NEWS: Last night marked the beginning of the 2009 Winter Concert Tour, Wonderful Hearts Kouen ~Kakumei Gannen~ - All in all it went off without a hitch, minus the charismatic Wada Ayaka, who was absent due to illness (get better soon DAWA!). Thankfully BARKS has some nice coverage of the debut concert, with lots of pics that everyone can check out ->HERE<-
This run of concerts marks the lead up to the graduation of the Elder Club so soon Wonderful Hearts WILL BE the Hello!Project. Get used to it everybody!
Presenting Wonderful Hearts!
Morning Musume looking very cool performing their upcoming single Nai chau Kamo
Berryz look very cute in their canary yellow outfits...
...while C-ute are hot in their suits.
Milky Way performs Tan Tan Taan! C'mon! How C-ute is Koha's outfit for Happy☆Happy Sunday ^_^!!!
Buono! in their pyjamas costumes, performing Lotta Love Lotta Love.
NEWS: C-ute was honoured yesterday evening with a EXCELLENT WORK award, at the 50th Japan Record Awards, for their song Edo no Temari Uta II.
The award put them amongst artists such as EXILE and Koda Kumi in the running for the BEST WORK OF THE YEAR award. While they didn't win the top prize, which went to EXILE's Ti Amo, they were invited to perform at the ceremony, where they sang their nominated track.
This is the second year in a row that the girls have performed at the Japan Record Awards. Only a year ago the girls were nominated in the New Artist category, ultimately winning the BEST NEW ARTIST. Let's take a little stroll down memory lane to see how far the girls have come since this time last year!
C-ute is once again cementing themselves as the group to watch in H!P, being recognized for the second year in a row for their music. A BIG congratulations to C-ute, this is QUITE an honour and truly deserving :D
PREVIEW: Ok, so it's a day or two late ... but Maimi has debuted the title track from C-ute's upcoming album, Akogare MY STAR, on her radio show. The song has an upbeat, dance feel to it and everyone gets a solo line ^_^
So is this song great or what?! ^^ It seems Tsunku is saving some great tracks for albums, Berryz' had some great album tracks too - so let's hope 4th Akogare MY STAR turns out to be a strong album. The covers were also released yesterday and have a spring feeling to them:
I probably would have preferred something a bit different but this is ok. That Airi/Kanna shot looks killer! - and the group photo is very sweet. I think I'll prob end up getting the limited, not sure. We'll see.
Here's the tracklist:
1.★憧れ My STAR★ (★Akogare My STAR★) 2.Ｏｎｅ'ｓ ＬＩＦＥ／Umeda, Okai, Hagiwara 3.Yes! all my family／Suzuki 4.涙の色 (Namida no Iro) 5.愛してる 愛してる (Aishiteru Aishiteru)／Nakajima, Arihara 6.青春ソング (Seishun Song)／Yajima 7.Ｂｉｇ ｄｒｅａｍｓ 8.ＳＨＩＮＥＳ 9.約束は特にしないわ (Yakusoku wa Toku ni Shinai wa) 10.FOREVER LOVE 11.江戸の手毬唄Ⅱ (Edo no Temari Uta II)
4th Akogare MY STAR is out on the 28th of January.
Firstly: MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone! I hope everyone has a great day filled with lots of joy and memories. What better way to celebrate this Xmas than with my personal favourite group, Morning Musume! Though they've only released 2 singles this year, I think many were blown away by the enigmatic Resonant Blue, a song which surprised and brought plenty of joy to lots of people this year!
When I first heard this song it was via a pretty ordinary radio rip and I was truly transfixed. It was something totally different to what MM had done before and I was in love with Resonant Blue from the first second. Around the web, there was definitely a sense of excitement about this release, the vast majority of people LOVED it and everyone was trying to find out who sang what lines (because everyone sounded so different and great) and then eventually we learnt it was all Ai and Reina lol, but whatever. From the 4 PVs to the kick ass covers, for me, this was one of the greatest releases MM had produced in years.
