This was chosen as the theme song for the movie Eine Kleine Nachtmusik that opened nationwide in Japan on 20th Sept .
Like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik , the video for Chiisana Yoru was shot in Sendai City , Miyagi . It was directed by Usui Hiroshi who was also in charge of shooting Saito's nationwide tour Saito Kazuyoshi Hikikatari Tour 2019: Time in the Garage .
Just like Saito's past material , Chiisana Yoru is another memorable catchy song by him . The song itself is very simple with it mainly acoustic guitar driven but as always Saito always add his own personal touch & make it stand out to say that this's something that he created personally .
I support Saito for a real long time so I already expected that most of what he creates tends to be good although in rare occasions he might miss the mark .
But aside from that , Saito's discography is overall really good and he adds another gem in the form of Chiisana Yoru to his ever growing music catalogue .
Koda's latest song offering release is a fun catchy upbeat no. . I wasn't quite fond on the rather extensive heavy usage of autotune at 1st but seeing that she doesn't use autotune as often as this , I think I can let it slide for once .
Put Your Hands Up!!! will be included in Koda's 17th album re(CORD) that will be released on 13th Nov , on the same day as her birthday .
CD
CD + DVD and CD + Blu-ray
This's ARASHI's 1st single release of 2019 .
BRAVE was chosen to be used as the image song for NTV's broadcast of the current ongoing Rugby World Cup 2019 .
The A-side was created specially just for the Rugby World Cup 2019 NTV coverage . Member Sakurai Sho was in charge of writing the rap portions of the song .
Sakurai who serves as the tournament's special supporter , commented , "It's a wild & manly song , which is unusual for an ARASHI single ." .
On the rap part , Sakurai said , "I wrote it while picturing the audience cheering on the athletes while they form a scrum & thinking about all of the athletes who fight vigorously ."
No B-sides are included in BRAVE & ARASHI's last single not to include any B-sides was 2010's To be free .
Arashi's 57th single BRAVE is Nippon TV's Rugby World Cup 2019 image song . In line with the sports theme , the title song has a manly and exhilarating sound . This is also the 1st single that Sakurai Sho has written rap for since 2016's Daylight .
This's 1 of the longest time for ARASHI to put a song of theirs into a physical release , especially since they performed BRAVE for the 1st time at last year's Best Artist 2018 .
Despite this , it's better late than never & when BRAVE was 1st performed at Best Artist 2018 , I immediately love the song as it's no doubt a great masculine driven no. .
The version of BRAVE in the physical CD also do not disappoint as well . I was surprised that ARASHI didn't choose to release BRAVE before the end of the Heisea era but that's ok .
5×20 All the BEST!! CLIPS 1999-2019 DVD + Blu-ray will be released next month on 16th Oct but BRAVE video is excluded from the tracklist .
CD
CD + DVD A
CD + DVD B
The group's latest single offering was released 3 months+ since their previous single Lucky-Unlucky / Oh! my darling & 1st DVD single Ai Dake ga Subete -What do you want?- .
Fanfare! was used to promote the TV Asahi drama Semi Otoko , starring member Yamada Ryosuke & V6's Miyake Ken .
A total of 7 B-sides were available in all 3 versions of Fanfare! :
- Nami no Ue de Aimashou (CD Only Track)
- Summer Romantic (CD Only Track)
- Fanfare! DE Bon Odori (CD Only Track)
- Mystery O (Chinen Yuri & Arioka Daiki) (CD + DVD A Track)
- Trendy Love #REIWA (Nakajima Yuto & Takaki Yuya) (CD + DVD A Track)
- Napa Napa (Yamada Ryosuke & Inoo Kei) (CD + DVD B Track)
- Go Fighter (Yaotome Hikaru & Yabu Kota) (CD + DVD B Track)
Hey ! Say ! JUMP's 25th single Fanfare! is described as a Summer song that has a warm string and piano melody that's accompanied by steelpan + horn which brings up the image of bright days and blue skies .
Fanfare! is a quintessential fun upbeat Summer song & it bears elements of the group's past Summer inspired singles such as MajiSUNSHINE + COSMIC☆HUMAN .
When I 1st heard Fanfare! , I like it straightaway & that normally does not happen as I usually take a few listens of a song to decide if I like it or not .
