1) I love my daughter
2) Fuyu no Hana
3) Tsuioku
4) I love my daughter -Instrumental-
This's BREAKERZ's 1st single release of 2021 & promo wise , the A-side was chosen to be used as the theme song for ABC TV drama's Miyako ga Kyoto ni Yattekita! that started airing last month on 10th Jan .
Same with their previous single release BARABARA / LOVE STAGE , only 1 regular version of I love my daughter was released alongside with a fanclub version that has 4 different slipcase covers (1 group & 3 solo shots used) .
I love my daughter was written & composed by vocalist DAIGO who became a dad for the 1st time last Sept . He commented , "It's an unusual MS (musume song - daughter song) . Please look forward to it ! " .
The baby that DAIGO is holding in the cover of the CD regular version is his & his wife Kitagawa Keiko's real life daughter whom she also made an appearance in the video too .
Prior to the single's physical release , both the A-side & instrumental were released digitally on 10th Jan , on the same day when Miyako ga Kyoto ni Yattekita! started airing .
The last time the guys included the instrumental of their single was back in 2009 ie. their 4th single GRAND FINALE .
2 B-sides are included in the regular version of I love my daughter which both songs were written & composed by each guitarist .
The 1st B-side Fuyu no Hana was written & composed by guitarist AKIHIDE & it's dubbed the twin vocals song as it featured AKIHIDE singing alongside with DAIGO .
Tsuioku is the 2nd B-side & it was written & composed by guitarist SHINPEI . This's the 2nd song SHINPEI has created in the guys' discography which he wrote & composed , the 1st was OUTRAGE which was included as track 9 in their 6th album O -ZERO- .
And same with the fanclub version of BARABARA / LOVE STAGE , the fanclub version of I love my daughter includes an exclusive track ie. the acoustic version of Everlasting Luv which's included as part of a 2nd bonus CD , B.R.Z ACOUSTIC Part 2 that consolidates all the past acoustic songs the guys did after 2010's B.R.Z ACOUSTIC 1 ie. from their 8th single Gekijou / hEaVeN onwards .
I love my daughter is probably the most chilled & zen ish single BREAKERZ has released to date as the entire single is very mellow which's a complete departure from BARABARA / LOVE STAGE but in a good way .
Other than DAIGO's K S K , I love my daughter is the next 2nd song that's also very personal to DAIGO which he & his wife currently stands at family wise even though at 1st I thought it was a bit odd that this was released as a BREAKERZ single & not a standalone DAIGO solo single like what happened to K S K .
Aside from that , parents who hear I love my daughter will definitely relate to the song on a very personal level .
This's the rare release that I actually like the B-sides a bit more than the A-side & it's no surprises that I really like Fuyu no Hana a great deal and in a way to wait so long for AKIHIDE to at last sing together with DAIGO in a BREAKERZ song , it's quite surreal but it's better late than never .
I did not like OUTRAGE but SHINPEI did a good job with regards to the folk sounding no. Tsuioku & just like I love my daughter , this's also personal to SHINPEI as it's written about his family .
And the acoustic version of Everlasting Luv is yet another fantastic acoustic song added to the guys' discography & I suspect this could have been the version that they released back in 2009 alongside with BAMBINO ~Bambino~ .
The guys' single A-side releases usually tend not to be as good as their double A-side single releases but I feel for once , I love my daughter manages to break the trend no pun intended .
If not for B.R.Z ACOUSTIC Part 2 , I would loved this to be the guys' next music release as it has been so long since B.R.Z ACOUSTIC 1 was released although I felt they should have added in a lot more new acoustic song recordings in the bonus CD and not just Day Soldier + Everlasting Luv only .
That said I think the guys should next release a studio album as it it has been almost 6 years since 0-ZERO- was released & I had a feeling they wanted to do that last year but due to circumstances , that got changed .
Til then this latest personal release from BREAKERZ is a must listen .
Angel is a song by YOUYA which was released last month digitally on 21st Jan .
This's YOUYA's 2nd digital release after last Nov's Ghost .
With a song title like Angel , I was hoping for once it might be a ballad but it feels a bit like Ghost 2.0 with both songs having almost the same music vibes , be it English lyrics and/or autotune inspired melody .
