Yay, people feeling the Emi love. I think I might send her another email saying "New album please! ^^" (I wonder if she, or some management for her, ever read the other one).

They'll probably read it, and go "Whoa, another email from that weird UK dude!" And then on the new album they'll add "For that weird UK fan who kept on requesting a new album. Happy now?!" :p j/k

Ha ha, that would be so awesome. I should send an email a day. :p

I'm not sure if it would be considered J-pop, but are there any fans of Def Tech here? A friend of mine turned me onto them, and I really like their stuff (well, the only song I've heard of theirs is "My Way", but it's a great one). It's a Japanese/Hawaiian duo, with some influence from both sides.

Def Tech's awesome. I heard My Way and Konomama reintroducing RIZE and was hooked after that. It's nice to hear something new.

For the record, they've labeled their genre of music as "Jawaiian reggae."

a week ago i saw kototo live at an anime convention and it was hot
now i own one of her Albums -hane-
i now want a kototo doll :3

next Jpop buy will be the new Utada album
im just broke recently to get stuff on release date =_=

i just heard Hikki's Ultra Blue (i know, i lag...)

i give it a so-so... i like her older albums better
but the only highlight in ULTRA BLUE is COLORS!!! I love love COLORS!!! "aoi sora ga~~~"

I think the only weak spot ULTRA BLUE has is Kairo. It may be her most personal song, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere musically at all.

I like ULTRA BLUE. I've only given it a few listens but so far I'm pretty impressed. Me likey.

Today has been new music day for me, with the following arriving:
- Angela Aki - Home (CD+DVD)
- Maaya Sakamoto - Kazemachi Jet/Spica [Single]
- Utada Hikaru - ULTRA BLUE
- YUI - Good-bye days [Single]

Highlight so far has to be "Good-bye days", but then I do love YUI huge amounts. "Home" really impressed me, a good variation on the piano type theme in Angela's stuff and some great songs in there. All round goodness.

I must say I'm LOVIGN Ultra Blue. It's like every track clicks for me from start to finish. None of them threw me off or made me think "hmm. What's she trying to do here?!". I just wish it was longer.

Also, Angela Aki's definately one of the more pleasant surprises to come outta J-pop. She's just so talented. Can't wait to hear more material from her.

Sigh...and Otsuka really needs to bring out the next single.

I was afraid she would go the way of previous Final Fantasy theme song singers (it's almost like a curse!... Not really, but you get what I mean), but thankfully she's proven to be a strong contender. It would be a shame to let her music go unheard.

Yeah, I'm sure Koda Kumi is really cursing the exposure Final Fantasy gave her. :rolleyes:

Well it's not like Rikki, Faye Wong (or whoever it was that sang Melodies of Life) actually got all that huge...


As for Aki, I just wish her videos were more interesting.

Faye Wong sang "Eyes on Me" from FFVIII and was pretty huge in her homeland of China anyways (see the rather large number of well-selling albums she has). Rikki was, and is, a bit of a Enka style traditional singer, I don't think you would expect her sales to leap up anyway. As for "Melodies of Life", that was Emiko Shiratori.

I was never arguing that it brought huge success to everyone, but it's certainly not a curse by any means, case in point: Koda Kumi.

I always forget Kumi when I think of Final Fantasy theme songs.

Also, my usage of "curse" was mostly geared towards the fact that Faye Wong, Emiko Shiratori, and Rikki seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth in terms of presence in the Japanese music industry. I mean, I don't even know who Shiratori is.

Yea exactly. Even if they have their own specialized market, their presence still seems none-existant. Also, no offense, but since FFX-2 was a side game (and a very, very terrible one at that) I don't really consider it a real FF. So the entire Koda tie-in to FF seems kinda distant.

I think Koda Kumi actually picked up some of the revealing styles that Yuna, Rikku and Payne are wearing in the game...

just look at all her PVs AFTER Real Emotion and compare those to the ones BEFORE them...

HUGE difference

Oh, I think she took it a few steps farther than the FF girls... Yuna never sang a song that included the lyrics "You can do it, put your back into it! I can do it, put your ass into it!"

(But wouldn't it be hilarious if she did?)

None of these artists ever had any real presence in the Japanese music industry anyway, coming from very specific backgrounds. Faye Wong, as I mentioned, is Chinese and was primarily in that market.

As for Koda Kumi, to dismiss her involvement with the FFX-2 soundtrack, and the exposure it gave her, would be naive at best.

I'm not dismissing the exposure it gave her; I just forget her when I think of "Final Fantasy theme song singers," that's all.

dude... i can't picture Yuna doing it... but i can picture Rikku doing it!!!

I just got/downloaded Angela Aki's album. It's pretty good, but the songs kind of sound the same... or maybe I just haven't given it a good listen.

vemp: Give the album a few listens through, there's a surprising amount of variation in the songs despite them sharing a common theme/sound due to Angela's use of the piano. Seriously, that's one great album right there. However, more important things...

'Tis new music day once again. Today's arrivals:
- [CDS] Morning Musume - Ambitious! Yashinteki de Iijan (Ltd Edition CD+DVD)
- [CDA] Lena Park - COSMORAMA

I'm really liking the new MoMusu single (though that's not entirely a shock I know). I think I prefer SEXY BOY, but that was a really good single. The PV for the new single, however, is a much needed step up and hoorah they finally released a limited edition with a DVD. It comes with concert footage and some other stuff I've not got to watching yet. The coupling track is actually really nice too, I wasn't sure at first, but after a few listens through it won me over.

The Lena Park album I've not got around to listening to, but MUSIC and the previous single were amazing, and having given the first track a play through I'm confident the album will blow me away when I get a chance to listen to it through (busy working/watching the World Cup ^^).

I'm not sure if I quite understand this sentence very well. If you're saying "Eyes On Me" was very popular in China then that's not necessarily true. It was more of a hit in Japan, and later in the year in North America (whom know her, for the most part, for this song only). It's not a surprise alot of Fayenatics dislike the song, as it's not really a Faye styled track at all. But if you meant the sentence in a way that she was popular in China (as in past tense), then that's not true. She is still extremely popular, and is a major influence to this very day in the East Asian music industry. :D

Sorry, that should say 'is' (don't know why I put was, brain not working properly maybe), but yeah I was refering to the fact that Faye herself, not that song, is huge in China. Poor wording on my part.