[ cross-posted from my original post on my blog ]
( GIF CREDIT: Me~ )
So Sexy Zone finally released their second album titled "Sexy Second." ... Well, ain't that a bit awkward. At first, I wasn't really looking forward to this album. I know that it wasn't going to be pretty much the same as what they had released so far. FumaKenShori in the spotlight and SouMari pushed all the way to the back. Well I'm right. It is that; however, in the end, I ending up liking this decent album. /blasts chicken basket's watashi no okite; #iregretnothing
The first track of the album is their title track, We Gotta Go. This is really upbeat and happy track and it's one of my more favorite songs of the album. Even though it's just like any other song that they released: FumaKenShori dominating 99.99% of the song and SouMari barely getting that tiny 0.01%. I honestly think that this is a song that suits Sexy Zone's vocals the best. When I heard their first performance of this on ShoKura, I fell in love with it. It was really, really nice and fresh~
They really sound like they're enjoying this song, they're really getting into this song. This song just gives Sexy Zone a nice fresh image. They look really happy and cheerful, even SouMari - whow as pushed to the back. I really did enjoy this song, especially Kento's vocals. I think Kento really did a good job with this song. I enjoyed hearing his lines the most in this song. Also, when I was watching the MV making for We Gotta Go, I learned that We Gotta Go is Shori's and Marius' favorite track in the album.
The MV was the song though ... I was kinda iffy about it, to be honest. This MV wasn't necessarily my cup of tea. It seemed okay but it wasn't really my favorite. When I first saw the preview of the MV making on their documentary "Road to Dream" - I thought that this MV would be kind of like the CM for Morning Musume's One • Two • Three. I knew that there was going to be a space motif! I already knew from their outfits ... and their outfits were pink.
A lot of Sexy Zone's outfits are pink, from what I noticed. It's official, Sexy Zone's member color in JE is PINK. Hahaha~ Anyways, out of all them, Sou rocked his outfit the best. His outfit really suited him. He's so cute~ Hahaha~ I didn't really like the Space background. I'll admit, it's a bit better than I expected it to be but I still don't really like it as much. They made it look like everything was made on the computer, like ... think of Ender's Game. That's all I can say. Think of how they made the visual on Ender's Game, that's probably the best way I could explain it. /whacked;
I do really like the more colorful scenes of the MV. They were really really cute. And it was all rainbow-like, I'm sucker for these scenes. SouMari barely has any scenes, it was all just FumaKenShori. I'm so upset because these colorful scenes really suit SouMari the best but they barely give them any solo shots. Ugh. But the scenes were they were sleeping was so cute! SouMari was so adorable! Ohmygosh. I died, hahaha~ They were so precious and cute!
( GIF CREDIT: Me~ )
Ohhh .. They are so adorable. Anyways, moving onto the next track which is Butsuka~tsu chau yo ? ... Futsukatsuchauyo? This song - ぶつかっちゃうよ. I don't know what the correct romaji of the title is, so I'm just gonna go with the one I got from Google Translate. Moving on~ To be honest, I don't know what to think of this song. I have mixed feelings about this song. Like I like some things about it, and then I don't like some things about it. I really have mixed feelings for this song.
This is honestly one of the songs were I can hear SouMari. And it's their small line "Oh to to to." Is that even right? "Oh to to to"? Ugh, I don't know. I'm just going with that. But I heard SouMari! Even if it was for only two seconds, pfft. I feel like this song is a throwback to Hello! Project songs for some reasons. Like it's kinda like Ai tte Motto Zanshin, like the verses would seem hardcore-ish and then the chorus is earlier. Also, I feel like this song is kind of a throwback to Lady Mermaid, in terms of the intrumental and melody and all that. To me, it feels like that. It feels like all these songs were mashed together and so, Butsuka~tsu chau yo was born.
In general, it's a really upbeat song. It's okay with me, sometimes I like it - singing "Gimme Gimme!" - and sometimes I don't. I don't think this should be performed live. I don't know, I feel like Kento is really forcing his vocals onto this song - trying to make it smooth and sound cheerful. I feel like Kento isn't really enjoying the song at all. While on the other hand, I really enjoyed hearing Shori for this song. Usually his vocals are really awkward but I actually enjoyed hearing his vocals in this song. To me, he sounds like he's having fun. Also, this is Sou's favorite track in the album~
The next track on their album is 4 Seasons. I'm gonna be honest here, I don't really like this song. I can't really get into the song no matter how cute or fun it sounds. I honestly thought that this would be a throwback to Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu since - despite it being a Christmas song - it involved all four seasons. So yea, I thought that it would be a continuation of that song. It would've been cool though: Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu Part. 2!
