Nana Tanimura – Crazy for You (a J!-ENT World Groove CD Single Review)
July 6, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
“The fifth CD single from Nana Tanimura featuring three tracks that sport different musical styles. Overall, a single that shows improvement in Tanimura’s vocals and tracks that are enjoyable.”
ARTIST: Nana Tanimura
CD SINGLE: Crazy For You
LABEL: SONIC GROOVE
CATALOG #: AVCD-16173
DURATION: 18:35
RELEASE DATE: February 25, 2009
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- Crazy For You
- Noisy
- No Music, No Goodies
- Crazy For You (Instrumental)
- Noisy (Instrumental)
- No Music, No Goodies (Instrumental)
In Japan, Nana Tanimura has been known as the avex JPOP singer and referred by media for her upper body assets but as a singer, the 21-year-old has been slowly getting better with her overall vocals, choreography and her live performances.
Her fifth CD single “Crazy For You” features three upbeat vocal tracks (plus the instrumentals of each song). Each song is musically different as you get R&B pop, synth pop and club beat dance music.
“Crazy For You” is an R&B pop track is written by Shungo and features music by Christian Ballard, Andy Murray, Ashley Robles, Jane Vaughn and Jodie Wilson. Arrangement by koma2 kazu. Musically, the track is good but If anything, it’s when Nana tries to bust out high pitch wails, she definitely needs a bit more work vocally on that but overall, an average but enjoyable track.
“Noisy” is an upbeat synth pop track that is written by shungo and music by Anders Bagge, Par Astrom and Karen Poole. Faster, more upbeat and a track that suits Tanimura’s vocal style.
“No Music, No Goodies” is an upbeat clubbing track that is written by shungo and music by Anders Bagge, Peter Sjostrom and Celetia Martin and an arrangement by koma2 kazu. The track sports a club beat and overall, cool groove and beat.
The CD insert (a bi-fold) comes with a picture of Tanimura and lyrics and production credits. Also, a mini-flier promoting Tanimura’s music on Mu-Mo.
Overall, Tanimura is an artist that I follow for the purpose of seeing how she’s marketed and how she grows as a singer. “Crazy For You” is not a great CD single but for those who are fans of her musical work, she continues to get better with each release.
BUY THIS CD SINGLE
Tanimura Nana – If I’m not the one/SEXY SENORITA (a J!-ENT World Groove CD Single Review)
August 22, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
“Tanimura Nana returns with her fourth CD single with a double A-sided single that features an elegant ballad and a sexy pop song!”
ARTIST: Tanimura Nana
CD SINGLE: if I’m not the one / SEXY SENORITA
LABEL: Sonic Groove
CATALOG #: AVCD-16160
DURATION: 24:33
RELEASE DATE: August 13, 2008
- If I’m not the one
- SEXY SENORITA
- 忘れないよ～song for you～
- If I’m not the one (Instrumental)
- SEXY SENORITA (Instrumental)
- 忘れないよ～song for you～ (Instrumental)
This summer, Tanimura Nana has become the media darling.
I guess you can say that where Koda Kumi has been Avex’s sexy diva for the past five years, Tanimura has quickly rose in the ranks (and even performed at a recent concert as a headliner along with Koda).
But of course in the media’s eyes, focus is on her G-cup cleavage and her brains (the artist is in college studying International Law). So, I guess you can say that Tanimura has the body and brains. But how does her latest CD single stack up?
I’ve been following Tanimura before she was with Avex (from another music audition which she came in second place) and I’ve seen her transformation and also the progress of this artist and I have to admit that I like where she’s going.
Obviously the marketing has been there since she’s been in the media quite a bit for her concert performances and CD single promotionals but with each CD single, I see her music getting better and better and sure, her videos will promote her as a sex kitten but musically and vocally, she does have potential.
The first track “If I’m not the one” is a very awesome ballad from Peter Gordeno, Howard New and New Graham Kearns. Not sure if this is the same Peter Gordeno (that performed on tour with Depeche Mode) but nevertheless, the ballad is elegant, touching and beautiful.
I have to admit this is one of those songs that you listen to and you wonder to yourself if you’ve heard it before in the US because it’s one of those ballads that you just wonder if someone like Celine Dion or some country singer may have sung. But it definitely has a beautiful arrangement with the piano, acoustic guitar and string arrangement. Very cool CD single.
Of course, the song of the double A-side that is getting the most attention is “SEXY SENORITA” which is an upbeat track with lyrics from shungo (has written many lyrics for the boy band w-inds and FLAME). The song has that Latin style beat. And has definitely complimented Tanimura’s sexy choreography at live performances.
