Come on, clap hands, kanjiru mama...
So Beautiful World has been leaked (actual release date is on Wednesday, July 6). Amazing Chinese Arashi fans. They're so efficient (for lack of a better word)!
The album leaked last Saturday but surprisingly, I've only listened to it about seven or eight times. Surprising because I estimate that I should have been able to listen to the whole album at least twenty times by now (especially since I'm oh so unemployed, haha). Shopping (new books to read, new DVDs to watch and new clothes and shoes to wear, yes yes, hurrah) and live sporting events on TV (tennis and football, though the first did not produce a desirable outcome, for me at least) are quite distracting. Haha.
This is my first attempt at a sort-of-some-kind-of review of... ANYTHING so here goes:
I absolutely fuckin' love love LOVE Beautiful World. When I listen to the album, I actually listen to the whole damn thing, without skipping ANY song (yes, even Sho's/Aiba's/Jun's solos). Let me take a risk and say this has got to be the best Arashi album E-V-E-R. It's cliche, but I'm starting to think Arashi is like a fine wine that's only getting better with age. (Naks naman...)
I love the whole atmosphere and feel of the album - so uplifting, refreshing, comfortable, happy, hopeful. All the songs just fit, even the solos and past singles. Maybe they released the last few singles to build up to this amazing piece of work that is Beautiful World. Or maybe it was just a very fortunate coincidence. =) I even like the order of the songs in the album! The album just... flows. No crazy turns or something out of left field.
Of the new songs, my favorite so far has to be 虹のカケラ (Niji no Kakera) ～no rain, no rainbow～, gives me the same warm and fuzzy feeling as Life from the Time (2007) album. Second favorites are Joy (I swear I really thought "Clap Hands" was the title of this song) and まだ見ぬ世界へ (Mada Minu Sekai e) (nice, dance-techno song, dare I say, sounds a bit, A BIT K-pop to me).
Loved Ohno's looow voice in the rap/bridge part in the opening song Rock This (Arashi, mada mienu, ka no akari, sagashi, samayou kuuchuu...). Always and Negai, which has a nice violin solo in the bridge, remind me too much of Refrain from 僕の見ている風景 (Boku no Miteiru Fuukei) (2010) at this point (must listen to those two songs more). Morning Light sounds very 80's, must be the piano and synthesizer.
Speaking of solos, they are much, much, MUCH better than the solos in BNMF, whose only decent solo was Ohno's むかえに行くよ (Mukae ni Iku yo), and Dream "A"live (2008), whose only decent solo was Ohno's (see a pattern here?) Take Me Faraway (though I admit Aiba's Hello Goodbye has a certain kawaii-ness, but only sometimes). As with Jun's previous solo songs, Shake It! is made to be performed onstage, more dance-pop though than his last solo, the dance-electronica number Come Back To Me. Aiba's solo 「じゃなくて」 ("Janakute") is so... Aiba. Funky, happy, poptastic Aiba! Ohno, as always, has another solid solo, Hung Up On, though it's not as memorable as むかえに行くよ (Mukae ni Iku yo) and Take Me Faraway.
Beautiful World's solo standout without a doubt is Nino's どこにでもある唄。 (Doko ni Demo Aru Uta.). Beautiful love ballad, almost perfect. Might overtake 虹 (Niji) from Time as the best Nino solo yet. However, the most surprising solo has to be Sho's このままもっと (Kono Mama Motto). Seriously. He's the one I least expected to have a sweet, jazzy mid-tempo solo. And Keio Boy pulls it off! Ha! Who knew he had it in him? It's the stuff of romantic comedy theme songs, with a rap of course.
Five 2010/early 2011 singles are in the album, and I love how they seamlessly fit in with the new songs. 果てない空 (Hatenai Sora) and To Be Free are already two of my all-time favorite Arashi songs. Dear Snow is actually growing on me the more I listen to it. And I've always enjoyed listening to Lotus (theme song of Bartender, in which Aiba was very good, in my opinion) and Love Rainbow (which the boys performed during the 2011 Johnny's Countdown on the NHK Building rooftop along with Troublemaker, I have to say that's one of my favorite Arashi performances ever).
