tags:
Tracklist:
01 キラキラ☆
02 United To The Sky 1.02
03 Truly Lovely
キラキラ☆ (KiraKira☆) is Mizca’s debut physical single, and 2nd single overall. Produced by pal@pop. Released on January 20th, 2010.
The Japanese electro scene gets a new addition to the family. She goes by Mizca. But this isn’t her breakthrough into the music scene. As she already had a career before she debuted under Mizca, though with a soft ballad sound. Because of this, she’s often been compared to MEG & immi as she followed the same footsteps.
When Mizca first debuted with her digital single, Robotics, I was truly impressed. Maybe not like everyone else, but I saw this girl had potential. Of course, it wasn’t anything special. But I knew that she would grow better bit by bit, and キラキラ☆ is a great example of this. Truly a improvement over Robotics, that had much less production quality (though I still found it very catchy). Don’t be fooled by the happy sound the song has, as the lyrics don’t agree with it. As the song talks about the pain and hardships she had with a boy, assuming it’s about how their relationship changed.
The single continues with it’s first b-side, United To The Sky 1.02, a little similar to キラキラ☆, but still stands out on it’s own. What I really find appealing about it is that the song seems to go into a different direction when the chorus starts. Overall, the song is good, though I don’t see anything that truly stands out about it. But this is good, since it’s just a b-side, and it’s truly b-side material.
The second b-side, Truly Lovely, is what an electro-pop ballad should be! Perfect all around, and I think it could’ve been Mizca’s next single. Instead of just a b-side. The chorus really goes out there, and I find it soothing in a way.
Overall, the single sure shows us what Mizca is capable off. This is just the start of her new career, and yet her first single is great! Of course, not saying it’s the best out there. But impressive for a breaking artist. Hoping that for the future her releases keep getting better and that we’ll see her on the highs as artists like MEG & Perfume. pal@pop did a great job producing the single, and I really do hope he’s Mizca’s permanent producer.
Favorite tracks:
03 Truly Lovely
01 キラキラ☆
Single score:
B+
Tracklist:
5th studio album, STEP, is a strong example of this. BEAUTIFUL is a big improvement from her previous albums, and I’ll tell you why.
To take a break of how hardcore LIES was, her only electro-pop ballad in this album comes up, titled STAR. Honestly this is the weakest track in the album. But it’s still very decent, and her strongest electro-pop ballad to date. Which means it isn’t so bad, but still makes me want to skip it halfway through it. After the downbeat sound that STAR had, STAND comes up. Truly a stand-out track from the album, as the song has a very latin-influence feel. And it’s very different from what we usually hear from her Nakata produced material. I definitely did not expect a song like this on the album, and it came out as a total surprise. But in the end, it’s a very enjoyable track.
BEAUTIFUL! I was expecting more of this song, since it’s the title track and all. But I ended up being disappointed. It’s one of the weakest songs of the album, it isn’t bad but. Her vocals don’t go very good on this song. It has it’s ups and downs. But overall, not very memorable. This is where the album ends, but in the CD+DVD edition of the album, it has the promotional video for FREAK <yasutaka nakata remix>, which for unknown reasons it was left out the album (most probably because it wasn’t originally produced by Nakata Yasutaka.) But many people, like myself, decided to rip the song out of the video, and include it in the album on their mp3 players. This remix is a completely different version to the original FREAK, as most of the time remixes usually keep original production and mix it and add their own synths and whatnot. But this remix has a completely different production. The only thing that Nakata kept was MEG’s vocals, and they even sound different. But nonetheless this remix is absolutely great! It should have been added as a bonus track on the album. I hope this song in the future gets an official release, maybe on a remix album.
Tracklist:
of 2009. The album starts with New In Town, also the album’s first single. I actually discovered Little Boots with New In Town, as I saw the music video playing on television. It was instant love, and I immediately had to find out who she was. New In Town is a fun upbeat track, whose lyrics just make you want to get up and have fun. It’s a pretty strong track, and makes a great debut single. 
usually hear strong electro-pop songs like this in the pop scene, and as her second single this album will get more and more sales. Remedy is one of those songs that you will never get tired with, and will constantly have it on repeat. Meddle is nice, but I find it a bit repetitive, and it gets boring after a while, which makes me wants to skip it to the next track. It isn’t a bad song, but not a memorable one either. Ghost, starts with a creepy-like intro, and while the songs keeps going in you see that it’s main theme is very “mystery” like. Hence the title. Like Meddle I find it a bit repetitive, and after a while I get bored with it too. But hey, I think it makes a great Halloween Party track!
Catch22, bonus track found on the Japanese edition of the album, is another upbeat song. I actually really like this song, they should have kept it as an original album track than a Japanese bonus. The synths are great, and the chorus is even greater. Very catchy song, and would make a great single as well. New in Town (No One Is Safe – Al Kapranos Remix), another Japanese bonus track, is a experimental mess. I don’t like this remix at all, though it has some tolerable parts. But hey it’s just a bonus. I think they could have worked better with the remix, but at the end, I don’t really care for it. Stuck On Repeat (Acoustic) finishes off the Japanese edition of the album very nice piano acoustic take on the original.
