Nobuhiko Okamoto and Trignal teamed up for a stellar collaboration single “Hikari o/Tic Tac Anniversary”.
Title: 光を／Tic Tac Anniversary Label: Kiramune Release date: 13/09/2017 Genre: J-Pop
Tracklist:
1. 光を 2. Tic Tac Anniversary
Track by track analysis:
1. 光を (Hikari o)
光を (Hikari o) is completely different from what people could expect from this special collaboration. It kicks off slowly with tender piano notes enveloping Yonaga‘s vocals but after that, the song shifts thrice.
On one side we have Eguchi‘s dramatic narration, on the other Kimura‘s musical imbued singing and Okamoto‘s sweet notes, and then for the chorus, a mix of rock and orchestral elements, an explosion of emotion that hits you when you least expect it.
When listening to this piece, please imagine a musical.
This song and performance are both crafted like a musical, hence it might sound odd for those not that fond of dramatical pieces. Because of that, the song’s instrumentalization and structure are rather odd.
We have a tender side that might hint at a ballad, we have jazzy sections on this song that grab our attention, and we have French-inspired post-choruses and powerful, strings + timpani-driven choruses with some rock touches.
This might sound like a mess as you read it but if like us, you’re thinking about this song as a musical piece, it makes a whole lot of sense.
The instrumental is unexpected and incredibly fresh. We’re completely surrendered to Yonaga‘s smooth intro, Kimura‘s musical flare, and the powerful chorus.
Okamoto surprises once again with his lyrics, this time channeling a musical vibe we weren’t aware that he could even put into words. Fantastic opening track.
2. Tic Tac Anniversary
Tic Tac Anniversary is the laidback summery tune that we never knew we needed in our lives until we heard it.
A funky bass, wah-wah guitar riffs, strings, and simple, splashy drums set the perfect summer vibe for us.
The instrumental has some retro touches thanks to the rhodes piano and disco-inspired synths.
On the vocal side, the harmonizations are perfect, it’s as if Okamoto was always a part of TRIGNAL.
Individually, we need to give kudos to Yonaga‘s falsetto and Kimura‘s melodic vocals that caught us off guard. Eguchi and Okamoto‘s performances were crucial during the harmonizations. Were you looking for a “feel good” song?
Tic Tac Anniversary is the perfect goodbye to this season, it’s fun, laidback, melodic, well crafted and with good vocal performances. A gem.
Final considerations
Nobuhiko Okamoto‘s brightness and TRIGNAL‘s energy certainly blended well for this single. Initially skeptical about this release, we now change our opinion.
This release is incredibly good.
Okamoto isn’t having the best period in his solo career – with only one highlight so far on it – but he sure does deliver with this single. It’s also nice to find once again lyricist Okamoto. He went beyond our expectations and wrote a musical piece.
We’re not even going to start talking about how hard it is to write lyrics for musicals. It’s on a completely different level. Major kudos to him.
There are a lot of new things we found in this release.
Kimura‘s vocals have evolved to a level in which he can comfortably tackle “musical style” of singing, Yonaga finally went for those high notes and showed us a glimpse of his falsetto, Eguchi was the perfect backup for everyone, shifting between performing with low or high registries and Okamoto showed us that not only he has talent as a lyricist, but he also fits best with dramatical and jazzier music styles rather than his trademark bubblegum pop.
Out of this release, there are a couple of things I’ve realized:
- TRIGNAL is a force to be reckoned with.
- Okamoto should definitely change his music style to either dramatic pop-rock or jazzy pop-rock, his solo career would greatly benefit from that change.
- TRIGNAL and Nobuhiko Okamoto together are a blast to listen to.
- Nobunagal is one of the best collaboration projects that I’ve ever had the opportunity to listen to.
- This release is a good candidate for “single of the year”.
Hikari o/Tic Tac Anniversary is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
[…] released in September the single 光を／Tic Tac Anniversary, release that was incredibly well received by their fans. All songs from that single are included […]
[…] released in September the single 光を／Tic Tac Anniversary, release that was incredibly well received by their fans. Fans can expect all songs from this […]
[…] The single was charting steadily on Oricon daily and weekly; the final ranking in October is not impressive nor are its sales figures but it’s still commendable the fact that they managed to chart on top 50 in a month that had vicious competition. Also, regardless of sales figures, this release is one everyone should check out. […]
[…] Among seiyuu/anime releases (exclusively as counted by Animate for their chart – link below), “光を/Tic Tac Anniversary” occupies #6 on the weekly anime single ranking chart. You can read our review HERE. […]
Aaaa i cant wait to get it. My copy ended up coming late. And by that I mean im still waiting for it. But after reading your review Im very excited to hear these songs for myself!
You’re gonna love it! Seriously, this is one of the best singles released this year and this collab… simply amazing. Hope your copy arrives safely! Btw sorry for not waiting for your sponsored copy – we received this one yesterday (we weren’t expecting it) from a friend of ours so didn’t pass on the opportunity to review it a little bit earlier.