D.A.T “Change the World” (Review)

D.A.T are finally back with their long awaited single “Change the World“. The track, already on rotation since last year on Dragon & Tiger – Yume Boken radio show hosted by Daisuke Ono and Takayuki Kondo, finally makes its way to a physical release. The hype was initially huge around this unit’s release but with the constant delays many fans started to think that this single would never see the light of day. Is “Change the World” really worth all that wait? Let’s check it out.

Single: Change the World
Label: Marine Entertainment
Release date: 22/04/15 
Genre: J-Pop/Rock

Tracklist:

Track by track analysis:

1 – 破壊と創造

If you were expecting D.A.T to be rocking the house from the very first second you’re completely wrong. Old-school hip-hop and D.A.T? This shows us one of the first changes in D.A.T‘s sound. Hakai Souzou is a simple track relaying to the dirty synths, soothing pads, bass and those gangsta tribal beats provided by the drums’ ride and snare. Besides all this we can’t forget that both OnoD and Takayuki are rapping throughout the whole track, it’s nothing extraordinary but overall it sounds great. A surprise right from the bat but it’s so simple, so classic hip-hop that there’s no way to love it. If you’re looking for 90’s gangsta elements or just something completely new, this is your jam. 4.5/5

2 – CHANGE THE WORLD

And another complete change in D.A.T‘s sound. Now experimenting with punk-rock, D.A.T show us an electrifying performance with powerful guitar riffs, a reverberating bass and unstoppable drums – also no trademark synths on this track -, on the vocal side we need to point out that the unit sounds great adopting the rock genre. Not only Ono‘s mid-ranged vocals fit well with the overall sound but also Takayuki‘s mesmerizing highs and lows alongside some vibrato fit like a glove to the genre – if he already had the potential to be the best singer in the unit when D.A.T were clearly made for the dancefloor, with rock as their weapon, Takayuki clearly surpasses OnoD in vocal execution and “CHANGE THE WORLD” is proof of that. A mix between D.A.T and punk-rock with Takayuki showering us with his vibrato? A successful exciting rock experiment to say the least. 4.5/5 

3 – Buddy

Because there’s never two without three, “Buddy” sounds also completely different from anything the unit has released so far. It’s a mid-tempo funky pop track resorting to a jazzy bass, assertive guitar riffs and splashed drums – sounds simple, right? And it is but it certainly is catchy. While the instrumental is simple, the vocal performances vary between rapping and singing – nothing extraordinary and certainly not memorable. It isn’t as great of a track as the previous ones but it still stirs something in you on a first listen. Interesting and catchy. 4/5

Final rating: 

In one year the visuals changed, the approach to the unit as a whole also changed and the biggest change of them all is their music genre. D.A.T were initially more directed towards dance-pop than what they are today. The unit is slowly starting to experiment with new genres and ideas, as a result, this whole single is a big experiment: ranging from the gangsta hip-hop to the punk-rock or even the not-so-danceable pop, D.A.T clearly have distanced themselves from their already trademark dance-pop sound. Is this a good thing or not? Well, for a first try, either of the new additions sounded great and didn’t put the unit in an awkward place. Still we don’t know on the long run if this is going to be a good strategy for the unit. Overall this single had a lot of new elements that provided challenges to the vocal performances – for a unit used to be melodic while singing dance-pop songs, a hip-hop track or a punk-rock one are hard feats. But the unit fared well and rose up to the challenges.

Turns out the fans’ wait was somehow worth it with all the originality and freshness D.A.T presented us. If they keep this formula up in the following releases we don’t know. For now let’s just enjoy this bundle of originality.

“Change the World” is available for purchase on CDJAPAN for all overseas fans.

Change The World [CD+DVD]

D.A.T