Having 7 B-sides made available in all 3 versions of Fanfare! can be quite overwhelming but the whole single is actually quite enjoyable and 4 of the songs are duo unit no.s .
For the group B-sides , they're all Summer inspired which can be a good or bad thing . Fanfare! DE Bon Odori sounds like something Johnny's WEST and/or Kanjani∞ might do as it has a great strong Enka festive feel .
While for the 4 duo unit B-sides , I'm surprised there're no ballads . I like all of them quite evenly especially Trendy Love #REIWA & Napa Napa but Go Fighter is a bit of a weak link as I feel Yabu's vocals doesn't suit Rock .
Hey ! Say ! JUMP's 7th album PARADE will be released next month on 30th Oct & Fanfare! will be included in the new album .
CD Regular
CD Limited
CD + DVD
Tracklist the same for all 3 versions
1) Yamiyo ni Mau Aoi Tori
2) Atarashii Sekai e Atarashii Jidai e -Single Version-
3) BROKEN
4) Milky Way
The guys' last single release was last March's D×D×D / GREAT AMBITIOUS -Single Version- .
Promo wise , Yamiyo ni Mau Aoi Tori was used as the ending theme for TV Tokyo's Takeshi no Nippon no Mikata! while the video starred actor Yamamoto Koji .
3 B-sides are included in Yamiyo ni Mau Aoi Tori .
Atarashii Sekai e Atarashii Jidai e was performed for the 1st time during the encore segment of BREAKERZ LIVE 2019 ~Heisei Saigo no DAIGO's BIRTHDAY~ .
For Atarashii Sekai e Atarashii Jidai e -Single Version- , only the last few seconds of the song differs slightly as compared to Atarashii Sekai e Atarashii Jidai e ~Reiwa Version~ .
BROKEN was performed for the 1st time during the encore segment of BREAKERZ LIVE 2019 ~Kin Niku Houkai Matsuri SHINPEI's BIRTHDAY~ .
Milky Way was performed for the 1st time during the encore segment of today's BREAKERZ LIVE 2019 ~Kutsurogi no Milky Way AKIHIDE's BIRTHDAY~ .
Writing & composing credits for the whole Yamiyo ni Mau Aoi Tori single :
Yamiyo ni Mau Aoi Tori - Words : DAIGO . Music : AKIHIDE . Arrangement : BREAKERZ
Atarashii Sekai e Atarashii Jidai e -Single Version- - Both words & music ：DAIGO . Arrangement : Masahiko Iida & BREAKERZ
BROKEN - Words : DAIGO . Music : SHINPEI . Arrangement : BREAKERZ
Milky Way - Both words & music ：AKIHIDE . Arrangement : BREAKERZ
Reaching the landmark 20th single release , in a way Yamiyo ni Mau Aoi Tori was worth the wait even though my 1st impression towards the A-side wasn't good .
Ironically in recent times , I realise that the singles that AKIHIDE composed ain't as good as I was hoping for which's evident when comes to YAIBA & Ikusen no Meikyuu de Ikusen no Nazo wo Toite .
But after I read more in depth about Yamiyo ni Mau Aoi Tori , my opinions towards it changed as time goes on & it's interesting that this could have been something included in the guys' debut album as the melody AKIHIDE composed for Yamiyo ni Mau Aoi Tori , it's very old & it's also could have been something he utilised during when he was still in his old band NEVER LAND .
The single format for Yamiyo ni Mau Aoi Tori is quite similar to WE GO & in this case , I'm not really a fan of BROKEN so much . It reminds me of a cross between DESTROY CRASHER , Destruction & OUTRAGE and coincidentally , all the songs including BROKEN were composed by SHINPEI .
I liked Atarashii Sekai e Atarashii Jidai e ~Reiwa Version~ back when it was released digitally & Atarashii Sekai e Atarashii Jidai e -Single Version- didn't stray so much from it .
Out of the 3 B-sides , I really like Milky Way the most . AKIHIDE's influences is easily felt in the song & unusually in this context , SHINPEI played the metallophone melody wise .
Overall on whole I actually quite like Yamiyo ni Mau Aoi Tori . While the A-side is not their best , the B-sides this time round are on par if not are A-side potential worthy especially Milky Way .
After BREAKERZ started doing solo stuff in 2013 , their release pattern got more harder to predict unlike pre 2013 so for a long time fan like myself , I treat everyday as though it's the last day of the group even though it might sound morbid in a way .
