[ARASHI] The 34th thread ~ 49th single I seek / Daylight (18.05)

[Beauty4123]

Yay! I sooo cannot wait to see what next week's "Kokoro no Sora" performance, will be like. And it'll be interesting to hear that cover song, as well. Already looking forward to it all!

[KarenPang]

Pictures from the Japonism booklet have already released online from Baidu / Weibo

And frankly they don't change my opinion towards the covers if not the concept as the pictures look random , nothing that associates Japan

Likewise the entire / all 3 editions of Japonism should be uploaded online soon

So far , Nino's new solo MUSIC has already been leaked & it sounds good although it reminds me of a Tetris video game and for once it's not a ballad

[KarenPang]

Arashi Collaborates With Hotei Tomoyasu for “Kokoro no Sora” Music Video

Check out the full PV for Arashi’s “Kokoro no Sora”, lead track off their newest album Japonism to be released on October 21. Hotei Tomoyasu, who wrote the lyrics and music for the song, also appears in the video with the group. Ohno Satoshi choreographed for the interlude part of the song. Sakurai Sho wrote the rap segment.

Hotei Tomoyasu wrote about the collaboration on his blog, mentioning how the meetings were held between him and the members via Skype while he was in London, which felt surreal. He was given the concept of “Japan as seen from the outside”, “Japanese instrumental dance number”, and “back to basics”, giving him a lot to think of. He returned home last summer and gave the demo, with Ohno commenting he wants to hear more of Hotei’s guitar.

Check out the group’s latest music video as well as previews off the album, with a snippet of new songs “Masquerade” and “Japonesque” below.

KOKORO NO SORA PV



JAPONISM PREVIEW

1. Sakura
2. Kokoro no sora
3. Aozora no Shita, Kimi no Tonari
4. Masquerade
5. Japonesque

http://aramajapan.com/news/music/mus...c-video/51325/

I respect Hotei Tomoyasu given who he's (likewise his ex band mate Himuro Kyosuke) & what Hotei-san did for Kokoro no Sora is fantastic

2 music legends that did great work for Johnnys , 1st for KAT-TUN & now ARASHI , awesome

[KarenPang]

The entire Japonism album leaked this afternoon ie. all 21 songs from all 3 editions

For now , let's just say that Kokoro no Sora do deserves to get a PV & Ohno's solo stoods out to me as it has a gorgeous breath taking melody

I need to listen to all the new tracks in the next few days which's not easy . At this point in time , I feel the 1st 1/2 of the album has strong Oriental sounds while for the 2nd 1/2 , not so

On the other hand , the solos in Japonism don't sound as great as what was found in THE DIGITALIAN but hopefully my opinions on the new album will change as time goes by

[Beauty4123]

Looks like I'll be spending most of this upcoming week...listening to "Japonism". I couldn't possibly finish listening to it in just one day! But in the meantime, however...I've watched (and re-watched) the "Kokoro no Sora" PV & hot damn is it EPIC! Like I've previously posted...everything's just a masterpiece! I'm loving the song itself sooo much more after hearing it in full. At the moment, I just can't stop playing the video due to the song (totally love those guitar beats ) Arashi's dancing...Arashi themselves...

Anyway, I am really hoping for one incredible & successful week for the album and I am super excited to start listening to it, tomorrow! And all throughout the week.

[KarenPang]

ARASHI LIVE TOUR 2015 Japonism concert goods



https://twitter.com/tlclip/status/655598283465715714

Goods with confirmed prices

Pamphlet - ￥2,200
Poster (5 solos , 1 group) - ￥600 each
Jumbo Uchiwa (5 solos) - ￥600 each
Clearfile (5 solos , 1 group) - ￥600 each
Mini Uchiwa (5 solos) - ￥400

Goods with unconfirmed prices

Zekkouchou-chou Lightstick
Shopping bag
T-shirt
Blanket
Drawstring pouch
Wrapping cloth
Gratitude envelope
Over the top Japonism 2016 calendar
Masking tape (concert venue exclusive item)
Stickers

Too bad this time round there's no USB thumbdrive unlike last year's ARASHI LIVE TOUR 2014 THE DIGITALIAN which at that time I asked my mum's colleague's daughter to help me buy as she attended it

Oh well , hopefully ARASHI LIVE TOUR 2015 Japonism goods will be nice unlike ARASHI LIVE TOUR 2013 "LOVE" goods which were horribly cheaply produced :x

[KarenPang]

Spaceshower TV will air the full PV of Kokoro no Sora tomorrow morning

【10/20(火)7:30～】NEW CUTS！「Love Me Right ～romantic universe～」 #EXO 「心の空」 #嵐 「HIGHER」 #2PM 「Far」 #MWAM をオンエア！ #スペシャ

https://twitter.com/spaceshowertv/st...77493733040128

===

And here's my somewhat concise more detailed opinions towards Japonism on whole

Spoiler:

The good :

- Kokoro no Sora hands down deserves to be the only album track that gets a PV which's easy to see (hear) why

- Singles wise , Sakura is still the best . I'm still OK to Aozora no Shita, Kimi no Tonari

- Finally , a CD version of Furusato which's a long time coming especially since they 1st sang it in Kohaku Uta Gassen 5 years ago

The bad :

- Length wise , Japonism is long & at almost 130 minutes for 21 songs from all 3 editions , it's a struggle to be kept interested from start until finished

- Covers are still bad , enough said . If ARASHI wants to convey the spirit of their home country based on that alone , I'm still not buying it