Going slightly off-topic here: I think part of my slight, SLIGHT disdain for some of the recent single releases is the fact that there were just too many of them. For example, they could have put Dear Snow and To Be Free in one single, but no, Johnny-san just had to milk us Arashi fans, no? Anyway...
When I listen to the album, I feel like I'm listening to Arashi tell me "Come on! You can do it! Ganbatte!" =) Arashi and Johnny's did a great job of putting together an album that is timely (perhaps even timeless) with its music and message, especially after everything that's happened in Japan these last few months. I thought Arashi could no longer surprise me and blow me away with their music (ha, their "music"), but Beautiful World proved otherwise. Thank God. Can't wait till I get my copy (first press Japanese edition, of course!). Hopefully it ships this week! =)
I love how Arashi has become such a comforting, steady, "happy place"-type constant presence in my life these last three years. When all else fails (or breaks up), there's Arashi. Does that sound crazy and cray cray fangirl-ish? Haha. Oh well. I know that there are so many other J-pop and K-pop groups who can sing and dance 10 million times better than Ohno, Sho, Aiba, Nino and Jun, but there's just no other group in the world that can make me smile and laugh like Arashi. Arashi is ♥♥♥♥♥. =)
Meguri au tabi bokura wa yume miru Oh, oh Deaeta yorokobi wo
Ame ni nuretemo hoshizora wo sagasu Oh, oh Owaranai sekai de
Every time we meet by chance, we have a dream Oh, oh The joy of when we met
Even if we get wet from the rain, we'll search for the starry sky Oh, oh In this world that doesn't end
Namida fuite egao misete Kanashii toki demo smile
Sou hitori janai kidzuite your smile, smile, smile
Wipe your tears and show me your smile Even in sad times, smile
That's right, realize you're not alone, your smile, smile, smile
Ikutsumo no kara- tokeaeba hitotsu Oh, oh Kono sekai juu de
Sorezore no ai wakeaeba hikaru Oh, oh Te no naka no mirai wo
If many colors melt together, it would become one Oh, oh In this world
If we can each share our love Oh, oh The future in our hands will shine
[Romanization and translation by
yarukizero]
The album leaked last Saturday but surprisingly, I've only listened to it about seven or eight times. Surprising because I estimate that I should have been able to listen to the whole album at least twenty times by now (especially since I'm oh so unemployed, haha). Shopping (new books to read, new DVDs to watch and new clothes and shoes to wear, yes yes, hurrah) and live sporting events on TV (tennis and football, though the first did not produce a desirable outcome, for me at least) are quite distracting. Haha.
This is my first attempt at a sort-of-some-kind-of review of... ANYTHING so here goes:
I absolutely fuckin' love love LOVE Beautiful World. When I listen to the album, I actually listen to the whole damn thing, without skipping ANY song (yes, even Sho's/Aiba's/Jun's solos). Let me take a risk and say this has got to be the best Arashi album E-V-E-R. It's cliche, but I'm starting to think Arashi is like a fine wine that's only getting better with age. (Naks naman...)
I love the whole atmosphere and feel of the album - so uplifting, refreshing, comfortable, happy, hopeful. All the songs just fit, even the solos and past singles. Maybe they released the last few singles to build up to this amazing piece of work that is Beautiful World. Or maybe it was just a very fortunate coincidence. =) I even like the order of the songs in the album! The album just... flows. No crazy turns or something out of left field.
Of the new songs, my favorite so far has to be 虹のカケラ (Niji no Kakera) ～no rain, no rainbow～, gives me the same warm and fuzzy feeling as Life from the Time (2007) album. Second favorites are Joy (I swear I really thought "Clap Hands" was the title of this song) and まだ見ぬ世界へ (Mada Minu Sekai e) (nice, dance-techno song, dare I say, sounds a bit, A BIT K-pop to me).
Loved Ohno's looow voice in the rap/bridge part in the opening song Rock This (Arashi, mada mienu, ka no akari, sagashi, samayou kuuchuu...). Always and Negai, which has a nice violin solo in the bridge, remind me too much of Refrain from 僕の見ている風景 (Boku no Miteiru Fuukei) (2010) at this point (must listen to those two songs more). Morning Light sounds very 80's, must be the piano and synthesizer.
