The first unit to debut from Rejet‘s new project “Forbidden Star” is XYZ. Atsushi Tamaru, Ryota Osaka and Natsuki Hanae are the ones behind Soma, Kiruna and Raira, the new stars in Rejet.
Smile☆Glitters is the first of two singles to be released this year by the unit. Ready for our review?
Single: Smile☆Glitters Label: Rejet Release date: 27/07/2016 Genre: J-Pop
Tracklist:
1 - Smile☆Glitters 2 - Midnight Emotion 3 - ミニドラマ「XYZ of dissimulation」
Track by track analysis:
1 – Smile☆Glitters
With a mid-tempo bright pop instrumental mixed with some electronica elements, Smile☆Glitters comes forward with what is yet another entertaining and energetic pop track. Nothing new in here as synths take the lead on this track. Vocally this track impressed us. Not because there’s some otherworldly singing but because this trio tackled this song incredibly well, we had doubts about Atsushi Tamaru‘s singing but those were completely cleared as we listened to his stellar approach to the track. As far as Osaka and Hanae‘s singing, they are well known as solid singers and Hanae is even one of the rising stars with his angelic high notes, so there were no issues with their singing. Smile☆Glitters lacks a bit of consistency and originality in the instrumental as we’re presented with yet another generic pop instrumental. Lacking in the instrumental department, this track suffers a bit. 3.5/5
2 – Midnight Emotion
Minimal synths and a funky bass lead the way in the best track in this release. “Midnight Emotion” sure sheds a completely different light over XYZ. It’s milder, more dancefloor oriented than the previous one, putting synths on a pedestral alongside the addictive bassline. The instrumental, although not up tempo like most dance pop songs, still makes an impact and impresses with its quality. In terms of vocal performance we could get a glimpse of how synced this unit sounds and actually how their different tones blend in. 5/5
Final rating:
Rejet‘s units are known for tackling often the rock genre or more recently, for endevoring in the electronica/dance pop genres. “Smile☆Glitters” is none of them in reality. It’s a simple generic bright pop track that will sound just any other from the same genre. Sadly, taking into account the amount of talent Tamaru, Osaka and Hanae displayed, this release doesn’t do enough justice to their performances. But don’t get us wrong. There’s nothing bad about trying out generic pop songs, everyone does that, the problem is when those sound like not enough effort was put on them or that this instrumental doesn’t fit the vocals.
Thankfully “Midnight Emotion” saves the day for XYZ. Resorting to a minimal electro instrumental that grabbed us right from the first second into the song, it also brings the funky bass to keep things interesting. Vocally this track was also the strongest of them all. Solid performance with an instrumental track that impressed us.
Although this is a release that has left us with mixed feelings, we await the next release to see if there was any kind of improvement after this messy debut.
“Smile☆Glitters” is available for purchase on CDJAPAN for all overseas fans.
This is kind of an unpopular opinion but I never really like Rejet’s idol groups’ song. Sure, a few of them are catchy but I never really like the direction of their songs. You know, the pause a bit, say some cheesy lines and kiss thing? Yeah, not my thing XD
Which is why this group is a breath of fresh air, probably mainly because it’s under a different production group. The composer and lyricist are different too. And yes, ‘Midnight Emotion’ is the bomb, I totally agree. I’m sold as soon as I heard the intro XD
Yeah, I feel you on that. But that has been the greeting card for any Rejet idol group (which is closely connected to Rejet’s main outlet – situation cd’s – so it sells like hot cakes in Japan).Thankfully things are changing and even the units under the MIKOTO/Iwasaki Daisuke collab (MG#4, LP and UJR.) are slowly putting those cheesy lines behind.
Regarding XYZ, they really surprised us – because everything was different – composer, lyricist, the unit members, even the approach to the whole song. Rejet was in serious need of this unit as far as I can tell. “Midnight Emotion” is a top hit in my books! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment 🙂