both of them are ballads but they sound great separately . I also surprisingly enjoy Chinen & Inoo's solos as well .
The rest of the solo songs are ok for my liking . Yamada's solo no doubt is the most risqué lyrics wise . Hikaru's solo is the only 1 that's Rock driven but something about PINK misses the mark for me .
Nakajima & Daiki's solos are pleasantly sounding but I feel they could have chosen to sing another different type of song(s) that compliment their vocals but that's just me as it's not as though both their solos are terrible until I will not listen to them again .
Hey ! Say ! JUMP breaks into a new era with SENSE or LOVE ! Growing with the times , the group shows their transformation in their 6th album which spans various genres with the theme of dance .
I enjoyed Hey ! Say ! JUMP's previous album DEAR. a great deal so before giving SENSE or LOVE a listen , I wondered what type of music direction would the group undertook & upon listening to what their new album offered , I was really surprised how much I enjoyed it tremendously .
SENSE or LOVE showcased Hey ! Say ! JUMP in a new form , embodying the major changes as a new era starts . The new album straddles a number of genres in its varied songs with powerful dancing that's by turns showy & charming as its theme .
A significant number of album tracks are dance songs that contain elements such as breathing , self improvement , a 6th sense , connections & bonds , which made SENSE or LOVE the most aggressive & dance driven album Hey ! Say ! JUMP has put out to date .
And for once I'm glad that Hey ! Say ! JUMP decided to exclude COSMIC☆HUMAN from SENSE or LOVE because if it was included , it would have been the most somewhat childish sounding single song in the album .
The amount of growth/maturity that Hey ! Say ! JUMP showcased in SENSE or LOVE from DEAR. can be felt quite significantly in the new material .
To me the weak link in SENSE or LOVE is ironically the bonus tracks that were included in the CD Regular & CD Limited versions & also a couple of album tracks that're borderline filler .
Also I would have loved to see SENSE or LOVE to have another ballad if not no ballads as in a way putting Mata Kono Basho de in the tracklist , it somewhat breaks the music momentum even though it's a great album ballad .
But other than that , SENSE or LOVE reminds me very much of Yamapi's Asobi mini album to a certain extent as Asobi was & is still a great dance driven mini album .
I'm usually not a fan of dance music but to say that I was real impressed with what SENSE or LOVE offers , it's an understatement & before that I was hoping it would not be another JUMPing CAR disaster but luckily that's not the case .
Also I don't know what took Hey ! Say ! JUMP so long to at last include solo songs in a release of theirs but it's better to be late than never . It's an overall commendable effort since this's the 1st time they've done something like this but the solos prove that each of the members can sing .
SENSE or LOVE is an album worth checking out before 2018 concludes . Hey ! Say ! JUMP might be 1 member down but that did not stop them from releasing a highly enjoyable release that's a solid follow up from DEAR. .
And on that note , hope to see Okamoto reunite with Hey ! Say ! JUMP soon !
CD
CD + DVD A
CD + DVD B
Kis-My-Ft2's latest single was released after 3 months + since their previous single LOVE .
Kimi,Boku. is described as a pop love song & it's about celebrating Kis-My-Ft2's 7 years together as a group . The song conveys the idea that "I am here because you are here . "
Promo wise , Kimi,Boku. was used in the ads of Kowa's Hokkairo Shin Nukunuku Touban featuring Kis-My-Ft2 themselves .
A total of 4 B-sides are included in all 3 versions of Kimi,Boku. :
- Your Life (CD Only Track)
- Still song for you (CD Only Track)
- Rainy Days (CD + DVD A Track)
- Sorairo (CD + DVD B Track)
Having completed their 1st 5 Dome tour , Kis-My-Ft2 moves forward to the next stage of their music journey with their 22nd single Kimi, Boku. . The pop love song captures the feelings the group wants to express as they welcome their 7th anniversary this year .
Frankly my initial opinions on Kimi,Boku. was not good as I assumed that the song would sound similar if not the same as L.O.V.E. but luckily that's not the case . Subsequent TV performances & the accompanied video changed my perception towards Kimi,Boku. considerably & I like the fact that the members pay homage to each of their own colours which was a nice thing to do .
The 4 B-sides in Kimi,Boku. are pretty good as well but out of the lot , I like Still song for you the most as it contrasts the A-side very well while Rainy Days comes in 2nd .
I don't think Kis-My-Ft2 will release another single before 2018 ends . If not , their last music release of 2018 ie. LIVE TOUR 2018 Yummy!! you&me DVD + Blu-ray will be released next month on 28th Nov .
CD
CD + DVD
CD + Blu-ray
1) Introduction ~My music is designed from my DNA~
2) HUSH
3) Dangerous
4) WATCH OUT!! ~DNA~
5) ScREaM
6) CHANCES ALL
7) Aenaku Naru Kurai Nara
8) HAIRCUT
9) Guess Who Is Back
10) HOT HOT
11) Kokoro Kara i love u
12) Work That
13) Pin Drop
This's Koda's 2nd album release of 2018 & she released her 15th album AND in Feb .
