★ Stacey's Top 20 Songs of 2009
Without meaning to, we accidentally ended up posting our 2009 rankings on the exact same days that we both did 365 days ago! Scary! XD Again, my time range is December 2008 to November 2009. All tracks are at 320kbps. The first five were hard to rank. The last 15 literally danced around like in musical chairs. But this is my final decision and I'm not going to allow myself to make any more changes because I really can't dissect them down any further. *_* Sorry for the length and my ramblings. This post was se7en hours in the making after I finalised the actual LIST, and is my attempt at being succinct with minimal flailing. *sweatdrop* Was Ria's guess for my #1 right or wrong? XD Cheers to the 2009 that was and here's to 2010, my partner in crime! <3
Stacey's Top 20 Songs of 2009
01 Arashi - 5x10 ♪ The representative song of thanks for the fans from their 10th anniversary, I think you either really love this song or don't care about it. The lovely combination of strings, piano and drums gives it a fitting grandeur, being serious and deep as well as being light and inspirational all in due Arashi fashion. The melody of the verses virtually sticks on one note, which is really cute, but the music of the piece is constantly moving and evolving - impossible to get bored of. Beautiful lyrically, the accompanying ♥♥♥rap♥♥♥ over the chorus is what sealed the deal for me. This song is like an emotional roller coaster; so perfectly poignant, and ( I say this all the time but) all-encompassing of Arashi's ten years. (This is the third and probably last time I'm writing about this song, and the third time I've failed to do justice to it T_T *gives up* I guess only I know how much I love this song XD) [ ALBUM]
02 Utada - Come Back To Me ♪ Picking #2 was the hardest. I remember when this first came out on her MySpace and it was CRAZY over on Ria and my end. We went nuts for this song. XD The piano is stunningly gorgeous and Utada's voice pulls the whole masterpiece together like only she could. Beautiful! [ ALBUM]
03 GReeeeN - 声 (Koe) ♪ Was always going to be #2 until I sat down to do my final draft. ^^;; It's so simple and raw and organic and somehow I ended up falling in love with it. I adore all the different melodies in the instrumental and the percussion is quite interesting too. I'm so glad I discovered this group. n_n [ SINGLE]
04 Yamashita Tomohisa - Loveless (Instrumental) ♪ In brackets, Yamashita Tomohisa - Loveless, because I don't want Ria to say it doesn't count. XD But honestly I speak for the instrumental. Piano, acoustics and R&B melded into perfection, the star is the piano, which sounds incredibly earnest and pure. Actually any moment that I'm listening to the instrumental, I feel like I could rank it as #1 in a heartbeat, it pulls at me so much. [ SINGLE]
05 BoA - 永遠 (Eien) ♪ The backing is amazing, new, funky and catchy. It's very busy but not messy, and our girl BoA works this song so well, it's just brilliant. [ SINGLE]
06 Crystal Kay - Helpless Night (feat. Jin Akanishi) ♪ Strangely addictive like a drug, the song and their two voices match so well. Duet made in heaven; it gives me shivers. Akanishi Jin kills it at 3:10. [ ALBUM]
07 Leehom Wang - 心跳 (Xin Tiao) ♪ It had been a long time since the last Leehom ballad that really "won" me. I generally wouldn't enjoy instrumentals or vocals at this tempo, but this one feels much less generic and so painfully sad it physically hurts. The formula that doesn't usually work for me, reversed on me. I loved the combination of the raw percussion throughout, in contrast with the dream-like electric guitar solo. [ ALBUM]