The new, more mainstream, image was very welcomed by a lot of the fans and one we had gradually seen MM nudging towards in recent songs. I can only hope that Pepper Keibu (which I did really like) was a slight deviation from this new direction (due to the remake album) and that MM will return to this style with their next single. I really think it is what MM needs to maintain the current fans and win new ones, we need MM to stick around for many more years! ^_^
I hope you've enjoyed reading these 12 Days of Christmas segments. I know a few people have discovered new artists through it and I hope many of you enjoyed at least reading my own thoughts on the songs. Now, I purposely only decided to use 1 H!P track for the 12 Days since otherwise there would be far too little variety lol. As a result I'll list my 10 fav H!P singles of the year:
10
Fujimoto Miki Okitegami
09 Athena & Robikerottsu Seishun Love Lunch
08 Berryz Koubou Dschinghis Khan
07 Buono! Lotta Love Lotta Love
06 MilkyWay Anataboshi
05 C-ute Namida no Iro
04 High-King C\C (Cinderella\Complex)
03 Buono! Renai Rider
02 C-ute Edo no Temari Uta II
01 Morning Musume Resonant Blue
All in all, I'd say it's been a pretty good year for H!P in regards to actual songs. I've quite liked a number of the releases and hopefully 2009 is even better! Once again, have a great day!
NEWS: Berryz Koubou had the privilege of performing at the 41st Nippon Yuusen Taishou Ongaku Shoujushou Award show last night and were also nominated for the Wired music prize.
The performance was really great with some cute new costumes. There seemed to be some audio problems: Risako's mic was booming while some of the others were hardly audible, but that may have been intentional XD
Fujimoto Miki also performed at the awards which was a nice, little surprise. She sang a duet with Takao Horiuchi.
Unfortunately I don't think Berryz won the award they were nominated in - at least I haven't heard anything about it and if they had, I'm sure I would have. The nice thing is that everyone gets an award. C-ute was nominated for the best new artist last year at these awards and despite not winning they still got little medals. Yay for Berryz.
C-ute will appear later this month at the 50th Japan Record Awards where they won the Best New Artist award last year. This year they are nominated for the Excellence Award for their hit Edo no Temari Uta II.
PREVIEW: It's still over a month away but a very preliminary tracklist of C-ute's 4th album 4 Akogare My STAR is out thanks to neowing. The tracklist indicates shuffle units once again, with new pairings of Erika/Chisato/Mai and Saki/Kanna, aswell as solo songs for Airi & Maimi. There are also 4 new full group tracks.
01.Namida no Iro 02.Edo no Temari Uta II 03.FOREVER LOVE 04.★Akogare My STAR★ 05.SHINES 06.Yakusoku wa Toku ni Shinai wa 07.Seishun SONG / Yajima Maimi 08.Big dream 09.One's LIFE / Omaeda Erika ・ Chisato Okai ・ Hagiwara Mai 10.[Untitled] / Nakajima Saki ・ Arihara Kanna 11.[Untitled] / Suzuki Airi
I'd expect that the track order might end up changing. The singles right at the beginning in cronological order seems a bit odd + the two tracks without names being right at the end along with the shuffles. We'll see I guess. The album is out January 28th.
PREVIEW: A small handful of upcoming 2009 releases were announced today, sure to get all H!P fans anticipating the new year!
Morning Musume's 38th Single 泣いちゃうかも Naichau Kamo (I might cry) 11th Feburary
It's a new Morning Musume single and it isn't a cover - always something to get excited over. While I did enjoy Pepper Keibu and COVER YOU sounds promising so far (I'm waiting till my copy arrives) - it almost feels like we haven't had a NEW MM track since Resonant Blue. Naichau Kamo sounds like it could be a ballad, but tracks that sound like ballads usually end up totally different lol. I'm hoping for more of that cool sound we heard on Resonant Blue.
C-ute's 4th Album 4憧れ My STAR 4 Akogare My STAR (Longing 4 My STAR) 28th January
What a cool title ^_^ I adore C-ute, they have such a broad range of music styles and a strong set of singers. Their last album 3rd LOVE Escalation seemed to get mixed reviews (though I loved it) so it will be interesting what sound My STAR takes. Tsunku described in one of his blog entries that the new album has some sexy/fun/cute songs but overall a very cool sound to it. Sounds great!
