Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Kimagure Pirate, err, Princess 8D

So, the radio rip for Morning Musume's newest single came out and I'm super excited! :D

Have a listen before we go on?



So, the first thing I thought with the instrumental was... Pirates!! I really adore the instrumental this time. It's update and it sounds kind of exotic. But why does it remind me of pirates? Well, in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles IV for the Super Nintendo, there is background music that sounds familiar. I associated it with the pirate level, but it turns out really to be the train level:



I loved that game. :'D And yes, I've seen previews of the Xbox360 version, but I don't have that console. I prefere sticking to my handhelds anyway.

Back on topic, the vocal melodies don't impress me as much. Without the energetic backing track, it would seem as unremarkable to me as their latest two singles (I thought Nanchatte Renai was an improvement, though) and the chipmunk parts remind me of Egao YES Nude, which I also didn't like that much.

The older half of Morning Musume seems featured heavily as usual, with Eri playing a larger part than usual. That's good, but I kind of wish that the 8th generation would start getting at least one solo line in the newer singles. Aika got solo lines when she first became a member, and even though she's gotten better, she seems left out now. And I'm also one of those people that think LinLin should be one of the main vocals in all singles, accent or not.

Overall, though, this single looks like a turning point! Morning Musume is always changing their style, and while this single is still very familiar to the latest songs (I also get a bit of a pre-Aruiteru 2006 vibe with Kimagure as well), this could possibly be the signal of another shift.

I hope a new audition is announced soon, now that I've heard this. Fresh blood might infuse that youthful spark that the 3rd and 4th generations added to old school Morning Musume. Not that I don't find the current Momusu interesting. I think it's cool that almost all the members are college age like me, but if that means Momusu is going to continue with a mature image... I just want them to be weird and fun, like when I first fell in love with their music! (Please don't tell me that is Berryz' job, because even though Berryz did Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance last year, Berryz is catching up in age with Morning Musume and C-ute has been more mature than cute lately, too. Good music, just not as fun.)