Only 1 limited edition single is included in DNA while 3 album tracks received videos even though originally it was supposed to be 2 .
After a futuristic sounding Introduction ~My music is designed from my DNA~ album opening intro , DNA wasted no time with the only limited edition single included in the album ie. HUSH .
HUSH was released as Koda's 61st single . Back when I reviewed/wrote about AND , I lamented that it was a pity for HUSH not to be included in AND but now I understand why Koda decided to include HUSH in DNA instead as the song fits her latest album more than her previous .
Out of the 3 limited edition singles Koda put out , I still feel that HUSH is the best out of the lot & it's still true up to now .
Dangerous is the 1st DNA album track & it was used to promote the Black Clover anime handphone game .
Seeing that Koda has used Dangerous as the opening track for her current ongoing KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2018 ~DNA~ & this year's a-nation setlist(s) , I'm not surprised as it's a fun song to kick things off . It's a pity that she didn't make a video for it as I feel it deserves to .
WATCH OUT!! ~DNA~ is 1st of 3 DNA album tracks that had a video made .
This's my least favourite track in DNA as when I 1st heard WATCH OUT!! ~DNA~ , I didn't had a good impression on the song . The video somewhat changed my opinion on it slightly but I still think it's merely just noise & in this case , WATCH OUT!! ~DNA~ frankly should not have a video made .
The next album track ScREaM is quite interesting & it's cool that Koda played a lot with puns in the song as she sing I Scream & Ice Cream co-currently at the same time as both terms sound the same when you pronounce it .
CHANCES ALL is the 2nd of 3 DNA album tracks that had a video made & this song wasn't supposed to have a video made initially .
Luckily eventually , Koda decided to make a video for CHANCES ALL & I'm glad she did as this positive empowering song deserves it even though I wish the video would have elevated the song a bit more .
Aenaku Naru Kurai Nara is the 1st of 2 album ballads in DNA . I didn't quite liked this song at 1st but as time goes by , the song has grown on me .
HAIRCUT is the 3rd DNA album track that has a video made . Alongside with WATCH OUT!! ~DNA~ + CHANCES ALL , the plot in all 3 videos are interlinked with each other .
Back when Koda released AND in Feb , a short version of HAIRCUT was also released . At that time my impression on HAIRCUT was quite poor as I thought it sounds like a poor man cousin of Cupcake .
Luckily the video for HAIRCUT changed my perception on the song significantly as it's 1 of the best videos Koda has made in a really long time . I'm still not 100% sold on HAIRCUT but the video itself is more than enough to compensate things .
Guess Who Is Back is the next album track & it was used as the opening theme song for the Black Clover anime .
The only Rock driven song in DNA , Guess Who Is Back is full of angsty attitude in a good way . I know some do not like Koda to sing Rock songs but I personally like it .
HOT HOT is 1 of the shortest album tracks in DNA but it's also 1 of Koda's sexiest songs to date . This's also another favourite song of mine in the album as it's sultry sounding without coming across as desperate .
Just like Dangerous , I would have loved to see HOT HOT had a video made as I'm sure it would have been amazing .
Kokoro Kara i love u is the 2nd album ballad in DNA . Unlike Aenaku Naru Kurai Nara , I like Kokoro Kara i love u as it has a really nice melody that's strings driven .
The last 2 songs to conclude DNA are both upbeat & pretty good memorable tracks . Work That is a fun uptempo no. while concluding DNA is Pin Drop which's described as a performance song & it's a show stopper + fitting no. to wrap things up in the album .
Before the start of KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2018 ~DNA~ , Koda Kumi releases her 2nd album of 2018 , DNA . Combining Koda Kumi's present and future into its DNA , the "genreless" album spans from ballads to dance songs .
I like Koda's previous album AND but I felt it was too short so before I listen to DNA , I wasn't sure what to expect .
However on 1st listen , I surprisingly enjoy DNA a lot more than I thought & I didn't get the same feeling for AND . Besides WATCH OUT!! ~DNA~ , Aenaku Naru Kurai Nara & HAIRCUT which my impression on them weren't so good , the rest of the new songs in DNA really impressed me considerably .
Last March when Koda released W FACE ~inside~ & W FACE ~outside~ , I felt the idea wasn't 100% well executed as I don't like all the songs in both albums even though I like the concept that Koda undertook .
But this year for Koda to release yet another 2 more albums in the form of AND + DNA , I thought the material in both albums were a lot more better & stronger as I found myself skipping less songs which I encounter that problem with W FACE ~inside~ & W FACE ~outside~ unfortunately .