Matsuura Aya's 6th Album 想いあふれて Omoi Afurete (Overflowing Thoughts) 21st of January
I'm not sure if that translated title is correct since I did it myself and my Japanese track record is dodgy at best :P Either way, Omoi Afurete will seem to be Ayaya's last release as a member of H!P. It's almost the end of an era, Matsuura being H!P's most successful soloist. I never really got into her last album Double Rainbow - and her latest singles haven't bowled me over - but I'm hoping for a great send off for Ayaya.
Koha's last Kirarin single BOMBED big time but I'm glad she's coming out with another one. Koha is one of my fav MM members (sometimes my least fav - love/hate y'know) and I tend to really enjoy her solo stuff. I'm hoping for happy, addictive and koha-tastic!!
NEWS: Earlier this evening, C-ute and Fujimoto Miki both performed at the Lyricist Award Show, a ceremony held in honour of the great lyricists of Japanese Music - Tsunku has been a past winner at the awards show.
C-ute performed twice, opening the show with ZARD's MAKENAIDE before later performing their hit single Edo no Temari Uta II which was nominated for an award, Yoshioka Osamu being the writer of the song. You can check out both performances below:
Fujimoto Miki paired up with Horiuchi Takao (who she had previously worked with on Oki tegami) to sing Itsu demo yume wo. I can't find any vid of the performance yet though. But I do have pics ^_^
PREVIEW: Hot off of Dohhhup! C-ute's newest PV FOREVER LOVE:
So, what do I think? Well the PV starts off promisingly - the shots of the girls around the computer monitors is wonderful - lit lovely and with the mood is perfect. We then see that the girls are actually watching themselves on the screens and thus, we have the concept of the whole PV *yawn* The girls dance in ridiculously mismatched outfits, with a lot of plaid patterns. I believe they're meant to look Winter-ish though it is slightly deceiving: Kanna in long bell-bottom pants, a scarf and a beanie; whilst Mai struts around in tiny shorts, rightio! The dance, on the whole, is good but there are a few funky looking sections. I do love how much the formation rotates, it seems every girl gets some part of the song where she is in the center. In the second half of the PV the girls switch to their suits and all look very cool in the danceshot. This half also introduces close-ups which I thought were really horrible looking. Each girl has a plain background with their specific colours on them. Some of the girls look really awkward in these sections, Mai in particular, and the jackets look huge on everyone. Why couldn't they have panned the camera out a little and done individual shots in the room they did the dance-shot in? It would've been a whole lot better imo. There isn't much more to say - that's all there is to the PV, they dance and they watch. The end. While it seems I'm being overly critical, I did still enjoy the PV. I adore C-ute and the song is great. I do enjoy the concept of security guards/secret agents they went for but it could have been so much better without stretching the budget. I mean they have a kick-ass song, decent outfits, a gorgeous couple of sets ... but no imagination what so ever.
If I was directing the PV: I would start off very similar with the girls watching themselves on the monitors. I'd keep the dance shot the same while making the outfits slightly less radical. In the second half of the PV I would introduce a storyline of the guards running to the room to catch the dancing girls they were watching on the monitors. We would have shots of C-ute running down a hallway or down a flight of stairs (all in slow-motion) intertwined with the dance shot and individual shots of the FBI girls singing, in various locations (against the wall in the hallway, sitting on the stairs etc). When the song finishes the dancing girls pose as they do in the PV and then we see FBI C-ute burst into the room, but it is completely empty - they stumble to the center of the room, looking around and at one another, confused. The camera would then pan out and the shot would become the monitor screen in the security room which suddenly flicks blank. FOREVER LOVE appears on the screen and then the whole PV flicks off and it is over. Somewhat cliched and the story is very basic (but at least existant), I think something like that would be much better and I doubt it would cost much more. Oh well, my artistic talents shall continue to go wasted ^_^
So in the end, it looks like I'm on the fence with the PV. I love C-ute and I want to love this PV: It is definitely a decent PV but it just seems so half-assed. How hard is it to inject some creativity into the PV? They had all the ingredients for a wonderful creation but it just ended up as another boring dance shot. Do you agree with me that it could have been much better, or do you LOVE it? Let me know what you think, ok? ^_^
PREVIEW: Yes, I used the word Fierce (Tyra would be proud) *finger snap* - but there is truly no other way to describe the new C-ute single covers, they truly are FIERCE! I'm feeling in a playful mood so now that the larger versions of the covers are out, let's rate each C-utie's FIERCE FACTOR!
