I’ve always been very hesitant to dig into some of BENI‘s older material as an avex artist because we all know what avex can do to artists with little support from the label: the music comes out sounding cheap, uninspired and straight off a generic template. Considering BENI is growing into such a complete artist with so much amazing, refreshing music under her name, I always felt like I didn’t really need to listen to her older stuff because I’d only get disappointed with how little avex backed her up when she always demonstrated so much potential. Unfortunately, Beni Arashiro‘s entire avex discography is stricken with dated, almost 90′s-sounding material with poor production, tacky titles and cliché themes, but I think there’s always something for us to enjoy… it’s BENI we’re talking about, after all! GEM was her last album with avex, so I thought that as far as her avex days go, this is pretty much the closest we get to the Universal BENI, so why not give it a shot?

The album opens up to BAD GIRL, and as soon as that little bell/chiming sound came on, I thought Beni was going to bring us some Milkshake (Kelis), but it turns out this is a very lackluster song with not half the attitude of Milkshake. Sure, it’s okay, but Beni simply does not convince me that she’s a bad girl at all… I think that at the time, she lacked the vocal maturity to really pull off a pop song meant to be some sort of a girl power anthem of sorts. While the instrumentals sound very strong midst all the thick synthetic elements, Beni’s voice sounds too polished and unpolished at the same time. An okay song, but a clear example of how avex had no idea about the kind of artist Beni is, as she was given some generic girl power pop song instead of something that actually fit her personality and voice.

Mermaid follows around the same lines as BAD GIRL, only a little bit more dated and down a more urban path. I think I like this song a bit more, though, as it sounds like there was a little bit more effort put into its production (and Beni’s rapping is pretty hot!), but even so, there are many points in the song that I get this late 90′s-early 00′s Britney Spears vibe, and I wish the song was a bit fresher. There’s nothing more off-putting than a dated pop song, and I’m so glad Beni found her place in R&B music because disaster would strike even further if she kept up with this sort of material. It’s not for her, and it’s not for anybody else, it’s the type of style that really doesn’t take the listener anywhere.

Losin’ control sounds more promising from the beginning, even though it works off the same vibe as the previous songs on the album. This time the song truly is completely urban, with some more rapping from Beni, which I find quite refreshing, and I get this genuine posture of empowerment from her, which is nice, to say the least, considering the song seems to have been fashioned to that effect. I still think this is definitely not her style, but it’s a step forward from what we’ve been getting so far from GEM.

Finally we get something so much more polished and delicious to listen to! Loved is one of my favorite songs on the album; a mature, romantic love ballad that takes Beni’s voice exactly where it should! I’m not sure if this was a flaw in mastering/production or if Beni’s voice was still a little bit immature for this type of song, though, but I feel like if she covered this nowadays, it would really be one of her most beautiful ballads! Loved is the type of love song stripped of drama and so rich in a lovely, familiar warmth that makes it impossible for us not to fall in love with it! (notice how much love was written in that one sentence) I love (and there it is again) the horns in this song and just the soothing atmosphere it provides! This one will be on repeat for a while, and I wish there was more stuff like this on the album (as opposed to that disastrous set of opening songs)!

Luna is yet another ballad worth the listen! It sounds more generic than Loved because of the thumping R&B elements, and the drama is definitely there this time, as the chorus kicks in with all the power the questionable production of the song allows it to! Though this song has a very undeniably dated and poorly produced sound to it, it’s also undeniable how Beni sounds right at home singing her heart out to something more vocally challenging, and it really sounds like she was the perfect artist to make this song as enjoyable as possible. Maybe if it was placed before the deliciousness of Loved it would have been more of a stand-out track, at least to me, as Loved really stole my heart!

How Are U? is a friendly pop song; quite melodic and fun. Unfortunately, Beni doesn’t seem to be on top of her game here as far as vocals go, playing it very safe, but I don’t think the song itself left enough room for an actual vocal performance, being very quick-paced and choppy, but it’s still a pretty sunny song without having it get annoying. There’s not much else to say here, as even though this song was a single, it follows the footsteps of many of the other songs on the album, being nothing spectacular.

Paradise is definitely one of my favorite tracks on GEM because it’s a lot closer to what we all know and love from Beni, especially after her switch to Universal. This is a very chill, soothing song that describes a paradisiacal setting, and I simply love the instrumentals! The horns make a return from Loved, and this is just a very sweet song where everything in it is perfectly adequate! Beni’s voice sounds polished and calm, and she really works the harmonizing in it too! It all works for the exact purpose of the song, which is to infatuate the listener and take them to a tropical paradise of relaxation. This could easily be placed in some sort of tourism ad, and in a good way!

I expected Mirror mirror to fall around the same lines as the first 3 songs on the album, and indeed it does, being pretty urban, but it has a bit of an Arab sound to it, and it’s got more of an identity. Beni doesn’t sound weird singing this song, as it doesn’t hold the pretension of being some sort of an empowerment anthem, it’s just a good song that’s slow enough for Beni to sound natural singing to it and fast enough to make it dynamic and refreshing. I wouldn’t call this a stand-out track, as I’m not exactly sure what this song’s role in the album is, but it’s definitely an enjoyable one that makes for a welcome addition to the album, as Beni sounds pretty natural here, and I think the biggest problem with the album so far is the lack of identity and naturality in it.

My biggest problem with Sweet but Empty is that it just sounds like gossiping in musical form. Many artists, like Christina Aguilera or Marina and the Diamonds have dealt with the theme of pretty girls with “no filling” in more recent years, but with a lot more grace and humor, so when I listened to Sweet but Empty I thought that this was a bit inelegant for Beni. It’s a valid theme, it was just executed a bit too literally and it turned me off, which is unfortunate, considering the instrumentals of the song are some of the most interesting on the album, being very dynamic and fun. A welcome pop addition to the album, I just wish the lyrics were more thought-out (and having been an AP English student, the title also bothers me a bit since ‘sweet’ and ‘empty’ don’t really work off the same idea… maybe if it was Sweet but Bland, or something more thought-out, it would give it a little bit more grace).

恋文 (Studio Live Version) is my second favorite ballad on the album and it’s just downright gorgeous! This is the only ballad on the record with a full orchestra to back Beni up and she really brings it! You can tell she’s a lot more comfortable singing songs like this than any of the vapid pop songs that fill up this album, and it’s no wonder she’s so well-known for her ballads after she switched to Universal. This is something I could see Koda Kumi releasing, as it’s a very traditional ballad, and just the type Kumi loves to come out with. A very beautiful song with Beni’s beautiful voice to take it a step further… can’t go wrong with that!

