[Single Review] Mika Nakashima x Kato Miliyah - Fighter

Can someone tell Kato Miserableface to close her damn eyes? They freakin' me out

When I first read the news about Mika Nakashima and Kato Miserableface's collaboration, my body was already activated to pop its pussy to whatever hot dance track they would be capable of dropping us.

This ultimately proved to be a bad idea because of the tremendous disappointment that ensued:

[Album Review] DREAMS COME TRUE - Watashi to Drecom -DREAMS COME TRUE 25th ANNIVERSARY BEST COVERS-

Mass orgy time!

Best albums are commonplace in Japan's music scene, but as far as I know tribute albums are almost unheard of, and there isn't a better occasion that calls for it than for DREAMS COME TRUE's 25th anniversary. DREAMS COME TRUE has been around since FOREVER and I think their music is really unparalleled compared to other J-Pop acts. I don't even know why they don't receive as much attention internationally as their other veteran counterparts like B'z and SMAP.

Top 20 J-Pop Songs of 2013

Part of the reason for my long absence is due to the fact that J-Pop this year isn't really that eventful, especially when the biggest news you've heard all year is about ayumi hamasaki getting engaged yet again. Especially for someone who mostly follows only female soloists, the year just gets worse for all my big booty hoes.

The yearly charts are once again dominated by Akihabara Krazy Bitches 48 and the album of the year is yet another Arashi album. At least Namie's album is the highest selling solo album of the year again despite coming in at #6, and J-hoe Shiho managed to break into the Top 10, but other than that, 2013 is basically the carbon copy of 2012 in terms of rankings which is BOOORINGGGGGG

Meanwhile, here is, yet again, my completely biased list of the Top 20 J-Pop Songs of 2013 before we usher in 2014, which, mark my words, will probably end up being just like 2013, which was just like 2012. I still question the order I should've ranked the 20 songs until today, but if it's any consolation, I may or may not have been under the influence while compiling this list.

[Single Review] Mika Nakashima - Boku ga Shinou to Omotta no wa

The single translates to "I thought I would have died". It's like Mika could read my mind, because I thought my fandom towards her would have died as well. It's interesting that someone who looks like death all the time would release a song about how she would've died.

Apparently the songwriter, Akita Hiromu of Amazarashi, wrote Boku ga Shinou to Omotta no wa a long time ago and kept it with him for so long because he's so emotionally attached to it, so Mika managed to record the song and wanted to capture as much of the original emotion to it as possible. She fucking did it; bitch almost sent me into tears. Intentional or not, the simple pop-rock arrangement is also what makes the lyrics stand out a lot more than it already does. You can definitely tell Mika took the effort to make sure every line REEKED of heavy emotion, and the song doesn't even feel like a 6-minute song. Because of that I was able to also tolerate her near-horrendous near-shouting at some parts.

Today also somewhat runs along the same track as Boku ga Shinou to Omotta no wa arrangement-wise, which makes the entire single a lot more cohesive as a whole. It's catchy in its own right too and is a decent upbeat song coming from her in a really long time. I was almost convinced she gave up upbeat for good and was gonna pull a MISIA on us for life. I'm a little puzzled as to why they didn't include its instrumental track though.

The other b-side of the single is Sakurairo Maukoro -natural edition-, which is essentially an acoustic remix of the song. I have no idea why the heck they decided to go with the word "natural", but okay. Interesting choice of song to remake and include in this single though. Very out of the blue. But it sounds good and is a nice little bonus to the single.

This is Mika's first single is an extremely long time that actually kept me listening from start to end - I think the last single to do so was ALWAYS, and that's 3 bloody years ago! I'm so satisfied with this single, I can forgive that horrendous mess of a cover. I can even forgive that trashy weave she has on her head. I have to say this single has really stopped me from drifting further apart from her music and I'm excited to see what she has to offer for the rest of this era.

8/10

[Album Review] Mika Nakashima - REAL

"I wanna sleep why am I being forced to squat"

For the first time in Mika Nakashima's career she only released 4 singles, not 5, before an album! What blasphemy! But knowing that 3 of the 4 singles released for this album's era were more or less ordinary ballads, I really didn't want to put my expectations too high for this album. After all, Mika hasn't really been an artist who strays to the extremes for experimentation. For a comeback album after 2+ years, while it has its own gems here and there, it unfortunately isn't as impressive as I hoped it would be.