That said , I admire Koda's work drive ethnic as for her to release 4 albums within the last 2 years , it's not an easy thing to do . I'm not sure if she can/will do it again next year but if she's up for it once more , I wouldn't hesitate to support her without a doubt .
2020 is Koda's 20th anniversary in the business & hopefully as the day of her debut anniversary drew nearer , she would put out a few things or more to make it worthwhile .
For now , DNA is highly worth checking out & it's an overall fun , sleek & sexy album that Koda Kumi put out that she poured her heart & soul into creating it .
CD Regular
CD Limited
CD + DVD
NEWS's latest single was released 3 months+ since their previous single BLUE .
[Ikiro] was chosen to be used to promote NTV's drama Zero Ikkaku Senkin Game , starring member Kato Shigeaki while the other 3 NEWS members also make cameo appearances in the drama as well .
A total of 4 B-sides are included in [Ikiro] :
- Bring Back the Summer ; included in all 3 versions
- LVE (CD Regular Track)
- Kibou ~Yell~ -Represent NEWS Mix- (CD Limited Track) ; debut single
- Endless・ Summer (CD Limited Track) ; track 13 in 4th album LIVE
The release of [Ikiro] was to celebrate NEWS's 15th anniversary in the business . Besides the standard 3 versions , an [Ikiro] 15th anniversary box set was also made available with the CD having the inclusion of a B-side song Strawberry that's only available in this version .
Strawberry was written + composed by NEWS & it's the 2nd song that NEWS created together after Share .
NEWS's 24th single [Ikiro] is the theme song of NTV series Zero Ikkaku Senkin Game starring member Kato Shigeaki . Opening with soft strings , the emotional song carries a powerful message on the theme of "living" .
I wasn't sure what to think about [Ikiro] initially as my initial impression on the song was quite poor as before the single was officially released , NEWS performed it for the 1st time at July's THE MUSIC DAY 2018 ~Tsuta Etai Uta~ & it didn't sat well with me as NEWS sounded as though they were shouting & not singing the song properly onstage .
Luckily as time goes by , my opinions towards [Ikiro] changed considerably for the better .
B-sides wise , [Ikiro] unfortunately includes 1 of the worst songs I've ever heard be it from NEWS and/or JPop in general ie. LVE is just so terrible on every single level .
And that's a huge pity because the introduction for LVE sounded promising but somehow things got really messed up as the song progresses & it's so bad that I only bother to listen to LVE once , that's how bad it's .
At least Bring Back the Summer was quite good even though it should have been longer while the 2 newly recorded songs are nice as well .
Seeing that [Ikiro] is to commemorate NEWS's 15th anniversary , it make sense for them to re-record Kibou ~Yell~ . Also I didn't realised how popular Endless・ Summer is seeing that it's an album track .
All in all , NEWS has definitely come a long way & hard to believe it has been 15 years since they made their debut . Hopefully their fans will continue to support them no matter the circumstances which's what I will do so as well .
CD
CD + DVD
1) dance with me.
2) Good Life
3) Friday
4) (I'm fine)
5) Silver & Gold
6) Odori Tsudzukeyou
7) Range Rover
8) Beautiful
9) alone Feat SALU
10) Rainbow
The release of WHITE comes about a year since Shota's last album FLY . Singles Good Life & Friday are included in the new album .
All songs in WHITE were written , composed & arranged by Shota . Some of the vocal recordings were done at his own home .
2 of WHITE album tracks had various form of promo to a certain extent . Beautiful was used as the ending theme for NTV's PON! in July .
alone is the only song in WHITE that's a collaboration with SALU . A video was made for alone but it's not included in the DVD tracklist of WHITE .
Shota Shimizu celebrates the 10th anniversary of being in the music industry as he enters a new phase of music with the release of his latest album WHITE .
In all my years of writing album reviews since I 1st started my music blog , this's possibly the shortest review I've written on an album & for that it's not a good sign and it explains why it took me so long to finally decide to write my opinion towards WHITE .
I thought Shota's past albums ENCORE & FLY were bad as it was autotune overload for both releases and I was really hoping that will not be the case for WHITE but sadly I was wrong .
Beautiful is the only album track I genuinely can say I like as unlike the other album tracks , it's almost auto tune free & it showcases what Shota is good at to begin with .
Likewise , Range Rover had a lot of potential but it was too short & the last part ruined it for me .
Seeing that this year's Shota's 10th anniversary in the business , I would have preferred he release a proper best album to mark this milestone . Honestly , he should not have put out ALL SINGLES BEST 3 years ago as that release came out way too early .
Shota has been overusing auto tune since 2015 and I do hope he will eventually stop as he's not a terrible singer to begin with & some of his best songs have little if not auto tune in them .
I hope it wouldn't come to a situation where I stop supporting Shota completely as that will be a real pity . But for now , I will just go back and relisten to his past but still awesome albums like COLOURS & ENCORE .