08 AI - Story [Re-born] ♪ I discovered the original song because of Koyama Keiichiro who I am so thankful to because of that. I feel like my life hasn't been complete without the original "Story". This new version is faster and still a beautiful ballad. [ ALBUM]
09 Wheesung - 불면증 (Insomnia) ♪ Partially kudos to Craig David for the original. There's no doubt how awesomely catchy it is. But choosing Wheesung for the Korean cover was a genius decision. "Feels like insomnia~" [ DIGISINGLE]
10 Kanjani8 - ローリング・コースター (Rolling Coaster) ♪ Wasn't one of my favourites off the album until a while later. I can't really explain this one. It's damn catchy and addictive and seriously Nishikido Ryo's voice from 3:05 JUST KILLS ME TO SMITHEREENS OMFG. [ ALBUM]
11 Utada - This One (Crying Like A Child) ♪ More like your typical R&B ballad but Utada's bitterswet voice (makes me wanna cry) makes this song loop-worthy. [ ALBUM]
12 KAT-TUN - RESCUE ♪ Best A-side since their debut. It's not so rock, and the beat is crazy addicting and haunts your mind. XD I loved hearing something new and different like this from them, and then it turns out to be freaking awesome. [ SINGLE/ ALBUM]
13 Baek Ji Young - 내 귀에 캔디 (My Ear's Candy feat. Taekyeon of 2PM) ♪ This song has so much oomph and style and an interesting collaboration, oozing of the most fascinating combination of exotic Kpop, electro-dance, sexy and bad-boy rap. :P
14 TegoMass - 片想いの小さな恋 (Kataomoi no Chiisana Koi) ♪ A really sweet ballad that doesn't give you a toothache. The highlight to this song is the "er hu" (not sure on the Japanese name/if it's even the same instrument). Again, piano and strings. Makes me happy. As does the way this ballads continually builds with Tegoshi and Masuda's voices. [ ALBUM]
15 Kanjani8 - Half Down ♪ Nishikido Ryo solo. Love at first listen. Suits his voice so much and I think it's a great composition. <3 This man's voice alone gives it a lot of points. XDD [ ALBUM]
16 SS501 - We Can Fly ♪ Goshdarnits this is more on par with the SS501 music that I miss the most out of anything. Kicks major booty. [ DIGISINGLE]
17 Younha - Black Rain & Break Out ♪ This style of Younha music is my fav. It's darker and spunkier pop-rock with real taste. Black Rain leads into Break Out brilliantly. It just builds and builds and hits you like WOAH. [ ALBUM]
18 GReeeeN - 遥か (Haruka) ♪ GReeeeN doesn't really do bittersweet ballad-type tracks like this but when you have a melody and instrumental like that, and such unique vocals, when everything comes together, it comes together well. GReeeeN is a recipe for greatness. <3 They always hit the right chord. [ SINGLE/ ALBUM]
19 Younha - Luv U Luv U Luv U ♪ Younha goes Lady Gaga-ish electropop. But heck, it's a really catchy pop piece and totally works with Younha's amazing voice. [ ALBUM]
20 2NE1 - Lollipop (feat. Big Bang) ♪ The precursor of all things 2NE1 and Big Bang to come. It was like a dream collaboration, dream marketing with dream dividends. Heavily synthesized but ultimately very fun and addicting, it was so new and fresh at the time and took Korea by storm, understandably. Excuse me for saying, but... Only YG. n_n;; There's this computer instrument/noise (?!?!) that I really love in this song, but I don't know how to explain it LOL. I don't know why I'm mentioning this since it's going nowhere. ^^;; [ MINI ALBUM]
EXTRA Jon Schmidt - Love Story meets Viva La Vida ♪ AN AMAZING PIANO AND CELLO RENDITION AND MASH-UP OF TAYLOR SWIFT AND COLDPLAY'S HITS AS NAMED. Genius.