Limited - Regular
click to enlarge
Erika: Erika looks great, no doubt about that, but she isn't really getting the whole boyish theme for these covers. Hands on your hips, weight on one leg, with a sweet innocent smile isn't really a boyishly fierce look. It's cute, yes but not FIERCE. On the regular cover she looks slightly more FIERCE but she could do much better.
FIERCE FACTOR: 7.5/10
Maimi: On the Ltd cover, Maimi is looking very cool. The jacket slung over her shoulder, hand rested on her belt, glaring at the camera: very cool. Reg cover is not as FIERCE unfortunately. Maimi suffers from the awesomely debilitating condition of extreme attractiveness. She just looks far too lusciously girly on the Reg cover, sweet but not FIERCE.
FIERCE FACTOR: 9/10
Saki: While she isn't my favourite C-utie, no doubt Saki is a gorgeous girl. Unfortunately for her, this gorgeousness doesn't translate well into photos and she often ends up looking extremely awkward Eg: every photo of her ever taken. She has the posing spot on, especially in the Ltd, but the face says confused, not FIERCE.
FIERCE FACTOR: 8/10
Airi: Ltd cover is Airi's best shot. Belt adjustment makes another good showing and clutching at her jacket is a very cool look. Reg is awkward, she looks like she's in the middle of changing her pose. The elevated pinkies don't help either. I'm not sure what they were thinking with the hairstyle, I can't recall the last time I saw a dude sporting a high ponytail.
FIERCE FACTOR: 8/10
Chisato: While Chisa is often known as the 'boyish' one in C-ute, she is also a devilish, little munchkin, and she's homing in on both those traits in these covers. The cocked up head in the Ltd version is very nice, but she looks like she's about to burst out laughing while in the Reg she has that 'intelligent guy' look about her. Kinda FIERCE, almost there.
FIERCE FACTOR: 8.5/10
Mai: Hagitty is growing up so fast! She looks really great in the Ltd except that her hip is pushed out a bit too much, a tad girlish, but still FIERCE. The mischievous grin works because she is the youngest. In the Reg she stands out, the leg on the chair is great and her death glare could burn a hole in your soul. I like that she's giving two different looks in both covers, mischievous and mean - Tyra would call that versatility. I call it FIERCE!
FIERCE FACTOR: 9.5/10
Kanna: Kanna is totally channelling the 'sensitive guy' persona in these photos. I really like the tugging at the tie on the Ltd cover and her slight smile would make any fangirl's heart melt. In the Reg she looks more sad rather than FIERCE, as if somebody just ate her cookie. Thankfully this works for her 'sensitive guy' image as fangirls are already lining up to wipe their future husband's tears: " He's so dreamy! ^_^ "
FIERCE FACTOR: 9/10
So there we have it, they all did pretty well, even though some girls can't help looking adorably cute; They are C-ute afterall. To remind us of this fact let's have a look at the girls all being incredibly Cute:
PREVIEW: Small previews of the covers of C-ute's new single FOREVER LOVE, dressed up in suits and ties, looking very Johnny-ish.
Really cute concept for these covers. The girls look great and the covers are pretty good. I like the limited edition better, but reg looks really good too. Of course the Mendol (AKB48's new drama) comparisons have to come into this. Meh, I don't care, the girls look great! :D
Everyone gets a solo line *yay* but it is still predominantly Airi+Maimi, but at least the others don't get shafted. I'm quite liking it, especially the verses and the instrumental. The chorus needs to grow on me a bit but I've gathered that that's what a lot of people are saying, it kind of changes the pace and attitude of the song. Airi is sounding fabulous lately btw. Hopefully the PV is a good one ^_^
Before I get to the new C-ute mag scans I just want to say sorry for my lack of posts recently; I've been mia the past week or so, not doing as many posts as usual (especially after the big Elder Club grad) but I've been a bit sick so I haven't been on the computer much, let alone having the patience to sit through headaches to write long posts :p BUT ... I will have my reviews for this week up tomorrow hopefully. I'll be reviewing AKB48, Hey! Say! JUMP, Mihimaru GT and Nakagawa Shouko. Look forward to it! ^_^
OK! Onto the scans (click the full scans to get HQ images):
C-ute Museum Vol.28 features C-ute in all things spooky and gory, playing around with Halloween props.
