Tetsuya Kakihara “GENERATIONS” (Review)

Tetsuya Kakihara‘s “Generations” shows that, despite the noticeable improvements on the vocal end, there’s still a lot of work to do.

Album/single: GENERATIONS
Genre: J-Pop/rock
Label: Kiramune
Date released: 18/09/2013

Track by track analysis:

1 – GENERATIONS

The title track kicks off a single full of energy. “Generations” is clearly a pop/rock song.

The synths and the drums are main propulsors in this song, Tetsuya’s voice is a smooth as ever and sounding better than on any of his previous work.

Great guitar work on the outro guiding us to the incredibly catchy chorus.

2 – U R my Sunshine!

A surprise on this single also a complete change of pace. “U R my Sunshine!” is a song more focused on the R&B genre.

Smooth, kind of a slow song. Besides the talent that Tetsuya has for singing in this song he shows another one of his talents: his proficiency in English, sounding pretty good in the English parts of the lyrics.

This song just gives a good kind of feeling, an embracing, sweet song sang by one of the sweetest voices in the Japanese music business.

Maybe the song only lacks a bit of the rock elements that both “Generations” and “ラプソディー” have.

Overall a good song but a strange choice for a more pop/rock oriented single. 

3 – ラプソディー

And to finish the single comes one of the best songs Tetsuya has released so far.

A rock song once again breaking the slow pace dictated by “U R my Sunshine!”. The guitar work on this song is top notch, the riffs are strong, addictive and give so much power to this incredible song.

The solo by the end of the song is powerful, clearly enriching the instrumental piece.

Regarding the vocal work the same goes as the previous ones: Tetsuya’s vocals are incredible comparing with his previous work, there is some use of vibrato on this song as well showcasing Tetsuya’s growth in his singing.

Final considerations

This is one hell of a good and entertaining single, also a surprising one since most people won’t be expecting R&B songs from Kakki but it actually turned out pretty well with “U R my Sunshine!”.

The rock songs are well conceived and extremely addictive with more catchy pop choruses than rock ones.

Tetsuya’s voice is more than a perfect fit for the rock genre, at least it’s with rock songs that his vocals shine the most.

If you’re up for a fun and rich single this one is totally recommended.

Generations is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.