[CD Packaging] Mika Nakashima - REAL (CD+DVD)

I received my copy of Mika Nakashima's latest album some time last week! Comes in pretty much the same packaging as all of her past albums with the slipcase and slightly thicker 2CD jewel case. The paper they used for printing is glossy as fuck and I love it



Jewel case cover - looks like someone farted



Back covers



The stunningly beautiful picture behind the disc trays. The CD is her typical white design so I didn't show it in the picture.



Comes with some REAL bookmark thing and an insert of her discography.

I'm just so impressed with the photoshoot for this album. Mika Nakashima looks flawless! The album is also rather well-received from what I've heard so far so the review will be coming up soon!

Thoughts on NHK's 63rd Kouhaku Utagassen

I apologise for this late post, but I didn't watch the whole of Kouhaku by the way so I'm only talking about the performers I care about. Then again you should know how biased this blog already is by now so here we go!

I was kinda hoping that the Red team would win for the second year in a row because Taylor Swift has an album called Red and that shit sold like an AKB48 release. But alas, the White team won, so that's probably because Taylor Swift's Red is overrated as hell.

[New Release + Digest] Mika Nakashima - REAL

CD+DVD | CD

Mika Nakashima is giving us some Lady Gaga The Fame Monster wig realness in the covers for her upcoming album REAL. I don't think they're particularly amazing but she does look really pretty there. It's also the first time she's using 2 different covers again since YES that is not simply one of her opening her eyes and closing in the other. Speaking of which, I still can't get over the hideousness of her VOICE covers. She essentially looks like an aerobics student who got lost in the woods halfway through and is trying to hear the aerobics music to find her way back.

But much like VOICE, as you would hear in the digest later below, the album tracks for REAL sound very reminiscent of VOICE's - gentle, easy listening, etc. It doesn't really hit you HARD from what I've heard so far, and even the most rock-influenced album track, PASSION, in the digest doesn't really stand out. 

Nonetheless, this is the kind of music that Mika has always been giving us and I'm looking forward to this album as a whole. I don't see it being as good / better than STAR from what's available so far, but who wouldn't like to be proven wrong? Well, everybody, but you know what I mean. I kinda stopped caring after LOVE IS ECSTASY came out because of all the snooze-worthy singles that came after that. I have read somewhere that she's still having a tough time vocally after that ear incident so I hope she further recovers as her nationwide tour in 2013 looms nearer.

REAL will be released on 30th January 2013.

CD Tracklist

1. Hatsukoi (初恋)
2. DEAR
3. Ashita Sekai ga Owaru Nara (明日世界が終わるなら)
4. PASSION
5. You Knocked Me Out
6. LOVE IS ECSTASY
7. BE REAL
8. SUPER WOMAN
9. SUPREME
10. Pierce (ピアス)
11. Kioku (記憶) - how original after you have a song titled MEMORY
12. Epilogue (エピローグ)
13. LETTER

DVD Tracklist

1. DEAR (Music Video)
2. LOVE IS ECSTASY (Music Video)
3. Ashita Sekai ga Owaru Nara (Music Video)
4. Hatsukoi (Music Video)

[New Release] Mika Nakashima - Ashita Sekai ga Owaru Nara

CD+DVD | CD

After a year of absence busy being a zombie... oh wait she's a zombie all the time, but Mika is finally releasing a new single! I actually like the covers a lot and they look so much better than her previous single's covers. It kind of reminds me of the single cover to Hitori as well.

The photographer is, surprisingly, Leslie Kee. He's been missing on every single Ayu photoshoot he's done this year but he does one for Mika and NAILS IT. Conclusion: it's all Ayu's fault.

I haven't really heard any previews for this single yet but I'm hoping she doesn't disappoint. I liked LOVE IS ECSTASY although I don't know why I didn't buy that single. I think I was actually intending to stop buying Mika singles but after seeing the covers for this, it's getting very hard to resist. Damn.

Ashita Sekai ga Owaru Nara will be released on 9 September 2012.

CD Tracklist

1. Ashita Sekai ga Owaru Nara (明日世界が終わるなら)
2. SUPER WOMAN
3. Dear -DJ AMIGA REMIX-
4. Ashita Sekai ga Owaru Nara (Instrumental)

DVD Tracklist

1. Ashita Sekai ga Owaru Nara (MUSIC VIDEO)