CD
CD + DVD A
CD + DVD B
1) GO AHEAD
2) Fly like a ROCKET
3) Amai Kawaki
4) Hello Hello
5) A MUSEUM
6) Hyakka Ryouran (Ueda Tatsuya)
7) Abstract (Nakamaru Yuichi)
8) CAN'T CRY (Kamenashi Kazuya)
9) Bokura Nara!
10) Diamond Sky
11) Reflect Night
12) Crossandra
13) DANGER
CD only bonus track :
14) We are KAT-TUN
No singles are included in IGNITE . KAT-TUN's last studio album release was last July's CAST & this's their 2nd release not to include any singles after their 1st mini album Kusabi .
IGNITE was released prior to the start of KAT-TUN's Summer tour KAT-TUN LIVE 2019 IGNITE .
2 album tracks had videos made :
- DANGER
- GO AHEAD
Both videos are included in separate DVDs of IGNITE with DANGER serving as the new album's lead promo track .
For GO AHEAD , unlike DANGER , no making clip was included in the CD + DVD B version of IGNITE . Promo wise , it was used as the theme song for NTV's Setsuyaku Rock drama starring member Ueda Tatsuya .
In addition , GO AHEAD has rap lyrics written by Ueda himself .
Another album track A MUSEUM was used as the image song for JR Hakata City AMU Hakata 8th anniversary campaign .
Nakamaru Yuichi's solo Abstract , he cowrote it with BUBBLES while for We are KAT-TUN which's available as a bonus track in the CD Only version of IGNITE , the lyrics were written by Nakamaru himself .
The 3 members of KAT-TUN ignite a fire in their hot new album ! DANGER sets IGNITE's thrilling tone as the lead track .
Just like B'z latest album NEW LOVE which also had no singles , I decided to write my opinions towards IGNITE almost in the same vein as NEW LOVE as both releases have no singles prior to their physical releases .
KAT-TUN's 1st album release as a trio ie. CAST was unexpectedly pretty good & before the somewhat last minute announcement for IGNITE , I thought KAT-TUN's Summer tour will be a general 1 with nothing new to promote but I was proven wrong .
Unlike CAST where KAT-TUN tackled quite a broad range of different music genres quite seamlessly , the material this time round in IGNITE , it felt more true to their music roots with lesser filler tracks .
Before I listened to IGNITE , I was worried if the songs might sound leftover tracks from CAST but luckily that's not the case after I listened to it & I was able to pick up the new material relatively quickly which was a bit surprising as IGNITE had no singles prior to its physical release .
KAT-TUN made 2 videos for GO AHEAD & DANGER . Between both songs , DANGER no doubt deserves to have a video made as it's a great album track .
On the other hand , I don't think the same thing applies to GO AHEAD as my 1st impression towards it wasn't really good . The video changed my opinion on it over time but I rather see another song in IGNITE had a video made , like Fly like a ROCKET or A MUSEUM .
My least favourite album tracks in IGNITE are Bokura Nara! & Ueda's Hyakka Ryouran . Bokura Nara! felt like a filler track while just like in CAST , Ueda's latest solo is another 1 I'm not liking with it being another Rock song .
And when I 1st heard Hello Hello , it had possibly 1 of the most annoying melodies but the song's like an earworm as time goes on .
The other 2 solo songs from Kame & Nakamaru are pretty good which I don't really have any complaints about them .
IGNITE bonus track We are KAT-TUN is an answer & call song and this sounds like something maybe either Johnny's WEST and/or Kanjani∞ might do as it's not what KAT-TUN is known for doing but at least this shows in this scenario , they don't take themselves seriously .
Overall , I thought IGNITE is quite a good follow up offering from CAST . My other grouse about it is that I wish it had another album ballad as Reflect Night is a nice piano driven ballad but that's that .
Any artiste who release a studio album without any singles , it's always a risky thing to do but this time round I think it pays off relatively well for KAT-TUN & I look forward to more future releases from the trio .
1) Monolith
2) LIVE TO DARE
3) All Through The Night
4) FREAK SHOW "2019 Retake"
AKi last single release was 2016's STORY . Monolith was released on the same day as the beginning of AKi's new solo tour AKi TOUR 2019 「Monolith」.
Monolith originally only could be purchased physically at AKi TOUR 2019 「Monolith」concert venue/s but after AKi TOUR 2019 「Monolith」 concluded , the single can now be purchased physically online due to numerous fans' requests who were unable to attend AKi's solo tour .
