CD
CD + Blu-ray
1) Miraisen wo Nobotte
2) Orange Peel
3) MousouGRAVE
4) 18SDGs (Instrumental)
5) Sono Ai to Shi o
No singles are included in Bokutachi no Gunzo EP & the duo's last mini album release was 2018's M・S COWBOY no Gyakushuu EP .
A total of 5 songs are included in the new mini album inclusive of 1 instrumental number .
2 videos are made to promote Bokutachi no Gunzo EP . 1 of them is titled Lost Minds which's a short movie & this's the 1st time GRANRODEO created something like this while the other Miraisen wo Nobotte had a regular video made .
GRANRODEO combines film & music in their 2nd concept mini album Bokutachi no Gunzo ! The album's lead track Miraisen wo Nobotte is based on the short movie Lost Mines , whose original script was produced especially for this mini album .
Bokutachi no Gunzo EP & M・S COWBOY no Gyakushuu EP are very different from each other concept wise . While GRANRODEO's previous mini album was inspired by their hit single modern strange cowboy , their latest mini album release focuses more on school with both members playing teachers in Lost Minds .
Due to this , the material in Bokutachi no Gunzo EP has a youthful sound to it which fits the concept of what their latest new mini album offers .
All the 4 new songs in Bokutachi no Gunzo EP are quite good & they're very different from each other . It's a bit of a pity that Sono Ai to Shi o is the only ballad but the same thing also happened for M・S COWBOY no Gyakushuu EP too .
Until GRANRODEO release a new full length album , I make do with Bokutachi no Gunzo EP & it's overall a solid release with GRANRODEO emphasising on quality rather than quantity .
CD
CD + DVD
1) HOURGLASS
2) Teenage Love
3) HOURGLASS (Movie Edit)
4) HOURGLASS (Instrumental)
This's UVERworld's 1st single release of 2021 which their last single release was last March's AS ONE .
Described as a melodious mid-tempo number , HOURGLASS was chosen to promote the movie Brave -Gunjo Senki- as its theme song & the movie opened in Japan's cinemas 2 days after the single's release ie. on 12th March .
Teenage Love serve as the B-side in the single & it had a video made just like the A-side .
UVERworld's music is notorious in being very difficult to like as at times they can get over the top experimental but luckily this's not the case for HOURGLASS .
In fact I think HOURGLASS is 1 of UVERworld's most simplified songs they've released in recent years where melody wise they didn't go overboard with things & it's only towards the last part of the song they changed music direction but not in a very drastic manner .
That said , hopefully HOURGLASS will not be the only music release UVERworld put out this year .
CD
CD + DVD A
CD + DVD B
This's Kis-My-Ft2's 1st single release of 2021 & the A-side was chosen to promote TBS' drama Oh! My Boss! Koi wa Bessatsu de. starring member Tamamori Yuta .
Luv Bias is described as a medium-tempo love ballad about the moment one falls in love .
3 B-sides are included in the single :
- Big Wave (CD Only Track) ; used in the ads of Unicharm's Wave super water retention wet sheet that Tamamori is featured in
The CD only version of the single also includes 2 different versions of Luv Bias - another and piano & strings versions :
Luv Bias ~another~ - change of vocals within the group
Luv Bias ~piano & strings~ - an instrumental no. , no vocals
- NAKED (CD + DVD A Track)
- Original Colour (CD + DVD B Track)
For their 1st single of 2021 , Kis-My-Ft2 brings the sexy medium-tempo ballad Luv Bias . The group's 27th single is the theme song of the TBS drama Oh! My Boss! Koi wa Bessatsu de starring Tamamori Yuta .
Luv Bias is Kis-My-Ft2's 1st single that has 2 different recording being done of the A-side & surprisingly , I actually enjoy both Luv Bias ~another~ & Luv Bias ~piano & strings~ tremendously .
I don't know why this has not happen much earlier as with regards to Luv Bias ~another~ , the thought of different members being changed up to sing the song , it's a really clever idea .
As for the B-sides in the single , I like Original Colour while the other 2 songs frankly should have been in their previous single .
With this year being Kis-My-Ft2's 10th anniversary since their debut , I'm curious to see how they will celebrate this landmark milestone & for once I hope they will not release a studio album .
This is JASMINE's 1st new song release of 2021 & this time round , she teamed up with KIRA in BADASS .
For once it's refreshing to see JASMINE team up with another female musician even though KIRA is obviously not the 1st female artiste she sung together alongside with .
That said I was expecting BADASS to be an uptempo song & it's quite surprising it's not . Even more surprising is that the song is under 3 mins .
No disrespect to the past male musicians JASMINE collaborated with but I would love to see her team up with other female artistes in future if not better yet , put out more standalone songs as vocally JASMINE is already good on her own .
Originally sung by the late Sakamoto Kyu , Saito Kazuyoshi's cover of Ue o Muite Arukou was used to promote the movie Hankei 1 Meter no Kimi ~Ue o Muite Arukou~ which was released on the same day as the cover song's digital release .
This's the 2nd Ue o Muite Arukou cover I've heard after Hey ! Say ! JUMP & both artistes' take on the song is very different to say the least .
Hey ! Say ! JUMP's rendition of Ue o Muite Arukou is more laidback while for Saito's case , he gave it an upbeat Rock treatment .
End of the day there's no right or wrong to say whose cover renditions of Ue o Muite Arukou are for better or for worst than the original as it all boils down to a person's preference when comes to this sort of thing .
Saito's 21st album 55 STONES will be released on 24th March but his cover of Ue o Muite Arukou will not be included in his upcoming new album .
CD
CD + Blu-ray
1) feel my soul
2) CHE.R.RY
3) Rolling star
4) Good-bye days (YUI for Amane Kaoru)
5) GLORIA
6) SUMMER SONG
This mini album was to belatedly celebrate YUI's 15th anniversary in the business & it was released 1 day after her 2005 debut single feel my soul .
YUI's last solo releases were 2012's GREEN GARDEN POP & ORANGE GARDEN POP duo compilation albums .
For NATURAL EP , YUI worked with the members of FLOWER FLOWER to rearrange 6 of her past solo single songs & the vocals were re-recorded as well .
When the release of NATURAL EP was made known , I was so escastic as I grew up listening to YUI's songs & at that time after the duo releases of both GREEN GARDEN POP & ORANGE GARDEN POP , it was a bit upsetting that she chose to leave behind her solo career for FLOWER FLOWER .
Hearing all the newly re-recorded material in NATURAL EP brought back a big load of memories for me and given that YUI has been gone for so long , it's so nostagic to hear some of her best known songs in updated versions .
The 1 I was a bit sceptical prior to hearing was the re-recorded version of GLORIA but I actually like it .
I personally like the new updated versions of feel my soul , Rolling star & Good-bye days .
That said , there're so many other great YUI songs that should have been re-recorded such as LIFE , TOKYO , LOVE & TRUTH and even her indie debut it's happy line .
Even some of YUI's non singles , some of them deserved to get re-recorded too like Thank you My teens , Happy Birthday to you you , Jam , Laugh away & etc .
Given how succesful NATURAL EP was , it's quite evident that after so many years , so many has not forgotten YUI & I really hope to see a NATURAL 2.0 in the near future .