Ever since I started listening to Ayu, Namie Amuro was the artist that was always lurking in the comments and comparisons so I've decided to give her music a try but failed to enjoy it. Her songs lacked depth and seemed stiff, however, my opinion had changed after I decided to check a live concert and fell in love with Best Fiction Tour 2009. After that I checked out the songs from the tour in album version but still didn't like them much (not at first) but as she started releasing new material I found I like her new songs more and more. At first I thought Uncontrolled will be my favourite album and nothing will top that but the next release proved me wrong.
01 Alive I fell in love with the short preview of this song, I replayed it crazy amount of times. The song itself is pretty much autotuned but it fits the style of the song, it was my jam for over a year together with few other songs on this album. 10/10
02 Rainbow I kind of wish this song was somewhere else on this album, I don't really like the beginning, I have to remember that it gets much better later on in order not to skip it. I've been listening to Feel Tour 2013 much more than album version of those songs and I love how the songs are ordered there so I always expect Hands on me next and often skip all songs till I get to that one. Nevertheless Rainbow is a good song and placed in the right spot can really warm the crowd. 9/10
03 Can You Feel This Love A cute song, so cute I couldn't stand it for the whole year and the only song I skipped each time on Feel Tour 2013, however, I kind of started to enjoy it on Live Style Tour 2014 where it was interrupted by dancers' solo introduction. Few weeks earlier I'd give it a four but right now I don't mind it that much 7/10
04 Big Boys Cry This song has a unique melody line that sounds as if there was very little music but it's interesting. At one point it even gets creepy as psychodelic but only for one short line. It's a good song 8.5/10
05 Hands On Me The beat in this song is crazy and highly addictive. I didn't like the song thta much after first listening but I definitely remembered the beat and it made me come back and listen to it again and again plus I actually got to learn the dance that acompanies it. I couldn't understand the lyrics even though they are in English but after reading them online I really liked the beginning. 9.5/10
06 Heaven Another awesome song, fast and uplifting. I'm not that fond of the "Bada bada boom bada bing bada boom" part of lyrics which in general are far from sophisticated but I never found Namie's lyrics deep, her songs are more about having fun, especially her English lyrics. 10/10
07 Poison A song different than anything on this album, I don't know if anyone has similar associations to me but I would say it's kind of dark and psychodelic but it has fantastic melody line, the chorus sounds like walking down the stairs of dark basement, I also like the chanting near the end of the song. 9.5/10
08 La La La IMO it's the highlight of this album and I wonder why it didn't get a PV. Definitely my favourite song on this album, very uplifting, has funny lyrics that always make me smile and it's fantastic from the very first beat. 10/10
09 Supernatural Love I'm not sure what "Tereka teka" is, I guess it's just a filler like "Bada bada boom" in Heaven. The song is similar to Rainbow, Heaven and Stardust in my eyes and maybe Contrail and Hands on me as well, they are all positive and uplifting, perfect for hot day outdoor party. 9.5/10
10 Let Me Let You Go At first I found this song stunning, then I got sick of the main line "Let me let you go" repeated over and over all the time and then again (again, after rewatching Feel Tour this many times) I fell in love with it again and it didn't annoy me anymore. Very beautiful ballad with great lyrics and amazing PV. 9/10
11 Contrail I can't believe I didn't fall in love with this song at first listening, I'd been reading comments about how great it is but it somehow didn't reach me, I think it was Feel Tour 2013 that made me understand why others love it so much. It's uplifting and engrossing, definitely one of the best songs on this album. There's also ballad version of this song which is also beautiful. 10/10
12 Stardust In My Eyes For some strange reason singing this song makes me exhausted and happy like after cardio training. It has beautiful lyrics and it's funny how Namie fans praise her for being able to pronounce the word 'stratosphere'. Definitely one of my favourite Namie songs of all time. Here as well I wish the order was switched and Contrail was the last song of the album. 10/10
Album rate: 9.3/10
The whole album is very light and uplifting, also kind of summer-ish and judging by the PVs it's not only my perception. I've been delaying this review because I don't have much to say about most of those songs except for the fact that they are enjoyable. Most of them have simple lyrics often filled with weird phrases, the melody is catchy in all of the songs, it was very easy for me to like this album and it was even more awesome live during Feel Tour 2013.
Comments
Post a Comment