Shuffle And Repeat

Single Review
BENI – Koi Kogarete

Koi Kogarete is Beni arashiro’s 11th single, and 3rd as BENI. It was released on June 10, 2009, and reached #70 on the oricon weekly charts. It sold a total of 1,266 copies.

tracklist:
1. Koi Kogarete
2. CRUISE the WORLD
3. FOREVER 21
4. Koi Kogarete (Instrumental)

I nearly died when I first found out that BENI’s next single was another mid-tempo track. Knowing what BENI sounded like on one, like Kiss Kiss Kiss got me even more excited with Koi Kogarete.

Koi Kogarete was first described by SONY as a summer-themed ballad with a mid-tempo arrangement. Well, that’s pretty much what the song really is, to be honest. But if I were to give my own description of this song, I’d call it “The best BENI track in the world”. YES.

I’d write again and again about how I love this song, if I just wasn’t too lazy today. But oh God, Oh God. Koi Kogarete was another awesome A-side by BENI. I just couldn’t help it. Koi Kogarete just blows everything she has done out of the water.

This song just gets me everytime I listen to it, which probably happens because of it’s amazingly sweet melody. The guitars which blend in well with the beats and BENI’s vocals show a really promising result. Especially when the song reaches the first chorus.

Compared to Signal, BENI’s previous B-side, CRUISE the WORLD, and FOREVER 21 are better. I did not really like Signal, which is why my expectations were a bit high with the B-sides in this single. But happily, those expectation were met.

CRUISE the WORLD, in no doubt, is something really different from what BENI has recently released. The electropop arrangement is something I believe she hasn’t tried out yet, but surprisingly, she pulled it off really great. Her voice really fits the synths and the fast tempo, which was a really nice change because almost all of her songs have the same elements in it.

FOREVER 21 was another B-side better than Signal, but no, not better that CRUISE the WORLD. Although I don’t like it as much as the previous tracks, I must say that I really like BENI’s voice here. They may not be as impressive as her other vocal performances, her voice is really highlighted by the light arrangement.

Favorite Track:
Koi Kogarete, and CRUISE the WORLD.

shuffle rating!
A

Single Review
BENI – Kiss Kiss Kiss

Kiss Kiss Kiss is Beni arashiro’s 10th single, and 2nd as BENI. It was released on April 8, 2009, and reached #40 on the oricon weekly charts. It sold a total of 3,963 copies, and charted for 3 weeks. Kiss Kiss Kiss was a good digital seller because despite it reaching only #40 on oricon, it reached #1 on the weekly Chaku-Uta downloads.

tracklist:
1. Kiss Kiss Kiss
2. Signal
3. Mou Nido to… DJ HASEBE REMIX
4. Kiss Kiss Kiss (Instrumental)

With Mou Nido to… blowing numerous brains off the table, especially mine, I was pretty sure that I wanted another ballad from BENI as her next single. I know releasing two consecutive ballads is pushing it a bit, especially when you’re doing it at the start of a new career. But I figured, if you’re good at such songs, then why not? right? I’m pretty sure she has seriously been kicking ass with her ballads lately anyway. But in the end, I guess she thought that a little change wouldn’t hurt, went on and released Kiss Kiss Kiss, another unique single release from BENI.

Because I was longing for something like a ballad, I first thought that Kiss Kiss Kiss wasn’t going to be my piece of cake, knowing that this was more upbeat than her previous single.

I was quite hesitant to watch the PV and hear the song when it came out because I was afraid it would sound something like How Are U? or any other upbeat song she has ever made in the past. But I thought, since her comeback as BENI sounded amazing, I’m pretty sure this song would blow me off like Mou Nido to… did, so I went ahead and watched it.

Wow. I’m telling you, BENI has got to be one of the few JPop artists that has two consecutive singles from their debut to shoot my head with a gun. Kiss Kiss Kiss is definitely different from MNt…, but Oh Dear God, it is another awesome release from her.

