Showing posts with label country musume. Show all posts
Showing posts with label country musume. Show all posts

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Jpop Mix: Country Girls - Boogie Woogie Love, Koi wa Magnet, Ran Ra Run


I've had this post in the "drafting" stage since March. Oops. This is coming much later then I originally intended, but Country Girls has not released a new single, so it's not too late right? ;) Well, I've always had this sort of "I'm-not-so-sure" relationship with Country Girls. They were the group where I liked most of the members individually but in terms of the group itself - nah, I didn't care much for them. I did quite like Itooshikutte Gomen Ne, and while I originally thought I would soon tire of it, I still find myself listening to it. Haha, so if I could revise my original review, I would probably give their debut single 4/5, hehe. But! Their follow-up didn't really grab my attention at all and I sort of gave up on the group. 

Well, in the later half of 2015, two new members were added to the line-up, Hello!Project trainees Funaki Musubu and Yanagawa Nanami. This kept my interest only for a bit, but then I saw the new line-up perform their debut single and I was blown away. Like, these new girls had charisma and it's not that the previous line-up was bad, but with the additional two members, I felt like Country Girls as a whole just came alive. I waited patiently for a new single to be released and I was not disappointed. 

A triple A-side, this single is amazing in that it highlights a pair of girls in each song. The main A-side is Boogie Woogie Love which was a song that I immediately loved due to its retro style and jazz undertones. The music video looks like it was filmed in a diner and their outfits are so cute and definitely fit the era of the 50's. I felt like Funakki and Nanami were both featured in a way that wasn't overwhelming and I really liked their little solo dances in the middle. It's a fun song that I listen to often.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Jpop Mix: Country Girls, Itooshikutte Gomen Ne/Koi Dorobo


Making their major debut under the Hello Project! label, Country Girls is the essentially the revival of the group, "Country Musume." The original group debuted in 1999 but the group became inactive when all but 1 member left. In 2014, 6 girls were chosen to revive the group as the new Country Musume, which was to be renamed Country Girls. Their debut single was released on March 25th, 2015. 

Titled Itooshikutte Gomen Ne/Koi Dorobo (Sorry for Being Adorable / Love Thief), the single unsurprisingly, gives no "country" vibes. The name of the group does not seem to relate to their concept in any way, which was a bit disappointing for me. I would have liked to see this group release songs that I would never have seen any other Hello Project! idol group release, but I digress. The main track on this single is Itooshikutte Gomen Ne (Sorry for Being Adorable). I absolutely loved this song when it was first released. I loved the melody, I loved the talking portions and the dance is adorable. Most of the girls are quite young, so a song like this really emphasized how fresh and new they were to the scene. However, after listening to it over and over, it became stale for me.  Whaaa? Why? Getting past the excitement of this being a new group to Hello Project, I didn't find the song to be as stellar as I originally touted it was. Nevertheless, it's still a very good song and gets a solid 3.8/5 stars.