No pain, No gain (English Version) starts very well, but gradually gets messy. It has all the right elements to be a great song, all of which are quite misused, and that’s a shame, considering Beni found a newfound power to her voice when she’s singing in English, even taking her voice to a deeper register, something that was quite lacking at the beginning of the album. It’s a great addition to the record despite its messiness, though, as Beni finally shows us that she really does have enough fire in her to take a song a little bit more leaning to the rock side of pop. Not one of my favorites, but a valid addition that was a neat surprise.

Overall, GEM definitely makes me wonder how in only a year Beni could go from the amateur, unpolished charms of Beni Arashiro to the sophisticated power vocalist that BENI is. Maybe it was just flawed production and guidance that made her discography as Beni Arashiro sound so poor, or maybe Universal really invested in polishing the diamond in the rough that was Beni, and everything they saw in her at the time really paid off! GEM proves how avex has some fantastic artists under their roster and an uncanny inability to take them where they need to be. Especially if they’re under the avex trax sub-label.

There are definitely some good songs to enjoy here, nothing compared to Beni’s latest material, but GEM isn’t completely devoid of gems.

Final Score:

78 / C+

安良城紅 - 恋文 (Studio Live Version)

Artist: BENI
Single: さつきあめ
Release Date: 04.24.2013

I think this single was the release I was anticipating the most for 2013! We all know BENI went on a cover album raid in 2012 and became highly successful for it (hell, COVERS 2 and COVERS are 3rd and 4th on the iTunes Albums Charts today and it’s been over a year since COVERS came out!), but I was very curious about the direction BENI was going to take after the release of her cover albums. It’s been over a year since the release of her last single, so she did have a lot to prove with this release, and I think she really brought it!

To the disappointment of fans who thought BENI’s covering days were over, さつきあめ isn’t completely devoid of covers, as the b-side isn’t an original song, but I think this release is more than enough to keep us satisfied until her next single, already scheduled for a June release. Considering she also has a tour scheduled for fall, we might be getting BENI’s first original album after the COVERS craze sometime this summer. But lets get to what really matters now!

さつきあめ, the title track, is a grand, dramatic ballad almost to the Koda Kumi-ith degree! The song kicks in with BENI’s beautiful, heart-felt vocals accompanied solely by the beautiful work of pianist Shionoya Satoru until a gorgeous set of strings give it a very Japanese treatment and just like the music video depicts, brings all the color to the song! I think that the song would have been fantastic if it had only been BENI and Satoru, but it’s still gorgeous beyond words, so I can’t really complain! To be honest, though, I thought this ballad was going to be a lot less dramatic and more light-hearted, considering it’s a spring release with the title Early Summer Rain, but it actually sounds like it could easily be a winter ballad. Regardless, I was so happy with how dynamic this song is, it’s like BENI’s milking that ballad the whole time, and when it comes to ballads, that’s very important! Definitely a very emotional song that sports BENI’s new sound perfectly! A rich, moving ballad polished to the very core!

In contrast to さつきあめ, ランナ・ウェイ is an upbeat pop song that you won’t be able to get out of your head for days! This is the closest a b-side gets to an a-side not only in musical quality and the fact it got itself a music video, but also because this song features samples from Coca-Cola‘s signature jingle, as it’s being used as the promotional song for their Share a Coke, and a Song campaign. I think this song is really what some listeners were craving for when it comes to BENI; something really upbeat, fun, slightly retro and full of flavor! No need to say BENI’s voice is strong and lovely as ever and it’s great to see her returning to some R&B-Pop with a retro flavor! She really made the song her own (as she’s known to do when it comes to covers) and it’s a fabulous addition to her repertoire! Right as the song is ending we get a little after party taste as BENI slows everything down and ads a bit of sensuality and true blue R&B harmonizing! I kind of wish the entire song was like that because we all know how much I LOVE songs like secret and 接吻, but I think the pop, uptempo coating really made this song extremely refreshing! I love it!

It’s too bad we only got 2 songs with this single because it’s so delicious that BENI could have just kept it coming! My expectations were definitely met, or perhaps even exceeded, and I can’t wait to see what BENI has in store for us! COVERS 2 was such a fantastic, complete album, so I can’t wait to see what her next step will be! Hopefully we’ll know soon! (the overuse of exclamation marks really demonstrate my excitement) Another release by BENI I would love to see is a new greatest hits compilation… I think that after 4 original albums, 2 cover albums and 2 loose singles, it’s about time! But definitely check this single out if you get the chance, it’ll get your ears craving for some more of BENI!

Final Score:

100 / A+

BENI - ランナ・ウェイ

When information about a new mini-album by Ga-In had come out only 5-6 months after the perfection that was Talk About S., I was beyond ecstatic! The concept this time was a lot softer and sweeter, being a duet mini-album with a secret collaborator. I think Korean pop stars rarely break free from the traditional 5-track solo mini-album format, so seeing that Ga-In was going all-out for a romantic couple concept fit for spring was very refreshing and I couldn’t wait to hear what they both had in store for us!

Soon, the secret collaborator was revealed to be rookie singer Hyungwoo, and though I would have loved for it to have been JYP, Ra.D or even JoKwon, I think Hyungwoo made for a perfect match for Ga-In, not only musically, but when it came to the concept as well. I must confess it would have been weird to see JYP and Ga-In together in such a youthful, budding romance type of concept like this one, so I think they picked the right guy for the job!

The mini-album opens up with Brunch, a soft, café-like song that draws a parallel between tasty breakfast food and the feeling of being with that special person. It sounds like a weird concept, but the lyrics are so captivating and adorable that you can’t help but grow a soft spot for this song! It really plays on the idea of that honeymoon stage in a relationship, where everything’s new and every little thing about the other person is lovely and captivating. The harmony in Ga-In’s and Hyungwoo’s voices works really well, they have plenty of chemistry, but I think the song lacks a certain warmth to really make it come alive. I guess I could compare it to Ga-In’s duet with Ra.D, Take Out, where the melody is so rich and involving, that when the harmonizing kicks in it really takes us where it needs to. I guess Brunch plays more on a feeling of honesty, as the words seem to be a little more spoken than sung, which compromises it, melody-wise, but otherwise, it’s a great song that anyone who’s in love will thoroughly enjoy!

