The second volume of the 12 Songs Gift is out. IDOLiSH7’s leader, Yamato Nikaido (Yusuke Shirai) takes the reigns on a sweet R&B song that ended up lacking the emotion to connect with the listener.
Title: Love two you Label: Lantis Release date: 14/02/2018 Genre: R&B/J-Pop/Ballad
Tracklist:
1 - Love two you
Track analysis:
With a mix of R&B and pop in its core, “Love two you” leaves a sweet vibe in the air as soon as you listen to the first piano notes. Its vibe is enhanced with washy drums, a simple synth lead – adding more depth to the already noticeable bassline – and some strings bits. The instrumental isn’t too keen on being flashy, keeping things simple, something which fits well with the romantic/thankful lyrics.
On the vocal end, we must say that there’s one out of two problems here, maybe even both. Either Shirai can’t tackle well this kind of vocal registry, resulting in him sounding excessively nasal (to make up for not hitting certain notes) and lacking emotion; or the vocal direction was a miss because Shirai sounds thoroughly lost. Regardless, the truth is that his performance sounds lackluster. With an instrumental like this, a mix of R&B and pop, quieter and more prone to have the vocals stand out, we expected him to impress us with his range – that he’s shown in a couple of other occasions before -, but the only glimpses of something more “technically” or even near to flourishes – a must for any R&B song – is during the last stages of the song, and on the background in which he tackles some sweet high notes. The premise for this song was good and it could have panned out much better if only Shirai was more comfortable and the direction had been towards a registry that he could ace.
In the end, “Love two you” leaves us with mixed feelings. It has the makings of a quality R&B/pop song, with a well-crafted instrumental, however it never ends up expanding those sweet, romantic feelings beyond what we’re all presented with. Unfortunately, with a performance as bland as this one ended up being, we can’t help but to have mixed feelings. It could have been a great song, only it isn’t.
Final rating:
The song is available for purchase on all major online music stores in Japan.
[…] the solo end, Yusuke Shirai, as Nikaido, performed “Love two you“, song part of IDOLiSH7‘s “12 SONGS GIFT“, a series of solo song releases […]