JASMINE made a video for Atashi no Make .
When I 1st heard Atashi no Make , it reminds me quite a lot like Black Kitty except it's a lot more shorter .
But unlike Black Kitty , I feel that Atashi no Make is more easier to like & get into and JASMINE sounds at ease belting out this song which's evident in the video she appears in .
I sure hope Atashi no Make will not be the only new JASMINE material she put out this year .
Shota's new song comes about 8 months since he released his last digital single Breathe Again last August .
The video concept of 416 is like a drama that conveys the song's sad world view & Shota does not appear in the video .
It's no secret I haven't been liking Shota's material in recent years so hearing 416 for the 1st time brings back to why I started supporting him in the very 1st place .
416 is a classic Shota mid tempo R&B ballad & there're 0 traces of autotune in the song . Shota himself is a good singer so he doesn't need any autotune & etc to hide his voice .
The last single I genuinely liked of Shota was 2015's Hanataba no Kawari ni Melody wo & I really hope 416 will not be the only new song of him that does not have any auto tune .
In this case , less is more .
CD
CD + DVD
1) STORY
2) SEVEN
3) SUPERSTAR
4) We Never Gave Up -Interlude-
5) Nandodemo
6) What is Love? -Interlude-
7) STAY WITH ME
8) Perfect Lover
9) Love Story
10) Commitment -Interlude-
11) S
12) Top Gun
13) Prime Time of My Life -Interlude-
14) Kimi no Kotoba ni Hohoemi wo
15) Clover
16) NEW STORY
CD only version only :
17) Koi (Masuda Takahisa)
18) Narrative (Kato Shigeaki)
19) STAY ALIVE (Koyama Keiichiro)
20) Propose (Tegoshi Yuya)
Koi - written & composed by GReeeeN
Narrative - written & composed by Shige himself while he co-arranged the song
STAY ALIVE - Koyama cowrote the song
Propose - written & composed by Tegoshi himself
CD + DVD version only :
17) Secret Track ; 33 seconds short
NEWS's last album release was last Feb's WORLDISTA & STORY is the last of 4 back to back album releases from NEWS .
STORY includes only 1 single , Top Gun / Love Story & same with before , the CD only version of the album includes 4 solo songs .
There're 4 interludes included in STORY & unlike the past interludes made available in the last 3 albums , this time round , each of the NEWS members can be heard speaking in each STORY interlude .
The 1st 3 tracks in STORY are all new group songs and song titles wise , all 3 of them interestingly start with the alphabet S .
Kicking things off in STORY is the 1st group album track that share the same name and this felt like a combination of an introduction interlude + proper song .
STORY (song) itself is pretty good & lyrically it also pays homage to the last 3 back to back album releases which's something that doesn't happen often .
The 2nd album track SEVEN also flows real well after STORY and both back to back upbeat songs are strong yet memorable .
Serving as the unofficial lead album promo track for STORY is SUPERSTAR & this song was already made known to the public before the creation of STORY .
Promo wise , SUPERSTAR was used as the theme song for NTV's coverage on last year's FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 .
Over the years NEWS has created so many football soccer related songs & it's easy to dismiss SUPERSTAR which happened when I 1st heard it .
But along the way with the numerous TV performances NEWS did for SUPERSTAR , that somewhat changed my perception towards the song but as I said before I would prefer NEWS to stop doing it as if not it might keep them pigeonhole .
Nandodemo is the 4th group album track . Credits wise , it was written by Mukai Taichi while it was co-composed by Mukai & ☆Taku Takahashi (m-flo) .
Sound wise , Nandodemo is very different from what NEWS usually do . Before hearing it I might assumed it was a ballad but it turns out to be a mid tempo R&B tinged song .
STAY WITH ME is the 5th group album track . Credits wise , it was written & composed by eill .
This's 1 of my favourite songs in STORY & it's easy to see why . Even though I do not listen to eill , I appreciate her personal input into creating STAY WITH ME for NEWS as it's a fantastic heartwarming ballad .
And I'm pleased that NEWS did some TV performances for STAY WITH ME after SUPERSTAR as STAY WITH ME deserves to have recognition .
The next album track Perfect Lover is a bit similar to what Nandodemo offers & just like STORY (song) , Perfect Lover comprises both of an actual song + a subsequent interlude .
I think Perfect Lover is ok even though after a while it felt quite repetitive sounding .
Love Story is the 2nd A-side of NEWS's 25th single Top Gun / Love Story . The song was used in the ads of GREE NEWS ni Koishite handphone game .