2시의 데이트 was right up my alley! It’s a lot softer, and even has a little bit of a melancholic, or longing feeling to it. It’s clearly a love song, and a great one at that, but Ga-In and Hyungwoo really take it a step further by showing off their great chemistry for most of the song! Contrary to Brunch, which sounds more like a dialogue of sorts, we really see them work together here, which is fabulous! I would say this song has a fuller sound to it, it has its little climaxes, its slower parts, and I love the adlibbing. There’s also more vulnerability in the way both of them are singing, something I really associate to romance. Overall, it’s one of my favorite songs on the album because it’s so easy to listen to, especially in the afternoon.

Sway is like the black sheep of the record and sounds like it would be an outtake from Ga-In’s 2010 solo debut, step 2/4, as it has quite a familiar latin feel to it. I can see this playing at a hotel lounge because it’s so classy with its fast-paced jazzyness, beautifully dramatic piano, and the urgency in Ga-In’s and Hyungwoo’s voices. This song definitely has drama for days and it’s dynamic enough to keep you on your toes the whole time, truly a very interesting direction for the album that fits like a glove despite its striking characteristics in contrast to the softness and romance one would attribute to the rest of the release. Definitely a huge highlight!

Finally, the album comes to a close with 네 집을 보여줄래, my least favorite, I must say. There’s not much of Ga-In here, maybe that’s why I didn’t grow too fond of it, but it just sounds a little bit uninspired, especially after following a fascinating song like Sway. I think this song has a little bit of  Hawaiian feel to it because of the guitar strings and the percussion, but other than that there’s not much else going on for it. The melody isn’t as captivating and because Ga-In isn’t in the song for about 90% of the time, the romantic chemistry that characterized the previous song is lacking. Definitely not my favorite, but still a homogeneous addition to the album that makes sense.

I was expecting a little bit more warmth from Romantic Spring, but I think that the album was very well put together and I was very satisfied with their pick for Ga-In’s romantic duet partner! I wouldn’t call it one of the most memorable releases of the year so far, but it was definitely a very pleasant surprise and I’m sure many of you Plastic Lovers will find some relaxing, enjoyable songs here! Definitely give it a go! I know the Brown Eyed Girls are preparing for a summer comeback, so we’ll definitely be seeing more of Ga-In through the year!

Final Score:

92 / A-

가인 & 조형우 – Brunch

Back in her avex days, BENI had released an album titled Girl 2 Lady, whose concept served as a milestone of sorts, meant to showcase a new, womanly and mature BENI (Beni Arashiro at the time), but I think her true transformation from girl to lady has peaked between the end of the year 2012 and the beginning of 2013.

After the success of COVERS and COVERS 2, both certified Platinum and going on to sell over half a million copies total, BENI has been taking some time for herself to reevaluate the direction of her career. A fabulous trip to Italy and many visits to her home in Okinawa are the type of activities her Instagram followers have observed BENI engage in between the release and promotion for her second concept album, COVERS 2, and the announcement of her latest single, さつきあめ (her first single to be both in CD-only and CD+DVD formats. It will be featuring an a-side and a b-side, as well as their respective instrumentals, and the b-side will be featured in Coca-Cola’s Share a Coke and a Song campaign).

Slated for release on April 24th, the concept and musicality behind the new single reveal a new BENI, not only look-wise (as the signature hair cut she’s been sporting since her solo debut at Universal in 2009 has been cut shorter and styled to perfection), but judging by the quality of the new song and even the sheer photographic beauty of the video, BENI has some newfound credibility within the music industry that she’s putting to the best of use! Recently she even posted a couple of pictures in her blog to celebrate the fact she now has her own studio!

One project I’m particularly excited about, though not officially announced as of yet, (I had to do some research on it as she posted a picture with Sergio Mendes on her official Facebook page) is a participation in the world-renouned Brazilian musician’s new album!

Sergio Mendes was hard at work in the studio this month in Japan. As a form of celebrating his love for Japan and the 50th anniversary of his first touring experience in the land of the rising sun, he’s gathering a group of fabulous Japanese singers that will be participating in a special, 10-track compilation of songs that will be mixing Japanese, English and Portuguese lyrics with a warm, Brazilian sound. Cover songs and original songs are both going to be composed for the album and by the looks of it, BENI will be participating in the album too, which is scheduled for a summer release! I seriously cannot wait to hear what BENI is going to be doing for this album but just imagining her singing in Portuguese already shoots chills down my spine and I just want to shake and cry!

That’s not the only collaboration BENI has been working on, though, and she seems to be engaged in many different special projects, including a set of commercials that have been circulating the internet and sport a cover of Elton John‘s Your Song by BENI herself in the background that also sounds fabulous!

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like we’ll be getting to hear the song in full for a while, as it isn’t a part of the new single nor is there any hint that it will be finding its way to iTunes or anywhere else, but hopefully we’ll be catching it on an upcoming album, or possibly in a digital or physical single in the future!

Always having been recognized as a fashionista, even in her avex days, BENI has decided to take her style a step further and is sporting even more bold prints, patterns and layers to go with her avant-garde look and is hitting the fashion industry with just as much power and skill as she’s hitting the Japanese music industry! I always thought that the only thing that kept BENI from becoming a true icon in every little thing she does was the fact that she was very underappreciated in Japan, but now I think she is finally able to reap the benefits from all those years of non-stop hard-work! We all know she has talent to spare, and it was only a matter of time until she became an unstoppable force in Japan!

I honestly cannot wait to hear all the amazing material we’ll be getting from BENI this year! Just when we think she can’t be a part of any more projects, she comes out with a new collaboration or tie-in, and this is any fan’s dream! I think that with her new studio she’ll be working even harder, which I’m thrilled about, and I hope she really gets to enjoy herself in the process too, as I’m sure recording is not an easy task and I always want her to come with inspired, rich compositions just like さつきあめ!

I feel like more than ever BENI is becoming the artist she was always meant to be. Now that her label is giving her more and more credibility, she’s manifesting herself as one of the fresh faces of J-Pop! I think her internationality is becoming her main selling point, how she is able to easily balance the Japanese BENI with the American BENI, and not only does this seem to be impressing the Japanese audience, but like in the case of Sergio Mendes, he probably picked her for his record exactly because she’s so relatable to a global audience as well (I’m sure her newfound credibility in the Japanese music industry helped a bit as well, though), and the same goes with Ne-Yo, who collaborated with BENI in a similar way he did with Utada in the past!

