Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone here had a great end to their 2013 and a fantastic start to their 2014. 🙂
A quick note: Chiima of Okay! Musume Time and Idolminded picked me as one of her top two bloggers of the year! I’m completely happy and gratified. I respect Chiima a lot as a blogger and as a friend, so to see her recommend Happy Disco as a favorite site was very exciting!
20. Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya Ne – Juice = Juice
Yep, even more Hello!Project on the list. I was honestly very impressed by Juice=Juice’s debut year. I wrestled between Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne, Romance no Tochuu and Ijiwaru Shinaide Daikishimete yo for what J=J song I should put on this list. However, thinking about what songs I’ll be listening to again and again as time goes on, Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne stood out the most for me.
First off, that sax. I have a friend who HATES the saxophone in the arrangement but I absolutely love it; I think it starts off the song with a punch and adds a lot of character to the song. That’s not to say that that’s the only thing that’s great about the song; it has a great melody and is paced well. It feels like the entire song really works together, as opposed to having some good parts and some bad. It feels like a really well-constructed song, which is something that I didn’t expect at the time it came out.
Further, it did a great job as the first song for Juice=Juice in that it set up the tone/feel for the group; that mature feel despite being a younger group. This doesn’t sound like anything any of the other H!P groups are doing, and set the stage for their other releases. I know that when H!P announced a new group that was called Juice=Juice I was more than a little skeptical, but Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne assuaged those fears.
I love this song so I want to become more eloquent, but the thought that keeps popping into my head is “did you HEAR that saxophone?” so I’ll leave it at that.
19. Kawasaki Junjou Ondo – Kawasaki Junjou Komachi
In my look at the 2013 Tokyo Idol Festival participants, I looked at a lot of idol groups. 111 acts, in total. Some of the groups faded from memory, others are still memorable. However, one of the songs that caught my attention and still won’t let up is Kawasaki Junjou Komachi’s Kawasaki Junjou Ondo. For being a fairly unheard of group, KJK has put out a song that would be exciting and fresh for groups with much more recognition and fame.
The thing that I love about this more than anything is the use of traditional sounds fused into the upbeat idol pop. Some groups do this type of thing, and while I generally appreciate any attempt, this feels so seamless; all the traditional sounds and “sore sore”s fit the song so well that it feels natural. The whole song is great in this regard, as well. The melody is very catchy and the arrangement, with how it puts together the few traditional sounds into a song with a great beat and instrumental is superb. Even the slightly awkward rap break works well.
While indie idols often have fantastic music, I rarely expect music of this caliber and polish to come from indie idols, especially indie idols that aren’t getting that much buzz. So spread the word about Kawasaki Junjou Komachi because they’re fantastic, and I hope to hear more great things from them soon.
18. Zipper – NMB48
I covered most of why I love Zipper in my post about NMB48’s first original stage. But one of the things that impresses me a lot with idol management is when songs perfectly match the girls who sing them. There are certain songs that are just so perfect for certain idols that others just fall flat. Zipper is that song. It strikes a perfect balance of cuteness with a hint of coy sexiness that fits Milky all too well. Yoshida Akari and Jonishi Kei do excellent jobs as well (Keicchi’s voice sounds beautiful in the song), but it’s really Milky’s unit song.
Aside from being the quintessential Milky song (maybe even more than Warukii?), it’s a catchy tune that has a bit of an old-fashioned feel to it. It’s not a particularly retro song, but the melody reminds me a bit of AKB48’s Undergirls song Namida no Seesaw Game. I love the instrumentation in this, as well, especially in that part in the chorus that I noted in my initial review. It mixes a lot of my favorite things: old-fashioned song, cuteness, a bit of coy sexiness and Milky. All of that makes for a fun song that I imagine is going to be a mainstay of NMB48 concerts for years to come.
17. Warai no Kamisama ga Oritekita – Hyadain
Oh hey obligatory Hyadain inclusion even though he’s not a female idol! Hyadain has had a lot of great solo stuff in the past couple of years; last year his song 20112012 made it near the top of my song ranking, and for good reason. However, as much as I loved what he put out in 2012, my favorite Hyadain songs have always been his first two singles; his duets with Hyadaruko, the female singer that’s really Hyadain. So imagine my joy when Warai no Kamisama ga Oritekita came out!
In terms of sound, it sounds like a mix of both Hyadain no Kakaka*Takataomoi-C and Hyadain no Jojo Yuujou; I can hear clear elements from both in there. This is a typical Hyadain song in the best possible way; if I heard another person perform this song first, there would be no doubt in my mind that Hyadain composed this. While I like it when Hyadain tries new things, the fact that Hyadain is still doing duets like this is almost comforting. This is such a feel good song.
It’s not the most interesting thing to be written by Hyadain this year, but it’s one that makes me happy as a Hyadain fan, and one I’ll definitely keep on enjoying in the future.
16. Haste to Waste – BKA48
One of the biggest changes in my idol fandom in 2013 is that I became a Kawaei Rina fan. She is being pushed by AKB’s management, yes, but I find a lot about her appealing. And one of the things that convinced me, in part, was Haste to Waste.
This is one of the few idol songs where one of the most notable things is the lyrics; a lot of the lyrics were taken from the AKB Mechaike Bakajo special of 2013. Haste to Waste takes a lot of the goofiest, dumbest answers and puts them in the song, which are still pretty funny out of context. The song itself is a lot of fun, as well. It makes being kind of dumb sound epic, that by being the “Baka center” that Kawaei Rina is somehow a legendary person.
Haste to Waste is a fairly standard idol song, but it does being standard so so well. It’s catchy, the arrangement sounds great, and it serves the fantastic lyrics well.