
VAZZY bring tropical pop alongside acoustic rock to the table for “YELLOW“. Although not flawless, this is quite the entertaining single with its fair share of sweet moments.

Title: VAZZROCK COLOR Series [-YELLOW-] - Yellow belly - Release date: 25/12/2020 Label: Movic Genre: EDM / Acoustic rock
Tracklist:
1 - DRAMA「再会と緊張」 2 - DRAMA「踏み込みと拒絶」 3 - DRAMA「Yellow belly」 4 - DRAMA「過去と今」 5 - DRAMA「ムカつくけど、いい男」 6 - MUSIC GEM (VAZZY song) 7 - Our bonds (Issa Kiduku, Futaba Kiduku and Naosuke Oyama) 8 - MUSIC GEM -off vocal- 9 - Our bonds -off vocal-
Track by track analysis:
6 – MUSIC GEM
VAZZY go the bright and upbeat route with MUSIC GEM. This is the kind of song that you’d never expect coming from the group itself. It is too bright and peppy in its verses and has a massive focus on synths in the chorus.
The verses aren’t memorable – a lot of focus on a sort of tropical sound, always exuding a bright vibe – but the chorus is strangely addictive, even with those high pitched synths looping in the background.
I am not a big fan of those but given that they don’t stay for long in that specific part of the song, end up being tolerable.
When it comes to the vocals it is worth noting the awesome working of VAZZY as a whole, once again going to that breathy falsetto in the chorus.
Props as well to Tsubasa Sasa, he was everywhere in this song, standing out from the rest of the group with his melodic mid-tones and vibrato.
7 – Our bonds
Wrapping up this release comes a semi-acoustic ballad. “Our Bonds” counts with sweet, gentle acoustic and electric guitar riffs, a melancholic piano melody and slow paced, splashy drums.
The song flows pretty smoothly to the chorus, once again overflowing with nostalgia yet exuding a comfortable warmth.
On the vocal end, this trio counts with Masahiro Yamanaka, Yusuke Shirai and Tsubasa Sasa and they absolutely nailed this performance.
Their mid-tones were full of life, hearty and emotional. I was surprised to find the 3 going for such high notes in falsetto, especially Yusuke Shirai.
Quite impressed with his growth as a singer, not falling behind the massive talents of Yamanaka – whose vibrato is off the charts – and Sasa – who has one of the huskiest and most consistent vocals in the VAZZROCK franchise.
Best song in this release.
Final considerations
VAZZY don’t improve on their work done in BLUE with this new entry, YELLOW.
There are some bright points here and there but the excessively bright sound in “MUSIC GEM” didn’t work that well in my opinion.
While this song still has that slow paced, minimalistic touch in the verses, it gets too bright and, at times, kind of annoying with all those high-pitched synths in the background. If you’re into this kind of electro-pop with a lot of synths brightening it up, then, this will be a jam.
I feel like, after the outstanding job done in BLUE, this song came as complete downgrade.
The highlight of this release is the trio song, “Our Bonds”.
It is sweet and nostalgic. It embraces a sort of campfire sound in which acoustic guitars are king and warmth is exuded like there is no tomorrow.
Still, it is worth mentioning that the group has been growing a whole lot.
Quite impressed with Yusuke Shirai’s improvements, now having a pretty solid falsetto that can rival that of Masahiro Yamanaka’s.
As a whole, VAZZY continue to dazzle with collective falsetto parts, solid mid-tones, a lot of flair in the vibrato of some of the members and an awesome display of chemistry between members.
“YELLOW” doesn’t improve on the previous release but it isn’t, by any means, a disappointment. Quite the entertaining and sweet entry in the COLOR series.
YELLOW is available for purchase at CDJAPAN.