I can’t wait for BENI’s new single to drop, hopefully it will fare very well on the ORICON and iTunes charts as a true validation of how far she’s come, and that this new direction BENI is taking only brings us more and more fantastic material because she’s been doing such an outstanding job since her Universal debut that all that was missing was all this love she’s received through her COVERS project!

Today also happens to be BENI’s birthday! (though it’s still the 29th over here, it’s already the 30th in Japan) So happy birthday to the fabulous lady she is, and may this year be the best one yet for her, career-wise and in a personal level as well! ♡

Let me know what you guys have been thinking about her transformation and her new music! I’ve personally been loving everything to death!

Before writing my review on Koda Kumi‘s latest cover album, Color the Cover, I had no idea how bad the ピンク スパイダー controversy really was until one of my dearest plastic lovers, Jasmine, pointed it out to me on the comments section of the post, where we discussed the topic a little bit as well. After that, I noticed people were sharing opinions on Twitter and Tumblr about it as well, and I think the issue deserves a post of its own, as I would love to express my point of view on the topic and also get to read some more comments about it from you guys, as I find the root of the problem involves a whole other set of issues, most notably prejudice in music.

As made clear by the premise of Color the Cover, ピンク スパイダー is not an original Koda Kumi song, but a song by hide, one of the original members of X JAPAN who passed away in 1998 at the age of 33. It is still unclear whether hide’s deceasing was a result of suicide or not, but his passing away caused plenty of impact to the point where many young girls were trying to commit suicide the same way he supposedly did. Eleven days later, ピンク スパイダー came out as a posthumous single, and due to the content of the lyrics, which spoke about freedom and release, many fans consider it a suicide letter. This time period was definitely very scarring for fans of hide because not only were they confronted with the shock of his passing away, but the fact they were still watching him on TV through pre-recorded performances and listening to him on the radio due to the release of ピンク スパイダー must have made everything a lot harder to process. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to the fans at the time.

Above is the original version of ピンク スパイダー, by hide. It’s definitely a very intense rock song that I wouldn’t describe as a niche record, as it was highly successful and the 11th bestselling single of the year upon its release, but it’s not exactly mainstream, so I’m sure that’s part of the reason why hide’s fans are so sensitive towards the song.

Just like with any other renowned musician who passes away and leaves a legacy behind them, hide has gotten a number of tributes through the years, and a particular cover of ピンク スパイダー that caught my attention was by RIZE.

Their cover of the song was released in 2006 as a single, with very similar cover art to that of the original record, so it was clearly a special project that showcased how much the band wanted to pay tribute to hide. Their cover caught my attention because unlike other famous renditions of the song, this one was released as a single as opposed to just being included in a memorial album of sorts. This, in a way, is very similar to what Koda Kumi is doing. Though her cover of the song has not been released as a physical or digital single, it’s pretty much as close as a song gets to a single due to its tie-in and promotion. The main difference in both cases, however, is easy to notice through the very comments on each of their YouTube videos, as Koda Kumi has been getting so much hate for her cover while RIZE’s cover is fine by everybody’s book… why is that?

Clearly Koda Kumi has been getting on many a J-Rocker’s nerves because her rendition is actually a pop version of the rock song… or perhaps even because it’s sung by a woman like Kumi. I understand why so many people would be taken aback by her cover since it’s so different from the original and it could be easily be seen as offensive because Kumi converted the original arrangement of the song into a pop, more mainstream arrangement… but why does that have to be a bad thing? I think that above all, people who are seeing her rendition as offensive can’t get over their prejudice against pop music and see that Kumi could have easily picked a song that was already electropop and just cover that as opposed to putting her staff through all the work of making this song more her style, but I’m sure this song may have special significance to her as well. She is really helping in keeping hide’s memory alive 15 years after his accident, so I don’t see how it can be so offensive. As ryowatari put it in his comment, Kumi’s target audience is not of the J-Rock sort, so at the end of the day, she is taking a little bit of J-Rock culture and making it more accessible and giving it a fresh 2013 coating for her actual target audience; mostly a pop-driven one.

I’ve expressed how much I can’t stand prejudice in music before, and this debate against Kumi and even against hide, as many J-Pop fans have gone to Kumi’s defense in exactly the same prejudice stance, screams prejudice to me. Bottom line is that Kumi’s cover of the song is fun, refreshing, many people are enjoying it and if they like it enough, I’m sure they’ll be looking for the original as well, just like I have, and will be learning about the meaning behind it as well. If the problem is that Kumi’s rendition doesn’t do justice to the original song, problem solved! If the problem is because Kumi is a sexy woman who had the song arranged in a different way in order to fit her aesthetic better while still paying homage to hide, then I think the problem is a bit harder to locate… but I know it has nothing to do with Kumi.

It seems like Plastic Candy is becoming somewhat of a Mika Ninagawa haven of sorts, for yet again she’s being featured here, this time as the photographer behind Koda Kumi‘s Color the Cover jacket shoot and the director for one of the music videos from the album, but no worries, this is not another post about Ninagawa!

The focus will be entirely on Kumi for this review, as Color the Cover has automatically made its way into my list of favorite Koda Kumi albums of all time! This album is Kumi’s second cover compilation, the first being ETERNITY ～Love & Songs～, another one of my Kumi favorites, and what Color the Cover has that Kumi’s previous cover album doesn’t is the variety and flavor of any of Kumi’s original albums packed into a refreshing selection of covers! ETERNITY ～Love & Songs～ really did feel like a side project because it wasn’t the type of material Kumi would release naturally, being very ballad-heavy and something that would very easily be labeled as adult contemporary. Color the Cover is something we would easily expect from Kumi, as it has all the dance, ballad and rock songs we know she likes to put out as well as some very pleasant surprises that possibly indicate an evolution in Kumi’s music that I can’t wait to hear more of!