A video was made for Monolith but it's not included in the single as no CD + DVD version was made .
Hard to believe it has been so long since AKi last released solo material but better to be late than never .
I wasn't sure what to think about Monolith when I 1st heard it as it's not as catchy as AKi's other solo songs but the song grows on me as time goes by .
On the other hand , I got into the B-sides a lot more faster than the A-side . I love the melody in LIVE TO DARE while All Through The Night is quite a straightforward song .
I was hoping the new recorded version of FREAK SHOW would be musically different but AKi didn't changed it drastically , it felt more shorter/compressed .
I remembered back in 2015 when AKi was the 1st from SID to start a solo career , I was surprised as I thought vocalist Mao would do that & I was even more surprised that vocally AKi sounds very different from what I thought in a good way .
It has been long since AKi released new solo material but I'm real pleased he's back with new stuff . I hope I wouldn't need to wait so long for new songs from AKi again .
This was the 3rd back to back digital released song after Eh Yo & Summer Time .
Out of the 3 songs Koda released last month , DO ME is on par with Eh Yo in that it took me a while to get used to it which didn't happened for Summer Time where I loved it on 1st listen .
Unlike Eh Yo , DO ME is more dance hip hop driven & most of the song sees Koda raps heavily unlike singing .
In DO ME , Koda feels empowered . Some might not like the way she raps in the song but with it being an in your face type of no. , I don't expect her rapping to be soft & gentle .
Koda's next digital released song GOLDFINGER 2019 will be released on 14th Aug & for this , it's a cover of Go Hiromi's GOLDFINGER'99 .
CD
CD + DVD A
CD + DVD B
Kis-My-Ft2's 8th album FREE HUGS! was released in April .
HANDS UP is described as an aggressive dance no. .
A total of 4 B-sides are included in HANDS UP :
- Manatsu to Taiyou (CD Only Track) ; used in the ads of Kowa's Unakowa Cool
- Eien Musubi (CD Only & CD + DVD A Track) ; used in the new ads of Zexy , which's Japan's largest bridal consultation company ; a love ballad
- Go for it! (CD Only Track) ; theme song for Fuji TV's Moshimo Tours that Kis-My-Ft2 hosts
- OPaPiPo (CD + DVD A Track) ; used as the ending theme song for dTV's Kisumai Dokidoki-n that Kis-My-Ft2 hosts
While the DVD footages of HANDS UP CD + DVD B version includes :
- Eien Musubi lip version video
- Rura Rurara (Hug movie)
Rura Rurara was originally found as track 15 in FREE HUGS! .
Put your hands up for Kis-My-Ft2's 1st single of the Reiwa era ! The group's 24th single is a dance number with lyrics that inspire fans to push forward & go beyond the borders to a new stage .
It took me quite a while to change my initial opinions towards HANDS UP as I didn't found the song as catchy as what I was hoping it might be which's different from Kis-My-Ft2's past A-side upbeat songs that were and are still great such as Kiss Damashii & Gravity .
B-sides wise this's 1 of the rare occasions that I felt Kis-My-Ft2 made a music mis-step as when I 1st heard Manatsu to Taiyou , I immediately like it unlike HANDS UP as it's such a great awesome upbeat Summer song that reminds me of WANNA BEEEE!!! .
I think Kis-My-Ft2 also senses this as on last month's Shounen Club Premium , they performed Manatsu to Taiyou which's to compensate on things somewhat .
As for the other B-sides , Eien Musubi reminds me of INTER's Kimi no Iru Sekai as both songs have a wedding theme but oddly video wise , the wedding influences are not strongly visible unlike Kimi no Iru Sekai .
Go for it! is only ok for my liking while OPaPiPo is a weird track and it's possibly Kis-My-Ft2's shortest no. in their discography and it felt more like an alarm ditty & not a proper song .
Lastly I was really hoping Kis-My-Ft2 would make a video for Rura Rurara which's now officially 1 of the group's best album tracks as the song didn't received 1 unlike HUG & WALK . While it's not a proper video , it's better than nothing .
Kis-My-Ft2's latest single offering easily could have been a double A-side if not triple A-side as both Manatsu to Taiyou + Eien Musubi are A-side worthy , especially Manatsu to Taiyou but unfortunately things turned out differently .