Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Okay, so rather than doing reviews for everything in the moment, I’ve decided the best thing for the long-term sustainability of running the site is to basically mush together what I enjoyed into this Highlights feature that’s essentially a quasi-playlist.
Not only does this help me reduce workload and give me an excuse to be lazy (this one is already late, lol), but I think it allows for more time to accurately judge my feelings on the releases rather than making snap judgments. Of course, that also means it fucks my visibility on Google and shit (late AND scattershot), but whatever.
Oh yeah, I’ll also embed a Spotify playlist for this at the end to make it easier for readers.
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SawanoHiroyuki[nZk] (Feat. MAN WITH A MISSION’s Jean-Ken Johnny & 10-FEET’s Takuma) – “PROVANT”
I’m convinced this Hiroyuki SAWANO moniker combined with its featurings was specifically designed to trigger my OCD, and yet I still enjoyed this opening theme to Fate/strange Fake anime series.
“PROVANT” gives off Linkin Park vibes to start, which some might see as a negative, but it’s effective in grabbing your attention. The booming percussion underpins the track, and the rapid-fire ascending delivery of the chorus is incredibly memorable. I’ve found myself borderline excited whenever this has come up in the subsequent month, and it’s an overall exhilarating listen.
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CiON – “Cinderella”
CiON utilizing orchestral instruments is their “gimmick”, which is an appealing one for me because it gives their songs a big band brass feel by default, which meshes well with my tastes.
What also meshes well is pop songs and having a sense of liveliness, which this has in spades, and I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed pre-chorus builds that are cashed in by a boisterous, fun, catchy chorus instead of an instrumental drop or too-cool-for-school droning repetition. A certified head-nodder and a great time.
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An Shinae – “MAN IN THE SKY”
It quite literally takes a while to get going, as its slinky instrumental makes it obvious this song was made for an OST (PROJECT Y, to be exact). But once it does get going, it paints an ethereal picture for the listener of an almost Bond-esque theme, with captive and powerful vocals crafted together beautifully. Reminds me of a Lee Hi song, which I really love.
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Dodree – “Just Like A Dream”
I haven’t seen much critical or commercial love for this, so it might just be me because I fuck with most traditional/modern Asian fusion shit across the board since it really does hit you with something unique in the world. The utilization of the gukak along with a synthpop structure works great here, and the eclectic folk vocal performance goes great with the lyrics about longing and yearning for a past love.
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FRUITS ZIPPER – “Eyes On You”
A definite acquired taste, as their releases are always at risk of coming off as overly sweet and borderline annoying if the hook doesn’t hit. This one didn’t win me over as quickly as “Watashi No Ichiban Kawaii Tokoro“ did, but eventually the combination of that “kimi to meeeeeganeeeeee” refrain and the “hoo hoo hooooos” dug their claws in. Shit is like crack, I swear.
Note: Thought this was interesting about their fandom demographic:
From the personal accounts of music writer Kazumi Nanba and Bubka editor Shuichi Morita, female fans made up about 70% of the crowd at a show that they attended for a “kawaii-kei” idol like FRUITS ZIPPER show. (About 90% for an XG show, they say.) Not only does this demographic shift influence the atmosphere in a venue but also the content of idol songs. “They’re singing about this kind of cuteness that women idolize or that they idolize themselves,” Nanba said about “Watashi No Ichiban Kawaii Tokoro.” It’s simple math: idol songs are starting to cater beyond the wants of a male audience as more non-male audiences get into idols, and it’s an important move away from tradition.
The appeal might be confusing to some, but thinking about the state of … everything, it makes sense that a cuter more idealistic worldview has found a bigger audience.
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KiiiKiiii – “404 (New Era)”
I admittedly wasn’t captured by “404 (New Era)” immediately, as I think I heard the trendy speak-rap chorus over and over and I kind of tuned it out. But I’m not sure if it was the pounding UK house beat giving me SM Entertainment Golden Era electro-pop nostalgia, the rest of the K-pop being straight unwashed ass for the month, or the aforementioned speak-rap hook actually just being crack — perhaps all of the above — but it’s safe to say this has won me over completely the last few weeks. That “404 not found in the system, 404 the new era era” and what not just latches yourself onto an eardrum and won’t let go. You find yourself repeating it while cooking in the kitchen and shit, and at that point you can’t deny it.
As an aside, it’s pretty funny how they were labeled a flop following this release due to relatively low physical album sales, as this has since become the #1 song in South Korea digitally. Deserved.
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Looking back and realizing that’s basically it for January is not great. And honestly, I really felt like I was searching. Fortunately, there ARE other posts coming up with stuff I also enjoyed during the month in some way.