ピンクスパイダー, the shamelessly auto-tuned electropop guilty pleasure of the album, also happens to be its opening track. The original song is actually a rock song by one of the original members of X Japan, hide, who passed away about 15 years ago, and considering how Kumi turned it into a heavily synthesized pop number, it’s no wonder that she earned a multitude of haters within the Visual Kei community. But regardless of all that drama, I think this is a very fun song! My only complaint other than the genericness of this electropop track would be that Kumi’s vocals here are so overly-auto-tuned that they actually sound low quality, which bothered me a lot the first few times I listened to it, but it has grown on me a little more since then and I’ve been listening to it all day just for that dose of harmless pop vapidness we all need every once in a while! I think there are elements to this song that keep it fresh and interesting, elements that range from the way Kumi sings some of the verses to random little instrumental details that make this a fun dance song, but despite all of that, such elements are the only things keeping this song from being completely generic.

Shake Hip! is another uptempo dance song that’s got more going for it than ピンクスパイダー in terms of the instrumentals (which are composed of more than just pure synth) and Kumi also laid back on the terrible auto-tune she introduced us to with the opening track. Somehow, though, I can’t seem to like Shake Hip! as much as I like ピンクスパイダー. It’s definitely a fun song and I can understand why so many people feel like this is their favorite on the album, but maybe I’m so phobic towards it because I found the original song to be extremely tacky, so I can’t help but feel like Kumi could have covered so many other amazing J-Pop uptempos instead of Shake Hip!. Still an enjoyable song, just not my cup of tea.

ラブリー is a delicious little song full of color and sweetness and the first sign of the evolution in Kumi’s music I referred to at the beginning of the post. This is obviously a cute song, Kumi’s working her cute, nasal voice and has a light-hearted tone to her vocals, but unlike any other cute song she released in the past, this one has a very effortless quality to it! It doesn’t sound forced or like a shot of pure sugar into our bloodstream, it’s just a very light, endearing jazz song, and I fell in love with it instantly! I guess the only problem with it is that it’s 8 seconds short of 6 minutes, and we get many loopings of the chorus until then. I do wish it was shorter, for that would make it a sweeter listen, but it’s a fantastic song that shows a maturing Kumi who’s really reevaluating her image and musicality and growing as an artist as well!

Speaking of maturity, nothing could have prepared us for the little piece of heaven that is 情熱! This Shiina Ringo-esque jazz number is exactly what I wanted to hear from Kumi because we all know she has the pipes, it was only a matter of time until she experimented with something a little bit more reminiscent of Ringo’s trademark brassy jazz pieces! 情熱 is truly one of Color the Cover‘s gems, as it is a feast for your ears. We get Kumi belting and scat singing, a rich instrumentation complete with melodic keys, brass instruments, drums, and everything about this song is just a complete breath of fresh air! I really didn’t expect anything like this and it was so much more than just a pleasant surprise! Definitely keep an eye out for this track, it’s going to leave you begging for more, and I’m hoping we get to hear more of this side of Kumi in future albums!

To be honest, when I read Kumi would be covering One more time, One more chance for Color the Cover, my mind automatically turned to BENI‘s rendition of the song, which was so soft and vulnerable… considering Kumi’s voice is a lot deeper and not as delicate, I didn’t see the song fitting her as well as it fit BENI. In a surprising twist of fate, though, this song became one of my favorite songs on the album, something not even BENI’s rendition did for me on COVERS! The song opens up with instrumentals that sound so beautifully dream-like, yet broken, like we’re really being enveloped by thoughts and sad memories. This is a very special song because it doesn’t sound like a basic ballad, I think Kumi did a fantastic job in making the instrumentals sound as refreshing and lovely as possible, and she really brought it vocal-wise as well with all her sensitivity and power, and the end result is this delicious ballad. Beautiful, vulnerable and gorgeous.

I was so glad Alone made it to Color the Cover because once I listened to it through the 恋しくて single, I actually enjoyed it a lot more than the a-side and had to see it in an album as well! This song has special significance to Kumi because it was the song she performed at her avex audition, and I guess that’s why she wanted to include it in this special cover album, her first full release since she had her first child! I think many people may overlook the ballads on Color the Cover because they’re surrounded by songs of all sorts of dynamic styles ranging from electropop to jazz and rock, but they’re really fantastic ballads, some of Kumi’s most sensitive and delicate to date, in my opinion. Japanese ballads tend to be very much about the drama and theatrics, which I also love, but it really feels that with these couple of ballads, Kumi made it entirely about the feeling and the music. Alone‘s simple yet gorgeous instrumental break never fails leave me breathless, and it’s a great little moment in the album before we move onto the rock tracks!

Blue Velvet already kicks in with all the edge a good rock song needs. I really don’t like the original song, so I wasn’t expecting much from Kumi’s rendition, but it did grow on me after a few listens! It’s not exactly the most melodic of songs and I found it to be a little bit noisy, but I like the drama of the instrumentals and Kumi can really mold her vocals to fit rock music really well, as we’ve seen previously with songs like Can We Go Back and No Man’s Land. It’s not one of my favorites but it’s pretty refreshing to get this sort of energy on the album as well!

I like 「男」 a little bit more than I like Blue Velvet because it’s got more of a dynamic quality to it, the melody doesn’t sound as stiff. I also really love Kumi’s nasal voice at the beginning of the chorus, it brings a feminine quality to the song that I really like and that also works fabulously in contrast to the powerful rock instrumentals. I feel like this song is a lot less noisy too, as the instruments don’t blend together into one big bulk of sound, but rather contribute to the song individually as Kumi works it out with her fabulous high-pitched vocals. Definitely my favorite of the rock songs on the album.

If I had to point out a single filler on Color the Cover, it would have to be どうにもとまらない. It’s an enjoyable song for sure, but it really sounds like it’s a remix to be used during the encore act of a concert as opposed to anything else. Judging by the melody and essence of the song, I feel like the original track must have been a very good song, but the way it was made-over to fit Kumi’s signature electropop style really isn’t doing anything for me. The auto-tune is also back which makes it even more unbearable, and though this song is fun to listen to every once in a while, I immediately identified it as filler within seconds.

今宵月のように is yet another one of my favorites because it’s so adorable and uplifting! This one has a very strong J-Pop flavor that I absolutely love, it’s completely organic (which is a very welcome detail after the auto-tune fest that was どうにもとまらない) and also has a very romantic feel to it that captivated me immediately! I think one of the best parts about this song is that it’s also very dynamic even though it’s a ballad; the chorus is strong, the instrumentals have many little things going for it that make the song as delicious and enjoyable from start to finish as possible and lets not forget just how lovely and comfortable Kumi is singing this song! Each and every second of this song is beyond lovely and yet another one of Color the Cover‘s gems for me!