- The 1st 1/2 of the album has very strong Oriental sounds which I like . After that the 2nd 1/2 is just random if not all over the place

Solos wise , I rank them in this manner

1) Ohno

It's no surprises Ohno's solo is the best as Akatsuki has a gorgeous Oriental melody . I can imagine him dancing with a giant fake waterfall as a backdrop in due time when he perform this on tour

2) Sakurai

Rolling days is a nice surprise & just like Sakurai's previous solo Hey Yeah! , this's not bad & of course everything anything with Sakurap just elevates things to a whole new level

3) Nino

After a few solos ballads back to back , Nino finally does something upbeat . MUSIC is fun & it sounds like DAIGO's POP☆CORN as both songs have that Tetris video game vibes going on

4) Aiba

Aiba's past 2 album solos were good but wish I can say the same thing for Mr. FUNK

Mr. FUNK is surprisingly quite mellow given the title & I thought it might be another Disco Star but I'm not liking Mr. FUNK that much although to hear Aiba rap was unexpected but he did it pretty decently

5) MatsuJun

MatsuJun's album solos all the while have always been on the last of my list & likewise for Don't you love me? as I was quite turned off in the beginning of the song

His previous album solo STAY GOLD was better (even though it still sounded weird to me) but Don't you love me? is just blah . His weak vocals don't help much either

Overall , my impressions on Japonism is that it's not as good as THE DIGITALIAN & LOVE which I surprisingly liked both but something about Japonism is just missing the mark for me + the covers probably contributed to that to a certain extent

And it's a big shame since Kokoro no Sora is hands down the main star of the album but somehow the other album tracks felt extremely overshadowed by it

Let alone , if all the new tracks in Japonism have a strong Oriental sound that would have been better but I don't know , maybe my expectations for their latest album is a lot higher than I expected

End of the day , nice try ARASHI but sorry I think for this , I will buy Japonism when the Taiwan press gets released next month as I'm very extremely 1/2 hearted to buy the Japan press as I don't see the need to pay so much for an album that I'm not liking that much

[KarenPang]

Flying Get day for Japonism

At Hyogo's Shinseido Kakogawa



https://twitter.com/ssd_kakogawa/sta...65570623844352

[KarenPang]

At HMV Aeon Mall Funabashi



https://twitter.com/HMV_Funabashi/st...20857569415168

At Tower Records Kawasaki



https://twitter.com/TOWER_Kawasaki/s...12107492032512

[KarenPang]

At Osaka's Shinseido Tennoji Station





https://twitter.com/ssd_ten/status/656722270207868928

[KarenPang]

At TSUTAYA Shibuya









Taken by my sister who went back Tokyo today !

The wall billboard looks awesome in the 3rd photo

[KarenPang]

Last night's medley performance of Kokoro no Sora & a cover of Shounentai's Nihon Yoitoko Maka Fushigi at MUSIC STATION

https://www.facebook.com/LoveJohnnys...8220478253336/

I like the setting of the stage . I'm not so keen on their cover of Shounentai's Nihon Yoitoko Maka Fushigi although hey this's Shounentai at the end of the day , Higashiyama will come after me LOL

[KarenPang]

Sakurai is going to be the host of this year's NTV's Best Artist programme

今年も放送決定！日テレ冬の大型音楽特番！「ベストアーティスト2015」！
今年も総合司会は櫻井翔さんです！！今の日本を代表する豪華アーティストが続々登場！最新ヒット曲や珠玉の 名曲を披露！この番組だけの超豪華スペシャルメドレーも！！お楽しみに★#ベストアーティスト

http://www.ntv.co.jp/best-artist/

Best Artist 2015 will be broadcast next month on 24th Nov

[Bigtop]

That's...like...the seventh year in a row Sho Sakurai's hosting NTV Best Artist. I'd rather have another host, but I can't think of anyone else...

[KarenPang]

Kokoro no Sora in music box mode

[KarenPang]

Video message announcement on Sakurai in being this year's host for NTV's Best Artist programme

https://www.facebook.com/LoveJohnnys...8794388195945/

[KarenPang]

Japonism sold 820K copies in the 1st week of release

This's now their overall best 1st week sales for any release , suppressing their best album All the BEST！ 1999-2009 (753K) & their 40th single Calling / Breathless (756K)

http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2061335/full/?ref_cd=tw

Do I feel this album deserves its high 1st week sales ? Yes & no , let's put it that way

[Beauty4123]

...820K is absolutely amaaazing! For the first week. I am so, so happy for Arashi. Although, I don't quite think they would be so happy with me, right now...since I didn't get a chance to listen to the album yet. Darn work! But I totally plan on listening to it, this weekend.

Anywaaay...once again, congrats to Arashi! On one successful first week for 'Japonism'.

[KarenPang]

Japonism 1st week sales - 820,208

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/w/2015-11-02/

[Bigtop]

Originally Posted by KarenPang

Japonism sold 820K copies in the 1st week of release

This's now their overall best 1st week sales for any release , suppressing their best album All the BEST！ 1999-2009 (753K) & their 40th single Calling / Breathless (756K)

http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2061335/full/?ref_cd=tw

Do I feel this album deserves its high 1st week sales ? Yes & no , let's put it that way

Originally Posted by KarenPang

Japonism 1st week sales - 820,208

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/w/2015-11-02/

That is...ridiculously high. :O

I didn't even expect the sales numbers to be that high! WHOA!!