I can definitely hear Marius in the background when they're singing those high notes. Why couldn't they just give him a solo or something? He's actually a decent singer! When he starred in YOU! Conto Shichanai yo, he had a solo line in their ending theme. His singing is decent. He's like the Kudou Haruka of Sexy Zone. /sigh; Why you no give him one solo?
Moving on, 4 Seasons is definitely a really cute and fun song. I still can't get into it, but it was still cute. I feel like this song definitely suits Kento. It definitely suits the Loveholic Senpai. In fact, it is his favorite song of the album~ Hahaha~ Although I feel like this could also be used as the BGM of a fashion CM. Like feminine fashion CM. It feels like that to me. Overall, it's pretty decent. It kinda feels like a song NYC would sing, hmm. It's one of my least favorites but it's still decent at a low extant.
Ghost ~Kimi wa Maboroshi~ is their next track and is my most favorite track of the album. When I first saw the title, I had the feeling that this would be one of their more popular songs of the album. I feel like any song that involved a supernatural mythological creature (i.e. vampires, werewolves, etc) would be popular. I don't really know what's the final verdict for this song is. From what I saw on Tumblr, there's a lot of mixed feelings for the album in general. We'll just have to see for the next month or so. But on my case, I really love this song.
IF YOU SQUINT, YOU COULD SEE THE AUTOTUNE IN THIS SONG. HALLELUJAH. Even if it's just there every now and then, I appreciate the small autotune in the song. I love the autotune, to be honest. It's rare to see Johnny autotuning his songs (with that exception of Yamapi.) I really think that the autotune does suit their vocals for this particular song. THis is a really Fuma-centric song. I mostly heard Fuma's vocals in this song. This song does suit his vocals in my opinion, so I really like that. Shori's vocals are also nice too, but - BUT. Did he just rap in this song? Oh heo no.
I honestly do want to see how they perform this song live, especially in their concerts. This is (kind of) an EDM song ish~ Well it's following the EDM trend that's going on nowadays. So I wnat to see how they perform it with the autotune/edm in the back. Also, since the theme of this song is ghost, I want to see how the dance will be like as well. I really wonder about how they'll perform this song, so I'm looking forward to seeing this performed in ShoKura or at their upcoming concerts. I just hope it doesn't really disappoint me.
The sixth track is Congratulations and this is Fuma's favorite song. Like We Gotta Go , I honestly do think that this song does suit Sexy Zone's vocals and gives them a fresh image. This kind of songs aren't really that common from what I hear from JE. Usually the songs are either ballads - pure ballads - or just fun energetic pop songs. There really isn't an in-between. I'm sure there are some songs that are in-between, but I can't remember them at the time being. Congratulations is a bit fast for a ballad but slow to be a pop song, it's that in-between that I'm talking about.
It's a pop-ballad, that's what I was trying to say. /whacked;
I can clearly hear SouMari in the "Whoa~"s of the song. However, like all other Sexy Zone songs released so far, FumaKenShori still dominates it all. When I first listened to it on ShoKura, I was impressed at first. It was okay, that was my first impression. However, it reminded me of another song. After two days, literally two days of find out which song it resembles, I finally figured out that Congratulations reminds me of GENERATIONS from Exile Trible's Love You More. Not sure if it's because of the melody, or how pink it was ... Congratulations just reminds me of Love You More.
Although it really - truly - is a nice song to listen to. It's not technically a favorite of mine. This song is fresh, in Sexy Zone's case. The song has potential. However, the melody was not really that original. It feels like any typical pop-ballad. Also, since the song is also FumaKenShori dominated - it makes it even boring. The only part of the song that I actually enjoyed listening to was the "Whoa~" because of SouMari.
Shout!! might as well be my second to least favorite in this album. To be honest, this song screams desperate and feels like a filler song for this album. Its kinda like, the songwriters gave up somewhere but they needed another song for the album and thus Shout!! was born. I feel like this is a failed version of We Gotta Go , to be honest. I'm sorry but that's really my opinion on this song. This is a desperate yet failed version of We Gotta Go.
When I first saw the song title, I thought this song was going to be really energetic and out-going and noisy~ I kinda had high hopes for this song. However, I was disappointed to see how it ended up in the end. The song does not live up to the song title. In fact, is this really the song? If I remember from an old concert rip or something, the song was wayyy more energetic and reminded me of Young & Beautiful. It would've been a Young & Beuatiful Pt.2 or something~ That would've been cool.
There's nothing else I can say about this. This song is just really boring for me, it's just another filler song for the album. It's a very typical Sexy Zone song. I can't even bear to even hear the entire song, to be honest. I'm sorry.
Soba ni Iru yo is throwback to Namae no Nai Omoi. And I have no problem with that! I really really like this. This is Namae no Nai Omoi Pt.2~ It is one of my more favorites songs of the album~ It's a really good song. It has a really strong yet somewhat low melody and very strong vocals from FumaKen. However, despite how amazing this song is, there was also some flaws that I noticed in this song.