The last song, 歌は我が命, impressed the hell out of me! Just like 情熱, this song has a jazz dressing, but it’s clearly a fantastic enka song! I absolutely love how deep Kumi’s voice is here, I love her belting, I love her feeling, I love the melody, I love the strong Japanese flavor, I love the jazzy orchestra… there isn’t one negative thing I could say about this song, and just like with ETERNITY ～Love & Songs～ , Kumi ends Color the Cover on an absolutely golden, flawless note, making it pretty hard for any other singer to come out with a cover album for the coming months, as they won’t be able to top this. Perfect.

Color the Cover is sheer cover album perfection. What I love the most about Kumi’s covers is that even though she’s singing and performing someone else’s material, we know we’re getting something that’s 100% her as well! She’s telling us her story through the songs she picks for each cover album, she’s opening a door to her past, her present and her future for the fans and letting us in on the real her, and that’s why her cover albums are always so wonderful to me! All I know is that I won’t be able to get this album off repeat for a long time now!

Final Score:

99 / A

倖田來未 - ピンクスパイダー

When it comes to K-Pop, it’s very hard to find a group that is constantly growing and evolving in terms of its music and style, but ever since SISTAR debuted back in 2010, that’s exactly what they’ve been doing!

Initially, they were just one of these groups with so much unexplored talent, as they were given countless generic pop songs that were entertaining and still very refreshing when compared to other K-Pop acts, but that didn’t showcase their true potential as a unit and kept them as just another group in the bunch. 2012 saw an interesting change of pace for SISTAR, though, as they adopted a more mature image and sound and really stood out from the crowd! I’m glad SISTAR19, a sub-unit of SISTAR composed of lead vocalist Hyorin and rapper Bora, created back in 2011, is also picking up on that and it was such a pleasant surprise to see them coming back nearly 2 years after their debut with the MA BOY digital single! I’m absolutely in love with this release and I really hope 2013 still gets to see plenty of SISTAR/SISTAR19!

The mini-album opens up with SISTAR19, an adorable, refreshing introduction that I feel really sums up the freshness, femininity and youth of SISTAR19 really well. I think what makes this such a unique unit is that their music tends to be very youthful and feminine but their vocal ability is pretty off the charts and with the generous dab of maturity SISTAR and SISTAR19 have been owning up to, they’re easily two of the most refreshing units out there. Though this introduction is short and simple, I think the sound of it is very close to what we’ll be getting with the rest of the album. Short, modest and sweet.

The title track, 있다 없으니까 (Gone Not Around Any Longer), is an impressive mix of R&B, pop, lounge, and plenty of style and attitude. The saxophones definitely caught my attention right off the bat because of the very refined, lounge-y touch they add to the song, and Hyorin just works the song with all the emotion and skill in her voice. This song has everything we love to hear from a vocalist like Hyorin, from simple, heartfelt harmonies to full-on belting and vocal acrobatics. As for Bora, I can’t say the rap is very engaging to me, it’s just there for a fraction of the song and the rest is all Hyorin. I even had to ask myself at a certain point if Bora actually rapped here at all as I really hadn’t noticed it until now for this review. Other than that, this is definitely a breath of fresh air in K-Pop as we definitely don’t get many classy, vulnerable downtempos like this one as promotional tracks, so this was a very pleasant surprise! I really hope this style catches on for a while, as it’s right up my alley!

나도 여자인데 (A Girl in Love) is another lovely track, this time a midtempo, that is a little heavier on R&B and Pop elements. This song presents a little bit more harmony between Bora’s and Hyorin’s roles as Bora’s rapping actually gets a lot more attention here as opposed to how little she rapped on 있다 없으니까 (Gone Not Around Any Longer). This song feels very natural on the album because of its femininity, youthfulness, catchiness and for still keeping itself fresh and easy to listen to through its midtempo structure. I actually think this would be just as good a promotional track, as it really doesn’t fall short on the quality and catchiness of the previous song, it’s just a little bit less dynamic and melodramatic, so maybe not as stage-friendly, but a fabulously smooth track nonetheless!

Then comes the ever so lovely MA BOY, which is finally finding its way to physical media nearly 2 years after its digital debut. I think anybody who hasn’t heard this song yet is going to fall in love with it, as the previous songs are a little bit on the slower side of the spectrum and this is full-on R&B/Pop catchiness! I wouldn’t go as far as calling it uptempo, as it’s still pretty chill and slow, but the aesthetics of the song are very bright and happy, which makes it such an easy song to love! I’m surprised by how well a song released almost 2 years prior to this album blends into SISTAR19′s current concept so well, and I’m happy this song made it into the album even though it’s not exactly new stuff! I love how adorable this song is!

I guess my only complaint about this album is that it’s so short! There’s so much great stuff here and I wish we could have just gotten one or two more tracks just because SISTAR19 is a sub-unit, which already restricts their activity, as they depend on the inactivity of SISTAR to come out and promote new stuff, so I would only hope we could get material that’s more packed with stuff in the future.

But overall, I’m absolutely in love this album! I think if you’re still unfamiliar to SISTAR and/or SISTAR19, this is a great place to start, as it’s the perfect crossover between the fun, catchy aspects of K-Pop and the quality R&B sound of SISTAR! Definitely check this out, it’s short, sweet, and it will leave you craving for more!

Final Score:

100 / A+

씨스타19 – 있다 없으니까 (Gone Not Around Any Longer)

Title: さくらん (Sakuran)
Author: 安野モヨコ (Moyoko Anno)
Original run: 2001 – 2003
(American Edition)

On my last post, a brief introduction to the works of Japanese photographer/director Mika Ninagawa, I mentioned that I was waiting for some orders that contained some Ninagawa-related material for me to really dive deep into her world of color and female empowerment, and the first order that arrived contained the American edition of the manga that inspired Ninagawa’s debut as a film director, さくらん! The manga itself obviously has nothing to do with Ninagawa, she just directed the movie for it, but before I got to the movie I really wanted to get a feel of the single-volumed piece of work that is さくらん in all of its unadulterated glory!

