A Visit to Kirarin Land
What an (un)fortunately named album.
Let’s be honest, the singing quality that comes from Hello!Project is not exactly stellar. This is true especially for one Koharu Kusumi. I can understand why some people do not care for her because her singing ability is lacking.
I choose not to go this route.
01. Happy - The 3rd single under the Kirari series is one that doesn’t interest me much. That is, the song. It is very plain that’ll have an occasional guitar that gives it some flavor. However, this was a single and thus it had a PV. She looked great in that video so Happy is not a total loss. (**)
02. Chance! - Chance! is a song where I really do not care if this girl cannot sing. The song is simple and a little repetitive, but not to the point where it is boring or harsh on the ears. And like with Balalaika, the chorus is very catchy. (****)
03. Olala - This is a fantastic little song. At first listen, nothing was very memorable. The more I listened, the more I enjoyed it. Not only is it catchy but, for the majority of the song, it is pleasant on the ears. A combination that is not very common for Kusumi. (****)
04. Himawari - I like Himawari. It reminds me a little bit of Happy15 from The Possible. That is a very good thing. (***1/2)
05. Konnichi pa - I will accept this song under the condition that, when performed live, they hire out and have Weird Al Yankovic do the accordion parts. Also, I believe she says “pengie,” which makes me chuckle. It really is a song that probably sounded great in theory. “Let’s get Koharu to sing a wacky song with a wacky instrument and nothing could possibly go wrong.” It will probably be fantastic in concert because no one will care beyond Koharu having a grand time performing a goofy song. A recorded version of this should not exist. (Who knows)
06. very! berry! strawberry! - It’s lost in the shuffle. (*)
07. Hana wo Pu~n - Hana wo Pu~n is far, far away from being a favorite of mine. However, I do have one small appreciation of this song. I know that, one day, Koharu will go the way of Aya Matsuura, and I don’t mean by doing boring ballad after boring ballad. After X3, Ayaya has had a more mature image and has basically turned away from the cutesy pop songs. It’s understandable, she was older. Why wouldn’t she want to have a career that reflected her getting older? Well, the day will come when Koharu Kusumi will be too old to do Hana wo Pu~n. Some might think this is a blessing and I’m not necessarily going to argue against that. To those people, you can look forward to 10 more years of Hana wo Pu~n from Mai after Kusumi gets too old for it. (*1/2)
08. Koi no Mahou wa Habibi no Bi! - Again, it doesn’t matter that she can’t sing. This is a fun song, that is all that matters. (***)
09. Futari wa NS - I could go either way on this. For a H!P ballad, it is much better than other songs of the same variety. (**)
10. Ramutara - This song. Well, if I were pulling a Lawrence of Arabia, mirages of Kusumi would not be so bad. Not much else to say… (**1/2)
11. Shiawase Clover - A fine song. I won’t listen to it much, but a fine song regardless. For a much slower song that I’m used to with Kusumi, it does not reach the level of boring. This is something that I wish from a certain H!P solo act that is currently pairing with a H!P kid. (**1/2)
It is true what they say. This is an album that is enjoyed by Kusumi fans. It’s almost tailored towards them.
I wonder where she goes from here. There are several songs on this album that deviate from what I expect from Kusumi. Songs like Konnichi pa are actually what I expect. Going the routes of Olala (mid-tempo), Himawari (pop-rock) and Shiawase Clover (ballad) suggest that perhaps a change is in the works. Perhaps not right away, but she won’t be singing Hana wo Pu~n forever. I’m ready to see what the new Kusumi will bring.
Tags: Aya Matsuura, Hello!Project, Koharu Kusumi, Mai Hagiwara, Morning MusumeRelated posts
Tags: Aya Matsuura, Hello!Project, Koharu Kusumi, Mai Hagiwara, Morning Musume
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