Loulou*di’s “CHOOSE” doesn’t bid goodbye but gives fans a bittersweet “See you later” as the group heads for a temporary hiatus.
Title: THINK OF ME: CHOOSE
Release date: 14/06/2024
Label: AIЯRIDE RECORDS. / Movic
Genre: Pop/EDM
Tracklist:
DISC2
1 - Project Archive: Fin
2 - Bioagent
3 - Above The Sky
4 - Dream Eden
Track by track analysis:
2 – Bioagent
Loulou*di breaks its rule of the intro tracks being exclusively instrumentals with “Bioagent”. This song starts with a dramatic violin and a longing piano melody painting the soundscape.
Slowly, the soundscape is populated by deep snary drums and electric guitars that explode completely in the chorus as Toshiyuki Toyonaga belts his way through this performance, overflowing with emotion.
3 – Above The Sky
The bridge is made to “Above The Sky“, song that completely strays away from what the group has released up until now.
This song is more about electronic music than it is orchestral and the singing is more pop style than it is lyrical. So there are big changes right off the bat in this performance.
A pulsing synth sets the comfortable mid-tempo to this song, adding a bounce to this song, and carefully leading the way into the chorus.
Worth mentioning the clock motif that is present in the group’s songs continues ticking in the background, driving the song forward alongside the hi-hat in the drums.
As the song approaches the chorus, we get quite the long pre-chorus section. This one gates and muffles some of the instruments.
The build-up to the chorus is more electronica-driven than expected, bringing a dirty, deep bassline contrasting with the piano melody driving it forward. The piano notes are careful and dramatic, echoing in the background in this wordless chorus.
I’m not a big fan of the build-up to the chorus as I feel it takes too long to deliver something satisfying but I think this may not be an opinion many of you may share.
The song then goes to its bridge section, with the electric guitar being more prominent in this section even if the synths are a force to be reckoned with. A cello and violoncello join in the composition to heighten the drama.
But things fade away and leave Toshiyuki Toyonaga (as Ageha) alone at center stage, with an almost child-like piano melody yet with an ominous synth setting the tone in the background.
The outro, however, is unreal and unexpected.
The piano is somber as Ageha wonders what is the meaning of love, with the piano gradually going to those low (0 – 2) notes as birds chirp in the background, wrapping up in a dark note.
4 – Dream Eden
And wrapping up this journey is “Dream Eden“. The tone for this song is “brighter” than usual, bringing a melodic piano melody yet with a dissonant lead synth.
This song has a bittersweet feel even in its composition with electric guitars at the center, a dissonant synth to your right, and a pounding, almost mourning bassy beat on your left and center.
Acoustic guitars create a warm, almost bonfire vibe to this song, almost as if we’re resting before continuing our journey and reaching our destination.
The chorus, with the lower key, distorted guitar riff, and the dissonant synth contrasts heavily with the sort of hopeful tone in the unison vocals by Loulou*di.
The thing that may hit the most of any listener who has followed Loulou*di’s journey is the lyrics.
But interestingly enough, to me, the song feels more like a “see you later in eden” than a proper goodbye. They leave the door open to fans to find them in the future in that “eden” (paradise) they went searching for.
Final considerations
“I’ve been searching for it all along, even if it descends on me again and again.
Surely, we’ll meet again, even in a new place.
“Welcome home” to you, we met again in Eden.“
It’s real everyone, Loulou*di has officially suspended activities as a group and it seriously hurts. Worse yet when they did it with what is, arguably, their weakest CD released in what is a stellar repertoire.
Yes, “CHOOSE” is, by far, the group’s oddest and most uninspired release on the composition end, contrasting heavily with the likes of the emotionally-charged and heartwrenching “DÉJÀ VU“, “NOTHING” and “ARK“, three of the strongest entries in their career.
I’m still trying to understand some of the composition choices by Takeshi Hama for this chapter-ending release. Not that they were bad, they were just odd. And in a way may hint at some things when paired up with the lyrics.
Let’s go by parts so that you can understand where I come from with this statement.
For starters, while Loulou*di has been known for having electronica elements in their music, those haven’t been prominent as orchestral and lyrical elements have been a big feature and set them into a style of their own.
However, in “CHOOSE”, both songs completely ditch the orchestral elements and the lyrical performances in favor of a more electronica-driven sound + pop style of vocal performance not as much focused on their laser-focused technicality on the vocal end.
This, of course, may be to tie up with anything story-wise (once again, I’m reviewing this CD without following strictly what is happening in the story) or with what was the tone that the franchise wanted for this release.
Given that this is the end of a chapter and a goodbye/see you later wrapped up in a set of 3 songs, I expected drama in “Bioagent” – which we got -, darkness in “Above the Sky” – which we didn’t get – and a hopeful or at least, if we’re going the bittersweet route, a mournful, dark as hell tone in “Dream Eden” – which we didn’t fully get.
So I was expecting the story to actually have a “satisfying” ending (within the dark story and concepts that the group has).
Yet, I feel that didn’t truly come to fruition.
Then again, this was what I expected storytelling-wise and it may differ with your understanding of the franchise (and that’s perfectly okay).