Upon reading a number of reviews on the manga, I noticed  that many readers found it a little bit difficult to follow if you’re not an avid manga reader, especially because of the irregular flashback-flashforward format of the quick-paced manga, but I didn’t find any of that to be a real issue as I was reading through the 300 pages of the manga, and I’m not an avid manga reader myself, it’s a pretty linear story. The only thing I would say may be confusing not only for beginning manga readers but for anybody who isn’t familiar with oiran (Japanese courtesan) culture, is that the characters don’t spend much time describing what they’re talking about (all the terms and traditions/customs), so there are some conflicts in the manga that I didn’t catch immediately, requiring a few more pages to understand them, but it’s definitely something that isn’t hard to work around, and it makes the manga more fascinating, as it really feels like we’re being thrown into this hectic world head first, like the protagonist.

But to really get started on this review, lets begin with a brief summary of the piece!

[Spoilers]

The plot revolves around our heroine, Kiyoha, red light district Yoshirawa’s most popular oiran. Kiyoha was able to stand out among the other courtesans in the brothel because of her reckless, feisty and passionate nature, traits the other oiran would refrain from exposing when around their clients. By sticking to her own essence, Kiyoha seduced men her own way and quickly became the most popular oiran in the district.

Kiyoha was made into a maid (an oiran-to-be) at a very young age, as her family didn’t know what to do with her and her foul disposition. She definitely stirs up a lot of trouble before becoming the sought-after courtesan she grows up to be, but it becomes easier to understand her motivations through such characterization.

I had a little bit of difficulty truly relating to her at first because it really felt like she would rather pick a fight with anybody as opposed to really solving problems any other way, but as she becomes more refined with time and begins to fall for this one man, I think the sympathy and relation to the character really kicks in full strength. We see a reckless, immature and indomitable woman become a sensitive, vulnerable lady who still has that same fighting spirit she always did, but channels it in a different way. I felt very moved as I read through her descriptions of love, the paradox that it was to her, and the manga is a goldmine of inspiring, thought-provoking quotes about a romance that never gets a chance because of Kiyoha’s office as an oiran.

Something that’s very easy to pick up on is the similarity between this story and the story behind Arthur Golden‘s best-selling fiction novel, Memoirs of a Geisha. This manga would actually be the historically accurate version of Golden’s novel, with twists that make it its own piece, and it’s so unfortunate that this only came about after the infamous western novel blurred the identities of geisha and oiran culture around the world. I feel like the manga is very faithful to its historical background, and though the focus isn’t on the actual culture of the oiran as much as on the thoughts of Kiyoha as a top-ranked courtesan and the sacrifices and decisions she has to make as such, we get a good idea of what an oiran is and what their lives were like.

There are very few central characters in the novel, as there’s a heavy rotation of characters due to the time lapse between the stages of Kiyoha’s life, so I think it’s a good idea to pay close attention to key features in the design of each of the characters, as you might be mixing them up later on. Another thing I saw people complain about is the ending, which wasn’t very self-explanatory, but I think it’s up to the reader to really extract a personal meaning from the manga, as the rest of the chapters do not lack in content and the final message can be a very powerful one depending on how one sees it!

[Spoilers End Here]

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this intense read! As you may have guessed, this is definitely a mature manga and it has plenty of nudity and suggestive scenes to go around, so if that’s not exactly your cup of tea I wouldn’t recommend the manga, but if you’re more in it for the interesting plot and content, go for it! It’s a very irregular manga, but I really enjoyed it in all of its quirkiness!

I think there’s so much beauty in the maturity and power of this manga and its characters, and I have a set of fabulous quotes from the manga to share now! Though everything is very quick-paced, which may interrupt the emotional connection between the reader and certain scenes, it was a very pleasurable read and I would definitely recommend it! (and with the American version of the manga, published in 2012, I think they did a fabulous job in translation!)

Final Score:

92 / A-

I wish my life was a Mika Ninagawa-directed production.

In her highly saturated, colorful world of fish-flower fantasies, Ninagawa has really caught my eye for the consistency of her work. We often times see photographers and art directors who work with a range of different elements that never fail in quality, but lack a certain form of identity and/or cohesion among themselves, so something that really caught my attention about Ninagawa’s work is that she somehow makes the entire composition and themes behind her work signatures in themselves. We just know that whatever it is we’re looking at is a figment of Mika Ninagawa’s bold world of color and feminity.

Many renowned artists, such as Björk, Shiina Ringo, and most recently Koda Kumi, have collaborated with Ninagawa for album shoots because of her unique vision and use of colors and textures that can easily work hand-in-hand with music and needless to say, fashion.

This very characteristic about Ninagawa’s work, though, is something that doesn’t always please everybody. Many cult followers of the artist criticize her for venturing into a more commercial side of art (often times being a part of magazine shoots and etc.), as opposed to solely sticking to independent projects. In response to that, Ninagawa says that she lives for her art but she also thinks it’s important, and challenging, to dilute her own vision to a point where a wider range of people would relate to it. I think this attitude of hers is admirable because there’s no reason for her to discard opportunities of expanding her vision as an artist, even if that means holding it back to some extent. Maybe commercial art isn’t as deep or saturated with vision as an independent project, but it also has its value and challenges that will consequently reflect the artist’s talent just as much.

Some of the most ubiquitous elements in Ninagawa’s photography (aside from female models) are fish and flowers, and I think both of them exude the feminine, colorful and magical world of Ninagawa flawlessly. She often times incorporates such elements in her commercial projects as well, and they’re very recurring in her photography.

Even when it comes to her directing debut with the movie Sakuran, based on a single-volume manga series of the same name, there’s an inclusion of a goldfish-carp metaphor that allows her to work with some beautiful images of such fish along with the stunning photography of the movie:

Helter Skelter, another movie directed by Ninagawa that came out last year starring Erika Sawajiri, deals with strong idol-industry themes at the same time it boasts of the fantastic photography and art direction Ninagawa is known for:

It’s pretty clear that Ninagawa enjoys working with feminine themes through her palettes, or even the movies she has picked to direct, and I was delighted to read the following interview, as she answers questions that touch on subjects that range from her points of view about double standards between men and women in a professional and personal level to trivia about her own work and photography. I think what I enjoyed most was to read her opinion on why there are no true female stars nowadays like there were back in the 90s (when Helter Skelter takes place):

 In “Helter Skelter” Lilico is an absolute star. The story takes place in the ’90s, when there were still some real stars. It’s difficult for me to translate this comic into present because there are no stars left. This country seems to reject them. There are some idols and tarento who are nice people, but rather androgynous, lacking the real character. I guess people can’t stand true stars because they are so different, they’d rather watch some stupid proxies they can sympathize with. I don’t watch TV myself, it’s too painful. Women are always treated like assistants. Japanese men like weak, submissive women, it makes them feel stronger, more confident. Women like Anna Tsuchiya don’t get much attention because she’s too strong. Many girls like me because I’m different, a rare example. I wish they free themselves from these centuries old customs already.