Speaking of solos, they are much, much, MUCH better than the solos in BNMF, whose only decent solo was Ohno's むかえに行くよ (Mukae ni Iku yo), and Dream "A"live (2008), whose only decent solo was Ohno's (see a pattern here?) Take Me Faraway (though I admit Aiba's Hello Goodbye has a certain kawaii-ness, but only sometimes). As with Jun's previous solo songs, Shake It! is made to be performed onstage, more dance-pop though than his last solo, the dance-electronica number Come Back To Me. Aiba's solo 「じゃなくて」 ("Janakute") is so... Aiba. Funky, happy, poptastic Aiba! Ohno, as always, has another solid solo, Hung Up On, though it's not as memorable as むかえに行くよ (Mukae ni Iku yo) and Take Me Faraway.
Beautiful World's solo standout without a doubt is Nino's どこにでもある唄。 (Doko ni Demo Aru Uta.). Beautiful love ballad, almost perfect. Might overtake 虹 (Niji) from Time as the best Nino solo yet. However, the most surprising solo has to be Sho's このままもっと (Kono Mama Motto). Seriously. He's the one I least expected to have a sweet, jazzy mid-tempo solo. And Keio Boy pulls it off! Ha! Who knew he had it in him? It's the stuff of romantic comedy theme songs, with a rap of course.
Five 2010/early 2011 singles are in the album, and I love how they seamlessly fit in with the new songs. 果てない空 (Hatenai Sora) and To Be Free are already two of my all-time favorite Arashi songs. Dear Snow is actually growing on me the more I listen to it. And I've always enjoyed listening to Lotus (theme song of Bartender, in which Aiba was very good, in my opinion) and Love Rainbow (which the boys performed during the 2011 Johnny's Countdown on the NHK Building rooftop along with Troublemaker, I have to say that's one of my favorite Arashi performances ever).
Going slightly off-topic here: I think part of my slight, SLIGHT disdain for some of the recent single releases is the fact that there were just too many of them. For example, they could have put Dear Snow and To Be Free in one single, but no, Johnny-san just had to milk us Arashi fans, no? Anyway...
When I listen to the album, I feel like I'm listening to Arashi tell me "Come on! You can do it! Ganbatte!" =) Arashi and Johnny's did a great job of putting together an album that is timely (perhaps even timeless) with its music and message, especially after everything that's happened in Japan these last few months. I thought Arashi could no longer surprise me and blow me away with their music (ha, their "music"), but Beautiful World proved otherwise. Thank God. Can't wait till I get my copy (first press Japanese edition, of course!). Hopefully it ships this week! =)
I love how Arashi has become such a comforting, steady, "happy place"-type constant presence in my life these last three years. When all else fails (or breaks up), there's Arashi. Does that sound crazy and cray cray fangirl-ish? Haha. Oh well. I know that there are so many other J-pop and K-pop groups who can sing and dance 10 million times better than Ohno, Sho, Aiba, Nino and Jun, but there's just no other group in the world that can make me smile and laugh like Arashi. Arashi is ♥♥♥♥♥. =)
Meguri au tabi bokura wa yume miru Oh, oh Deaeta yorokobi wo
Ame ni nuretemo hoshizora wo sagasu Oh, oh Owaranai sekai de
Every time we meet by chance, we have a dream Oh, oh The joy of when we met
Even if we get wet from the rain, we'll search for the starry sky Oh, oh In this world that doesn't end
Namida fuite egao misete Kanashii toki demo smile
Sou hitori janai kidzuite your smile, smile, smile
Wipe your tears and show me your smile Even in sad times, smile
That's right, realize you're not alone, your smile, smile, smile
Ikutsumo no kara- tokeaeba hitotsu Oh, oh Kono sekai juu de
Sorezore no ai wakeaeba hikaru Oh, oh Te no naka no mirai wo
If many colors melt together, it would become one Oh, oh In this world
If we can each share our love Oh, oh The future in our hands will shine
[Romanization and translation by
yarukizero]