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 .