BREAKOUT ARTIST GReeeeN
ARTIST OF THE YEAR Arashi
BEST ALBUM (original studio albums) GReeeeN - Shio, Koshou & Bada - Look At The Sea... | (compilation albums) Arashi - 5x10 All the BEST! 1999-2009 & Crystal Kay - Best of Crystal Kay & GReeeeN - Ima made no A Men, B Men desuto!? & Hoshimura Mai - Piano & BEST
BEST SINGLE/MINI ALBUM GReeeeN - Haruka & BoA - Eien/UNIVERSE/Belive in LOVE
BEST MUSIC VIDEO BoA - Eien & Yamashita Tomohisa - Loveless
Originally I was going to just make my list 15, since I had trouble compiling songs released in the year that defined 2009 for me. I did a lot of discovering pre-2009 music this year, so a lot of my favourite music wasn't released in 2009. :P Jpop dominated. There were some good releases, anniversaries and compilations but there's always hoping a new year will outshine the previous year. ^^
Please check out Ria's 2009 top 20 post if you haven't already, and if you hadn't commented there, then we encourage you to drop your thoughts here. What are your favourite songs of 2009 and what will you remember about 2009 Asian-pop-wise? Once again, thank you all for being in the fandoms in 2009. Can't wait for what 2010 will hold for us. ^_^
Please do not hotlink our files without permission. ♥
Stacey's Top 20 Songs of 2009
01 Arashi - 5x10 ♪ The representative song of thanks for the fans from their 10th anniversary, I think you either really love this song or don't care about it. The lovely combination of strings, piano and drums gives it a fitting grandeur, being serious and deep as well as being light and inspirational all in due Arashi fashion. The melody of the verses virtually sticks on one note, which is really cute, but the music of the piece is constantly moving and evolving - impossible to get bored of. Beautiful lyrically, the accompanying ♥♥♥rap♥♥♥ over the chorus is what sealed the deal for me. This song is like an emotional roller coaster; so perfectly poignant, and ( I say this all the time but) all-encompassing of Arashi's ten years. (This is the third and probably last time I'm writing about this song, and the third time I've failed to do justice to it T_T *gives up* I guess only I know how much I love this song XD) [ ALBUM]
02 Utada - Come Back To Me ♪ Picking #2 was the hardest. I remember when this first came out on her MySpace and it was CRAZY over on Ria and my end. We went nuts for this song. XD The piano is stunningly gorgeous and Utada's voice pulls the whole masterpiece together like only she could. Beautiful! [ ALBUM]
03 GReeeeN - 声 (Koe) ♪ Was always going to be #2 until I sat down to do my final draft. ^^;; It's so simple and raw and organic and somehow I ended up falling in love with it. I adore all the different melodies in the instrumental and the percussion is quite interesting too. I'm so glad I discovered this group. n_n [ SINGLE]
04 Yamashita Tomohisa - Loveless (Instrumental) ♪ In brackets, Yamashita Tomohisa - Loveless, because I don't want Ria to say it doesn't count. XD But honestly I speak for the instrumental. Piano, acoustics and R&B melded into perfection, the star is the piano, which sounds incredibly earnest and pure. Actually any moment that I'm listening to the instrumental, I feel like I could rank it as #1 in a heartbeat, it pulls at me so much. [ SINGLE]
05 BoA - 永遠 (Eien) ♪ The backing is amazing, new, funky and catchy. It's very busy but not messy, and our girl BoA works this song so well, it's just brilliant. [ SINGLE]
06 Crystal Kay - Helpless Night (feat. Jin Akanishi) ♪ Strangely addictive like a drug, the song and their two voices match so well. Duet made in heaven; it gives me shivers. Akanishi Jin kills it at 3:10. [ ALBUM]
07 Leehom Wang - 心跳 (Xin Tiao) ♪ It had been a long time since the last Leehom ballad that really "won" me. I generally wouldn't enjoy instrumentals or vocals at this tempo, but this one feels much less generic and so painfully sad it physically hurts. The formula that doesn't usually work for me, reversed on me. I loved the combination of the raw percussion throughout, in contrast with the dream-like electric guitar solo. [ ALBUM]
08 AI - Story [Re-born] ♪ I discovered the original song because of Koyama Keiichiro who I am so thankful to because of that. I feel like my life hasn't been complete without the original "Story". This new version is faster and still a beautiful ballad. [ ALBUM]
