[trans] A review of Untitled from a non-fan
I stumbled upon this review of Arashi’s new album from a non-fan for a music blog and translated the Song for you part and the conclusion section. It was a long review so I didn’t translate the rest, but it was all positive in various degrees of enthusiasm. Source: https://t.co/1Bz8VsgdCk
Song for you
The song opens with a grand orchestra, as if a movie soundtrack… but as the vocals enter the music reduces just piano melody, then gradually other musical instruments enter again. The arrangement seems to want to showcase the vocals. The changing rhythm and BPM (beats per minute) is also interesting, it’s a musical-like song that gets you excited.
This song really sucks you in. The composition, the arrangement, and the instruments. Various genres of music are jumbled together. The song evolves rapidly like a movie.
But the melody and lyrics are rather catchy too. Despite the already busy composition and arrangement, they even added a call-and-response aspect with “Hey”. This song is amazing. Personally I thought that this was the most amazing in the album. Even though it has an experimental sound and even some strange parts, it still maintains a proper pop feel. It might be due to having 6 different composers collaborating that this genre-less, experimental pop song was possible.
After the song was over, I just then realised that this one song ran for about 11 minutes. This song is what the aforementioned “first challenge at a suite” referred to. It is such an entrancing song that I only realised (the length) after the song ended. Frankly I bought the album just for this one song but it was worth it.
It was such a great impactful song that personally among all the musical pieces I listened to this year this might be among the top 5.
Overall impression
Arashi are popular idols that you could even call Japan’s top-level. Even people who are not knowledgeable about Johnny’s would think so. For such a group to attempt such an experimental sound is I think an impressive thing. If they were only concerned with the sales numbers then the most certain way to go is to create an album packed with the typical pop. Instead this album has a risk of not being accepted by their fans.
But Arashi is challenging (a new style) in this album. While being experimental, however, it’s not something that only music maniacs would be able to enjoy. It still has a pop feel. I think that this album has rather a lot of thought put into it.
Also, I could feel that perhaps it is because they do not only sing the “typical idol songs and pop music”, and have been challenging various styles just like in this album, that they have managed to continue to capture the fans’ enthusiasm. There are countless replacements for a group that only sings typical idol and pop music, but it is perhaps because of their efforts to put out something new that they have managed to become an irreplaceable existence.
As a result, they might have created a interesting album that is different-from-the-rest yet still maintaining a pop aspect.
In conclusion, this is an album that would be a waste if only listened to by their fans. I think it is an album that even people with a prejudice or no interest towards idols should listen to, as well as people who like music in general.
And that was it. A review of an Arashi album that did not once mention any of the members.
Disclaimer: I am not fluent in Japanese and the translation isn’t entirely word-for-word, but I tried to capture the essence of the original author’s comments.