I don't have any translations, I assume they're talking about what they enjoy about Halloween. Kanna looks particularly cute in her HUGE witches hat and Chisa with her broom terrorising poor Erika *mwa ha ha!* Also some scans from a few days ago from Kindai, featuring Hagitty, Erika and Airi. I don't see Mai and Erika paired together too often and they look really cute ^_^ Erika needs to watch out but; At the rate Mai is growing, she'll be as tall as her soon! Airi sends us all a message "Do your best and make your dreams come true!" - Couldn't have put it better myself Airi. I shall do that! :D
Yajima Maimi features in the upcoming UptoBoy issue and wow! ... wow wow wow ... there is nothing else to say.
She is just so incredibly stunning. Some really awesome pics in this photo shoot, a true beauty!
PREVIEW: Some new preview covers of upcoming Buono! & C-ute releases:
Buono! - Lotta Love, Lotta Love
Regular - Limited
I already said in my last post that I hate pretty much everything about this single other than the fantastic song (which thankfully is the most important thing). The preview of the PV looked horrendous. These outfits are disgustingly cute and Buono! are meant to be cool and fashion forward, not Minnie Mouse wannabes. The covers look (really) cheap and tacky. Meh, the song rocks majorly! (once again thank God! or else this whole single would have been a big downer for Buono! imo).
C-ute - Concert Tour 2008 Natsu ~Wasuretakunai Natsu~
Ok, wow! A nice cover from H!P. Usually I'm not a fan of DVD covers since they're mostly on the choppily photoshopped side (the large H!P concert covers from this year) but this cover looks great. While suffering from a large dose of PINK, the outfits look really cute and professional, especially for H!P concert standards. The girls all look great and happy. It's a really sleek, good looking cover! Thumbs up!
REVIEW: Over the past couple of months, Berryz and C-ute have performed some classic songs from way back when in Uta Doki segments for their Berikyuu tv show, which has sadly now come to an end. Thanks to Hello!°C-ute I got my hands on the segments and watched them all and was pretty impressed. So I thought I'd share my thoughts with you all. Enjoy!
My Revolution (originally by Watanabe Misato) Yajima Maimi & Tsunagaka Momoko
Aired 6th of August
We kick off the Berikyuu Uta Doki segments with this mismatched pair of sorts. The short, cute Momoko together with the tall, cool Maimi. These girls sound great during the chorus, I think their voices blend together so well. They also have lots of fun, smiling and giggling at each other, pointing at the camera, making faces. The song is pretty meh, but the girls make the best of it. This is a cute, little performance and it's nice to see these two members enjoying themselves so much ^_^
Hito Natsu no Keiken (originally by Yamaguchi Momoe) Sugaya Risako
Aired 7th of August
Risako gets a solo song (surpise, surprise!) and it's a really cool song which I think Risako does her best with. It suits her deeper voice but she sounds a bit shaky in bits and could have given it a bit more energy. She doesn't have anyone else to play off of though, so that can be forgiven. The chorus is done nicely, some nice powerful vocals from Risako especially during the closing stages. She ends the song with a bang!
Natsu Matsuri (originally by Jitterin' Jinn) Shimizu Saki, Tokunaga Chinami, Nakajima Saki & Hagiwara Mai
Aired 8th of August
Reject group #1 (sad but true) ... oh wait, I'll call them leftover group #1, that's slightly nicer. These are some of the weaker vocalists of the two groups right here but the song isn't extremely difficult so they still do pretty well. Saki S sounds particularly nice and everyone sounds really cute together in the chorus. The girls play up for the cameras which is always very sweet ^_^
Nagisa no Haikara Ningyo (originally by Kyoko Koizumi) Umeda Erika and Kumai Yurina
Aired 29th of August
Ah~, the giants get put together for a duet, lovely >.< ~ It's extremely cute from the get-go as they both wave to Manoeri before beginning. They have the cute hand moves down pat and the song is all round very cutesy and sweet. Erika plays up for the camera really hilariously at one point, she seems a little more comfortable than Yurina who has trouble figuring out which camera is filming. She figures it out by the end and gives us all a cheeky little look. Ah! Too cute from the giants!