It’s a sweet pop/R&B song that has a really nice melody to it. It somehow has the R&B-ness of STAY, the B-side of her previous single, because the same person produced it. The song has lyrics that talks about falling in love, and wanting to have her first kiss, which is evident on these lines:

Kiss kiss kiss, Maybe someday. Only with you, Just with you
Somewhere. To make sure, to feel, I want to touch
My first kiss with you my dear

Pretty neat eh? But anyways, I like the change that BENI has done from her re-debut because the difference of this one with the the other 2 ballads she has created, Mou Nido to… and Koi Kogarete to be exact, just proves to us that she is capable of doing different songs and not mess up. Although she might have some downs in creating something, she can still carry herself back.

Just like what happened in Signal. To be honest, I am not fond of listening to this song that much because I thought that it was missing something.

BENI has presented her vocals pretty well here, and I thought that the “uh-oh” parts at the background was clever, since it helps her vocals blend in better with the arrangement. But when it comes to the composition of the backing track, I gotta say that it’s a thumb down for me. The constant beat and piano(?) at the arrangement was quite nice, but I wish that things would, you know, progress, and wouldn’t have just those 2 elements all throughout the song. It’s a good thing that BENI’s vocals were amazing, because that’s practically the only thing saving this song from failing.

When I first looked at the tracklist for this single, I was really really excited to know that one of my favorite ballads was gonna get a little mixing done to it.

I have heard some pretty neat remixes of DJ HASEBE before, like his remixes of Crystal Kay’s and BONNIE PINK’s songs, so I was completely positive that the DJ HASEBE Remix of Mou Nido to… was good. Well, yeah, it was really nice.

The new beat it has was pretty cool with the vocals and guitars, but the parts where a guy say “yes, yes, yo”, like at the chorus, made me angry. I’m pretty sure the remix was better off without it. But trust me, the rest of the song, is really good. ^^

Favorite Track:
Kiss Kiss Kiss

shuffle rating!
A

Single Review
BENI – Mou Nido to…

Mou Nido to… is Beni Arashiro’s 9th single, but is her debut under the stage name, BENI. It was released on December 10, 2008, and reached #20 on the oricon weekly charts. It sold a total of 13,064 copies. Mou Nido to… was an answer song to Dohzi-T’s hit, Mou Ichi do… featuring BENI herself.

tracklist:
1. Mou Nido to…
2. STAY
3. Mou Nido to… (Instrumental)
4. STAY (Instrumental)

When I first heard the news about Beni Arashiro going back to the music industry again, to be honest, I didn’t really care. I hated her works during her debut days, and I never was a fan of hers. But after all the hype about her new single on UMJ, I just decided to swallow the hatred, and tried out her new single as BENI, entitled Mou Nido to… .

As soon as BENI started to sing the opening lines of this ballad, I had the feeling that I was gonna regret ignoring her comeback. And you know what, I did. And it just doesn’t end there. As the song progressed, I began to fall in love more and more with BENI’s voice, which was amazingly surprising, because the way she sang during the start of her career, was so close to making me want to cut my own ears off. She doesn’t have the needed emotion in her voice, and she’s out of tune, most of the time. That’s how bad she was. But now, everything is the complete opposite of what she used to sound like. Her voice now is so different, that it haunts me even in my sleep. In a good way, but seriously. For like almost 3 weeks, all that’s playing on my iPOD was this song. Really, no one can say that this was such a bad song. Because if there was one, they’re definitely deaf. I mean, even just hearing a verse of this song will leave you wanting for more, and it will be the only song in your head for days. If not, weeks — Just like how it dominated me.

I don’t know why, but I just love Mou Nido to… . The arrangement was just gorgeous with the strings and guitars, but BENI’s vocals in it just even makes the song reach an impossibly high level of perfection. Yes, I know I’m a bit exaggerating, but what I’m saying is true. Listen to it for yourself, and you’ll know what I mean.

While the A-side was a beautiful ballad, the B-side, STAY, was a mid-paced R&B jam. There’s a slow, yet quite heavy R&B beat that plays constantly in the arrangement, and there are synths in the arrangement that’s quite similar to western R&B songs, so that pretty much makes this song heavily oriented with that genre.

Although this was not as amazing as the first track, I must say that this was quite a nice addition to the single, as it shows another side of the new BENI, and it gives us a preview of what could be coming next for this girl’s career. Not her best song, but it’s definitely better than all of her previous work.

Favorite Track:
Mou Nido to…

shuffle rating!
A+