Cover for all 4 versions (CD , CD + DVD , CD + Blu-ray & CD + Jenga)
1) STARS
2) Dark Rainbow
3) Pain Killer
4) Kimi no Naka de Odoritai 2023
The last physical CD single B'z released was 2017's Seimei / Still Alive .
The release of STARS is to celebrate B'z's 35th anniversary in the business & it's their 1st single to get a Blu-ray edition .
3 B-sides are included in STARS .
Dark Rainbow was used to promote the movie Omae no Tsumi o Jihaku Shiro while the 3rd B-side Kimi no Naka de Odoritai 2023 is a re-recorded version of B'z's 2nd single Kimi no Naka de Odoritai .
Celebrating the 35th anniversary of their debut , B'z released their latest single STARS ! The title track is a symbol of the legendary rock duo's anniversary year .
It's so surreal to know it has been so long since B'z last released a CD single but STARS is well worth the wait as the song's really fantastic & it's classic B'z at their very best with it being so empowering & upbeat .
Even the 3 B-sides included in STARS are all equally good & usually a B-side song is seen as inferior to the A-side but that does not apply here as each B-side is not just different but they're able to be on par with STARS itself .
B'z is the best selling music act in Japan of all time & with the release of STARS , it's easy to see why after 35 years and counting , they're not going anywhere .
The newly recorded version of Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ (Ryu-Take 2023 ver.) is a newly recorded version of Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ that was originally included as track 3 in flumpool's debut mini album Unreal .
Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ (Ryu-Take 2023 ver.) alongside with other songs flumpool has re-recorded will be included in flumpool's best album The Best flumpool 2.0 ~ Blue[2008-2011]& Red[2019-2023]~ that will be released on 9th Oct .
Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ (Ryu-Take 2023 ver.) itself will be included as track 2 in Disc.01 - Blue[2008-2011] .
The release of The Best flumpool 2.0 ~ Blue[2008-2011]& Red[2019-2023]~ is to celebrate flumpool's 15th anniversary in the business .
To me Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ is still considered as 1 of flumpool's best ballads to date & despite being a mini album , the songs from Unreal EP still stood the test of time even though it was released almost 15 years ago .
That said , hearing the newly recorded version of Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ made me really happy seeing that I've supported flumpool for on par if not just as long when they made their CD debut 15 years ago .
Between the original & newly recorded versions , I feel that the biggest change between both is that vocalist Ryuta sounded a lot more better vocally . And for once I'm actually glad that flumpool didn't do anything drastic to the melody regarding Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~ (Ryu-Take 2023 ver.) .
Knowing that flumpool has re-recorded other still fantastic great songs that will be in Disc.01 - Blue[2008-2011]made me very ecstatic & I really cannot wait to hear the rest in due time .
Mika's new song was released 1 day before MIKA NAKASHIMA CONCERT TOUR 2023 YOU kicked off at Tokyo's LINE CUBE SHIBUYA .
Described as a dance number with EDM elements , both the song & visuals pertaining to We are all stars are inspired by the reality show RuPaul's Drag Race .
Mika personally admire RuPaul for years & We are all stars pays homage to RuPaul which the song has a strong message about self-acceptance .
We are all stars was written by Mika & she co composed the song with Hashimoto Kota .
Mika commented , "I want everyone to be free with their favourite look being the Only.1 and the No.1 way they love themselves."
GYUTAE & Zutti who was in charge of the hair + makeup they did for We are all stars also appeared in the video alongside with Mika .
After releasing 3 back to back ballads singles , Mika finally has switched things up musically with We are all stars & to say I really like the song on 1st listen is an understatement .
This might sound a bit odd but We are all stars reminded me of 2009's CANDY GIRL a bit but in this case the EDM aspect is emphasised a lot more .
With the release of We are all stars , this's proof that Mika is quite musically versatile aside from releasing Jazz & Rock songs and if she decide to release even more dance songs in the future , I will be the 1st to say yes to it .
Cover same for both CD + DVD & CD + Blu-ray versions
1) Tomo ni
2) Tomo ni -Instrumental-
This is the final release featuring leader Kitayama Hiromitsu before he leaves both the group and talent agency end of Aug .
Unlike the group's past releases , Tomo ni was only available for online order via the Johnny's Shop .
No B sides are included and 2 versions of Tomo ni were released , CD + DVD & CD + Blu-ray .
The lyrics for Tomo ni were written by the members themselves .
I feel a tinge of sadness when I listened to Tomo ni & even before this release , I already had a feeling something was up within Kis-My-Ft2 because it's not like them not to release new material so sproadic especially since they released studio albums & singles on an annual constant basis ever since they made their music debut in 2011 .
That said I think Tomo ni is a fitting send off for Kitayama & I wrote before that Kis-My-Ft2 should release more ballads and Tomo ni is proof of that .
On that note , I wish all the best to Kitayama & his future endeavours .
Released 1 day after KODA KUMI LIVE TOUR 2023 ~angeL & monsteR~ tour final , BLACK WINGS originally was included as an interlude in Koda's 1st joint music & video release WINGS .
Koda has made interludes to full version songs before so in a way it's not very shocking she did so once again regarding BLACK WINGS .
BLACK WINGS as an interlude was & is great but the full song version showcases how good Koda is when comes to rapping which I personally feel she should do more .
And something tells me this will not be the last time Koda will turn her song interludes into full version songs .