I remembered a decade ago when BREAKERZ released their 4th single GRAND FINALE , I really thought they were going to disband as back then I didn't know what the single was about & a decade later , here they're at their landmark 20th single release which's real impressive .
I don't know what will be the guys' next music release but I do think they should either release a new studio album or another mini acoustic album .
Between both albums , I would like another mini acoustic album as it has been almost 10 years since the release of B.R.Z ACOUSTIC and after that release , they created some of the best acoustic songs found in their discography .
Either way I will continue to support BREAKERZ as much as I could .
CD
CD + DVD
1) Jijitsu Ai Feat HY's Nakasone Izumi
2) Futari no Onna
3) Jijitsu Ai Feat HY's Nakasone Izumi -Original Instrumental-
4) Futari no Onna -Original Instrumental-
The last single release was 2017's Namida no Tane, Shiawase no Hana .
Prior to the single's physical release , the A-side was released digitally on 1st Aug .
Jijitsu Ai was chosen to be used as the theme song for the drama Watashi Danna wo Share Shiteta .
Not only that , Jijitsu Ai also features the vocals of HY's Nakasone Izumi as a guest vocalist , making this the 1st time in Hilcrhyme discography which includes a collaboration single release .
Jijitsu Ai was written from a woman's perspective . On the collaboration, Hilcrhyme's TOC commented , "Nakasone made this song even more persuasive . I feel very happy that we were able to create this song together ."
Meanwhile , Nakasone Izumi said , "It was our 1st time singing together but I was surprised at how TOC's voice and mine fit really well ."
Nakasone Izumi does not physically appear in the Jijitsu Ai video while the DVD of the single includes the videos of I Say , Lost love song [II] & Hill Climb .
Frankly I'm very surprised it took Hilcrhyme so long to release a duet single that featured another artiste's vocals but TOC + HY's Nakasone Izumi compliment each other vocally very well .
Futari no Onna serves as the B-side in the single & this reminds me of a cross between Little Samba ~Jounetsu no Kinyoubi~ & Koi no Honou , sound wise .
After what Hilcrhyme went through unfortunately 2 years back , I thought they would disband cos it's not easy to bounce back after a scandal but it's heartening to see they still continue on despite the departure of former member DJ KATSU .
And for longtime fans like myself , I'm sure TOC also cannot bear to pull the plug especially since he shouldn't get unfairly blacklisted for what DJ KATSU committed .
I don't know why it took Hilcrhyme so long to release their 1st duet single but it's better late than never and I enjoy Jijitsu Ai a lot .
Hilcrhyme's 2nd remake album MOON ~Remake Best 2~ will be released next month on 9th Oct and Jijitsu Ai is included as track 1 in the remake album .
The latest song that Koda released digitally is a cover of Go Hiromi's GOLDFINGER'99 .
GOLDFINGER'99 is a Japanese cover of Ricky Martin's Livin' la Vida Loca .
I would never have thought in a million years that of all songs that Koda covered over the length of her career , she would covered Ricky Martin's Livin' la Vida Loca & then now Go Hiromi's GOLDFINGER'99 .
Both of Koda's renditions of the same song but different language are pretty good and the accompanied music video(s) she made really amplified the cover(s) to another different level .
Koda will release her 17th album re(CORD) on 13th Nov , on the same day as her birthday and GOLDFINGER 2019 will be included in the new album .
JASMINE made a video for COCOROZASHI which AK-69 appeared with her .
Just like Kanon Wakeshima , it's very unfortunate that JASMINE is also another talented female solo act that suffer the same fate when comes to record label issues .
The last digital song JASMINE released ie. Black Kitty , it was released via Pemdal Records .
So it's surprising that this time round Pemdal Records didn't released COCOROZASHI & ROAD and instead it's Eight Entertainment .
Anyway despite this setback , I surprisingly like both COCOROZASHI & ROAD . COCOROZASHI is quite a catchy upbeat song while ROAD is a pretty nice mid tempo ballad .
At the moment JASMINE started a crowdfunding campaign for fans to contribute $ in order to try to release a new mini album in November with the funds that she received .
I do hope the crowdfunding campaign will be a success & it's nice to see that people still do care about JASMINE , including me as I always have liked her music & sense of style .