Tracklist:
electro-rock, and she totally rocked it indeed! While her English is not very understandable, it’s still a very strong track. Though on this song, her voice is vocoded to the extreme, it still makes a pretty awesome song. Crazy Cat (The Shoes Remix) is a major improvement than THE LOWBROWS remix of Cosmic Pink shown on WONDER EP, not an amazing or outstanding remix but still it’s very enjoyable. The Shoes did a pretty good job with it. But at the end, it isn’t a very memorable remix either. Now what I am really surprised about is with Alice (RimmiX), last “RimmiX” on her previous EP was a complete mess and on this one it shows to be more organized. Alice (RimmiX) is a more downbeat version of the original Alice, or at least at first it seems so. After three minutes into it the remix turns a different direction, a more upbeat direction. What I think of these “RimmiXes” is that Jetbikini and N.A.i.D are experimenting with their sounds. On Alice (RimmiX) they did a hell of a job, I like it almost as much as the original. I just hope they don’t commit the same mistake they did with WONDER (RimmiX).
Tracklist:
song is still very catchy and stands out from the rest of ordinary K-pop songs, it’s pretty impossible for any K-pop fan to fully hate it.
the album. The girl’s vocals on this song are great, and it’s just a very catchy song. Stay Together is another take on a club song, but unlike In The Club and Let’s Go PARTY this one is more different. Has a more of an r&b feel from it, the girl’s vocals on this song goes to the fullest. Proving to us that these girls actually can sing. Lollipop (feat. Big Bang) is a very electronic hip hop song, and it’s one of those songs that you rather love it, or hate it. There’s no in between feelings for it. I on the other hand, absolutely adore this song. Super catchy, and very fun to listen to. For being 2NE1’s unofficial debut, it wasn’t bad at all.
Tracklist:
LOWBROWS remixes, and their original work too. But this remix of theirs seemed a little bit rushed. AruとLito starts with a very upbeat and pumped up intro. I absolutely adore the intro, but when the songs keeps going on and on, it gets a little repetitive. The 8bit sounds seem a little out of place, I don’t mind them, but I think the sound would’ve done better without them. But at the end, it’s still a very enjoyable song. But I don’t think it tops WONDER or Joe le taxi. WONDER (RimmiX), remix of WONDER, it seems that it must be a self-remix of N.A.i.D & Jetbikini, since they were the original producers of the song. Honestly this remix isn’t that great, I don’t think the vocals at first blend in with the remixed synths. The remix is kind of a mess if you ask me, it’s enjoyable in some points but at the end I still skip it. Either they should’ve worked better with this remix, or scrap it out all together. Not a very memorable remix.
Tracklist:
industry, who I think that achieved popularity among Japanese pop fans pretty quick. Her indies album showed that she had potential, but honestly I thought it was a very unorganized album. UP TO YOU on the other hand, was a very excellent major debut album. It filled all the empty spaces that her first indies album, MiChi MadNesS, left behind but at the same time it kept the very special indie touch that MiChi MadNesS had. Most people say that her genre is pop-rock, but if you listen carefully I’d say it’s not just pop-rock, but a mixture of electro and other genres as well. I see her more of an experimental artist.
much I’d say it’s PROMiSE part 2, but it still has the quality that makes it stand out. It leaves out the electronica experimentation a bit, and sounds more pop-rock. I’d say her vocals on this song are more stand out than PROMiSE, and makes you see what a great singer MiChi is. Why oh Why, a different version of YOY, b-side of her YOU single. While the original YOY found on her YOU single is more pop and experimental I might say, which the genre of it is pretty undescribable. Why oh Why deals more with electronica, and I actually prefer this version than the original YOY. This version is more of a catchy song. The lyrics are great, and makes you want to sing along. HEy GirL b-side of her PROMiSE single, which also was thrown in as a single, is yet another catchy song. It takes experimentation as it’s main genre, and makes it pretty decent. Even though honestly I don’t think it stands out from the album, but I still consider it one of my favorites.
might say she did a hell of a job. The song is nothing different from any other regular acoustic song, but yet MiChi’s take on it makes it special. Oh Oh… is probably the only song I don’t like so much from the album. I don’t hate it, but it annoys me. Mostly because of the lyrics which sound very childish and teen agnstish and in the way MiChi does the vocals. I don’t know if she tried to show her “bad girl” side on this song by swearing, but this song could have been scrapped out of the album. It sounds like a rejected Avril Lavigne song, in my opinion anyways.
song, and I hate bluegrass. But then the guitar kicks in and saves the day! Like One of a Kind, this song could’ve also been left behind. Nothing special about the song, but still enjoyable. Shibuya de Punch has to be the most outstanding original album track, at least in my opinion. The song takes experimentation to a whole new level. Experimentating mostly with electronica & 80’s synth-pop which is why it makes it stand out from the rest of the tracks. Even though her vocals aren’t the most powerful in this song, it’s still great. YOU, her fourth and last single of this era, a very heartwarming ballad. Every artist needs a ballad now and then right? Though I just wish it wasn’t made a single. The ballad is very great and soothing. But it doesn’t make it stand out from any other regular ballad. Many of us were dissapointed with this single, mostly because MiChi’s sound had a big change. This song would make a good original album track. Making it a single was a bit of a mistake if you ask me. UP TO YOU, finally the last song of the album. For those of you long-time MiChi fans, probably at first judging from the intro, you would think this is just another original album track. But then heard Fxxk You And Your Money kick in. UP TO YOU is a new version of old song Fxxk You And Your Money found on her debut indies album MiChi MadNesS. The original song was completely in English, and had a more dance/electro-pop feel. While on this version, it’s completely in Japanese and it goes mostly to pop rock. Some changes has been made from the original, but most of it is just reclying the original song. I was a bit dissapointed, I honestly prefer the original, and for UP TO YOU being the title track of the album they should’ve done a great new song. But I have to say, I do love what they did in the end how they vocoded her voice in 8bit style, which is what I mostly love about the song.