However, from a storytelling point, I feel like we lacked a proper fleshed-out farewell or close of a chapter. “CHOOSE” isn’t a satisfying CD by any means. Perhaps the drama tracks do a better job of giving that farewell and I’m lacking that to tie loose ends.
But let’s go to the second point: the performances lack the power and technicality we all know and love.
In this CD, the talented trio was tasked with performing mostly in a pop style, ditching the lyrical technicality they had brought to their performances up until “DÉJÀ VU”.
As a result, they lack the emotional punch they delivered in songs like “Invisible Cross”, “Abortive Flower” and “Growing Nightmare”.
That beautiful darkness that was unique to them is nowhere to be found in their performances, that technicality that really put me on the edge of my seat was also not there fully – even if “Bioagent” has glimpses of that technicality.
The choice for a pop style of performance made this goodbye/see you later a bit bland to me. I was expecting fans would be absolutely rendered to tears with a lyrical, powerhouse vocals-driven style of performance in one of the 3 songs we got but… there was nothing like it.
Yet again, this may have been an intentional choice to leave fans with not only a bittersweet “see you later” but also one that felt like it emptied your heart completely not giving a proper ending.
Leaving you feeling pure “loss”. If that was the case, this CD is brilliant because it perfectly achieved that.
These, of course, are not necessarily bad things in the grand scheme of things.
“CHOOSE” still has its brilliant moments, at least lyrics-wise, addressing the story directly while also addressing their fans directly, confidently bidding goodbye (but still leaving the door open to a comeback).
I feel this is something I was not expecting, as “goodbye” songs are not usually this straightforward even if the lyrics have some hidden things that I feel long-time fans of the lore in this franchise will go crazy about trying to make sense of.
For me, “Bioagent” is the only song in this release that has Loulou*di’s DNA. “Above the Sky” and “Dream Eden” have elements – for sure – but stray too much away in tone, composition, and even delivery to come close to the quality of stellar performances the group has used us to.
With that said, “CHOOSE” fails to fully impress me and leaves me with a strong bittersweet aftertaste.
Honestly, after this release, I’d love to get more Loulou*di music to give clarity to this release as it feels more like a turn of a page than a goodbye itself. Its odd composition style and vocal direction don’t seem to match the supposed “final” tone of this release. For example “Dying Matter” or “Abortive Flower” would have been better fits for a farewell-style CD like this one.
Then again, Amagiri Production confirmed the group has “temporarily suspended their activities” so this is not as “final” as they initially said (and basically made the whole fandom go crazy with the impending ending).
So it’s safe to say that the group – and franchise – may be regrouping and we may meet again a stronger and even more powerful Loulou*di and I’m all in for it!
Still, what an amazing run Loulou*di has had so far. 4 impressive non-stop years.
Easily becoming the best 2D music group without the hype or budget other projects and groups have.
Being proud of their unique lyrical, deeply emotional singing style and orchestral sound with hints of electronica.
Delivering a dark, twisted story that united fans and had them theorizing to no end about everyone’s intentions.
Leaving us with a set of wonderful, almost all memorable, heartwrenching, and jaw-droppingly beautiful songs that we can’t forget.
Making us miss a vocal lineup like no other in terms of technicality.
Loulou*di became my favorite 2D group fairly quickly and I feel it’ll be difficult for another group to match the greatness of their music – thanks to Takeshi Hama – and their performances by Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Shunsuke Takeuchi, and Daiki Yamashita.
But knowing that they are just on a temporary hiatus brings a bit of hope to an otherwise quite grim “ending” we were getting with this CD.
Until we meet again, in Eden.
What is Hana-Doll*?
Hana-Doll* is an idol project created by movic (TSUKIPRO, VAZZROCK, Tsukiuta, etc).
The franchise includes Anthos*, features vocals by Kent Ito, Wataru Komada, Toshiki Masuda, Shunichi Toki, Daiki Hamano, Seiichiro Yamashita, and Shun Horie.
Loulou*di features vocals by Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Shunsuke Takeuchi, and Daiki Yamashita.
THINK OF ME: CHOOSE is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
Unfortunately this is the final album we will get from Loulou*di.
The “temporarily suspended activities” announcement is the in-universe explanation for their absence in the ongoing story. It can be tricky to tell which posts from the official account are in-universe posts, versus posts for the real-world fans, so I understand the mix up!
Regretfully, the seiyuu interviews, album booklet and drama tracks from this album made it *very* clear that this is the end of Loulou*di. 🙁
I wanted to clarify this as I thought it best not to give fans who haven’t listened to the drama tracks false hope of another album.
Hey R, thank you so much for the comment!!
Damn, this hurts a lot… That announcement actually made me hopeful but then again, the posts are not really clear about what is in-universe and what is real. Still, thank for the heads up and taking the time to explain it in a comment!
I’ll be adjusting the writing in the review just not to get people hopeful – like I was – of a comeback (although I’d honestly love for them to return, some time in the future).
I hope you enjoyed this CD as well as the wild and emotional ride that was Loulou*di’s outstanding music!