I know YOUYA is trying to do things differently now & I don't know how longtime Matsushita Yuya fans feel about this but I'm still hoping his future YOUYA releases would be more diverse .
If this keeps up , it will be like what happened to Shota Shimizu and I do not want that to happen as in actuality , both of them can sing & concealing their vocals underneath so much autotune , it's frankly a big waste .
CD
ALL SINGLE LIVE Version - CD + 2 DVDs | CD + Blu-ray
KICK-OFF STUDIO LIVE Version - CD + 2 DVDs | CD + Blu-ray
30th Anniversary Ballad Works [Slow Collection] - 2 CDs
1) AKIRA
2) Kurayami no Naka de Tobe
3) Kakumei
4) Popstar
5) Hyoryu Seyo
6) Tomoe Gakuen
7) Shippai Gaku
8) Koushien
9) Bou
10) Shinon
11) Shiawase no Salad
12) 1461 Nichi
13) Seiiki
14) Itterasshai
15) Rei -ZERO-
16) Hajimari ga Mata Hajimetteyuku
17) Kanata de
Fukuyama's last studio album release was 2014's HUMAN .
AKIRA has a total of 17 songs which includes 1 physical single & 4 prior digital released songs .
This album release is to celebrate Fukuyama's 30th anniversary in the music business & AKIRA is the name of Fukuyama's late dad who passed away many years ago .
A substaintal number of songs have numerous different promo tie in's as follows ::
Released prior to AKIRA :
- Tomoe Gakuen ; released digitally on Dec 2017
- Koushien ; released digitally on Aug 2018 . Was used for 2018 National High School Baseball Tournament 100th summer + NHK High School baseball relay song
- 1461 Nichi ; released digitally on 2016 . Was used as TV Asahi's theme song in coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Seiiki ; 32nd single . Used as the theme song to promote TV Asahi's drama Kurokawa no Techo
- Rei -ZERO- ; released digitally on April 2018 . Used as the theme song to promote the Detective Conan Zero no Shikkounin movie
AKIRA album tracks :
- Kakumei ; used to promote the movie Shinkaishaku : Sangokushi
- Shippai Gaku ; promoted NTV's drama Seigi no Se
- Shinon ; theme song for NTV's drama Remolove ~Futsuu no Koi wa Jado~
Before AKIRA was released physically , Shinon was 1st released digitally last year on 9th Nov & it's also the only album track that had a video made .
Remolove ~Futsuu no Koi wa Jado~ drama staff contacted Fukuyama to provide the theme song . After learning about the drama's worldview , he created Shinon that expresses the feelings of the protagonist after she has been putting off her love life .
Fukuyama commented ,"For Mimi & the characters in the drama , what are the necessities of love as they live their lives ? I wrote this with that theme ."
As Fukuyama nears the age his father was when he passed , he felt that he could go 1 step further as a performer by portraying his own views of life & death . This helped him to come up with the title song & it became the overall theme of the album .
Fukuyama commented , "It took me 30 years to start writing about separating from my father . However , this is not complete . It's a 'song of beginning' that will help me to further express my views on life and death ."
- Shiawase no Salad ; used in the ads of Kewpie Half starring Fukuyama himself
- Itterasshai ; promoted NTV's drama Ikutake no Asa
- Hajimari ga Mata Hajimetteyuku ; used in the ads of Dunlop Bureau
It's hard to believe it has been so long since Fukuyama last released a new studio album & frankly AKIRA is really worth the long wait .
This's 1 of the rare cases that I feel no prior release material should have been included in AKIRA as most of the new material is actually really good .
Also , the sound consistency of AKIRA is quite good even though the middle of the release got a bit too slow for my liking but luckily the music pace was picked up considerably .
Fukuyama performed Shinon & then subsequently Kakumei numerous times on TV towards the end of 2020 and I think it's quite evident why he chose these 2 album tracks out of the rest as they're 2 of the standout no.s in AKIRA but I also like the other new songs in AKIRA as well .
I found myself listening to AKIRA a lot more than HUMAN and that's definitely a good thing . Fukuyama might not be as musically active as others even though he has been in the industry for a really long time but for his music , he usually place quality over quantity and that's more important .
Lastly it just so happens that today is Fukuyama's birthday & what better way than to publish + write my review on AKIRA ?