The cryptic sounding S on the other hand is my least favourite album track in STORY & in a way I feel S is out of NEWS's music element as the toughness sounding of the song doesn't bode well for them .
And oddly in S , it sounds like NEWS is shouting instead of singing .
Top Gun is the 1st A-side of NEWS's 25th single Top Gun / Love Story . Promo wise , Top Gun was used in TV Tokyo's drama Yotsuba Ginko Harashima Hiromi ga Mono Mosu! ~Kono Onna ni Kakeru~ which member Kato Shigeaki made a guest appearance on the 3rd episode of the drama .
The last 3 group album tracks in STORY are all mid tempo songs but each of them have their own unique identity .
Kimi no Kotoba ni Hohoemi wo incorporate fans' voices into the song , a bit similar with what was done for Love Story .
Clover is the longest album track in STORY & for this , it was written & composed by NEWS .
This's the 3rd song NEWS created together after Share & Strawberry and what makes Clover stand out is that NEWS sampled the melody of their debut single Kibou ~Yell~ which I thought it's a great creative way in paying homage to the group's past .
And fittingly if not not so surprisingly , the last group album track in STORY is titled NEW STORY .
From 2017's NEVERLAND to 2018's EPCOTIA to 2019's WORLDISTA , NEWS's album project based on their group name reaches its final "S" chapter in 2020 with STORY .
STORY connects all the dots to form 1 real story about NEWS .
It's no secret that I really do not like last year's WORLDISTA as I was so disappointed with the album but luckily that did not happen for STORY .
I was really surprised I enjoy most of the new material in STORY & NEWS definitely did the right thing to get other musicians to work on the album , if not STORY might become another WORLDISTA 2.0 casualty .
And I think it's smart for NEWS to switch up the album format in STORY cos they've utilised the same tried and tested interludes strategy for their last 3 albums and it didn't apply for STORY this time round .
Not sure if that's done on purpose but it's definitely a welcome change .
STORY combines the old & new elements of NEWS and for the old timer longtime NEWS fans , I'm sure they will appreciate NEWS for paying homage to their past even though it was & is still quite a bitter pill to swallow but despite this , NEWS embraced it cos that's part of their mark up .
All in all STORY is a fitting album conclusion to NEWS's 4 albums back to back project & it's a release that NEWS deserve to be proud of to add in their music discography .
For Ken's latest new song offering , he's joined by Aimyon & this's Ken's 2nd duet that Ken has done with another artiste , the 1st was 2014's Grotesque with Namie Amuro .
Credits wise , Ken wrote & composed Kaibutsu-san and it's described as a pop song about unrequited love . Lyrically Kaibutsu-san is sung from a woman's perspective , just like Ken's previous singles , Elegy & Shiranai ne Desho?
I don't listen to Aimyon . Despite this , she surprisingly sound real good alongside with Ken . Song wise , Kaibutsu-san is definitely not something Ken normally does but it's overall a very fun quirky upbeat sounding duet that I enjoy a great deal .
This year is Ken's 25th anniversary & with what has happened , I wouldn't be surprised if he will do scale down celebrations to mark this milestone of his in the industry .
I personally would like to see Ken re-record some of his old songs & give them a more modern uptake feel to them , I'm sure he would have no problems doing that .
For now , Kaibutsu-san is definitely 1 duet worth checking out .
REVIEW II ~BEST OF GLAY~ is a sequel best album release to 1997's REVIEW -BEST OF GLAY- .
In REVIEW II ~BEST OF GLAY~ , the members wanted to create an best album with a track list they could all agree on which led to it being a 4 disc set with each disc containing songs selected by each of the members .
The other new song available in REVIEW II ~BEST OF GLAY~ is I'm loving you which's a collaboration duet with South Korean boyband PENTAGON .
A video was made for Into the Wild which has scenes of women dancing to portray liberation & scenes of GLAY performing intertwining with each other .
Song wise , Into the Wild has been described as while being tied up by various things , break free by believing in yourself & move forward .
While promo wise , Into the Wild is also currently being used in the ads of Subaru's Levorg .
To say that Into the Wild is 1 of GLAY's darker yet spellbinding like songs is an understatement as this would have been cool if it was released during Halloween .
While Into the Wild is not the longest GLAY song that they've come up with , for those who're not familiar with their music might be surprised on how long the song's .
Instead of a typical best album release to celebrate their 25th anniversary in the business , it's interesting that GLAY put a spin in REVIEW II ~BEST OF GLAY~ & for longtime fans of GLAY , their latest best album is a great keepsake to add in their collection .