The coupling song “Wasurenai yo ~song for you~ which features a mid-tempo R&B ballad and features an acoustic guitar, piano and an underlying beat. Actually, another good track and where “If I’m not the one” was more dominant with a string arrangement and is more elegant as a ballad, this track is more R&B based with it’s steady beat.
The three remaining tracks are the instrumentals for the first three songs.
And with this CD single release, there are three versions that have been released. This normal CD version I am reviewing has a total of six tracks with the instrumentals. The other two are CD+DVD releases and feature the three tracks but the DVD’s feature either the music video of “If I’m not the one” and the other for “SEXY SENORITA”.
This strategy is typically used on top tier artists, so to have three versions released for Tanimura Nana, tells me that Avex/Sonic Groove believes in this artist’s potential. Also, a side note that Tanimura was in the Oricon top 10 CD Single Daily Charts and debuted at no. 5. So, the potential is there.
The CD insert is a bi-fold and features lyrics and production credits on one side and a picture of Tanimura Nana on the other side. Also, a flyer promoting her CD single on mu-mo.net.
This artist has definitely done well with each CD single release and she’s managed to capture the media attention and eventually do well on the music charts with this latest release.
With four CD singles, I imagine the next release will be an album but always curious to see how she will be marketed.
Overall, “If I’m not the One/SEXY SENORITA” is a CD single that I enjoyed and has to be the most quality release she has had so far. Especially on the music video and her live performances, it seems that she has now the confidence as a music artist and I look forward to watching and listening to more Tanimura Nana in the near future.
Check out more of our reviews at J!-ENT’s World Groove
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[WORLD GROOVE] Currently listening to Tanimura Nana – Say Good-bye
February 22, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment
ARTIST: Tanimura Nana
CD SINGLE: Say Good-bye
LABEL: SONIC GROOVE
CATALOG #: AVCD-16137/B
DURATION: 23:30
RELEASE DATE: November 14, 2007
- Say Good-bye
- JEALOUS GIRL
- Gimmick
- Say Good-bye (Instrumental)
- JEALOUS GIRL (Instrumental)
- Gimmick (Instrumental)
DVD: Region 2, 4:3, Duration: 3 minutes
- Say Good-bye (Video Clip)
My first time of hearing Tanimura Nana was before she was signed to the SONIC GROOVE label and was actually in an idol audition in which she placed second place. Not long after that audition, I received promotional pieces for her and by May 2007, she would release her first CD single “Again”.
On November 14, 2007, Tanimura’s second CD single “Say Good-bye” would be released and I found it to be quite an experimental CD single.
The title track “Say Good-bye” would feature Tanimura change from the J-Pop sound of “Again” to an urban R&B track with deep bass, hip hop and wondered if this was the new direction that Tanimura’s career would be heading towards. Something that I was not expecting from the Aoyama Gakuin University law student.
The track is actually not bad, after listening to it several times now and I suppose that the soulful style that she utilizes on this track works. She’s no Kelly Clarkson in her ability to transcend from different genres but “Say Good-bye” turned out to be a cool track.
The first coupling track “JEALOUS GIRL” is where I talk experimental. From urban R&B, “JEALOUS GIRL” takes Tanimura to a different route in a rock track that I can see coming out of someone like ANNA TSUCHIYA. But this track also works for Tanimura.
And the second coupling track “Gimmick” returns Tanimura back to a dance, pop track. And again it works.
The three remaining tracks on the CD single are the instrumental versions of the first three tracks.
The accompanying DVD features Tanimura with her background dancers and interesting enough, it looks like the outfits she is wearing tends to have the viewer focus on her upper body and definitely interesting positioning of her image. She’s not a gravure model, she’s cute and has a gorgeous body but if that is the direction and image that she’s going for, I definitely would like to see some choreography from her than the basic movements of idol dancing past.
The CD insert is a bi-fold and features lyrics and track credit on one side and her front cover image on the other.
All three tracks work but there are certain things that I do feel cautious about her music is mainly her vocals. Sometimes she sounds as if she has a cold.
Sometimes there are notes that are just a bit off. Also, I like the sexy look on her music video but there are times I felt even the lip synch or her timing was slightly off .
But nevertheless, I can see potential in this developing artist and with vocal training and possibly even choreography, work I can see definite, positive potential in her music.
She’s smart, she’s beautiful but to survive among the many female solo singers in Japan, she’s going to find the music that she feels comfortable with because “Say Good-bye” and “JEALOUS GIRL” are two different tracks, which I don’t mind but curious to see which direction her music will go since both her CD singles are very different.
We’ll see what happens on her next CD Single.
