Despite its ambitious concept, “CROSSOVER ROTATION” celebrates IDOLiSH7 franchise’s 7th anniversary, in a rather confusing way.
Title: CROSSOVER ROTATION Release date: 17/08/2022 Label: Lantis Genre: Pop/Rock
Tracklist:
1 - CROSSOVER ROTATION 2 - CROSSOVER ROTATION -Focus on IDOLiSH7- (short ver.) 3 - CROSSOVER ROTATION -Focus on TRIGGER- (short ver.) 4 - CROSSOVER ROTATION -Focus on Re:vale- (short ver.) 5 - CROSSOVER ROTATION -Focus on ŹOOĻ- (short ver.) 6 - CROSSOVER ROTATION (Off Vocal)
Track by track analysis:
1 – CROSSOVER ROTATION
Synthwave synths welcome the listener to “CROSSOVER ROTATION“, song with a surprisingly retro vibe.
The verses and chorus are all about reflecting the vibe of each group and, as such, the sound and instruments used for each are always different. The only thing carrying over from part to part is the main melody on the synths.
The first verse is all bubbly to reflect IDOLiSH7’s vibe, the 2nd verse is darker and edgier to reflect TRIGGER’s vibe, the 3rd verse is slower-paced and dreamy to reflect Re:vale’s vibe whereas the 4th and last verse is intense, bringing back shredding guitars putting the spotlight on ZOOL.
While “CROSSOVER ROTATION” aims at being a cool ensemble song, there are some things that do not work that well in this song.
The “La la la” parts will work awesome on a live setting, inviting the fans to sing along and allow some rest on the vocal end for the members but on record, it sounds lazy, especially as you get closer to the end of the song and are already on your 4th repetition of that part.
The mixing for TRIGGER is odd in the first part of the verse, burying the vocals of all members behind the guitars. As soon as the guitars are toned down, the vocals are suddenly clear.
I get that this is a celebratory song and should sound peppy and fun at all times but in comparison, “Natsu Shioze!” sounds miles better from its composition to the mixing.
2 – CROSSOVER ROTATION -Focus on IDOLiSH7- (short ver.)
IDOLiSH7’s version is bubbly, bringing forth a retro sound that was an awesome surprise to find.
Midway through, the song brings out dubstep-ish synths, slightly derailing the song’s cool retro sound.
The unison in the chorus is fun for a bit but as soon as the “la la la” part kicks in… it drags on for too long, taking away the enjoyment of this song.
3 – CROSSOVER ROTATION -Focus on TRIGGER- (short ver.)
TRIGGER’s take on this song is slightly different. The trio brings edgy guitars on top of the synth lead. The only problem that comes from this is how low the guitar riffs are VS the vocals.
For a big portion of the verse, the group is buried in the background, only coming forth as the guitars are toned down.
Same issue with the “la la la” part, it drags on for far too long to be enjoyable.
4 – CROSSOVER ROTATION -Focus on Re:vale- (short ver.)
A bit quiet in comparison with all other verses, Re:vale’s take on “CROSSOVER ROTATION” stands out.
The sound is closer to ska. The bassline is dreamy and punchy, the brass is laidback and the beat is fun without being overwhelming.
With a smaller lineup, this song seems to work a bit better than with the other groups but it still has the same issues come the chorus.
5 – CROSSOVER ROTATION -Focus on ŹOOĻ- (short ver.)
To wrap up this release is ZOOL’s take on “CROSSOVER ROTATION”.
The sound is muffled, the guitars aggressive and the bassline punchy alongside the drum & bass-inspired beat.
The vocals are quite dramatic, with Takeshi Kondo standing out quite a lot with his powerful (and surprisingly dramatic) vocals.
The rock sound going on for this version is fun, giving a different twist to this crossover tune.
As with all other versions, the chorus drags on for too long, coming across as lazy writing.
Final considerations
“CROSSOVER ROTATION” arrives as a song to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the IDOLiSH7 franchise.
Upbeat and uptempo – the latter depending on the group performing the song -, this crossover tune brings a fancy synth lead that is common to all versions, giving a slight retro touch to this song as a whole.
However, there are parts with less than optimal mixing; and the “la la la” parts while understandable as engaging for a live performance, end up being a drag to deal with especially when in the crossover version you have to go through those 5 times. This may work flawlessly live but not as much on record.
The group versions have their interesting moments, especially with each version having bits of the style that best represents each one.
Depending on the version and the vocal direction for each group, you’ll find cool versions to jam along to.
As it is, I was expecting “CROSSOVER ROTATION” to be a song closer to “Natsu Shioze!” on every level. What listeners get is a song that will be really fun to perform live but it is plagued with lazy writing and sub-par mixing on record.
As a reference, the lineups for each group in the IDOLiSH7 franchise are the following:
IDOLiSH7 consists of Yamato (CV: Yusuke Shirai), Iori (CV: Toshiki Masuda), Mitsuki (CV: Tsubasa Yonaga), Tamaki (CV: KENN), Sogo (CV: Atsushi Abe), Nagi (CV: Takuya Eguchi), and Riku (CV: Kensho Ono).
TRIGGER consists of Gaku (CV: Wataru Hatano), Tenn (CV: Soma Saito), and Ryunnosuke (CV: Takuya Sato).
Re:vale consists of Yuki (CV: Shinnosuke Tachibana) and Momo (CV: Soichiro Hoshi).
ŹOOĻ consists of Touma (CV: Subaru Kimura), Haruka (CV: Yuya Hirose), Torao (CV: Takashi Kondo) and Minami (CV: Koutaro Nishiyama).
“CROSSOVER ROTATION” is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
“CROSSOVER ROTATION” is available for streaming on Spotify.
Do not support piracy. Remember to support the IDOLiSH7 franchise by streaming via official outlets.
