CD
CD + DVD
1) Intro
2) Cinematic Feat SARA-J
3) MONEY
4) Chasin' Feat IO
5) S.U.K.I.
6) Got A Feeling
7) CRY
8) Arigato
9) PULLBACK
10) CANDY
11) No one else like you Feat Michael Kaneko
12) Last Love Letter
13) READY25
BENI's last studio album release was 2015's Undress while Mienai Start which was released digitally last Feb is not included in CINEMATIC .
Unlike BENI's past studio albums , she didn't released any physical singles that precede CINEMATIC . Instead , before CINEMATIC was released , BENI released 5 songs digitally from July until Oct .
In CINEMATIC , BENI compares her life to a movie so she played both the lead role & the director . The DVD of the album includes a short film titled CHASIN' the film .
CHASIN' the film features 3 songs being played in the backdrop - Chasin' , PULLBACK & Last Love Letter . Besides BENI , KANDYTOWN's IO is featured in the short film as well .
After a short introduction , kicking things off in CINEMATIC is the song that shares the same title as the album .
CINEMATIC (the song) also featured SARA-J which's the 1st of 3 songs that feature different collaborations BENI did with other musicians in the album .
MONEY is the 2nd album track & when I 1st heard it , I was surprised cos it's a different style of singing that BENI tackled and I feel it could have been a lot more upbeat .
Chasin' was 1st released digitally on 6th July & it's the 1st of 3 songs that served in the backdrop of CHASIN' the film .
Described as a Jazz R&B no. , IO is featured in Chasin' & KANDYTOWN's Neetz had a hand in arranging the song .
On Chasin' , BENI commented , "People are always chasing after something whether it's love or something else . The song + lyrics portray the sadness and impatience upon nearing that thing you're chasing , the excitement & expectation you get the moment you're about to obtain it & the feeling of emptiness when you realise that the game is over once you finally have it in your hands ."
S.U.K.I. is the next album track & for this , I find it to be an ok sounding mid tempo song which didn't really blew me away .
Got A Feeling was originally exclusively available via iTunes Japan if fans purchased songs as part of COVERS THE CITY .
When I saw Got A Feeling & CANDY included in CINEMATIC tracklist , I was surprised but at the same time I don't think a lot of people already knew these 2 songs existed way before BENI released any songs digitally for the last few months .
I guess instead of leaving both songs in digital format , BENI decided to include them in CINEMATIC if not it would have been a much shorter album .
CRY & Arigato are the next 2 album tracks . Ironically I thought CRY was going to be a ballad but instead , it's Arigato .
Arigato can be almost considered to be a ballad & I like the piano arrangement of the song's melody .
The next 2 songs PULLBACK & CANDY were available digitally prior to the release of CINEMATIC .
PULLBACK was released digitally on 29th Aug while just like Got A Feeling , CANDY was the 2nd song exclusively available via iTunes Japan if fans purchased songs as part of COVERS THE CITY .
The next 2 tracks are the sadder sounding songs in CINEMATIC . No one else like you was 1st released digitally on 17th Oct & this featured Michael Kaneko while Last Love Letter was 1st released digitally on 31st Oct .
Concluding CINEMATIC is READY25 which was used as a cheer relay song for the Yokohama DeNA Baystars baseball team .
Tsutsugo Yoshitomo who plays for the Yokohama DeNA Baystars baseball team befriended BENI last year via a mutual acquaintance & Tsutsugo is the 1 that requested BENI to write a song for the baseball team he plays for .
BENI likens life to the movies in her new album CINEMATIC . She is the director and protagonist of this musical work which includes Chasin' featuring KANDYTOWN's IO , the progressive R&B track PULLBACK composed by Sunny Boy & No one else like you , a duet with Michael Kaneko .
It's quite hard to believe it has been so long since BENI last released a new studio album but I appreciate that this time round , she decided to take a different approach to CINEMATIC as compared to her past albums .
I feel that the songs that BENI released digitally prior to the physical release of CINEMATIC are much stronger + memorable , not to say that the other album tracks ain't bad but they don't stood out to me as much as I was hoping for .
I find that CINEMATIC is quite laidback perhaps due to the album's concept & some felt that BENI lacks energy in singing the songs in the album but I don't think it was done on purpose .
Normally ballads are put in to slow things down in an album . For CINEMATIC , it's the opposite which's a 1st for me .
Also given a choice , I would prefer not to see Got A Feeling & CANDY included in CINEMATIC but as I said before , if both songs were not in the tracklist , the album would have felt more shorter .
And I guess BENI prefer to end CINEMATIC on a high upbeat note as Last Love Letter is really sad sounding given the context of CHASIN' the film .
Overall with due respect to BENI , I appreciate the considerable amount of personal input BENI put into making CINEMATIC but unfortunately it's not the album I would recommend someone who's not familiar with her music .
But CINEMATIC is not my least favourite album of BENI so that in a way it's not so bad . Hopefully BENI's next album offering would be more better & a lot more energetic + upbeat .
