“Good mood” is all about spreading good vibes and putting a smile on his fans’ faces. At the same time, it is the most technically challenging single in Yuma Uchida’s repertoire.
Title: Good mood Release date: 09/02/2022 Label: KING AMUSEMENT CREATIVE Genre: R&B/Ballad/Funk
Tracklist:
1 - Good mood 2 - Angel 3 - your words 4 - Good mood （off vocal ver.） 5 - Angel（off vocal ver.） 6 - your words（off vocal ver.）
Track by track analysis:
1 – Good mood
A sweet piano melody echoes in the background, setting the stage for Yuma Uchida’s R&B riffing to kick off.
The tone is gentle in the verses with the piano being used as the sole accompaniment to Uchida’s smooth, emotional tenor vocals.
And while you may be thinking to yourself that this song will be pretty quiet for the whole duration, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find it building up its tension, adding more elements and little details in the instrumental as the song moves forward.
In a way, it feels like you’re walking in an empty soundscape, leaving a dim, small place and moving towards something that will open your horizon, make you happy.
The first chorus does signal a change is going to take place, leaving behind those feelings while you try to embrace positivity and put a smile on your face as you confidently find your way.
The 2nd verse changes things around and introduces a clap track + bass drum beat as well as a punchy bassline, expanding the soundscape for this track.
When you get to the pre-chorus before the 2nd chorus, the soundscape in front of you is wide, the horizon in front of you while you feel warm and cozy. This is quite the change in tone and a fantastic build-up to the powerful chorus that awaits you.
The piano beautifully plays in the background, lighting up the path for you to shine and get in a “Good mood” as Yuma Uchida goes all out for a technical performance that sees him going to a half-head voice chorus with crescendo and vibrato in the mix.
The way he tackles the words “Good mood” in the chorus, with that effortless mix of head voice, crescendo, vibrato, and R&B riffing is just divine.
An outstanding way to start this single, going straight for the listener’s emotions.
2 – Angel
Funk and disco take center stage for “Angel”, song really keen on its old-school, playful vibes.
The piano melody is jolly, the bassline leads the way in a groovy fashion while playful brass plays in the background, adding depth to this song alongside the splashy drums.
The verses progress in a comfortable tempo on top of the shuffling beat and bass goodness in the background. The tension rises through the splashy drums, leading to a smooth transition to what is one of the catchiest choruses in Uchida’s repertoire.
When you get to the chorus, you’ll find yourself bouncing – or shuffling, really, just pick your favorite way to enjoy this song, I know I am shuffling as I write this review – along with the addictive instrumental.
The brass soars in this section, heightening the fun as Yuma Uchida delivers a smooth performance overflowing with charisma and good vibes.
The sweetness levels are high.
3 – your words
Closing this single is the song “your words”.
An emotional piano melody and simple R&B beat paint the soundscape with melancholy, deep in the background, a clap track adds depth to the instrumental.
Slowly, the song introduces triplets in the beat and live drums, raising the tension to the power ballad rock chorus that awaits you. Electric guitars go low, dramatic strings – in a high key – and powerful drums make those contained emotions in the verses pour over and inundate your soundscape. There is beauty and fragility in this instrumental and Uchida’s performance – in this part overflowing with falsetto – emphasizes that.
The strings carry over to the 2nd verse, bringing tremolo and pizzicato accents to the song, something I believe adds a lot of depth to this song.
The bridge to this song is overwhelming. Yuma Uchida sings his lungs out for this song, shifting from big, loud, clean notes to perfect head voice high notes, making you go through a rollercoaster of emotions until the outro arrives and everything fades away.
This is exactly the type of song that will overwhelm you emotionally. Perhaps even making you cry. Uchida doesn’t spare anyone with his performance and the rock build-up for this song is absolutely perfect for that.
Final considerations
Following the stunner that was “Equal”, it was insanely difficult to top that quality yet, while still aware of that, my expectations were high and those were, in a way, met with “Good mood”.
The title track is another beautiful display of how much of an outstanding technical singer Yuma Uchida is.
R&B riffing, head voice, falsetto, vibrato, crescendos… He was doing everything in the R&B ballad “Good mood” and what is maddening – in a good way – is how effortless he made everything sound. He was in complete control – and was completely relaxed – during that performance.
It’s impressive how all those insanely difficult – and technical – details were added to his performance and… It was as simple as breathing for him.
“Angel” is everything I wanted “SHAKE! SHAKE! SHAKE!” to be. Fun, mature, playful, and overflowing with good vibes while keeping a good balance between those and a tasteful funky instrumental.
Fun is the keyword for this song, with this song overflowing with good vibes as Yuma Uchida groovily delivers an addictive performance in what is quite the memorable sweet song.
And to wrap up this single, fans are presented with “your words”. What a song this one is!
Ballads need power and need emotion and Yuma Uchida brought both to the spotlight. There is gentleness in his tone in the verses – with the instrumental following that same tone – and as the tension rises in his performance, the instrumental follows.
As Uchida takes the lead off his emotions, the instrumental introduces rock elements that help flesh out those emotions within that, once, delicate R&B ballad instrumental led by the piano. I love the way this song was composed. While not groundbreaking – there are countless songs like this one out there -, the little details made the difference for me.
The tremolo in the cellos raises the tension to the 2nd chorus, the strings carry over from the 1st chorus to the 2nd verse but serve only as an accent in pizzicato, and the mix of R&B with rock in the instrumental works surprisingly well (and you barely notice one fading away to give way to the other the first time that happens).
Those were the things that won me over in the instrumental and made it stand out as a ballad well worth paying full attention to. The rock elements arrived as a surprise for me but, honestly, as you listen to the song, you notice that those were necessary to contrast with the sweet, delicate vocals by Yuma Uchida. It was really what this song need to leave a mark on the listener.
And it certainly left a deep one with me.
I love how “Good mood” puts R&B in the spotlight. If you follow Yuma Uchida’s career as a solo artist, you’ll know that up until recently R&B was common in his full-length albums, not so much his singles. More R&B means… more technical performances by Uchida.
And he more than delivered those. He was confident and sounded incredibly comfortable even in the trickiest of sections. You got to give it to him, in the last couple of releases, Uchida has been making a case for himself as one of the best singers among seiyuu.
And he’s not sparing anything nor anyone as he effortlessly showcases his vocal prowess.
By the time “Good mood” wraps up, you notice that this single was all about putting a smile on your face, being there for you, and warming you up.
It is a sweet, gentle, and fun single with 3 of the most technical performances in his repertoire, easily taking the throne of Uchida’s best single to date.
“Good mood” is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.
“Good mood” is available for streaming on Spotify.
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