To be honest, I don't think this should be a song sung live no matter how pretty it sounds. Although Fuma's vocals live are really strong and still decent, Kento's vocals are starting to become more and more strain. I noticed this in his recent lives, one being the live they performed on Sound Room. This song requires strong vocals from both Fuma and Kento. And seeing how Kento's vocals are starting to be strained, I don't think this is a song that should be performed live. (unless it's ShoKura 'cuz I know that they can just lip-sing it 99% of the time)
Also, I feel like Shori kind of ruined this song for me. Like 99% of the song has been FumaKen dominated and then all of the sudden, Shori comes in and sings this one awkward solo line. No, just no. He ruined a perfectly good song. Ugh, why. This should've been a total FumaKen duet 'til the end.
Be Free was probably Sexy Zone's failed attempt at trying to be cool. I don't like this song at all. The vocals sound really awkward with one another and there was absolutely nothing catchy about this song. There isn't really anything else I can say about this song. It's really boring. Not impressed.
Doki Doki Break Out!! is such a cute song title, omg. I'm sorry, I had to let that out. The song was really unexpected, I didn't expect for it to be like this. When I first saw it, I assumed that it's going to be a really cutesy energetic song. Kind of a throwback of Don't Stop Sexy Boyz minus Sexy Boyz. However, this song ended up being a lot more hardcore than I expected: pop-rock.
This song is basically the borderline between the good songs and the bad songs of this album. It's that halfway point. I'm honestly very neutral about this song. I'll admit, it's not technically the best song but it's the worst either. It's the borderline between being as good as We Gotta Go to being as bad as Be Free. It's a halfway point. It's not that good, but it's not that bad either.
Also, for some reason, when I first heard it - this song felt like a throwback to Dia Lady's Lady Mermaid. I don't why, I just felt like that the first couple times I heard the song. To me, this feel like a song from Dia Lady. This reminds me of Lady Mermaid. I know, I'm stupid. I feel like this is a JE version of Lady Mermaid. I just feels like that to me.
And finally, the last song of the album (actually just a bonus track) is Watashi no Okite sung by Chicken Basket aka Shori and other Johnny's Juniors. Although I didn't really like Shori's drama "49" - I actually do like the opening theme~ Plus in the drama, they performed this song - dressed up like SNSD in their MV for Genie. I'm still waiting for that Genie cover! I really do like this song. However, it feels like this is more of a solo song for Shori since his vocals are the only one I can hear clearly. In fact, his vocal is the dominating vocal. I know other Juniors such as Jinguji and Yasui are included in this, but their vocals just blended too well with one another - it just sounds like back-up vocals for Shori, which it is.
The final verdict for this entire album? ... I like it. I really like it. In fact, I actually do like this album more than their first album. While I hear people saying that they liked the first album more, I disagree. I actually do like Sexy Second more than one Sexy Zone. Their first album was good but I already expected it. It was kind of predictable. There weren't really any new songs since a majority of it was just studio versions of songs that was released on ShoKura beforehand: Suki Sugite, Silver Moon, IF YOU WANNA DANCE, GAME, Teleportation. While Sexy Second was completely unexpected - for me.
I find it nice that they're really trying out new music styles/genres for this album. Although some ended up being total flops/failed attempts, the rest of it were actually really good. I really do like this album and how it's really unique and really different from their first album. I feel like a majority of the songs of this album are really a bit more upbeat while their first album, it was more pop-ballad/ballad-focused (Kimi to ... Milkyway, We can be one, Kyou wa Arigatou, Namae no Nai Omoi.)
Although Shori was really awkward in this album, his vocals are slowly improving. If you compared his vocals from their first album to now, he's really improving. I do like his vocals now. His voice is a bit more defined and clearer now. When I listen to the first album, he sounds like this awkward little kid. While now, his vocals are maturing. He doesn't sound as awkward as back then. I do commend Shori on that.
Now to be honest, I really like they did a remake of the MV for Bye Bye Du Bye ~See You Again~ and filmed it while they were in Dubai. I really like it. Their original MV was fun and decent, but it wasn't that great. Their use of green screen was so poor. While this time, they really filmed it in Dubai - showing the actual culture of Dubai. I really like this more than the original MV. Also, when I was making gifs for it - I stumbled upon a pretty funny frame (to me, it's funny)
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| Marius: Sou-chan! Kiss me~ ♥ Sou: Oh look, it's a bus. |
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Song: "ENJOY!! ENJOY(Y)!!" by Up Up Girls (Kari)
Mood: A Bit Tired. (ﾉ_ _)ﾉ
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