Single Bed (originally by SharanQ) Suzuki Airi
Aired 18th of September
Airi sings a sweet ballad from SharanQ in this clip. Like Risako, Airi has lots of solo experience and she handles it well. I've perhaps heard her vocally better before, but the song is unlike songs she has sung in the past, no doubt. She does a good job for this slow ballad and she performs as if she's performing in front of a sold out stadium. Great stage presence.
Furare Kibun de Rock'n'Roll (originally by Tom Cat) Sudou Maasa, Natsuyaki Miyabi, Okai Chisato & Arihara Kanna
Aired 19th of September
Leftover group #2 (wait a second ... Miyabi ... huh?) - Anywho~, these girls sing a great, uptempo track (perhaps my fav from all the Uta Doki classics in this series). It really suits all four girls who totally play up and have lots of fun, pointing at the camera and being total fools. Chisato and Miyabi sound fantastic as usual. Kanna also sounds really good (she's a bit up and down usually), Maasa is a touch shaky but still good. Maasa stands out a bit much in this performance, she looks like the other 3 girls' bodyguard >.< Hell! She could probably even be my bodyguard! I wouldn't mess with her :p
Joukyou Monogatari (originally by SharanQ) C-ute
Aired 22nd of September
The final two performances are group performances from C-ute and Berryz, with C-ute performing the first, SharanQ's Joukyou Monogatari. This performance is really terrific. The girls sing in groups of two with solos from Airi and Maimi. I really enjoy the duos which are paired well with high and low vocals. Kanna/Mai sound particularly good and Airi/Chisato too ... well they all sound good. Airi is great vocally in this performance and Maimi is pretty good also. This really is one of their best performances as a group and I wish they'd sing this more mature style more often. Tsunku, pay attention!
Roppingi Shinju (originally by Anne Lewis) Berryz Koubou
Aired 23rd of September
Berryz close out the Uta Doki segments with this great, rocky number. Saki starts it out wonderfully: "1, 2, 3, 4!" Risako and Momoko do solos during the verse and Momo sounds WOW! Sing like that more often, enough of that cutesy crap, please (urgh, the pinky). The girls' voices blend in the chorus really well. I think some of the girls could have given a bit more attitude, but they all look really cool. Risako gets more into it towards the end and they all glare at the camera as it passes down the line towards the end. Eek! They're like the rebels who smoke in the girl's toilets at lunchtime. Watch out, boys! Berry cool performance ;)
~~~
So there we have it. As I'm sure you could see, I was pretty impressed and enjoyed these classic tracks and these cute shuffled groups. It almost leaves me begging for new shuffle unit singles but I doubt they're ever coming back. Hope you enjoyed the perfomances as much as I did :)
No I haven't gone insane ... New Year has come early this year with the previews of Hello! Project's 2009 calendars and some look really wonderful.
Morning Musume
(click to enlarge)
This is just amazing. I love the background and the theme first off, very pure and sweet. The girls all look great in white, with varying outfits and styles. Gaki stands out to me the most, she just looks amazing. Reina and Ai are also very pretty as are the other girls. Nobody looks bad, which is rare for group photos. I hope the pics inside are as good as the cover!
Matsuura Aya
(click to enlarge)
This is another incredible cover. It honestly looks like a photobook to me. Ayaya really pops against the grassy backdrop and her expression is beautiful. Very nice!
Abe Natsumi
(click to enlarge)
This one also resembles a photobook cover to me. It's not as great as Aya's but it's still pretty nice. Nacchi's skin looks flawless (thanks photoshop? or genes?) and the whispy maiden look suits her. I only question her leaning towards the camera, her head looks slightly large. No biggie... *oh wait*
Berryz Koubou
(click to enlarge)
hmmm... What can you say about this? It's a bit boring. They're just standing there in front of stairs (of all things) in some rather ugly outfits. Risako looks possessed , Yurina looks like she is about to cast some horrible spell on me and Miyabi is thinking "wtf am I doing here... and why am I in the back row?!" Hopefully the pics inside are better.
C-ute
(click to enlarge)
Oh lord, ok *lol* Ummm... Hmmm. This kind of looks like some annual UN Conference camping trip. Coming together in peace and harmony to roast marshmallows over a blazing bonfire ^_^ Inside should be interesting, to say the VERY least.
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