09 Wheesung - 불면증 (Insomnia) ♪ Partially kudos to Craig David for the original. There's no doubt how awesomely catchy it is. But choosing Wheesung for the Korean cover was a genius decision. "Feels like insomnia~" [ DIGISINGLE]
10 Kanjani8 - ローリング・コースター (Rolling Coaster) ♪ Wasn't one of my favourites off the album until a while later. I can't really explain this one. It's damn catchy and addictive and seriously Nishikido Ryo's voice from 3:05 JUST KILLS ME TO SMITHEREENS OMFG. [ ALBUM]
11 Utada - This One (Crying Like A Child) ♪ More like your typical R&B ballad but Utada's bitterswet voice (makes me wanna cry) makes this song loop-worthy. [ ALBUM]
12 KAT-TUN - RESCUE ♪ Best A-side since their debut. It's not so rock, and the beat is crazy addicting and haunts your mind. XD I loved hearing something new and different like this from them, and then it turns out to be freaking awesome. [ SINGLE/ ALBUM]
13 Baek Ji Young - 내 귀에 캔디 (My Ear's Candy feat. Taekyeon of 2PM) ♪ This song has so much oomph and style and an interesting collaboration, oozing of the most fascinating combination of exotic Kpop, electro-dance, sexy and bad-boy rap. :P
14 TegoMass - 片想いの小さな恋 (Kataomoi no Chiisana Koi) ♪ A really sweet ballad that doesn't give you a toothache. The highlight to this song is the "er hu" (not sure on the Japanese name/if it's even the same instrument). Again, piano and strings. Makes me happy. As does the way this ballads continually builds with Tegoshi and Masuda's voices. [ ALBUM]
15 Kanjani8 - Half Down ♪ Nishikido Ryo solo. Love at first listen. Suits his voice so much and I think it's a great composition. <3 This man's voice alone gives it a lot of points. XDD [ ALBUM]
16 SS501 - We Can Fly ♪ Goshdarnits this is more on par with the SS501 music that I miss the most out of anything. Kicks major booty. [ DIGISINGLE]
17 Younha - Black Rain & Break Out ♪ This style of Younha music is my fav. It's darker and spunkier pop-rock with real taste. Black Rain leads into Break Out brilliantly. It just builds and builds and hits you like WOAH. [ ALBUM]
18 GReeeeN - 遥か (Haruka) ♪ GReeeeN doesn't really do bittersweet ballad-type tracks like this but when you have a melody and instrumental like that, and such unique vocals, when everything comes together, it comes together well. GReeeeN is a recipe for greatness. <3 They always hit the right chord. [ SINGLE/ ALBUM]
19 Younha - Luv U Luv U Luv U ♪ Younha goes Lady Gaga-ish electropop. But heck, it's a really catchy pop piece and totally works with Younha's amazing voice. [ ALBUM]
20 2NE1 - Lollipop (feat. Big Bang) ♪ The precursor of all things 2NE1 and Big Bang to come. It was like a dream collaboration, dream marketing with dream dividends. Heavily synthesized but ultimately very fun and addicting, it was so new and fresh at the time and took Korea by storm, understandably. Excuse me for saying, but... Only YG. n_n;; There's this computer instrument/noise (?!?!) that I really love in this song, but I don't know how to explain it LOL. I don't know why I'm mentioning this since it's going nowhere. ^^;; [ MINI ALBUM]
EXTRA Jon Schmidt - Love Story meets Viva La Vida ♪ AN AMAZING PIANO AND CELLO RENDITION AND MASH-UP OF TAYLOR SWIFT AND COLDPLAY'S HITS AS NAMED. Genius.
BREAKOUT ARTIST GReeeeN
ARTIST OF THE YEAR Arashi
BEST ALBUM (original studio albums) GReeeeN - Shio, Koshou & Bada - Look At The Sea... | (compilation albums) Arashi - 5x10 All the BEST! 1999-2009 & Crystal Kay - Best of Crystal Kay & GReeeeN - Ima made no A Men, B Men desuto!? & Hoshimura Mai - Piano & BEST
BEST SINGLE/MINI ALBUM GReeeeN - Haruka & BoA - Eien/UNIVERSE/Belive in LOVE
BEST MUSIC VIDEO BoA - Eien & Yamashita Tomohisa - Loveless
Originally I was going to just make my list 15, since I had trouble compiling songs released in the year that defined 2009 for me. I did a lot of discovering pre-2009 music this year, so a lot of my favourite music wasn't released in 2009. :P Jpop dominated. There were some good releases, anniversaries and compilations but there's always hoping a new year will outshine the previous year. ^^
Please check out Ria's 2009 top 20 post if you haven't already, and if you hadn't commented there, then we encourage you to drop your thoughts here. What are your favourite songs of 2009 and what will you remember about 2009 Asian-pop-wise? Once again, thank you all for being in the fandoms in 2009. Can't wait for what 2010 will hold for us. ^_^
Please do not hotlink our files without permission. ♥