- NINAGAWA, Mika

This is only a little bit of the interview but if you’re interested in reading more, do check it out here, because I really loved getting to know the strong female behind the lens of such gorgeous pictures that really represent everything she talks about and everything I love about her work!

This edition of Harajuku Poupées is a little bit different from the previous ones because it’s about the artist behind the camera as opposed to the artist in front of the camera, but I’m really in love with Mika Ninagawa as of late and I can’t wait to watch both Sakuran and Helter Skelter on Blu-ray, as I’ve ordered both of them in order to fully indulge in the aesthetics of both movies since both plots already sound fabulous to me! I’m also getting my hands on the English version of the Sakuran manga and waiting for the August 2013 release of the Helter Skelter manga as well! I’ll definitely be reviewing them around here on Plastic Candy and hopefully be able to write a better analysis of Ninagawa’s work, as my only references are her beautiful pictures so far, so this can be seen as an introduction to future posts, actually!

Plastic Candy’s latest header, as a matter of fact, sports a picture of Erika Sawajiri as LiLiCo, the protagonist of Helter Skelter, in a lingerie ad! The themes and imagery of the movie are something I’m very fascinated by, and something that I found very closely connected to the name Plastic Candy: the appreciation and spectacle of the fantasy of fame in contrast to everything else that comes with it, from the euphoria of the fans, to potential scandals and criticism.

Ninagawa has easily made her way into my heart as my favorite photographer/arts director because of the strong, relevant message behind her craft and ideas as well as the fantastic execution of her projects! Her taste level is beyond inspiring and I’m crazy about the saturated, bold colors she utilizes. I hope she really does inspire a future generation of female photographers with a strong vision like hers about a number of different issues and who continue to channel that through collections of gorgeous images and concepts. That’s what art’s all about, after all!

We’ll be getting some more Mika Ninagawa goodness as Koda Kumi‘s music video for Pink Spider comes out in the near future, and here’s a little preview of the Ninagawa-directed eye candy!

I really can’t wait to see more of her in the future and hopefully she just keeps getting more and more exposure and keeps doing her fabulous work and spreading her message of female empowerment to even wider audiences!

Two of the most iconic musicians in world music to come from the 90s’ teen pop boom, Beyoncé (once again under Destiny’s Child) and Justin Timberlake have made very interesting observations about latest music trends with the release of their new material and have revealed a very ambitious mission they’re envisioning through it as well:

“[in the 90s,] R&B was the most important genre, and we all kind of want that back: the feeling that music gave us.”

- Beyoncé (GQ Magazine)

After reaching its peak in the 90s and early 00s, the R&B fever has definitely been sweating out, or at least in the way it was originally pursued by girlgroups and boybands of the past, as it seems to have taken a new path nowadays. The influence and interest for the classic R&B-Pop mixture of the 90s was so extensive that even Japan and Korea had their own R&B phases, as we’ve seen with Utada Hikaru‘s First Love album in Japan and the Brown Eyed Girls‘ early albums, which were coming out mid-transition from the R&B ballad trend to the sugary pop one.

Now pop music has taken over completely, and I can’t help but understand exactly where Beyoncé is coming from. It feels like world music has been more and more injected with one-hit wonders that only cater to the listener’s immediate radio or clubbing needs, as we’ve heard so many random artists become chart-toppers for a hot second before falling into oblivion in the last few years. The durability and longevity of artists in the industry that existed before, in the prime times of TLC, don’t exist anymore. Maybe it’s a little bit bold for me to be saying all of this, and I don’t want to make silly comparisons between two very distinct times in music, but it’s really the impression that I get… as we get more and more remixes that sample Etta James, Imogen Heap and other big names in banal ways, I feel a bit disappointed in the direction music is taking. It feels uncreative, vapid, and devoid of that very essence Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake have found in the golden days of R&B and are now trying to restore.

I don’t mean that pop music is only trash and generic and R&B is all about style and depth, as there’s plenty of tasteless R&B and refreshing pop music out there to go around, I’m only generalizing everything in order to make some broad observations about the type of music I’ve been listening to on the radio and in soundtracks for TV shows and movies, which are also great reflections of the latest trends in pop music. Personally, I’m not a fan of what’s been topping the charts as of late and that’s why I’m welcoming this reform so much.

You can listen to both of their new singles above if you haven’t already, and any similarities between them is not merely coincidental. Both tracks were produced by Pharrell Williams, and these aren’t the only projects he’s been working on, as other heavyweights in the industry like Britney Spears have also come to him in search of new material for upcoming releases… so perhaps an R&B remodeling may not be that far off of a dream for Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake.

To be honest, I absolutely loved Destiny’s Child’s and Justin Timberlake’s latest songs, I think they sound delicious, and it’s such an immense pleasure for me to know that there’s still some variety out there saved for us. I was growing very tired of the upbeat, impact single formula, so to hear two sensual, smooth midtempos coming our way from such a talented, renowned pair of musicians is extremely refreshing to say the least. The only thing that surprised me was the overall negative responses both of them have been getting for coming out with “boring” material that is not suited for a comeback.

I agree that none of the songs are actually truly “impacting” per se, as they’re both very lounge-like and classy, not exactly the most marketable pair of singles out there, but I absolutely love that they took a chance at sophisticating pop music like that with such a strong 90s R&B spice. The execution of the songs are flawless and they’re amazing pieces of work, it’s just that people are usually so focused in envisioning a possessed Beyoncé on stage, dancing and singing her soul out, that sometimes they forget about the actual music, and that Destiny’s Child’s latest song was meant for their new Love Songs compilation, and not a Run The World (Girls) remake.

It definitely helps that there’s a clique of heavyweight musicians attempting to make this reform in music as opposed to just isolated niche artists, and I’m definitely rooting for them as I’m loving all of this Pharrell-produced material coming our way, I really hope they’re able to make this transition in aesthetics because I think really interesting things will come of this if all goes well, and I can’t wait to see Destiny’s Child performing this fabulous piece at the Super Bowl next month!

I really missed this 90s take on R&B, so as a throwback to some classic tunes from the past, here’s the fabulous No, No, No Part 1: