Curaga Posted April 3 Posted April 3 14 minutes ago, AMIT said: it's time y'all Ok wait, dumb question, how'd you get the embed so small? Can you resize embeds? That's the same URL as the one I used, but mine is huge I wanted to find a smaller one, but all the icon-sized versions I found were blurry af
Suilen Posted April 3 Author Posted April 3 NIPPON Score: 5,66 Album: Hi Izuru Tokoro (SUNNY) Big Sheensters: confide in me (8) Little NishiNOsters: madonnas (2) Here we have Sheena's patriotic/sport anthem, although its story is rather sordid. It was conceived as a theme song for HNK's football broadcasts and remained in use for two years. Sheena felt under great pressure while working on the song and used her childhood experience in one of Shizuoka's wards, Shimizu, to which she referred as 'the Japanese Brazil' (AMIT must be very proud) because people from there are obsessed with football. The song was harshly criticized by the media upon its release, with some saying that the song evoked an image of kamikaze rather than footballers and accusing Sheena of not understanding the football culture at all. In response, Sheena tried to explain the death metaphor several times (a football field is a battlefield, life and death are the same etc.) and bemoaned the fact that Japanese people refused to learn from the past (well, she wasn't wrong here, but she probably didn't mean it in the way the victims of Japanese imperialism would want to). Despite the backlash, the song was quite a success and received a Platinum certification. The song was later used in some news program, which means that everyone and their great-grandma in Japan is aware of the tune (though not necessarily of who sings it). To be frank, I find it interesting that the song was criticized by both the West (aside from the quality, I remember people accusing her of being imperialist) and Japan (for being TOO patriotic), so that probably wasn't a good time for her. Still, she stood by her art and later said that the reaction to the song made her stick stronger to the concept of SUNNY (WE SHINE BRIGHTLY LIKE THE SUN). Contrary to the popular belief that I used to subscribe to myself before doing all this research, she didn't change the album's concept in one day because NIPPON became a hit (Hi Izuru Tokoro is a well-recognized epithet for Japan, and NIPPON means Japan, get it?), but we'll get to it once it's Ariamaru Tomi's time. Despite giving the song a middling score, mathekr wonders why the song got so much hate while admitting that 'it's far from her greatest and most inspired work' and that it's 'such an inoffensive song.’ Meloetta Carey takes a jab at it: "patriotism pays the bills i guess.” Well, it kinda did. AMIT, being #unbiased and all, manages to find both the pros and the cons by pointing out that it's 'a bit messy and noisy, but it's kinda catchy and has its moments' and is convinced that 'it's different from the rest of Saito Neko's songs' though we know that different doesn't necessarily mean good. Not sure if it was meant to be public, but Invisibility was hoping for the song to pull Automatic II, but instead it pulled Boku wa Kuma. 4
AMIT Posted April 3 Posted April 3 1 minute ago, Curaga said: Ok wait, dumb question, how'd you get the embed so small? Can you resize embeds? That's the same URL as the one I used, but mine is huge I wanted to find a smaller one, but all the icon-sized versions I found were blurry af double click the image and it'll give you the option to resize 1
Curaga Posted April 3 Posted April 3 I knew there was controversy behind this song, but didn't understand what it was. Thanks for explaining! I gave this a 6. It's kinda fun, not amazing though.
AMIT Posted April 3 Posted April 3 Quote such an inoffensive song this is gagging me after having the controversy surrounding the song explained 1
Suilen Posted April 3 Author Posted April 3 The ratings are smashing, but I kept myself awake all this time, so more is coming.
Suilen Posted April 3 Author Posted April 3 (edited) Saihate ga Mitai / 最果てが見たい Score: 5,85 Album: Gyakuyunyuu ~Koukuukyoku~ (Reimport vol. 2) Big Sheensters: gingguu, Kyle-x (9) Little NishiNOsters: madonnas, fauxtography (2) 'Saihate ga Mitai' is the first out of the 4 self-covers to exit. Sheena penned the song for enka icon Sayuri Ishikawa's album X -Cross II-, which turned out to be an interesting experiment. I'll be honest – I prefer the original by far, and it pains me that it's not available on streaming (for other people to appreciate, of course). Moreover, the album version is in English and has a slightly better arrangement, which would've increased my score, but alas, out of all people, I'm obliged to rate the single. Thematically, the song is close to Kono Yo no Kagiri (and both songs were at the bottom of the rankings at some point, contributing to this narrative) in the sense that here, Sheena wants to reach that 'limit of the world' or of life, to be more exact. Basically, to see this limit, one has to die. Not the most cheerful song out there, that's for sure. Oh, 'Saihate' was also used for Miss Hokusai, an anime film about Hokusai's daughter Oi, who helped him with his work on paintings and was a remarkable painter herself. I learned about her from gacha game Fate/Grand Order that likes genderbending its characters, though it was a rare case when it was justified. Regardless, thank you, Sheena, for highlighting great women in Japanese history and for introducing enka to less cultured people. mathekr likes the song but stans the album version more: "Great song. The album version deserves a 10." Curaga finds the song familiar despite having never listened to it before, but still says no to both versions: "I like the vocal melody, but I'm not a fan of either of these versions ddddd". Shockingly, AMIT seems to agree with him for once: 'both versions of this are... yeah, not it.' He also calls the single version 'noisy and not in the good way, but rather in the "this was mixed using a potato" way', although he still prefers it to the album version 'somehow.' Edited April 27 by Suilen 4 1
AMIT Posted April 3 Posted April 3 2 minutes ago, Curaga said: @AMIT, we're on a roll! everything is going the right way... so far 1
Suilen Posted April 3 Author Posted April 3 (edited) It Was You Score: 5,86 Album: Ukina Big Sheensters: Subomie, mathekr (9) Little NishiNOsters: Curaga, AMIT, Antisocialites, madonnas (3) A promo single from Ukina and Sheena's only (English) single not to be written by her, so if you feel like the lyrics are cringe, yeah, that's not on her. The song was given to her by Burt Bacharach, a distinguished American composer, and she first performed it in 2008. Apparently, the fans wanted her to release the song so badly that she had to cave in and put it on Ukina with a bunch of other collaborations. What fans, some people here may be wondering? Well, it says so under the official video on YouTube, so don't shoot the messenger. It also says that it's very atmospheric and chilling, and some people will probably disagree with that, too. I suppose I find it nice and pretend that she's singing in Simlish, but I also don't act like Neko Saito killed my entire family. AMIT certainly acts like it by saying that his overall work with Ringo 'is just not it' and emphasizes that their collaboration didn't produce 'a single actual good single' despite us getting 'so many of them.' He also asks for a proper single release of Gamble 17 years later after the album's release. Okay, sis. Ewan Chaos notices the song's linguistic intricacies: "Okay English... wish the song was a bit better tho,' while Kyle-x finds some similarities with a certain ex-Russian: "I appreciate it in a mid-00s Regina Spektor bonus track kind of way." I'd say Regina sweetie despite giving the song a higher score, but then I realized that I never actually listened to her bonus tracks (not that this message entices me to), so maybe there's some truth to it. Edited April 27 by Suilen 3 1
Curaga Posted April 3 Posted April 3 3 minutes ago, AMIT said: Neko-sama what are you doing on the floor Aw, I like some of his arrangements/contributions
Ewan Chaos Posted April 3 Posted April 3 The way I assumed that kinda weird English song was gonna be first out. I screamed at nepotism anthem for first out though 1
Suilen Posted April 3 Author Posted April 3 too good / いとをかし Score: 5,89 Album: N/A Big Sheensters: AMIT, mathekr (8) Little NishiNOsters: Curaga, madonnas (2) So what we have here is potentially the first single off her upcoming album if Sheena decided to follow the pattern of making glorified compilation albums instead of proper ones. Yet I'm a bit mesmerized by this one, so if she does, I won't be offended or anything. The song's title can be translated as 'lending a thread,’ 'imposing a thread,’ 'lending an intention,’ or 'imposing an intention.’ Choose whatever you like, but I'm inclined to think that the last one is the most consistent with the lyrics, which I couldn't decipher fully as my dictionary to go hasn't been working for me, but from what I could gather, the song deals with nostalgia: wanting to see one's parents who live in the province, remembering the first love, being disappointed with constant work and the society's capitalist ways (I might be making this one up, but we hear what we want to hear), all while comparing the cycle of life to the change of seasons and times of the day. Nothing new for Sheena Ringo's lyrics, though. I believe that the song deserved better, but I can also see why it didn't seem impressive to some. AMIT is stanning: "a cute piano-driven track that may seem bland at first, but it has quite an interesting composition with some build ups and switch ups throughout,” and thinks that the single 'deserved better,' bringing up the lack of a video. Well, yeah, she kinda tanked in the rankings, so definitely deserved better. Curaga hates the piano: "That piano is so annoying omg.” Maybe we can have some homoseksha violence for once? What is a Suilen rate without it? Meloetta Carey doesn't appreciate the length: "the song is only 3 minutes but feels too long somehow.” 3 1
AMIT Posted April 3 Posted April 3 2 minutes ago, Curaga said: Aw, I like some of his arrangements/contributions I wasn't aware he was also a graphic designer, but yeah that single cover is one of her best so props to him for that
Curaga Posted April 3 Posted April 3 1 minute ago, AMIT said: I wasn't aware he was also a graphic designer, but yeah that single cover is one of her best so props to him for that scream, I meant the violin adfhapiuwtj
AMIT Posted April 3 Posted April 3 Quote Big Sheensters: AMIT, mathekr (8) Little NishiNOsters: Curaga, madonnas (2) it was nice while it lasted 1 3
Curaga Posted April 3 Posted April 3 Just now, AMIT said: it was nice while it lasted Probably only the beginning, I fear 1
fauxtography Posted April 3 Posted April 3 too good could potentially be a 10/10 when she inevitably releases a full production one 1
Suilen Posted April 3 Author Posted April 3 Well, I guess I could do another one to start off the next set on a juicy note, any wishes?
AMIT Posted April 3 Posted April 3 you already know mine and I'm starting to get concerned it's not out yet 1
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