randomjpop

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Undoubtedly, the Music Awards Japan Yellow Magic Orchestra tribute “Rydeen Reboot” has probably had a bunch of those who hadn’t heard “Rydeen” before go and check it out. And if you’re yet to, then get on that shit. It’s a great song from a great group.

“Rydeen” is my favourite YMO song, from what might just be my favourite YMO album — Solid State Survivor. So I was so glad that it was chosen as the YMO tribute song at Music Awards Japan. I’m not sure what most would consider the signature YMO song, but I just never thought it would be “Rydeen”. So I was really surprised that it was chosen.

I did a big old post on this song in January 2023, when YMO member Yukihiro Takahashi sadly passed away — “Rydeen” being a song which he composed the music for.

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Music Awards Japan unleashed “Rydeen Reboot” — a tribute to Yellow Magic Orchestra, where acts performed flips of YMO’s “Rydeen”. It was really fucking good. But this right here is my favourite section of it, because it was the only part where I felt the “Rydeen” of it all never got completely lost. Also, the whiplash between the different acts is so crazy that it’s great. The abruptness of going from the thugginess of Yuki Chiba to 74 year old enka singer Takashi Hosokawa standing there warbling in his yukata was absolute gold.

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So. The Mimi Sessions.

I’m gonna get dragged for what I’m about to say, but I’mma say it. I didn’t like this. And it’s not just about Mariah’s voice. Something about this had me flashback to the Stella days. And as a fan, I don’t like any of it.

I am not of the ministry that Mariah should still sound as she did back in 1995. I do not need big belts and crazy runs from her in 2025. Caution had none of these things and I think it’s one of her best albums. And Mariah sounded good on it, because she seemed to have accepted her vocal state at that time. But with The Mimi Sessions, it felt like Mariah hadn’t just lost more of her fluidity and agility, but confidence and…some of how to sing.

As we accumulate anniversaries, things require more effort. But this felt different. It was like watching a whole other version of Mariah from somewhere in the multiverse doing karaoke to songs by the Mariah from our universe. Or watching a Skrull trying to pass as Mariah Carey.

I admire the fact that Mariah re-arranged some of these songs. I was SO relieved to hear that “Circles” was in a lower key and that Mariah didn’t bother singing any of the climaxes to any of the songs. I can imagine that for many years Mariah probably felt that she couldn’t drop the keys of songs or avoid the climaxes of songs, because of the expectation people have always had of Mariah’s voice. And as a result, she was probably singing higher and harder far longer than she should have been. So I am actually glad that she said ‘Fuck it. I ain’t doing that no more.’ But even so, it still seemed to take Mariah a lot of effort to just sing the songs and for her to sound as she did.

Mariah still touring and giving us content such as this is great for fans — but not if it’s at the expense of her well-being and it’s hurting her voice. I can’t shake the feeling that something is off behind the scenes and that Mariah’s team aren’t looking out for her the way in which they should. Hopefully that’s not the case.

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I’m not a fan of “First Love”. But this performance of it was nice. And unlike Hikaru’s performance of “Mine of Yours”, they didn’t just sing over the instrumental of the song. We got a nice stripped down version of it with just a piano and the song was in a lower key — which made it unique from the studio recordings and numerous other versions we’ve gotten over the years.

Also, Hikaru’s outfit? YES bitch. The body is snatched. Maybe I need to call Vicki and start training with her three to five times a week too.

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Hikaru Utada performing “Mine or Yours” on The First Take, wearing “Automatic” yellow.

It’s a shame more wasn’t done to the arrangement to make it sound different from the studio recording. There’s very little reason to actually watch / listen to this over just watching the music video or streaming the song, as even Hikaru sounds exactly the same as they do on the studio recording. An acoustic version woulda been far better and gave me more of a reason to come back to this.

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The work of a go girl is mysterious and important.

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I saw Perfume on a black and white grid and thought ‘Oh, nice. We’re getting a “Polygon Wave” performance.’ Just for them to debut a whole new song?! AND THE SONG IS GOOD?!!

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🎈 Happy 5th anniversary to Rina Sawayama’s debut album, Sawayama 🎈

Rina came out SWINGING. An album which was bold, colourful, unafraid, and said so much about who Rina was as an artist and a person.

Dare I say it — a classic.

💿 Album Review: Rina Sawayama - Sawayama

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Another Perfume song with a great sound and lots of potential, let down by a structure with no energy shifts which doesn’t really go anywhere. This coulda been a “Game” or an “Edge”. But unfortunately, it’s not even close.

Nakata. Sweetie. What is going on? These types of songs used to be your thing.

💿 Single Review: Perfume - Human Factory -Ningo Denzen-

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Crystal Kay debuted her first performance in Korean on Korean television, in front of a panel of Korean artists, covering a well known and highly regarded Korean song. Crystal Kay may not have a recent hit, a record label who supports her or a management team that’s actually doing their job — but she do got a whole lotta confidence and nerve. And a bitch can SING.

📺 Crystal Kay performing Lee Sun Hee’s “Fate” on Hanil Top Ten Show

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Not Perfume using ugly ass AI generated visuals for a tour performance AGAIN. Perfume have too good a budget and too creative a team to be pulling this shit. Also, surely Team Perfume have a visual of a wireframe sphere sat on a hard drive somewhere that they could’ve re-used.

“Night Flight” deserved better than this.

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🎈 Happy 24th anniversary to Hikaru Utada’s 2nd studio album, Distance 🎈

A Japanese album in 2001 featuring Jam & Lewis and Rodney Jerkins productions, when everybody else was getting Flyte Tyme and Darkchild know offs.

The girls weren’t doing it like Hikaru Utada.

💿 Album Review: Hikaru Utada - Distance

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🎈 Happy 5th anniversary to Dua Lipa’s 2nd studio album, Future Nostalgia 🎈

Little did Dua know when she was crying on Instagram over her album leaking and having to release it during a pandemic, that it would become a defining pop album in 2020 and change her life.

💿 Album Review: Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

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Nebula Romance: Part 1 is a redo of Perfume’s fifth studio album, Cosmic Explorer. And I ain’t mad at that. A Sci-Fi / space concept for an album and tour made sense for Perfume. So it’s a shame that they didn’t follow through with it for anything more than the album title track and the tour booklet.

But the idea of Nebula Romance: Part 1 and what it could’ve been is better and cooler than how it actually turned out. Because it’s cool to hear that Yasutaka Nakata seems to be having fun again, and for Perfume to have an album which has a discography highlight or two.

💿 Album Review: Perfume - Nebula Romance: Part 1

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I Am… The Genre, Baby.

💿 Album Review: Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter

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Shockingly, but also unsurprisingly, we got no Best album from Crystal Kay this year to commemorate the 25th anniversary of her career. So I made one.

CK25.

Available on Spotify, YouTube and YouTube Music. Still no “Kirakuni” available in certain territories though. That shit ain’t ever gonna be available across all platforms worldwide at this rate. It’s been (8)4 years.

HENNYWAY.

Run this up and give your girl some streams for the holidays and beyond.

⏯️ Stream CK25: 🟢 Spotify | 🔴 YouTube | YouTube Music

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I really thought we might have been turning a corner with her 2022 Heart album, but nope. 

Koda Kumi’s cover albums Eternity ~Love & Songs~ and Color the Cover are two of her best albums. But Unicorn being half an album of covers isn’t enough to have it sit alongside them, because the original material fucks everything up.

Full review over at the Random J Pop blog.

💿 Album Review: Koda Kumi - Unicorn