[WORLD GROOVE] Currently listening to Kingyo – “LOVERS HIGH”

August 20, 2007 by Dennis Amith 

GROUP: Kingyo

CD SINGLE: Lover’s High

LABEL: avex trax

CATALOG #: AVCD-31260/B

RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2007

DURATION: 23:30

WEBSITE: http://www.avexnet.or.jp/kingyo/index.html

1. LOVERS HIGH (Kingyo)
2. LOVERS HIGH (Hasebe Yu ver.)
3. LOVERS HIGH (Kayo Aiko ver.)
4. LOVERS HIGH (Nagasawa Nao ver.)
5. LOVERS HIGH (Instrumental)

DVD: 9 minutes, Region 2, 4:3

1. LOVERS HIGH music video
2. Making of

What happens when you take Avex’s two top Girl’s Box idol singers Nagasawa Nao and Kayo Aiko and add DRM’s Hasebe Yu? You get the latest idol group known as Kingyo.

The three women have been the leaders for giving advice to the up-and-coming female idol groups and artists that have been a part of Avex’s idol extravaganza event known as Girl’s Box.

With Hello! Project mixing and matching solo artists with members from various female groups, I’ve wondered when Avex would be doing this and interesting enough, we get Kingyo.

Wow, what can I say about this pairing? I enjoy each of these women for their music. Nagasawa Nao is known for her “Love Body” music and her sexiness (she is a gravure model/idol singer afterall), I enjoy Kayo Aiko for her cuteness that she portrays in videos and in her music and Hasebe Yu for her awesome vocals as a member of DRM (formerly dream).

Fortunately, these three have worked together for Girl’s Box performances, specials and film, thus they get along fine. And as the trio idol group known as Kingyo have “LOVERS HIGH”, a song that is used for the latest Girl’s Box film.

“LOVER’S HIGH” is a hyper Eurobeat song that is fun, catchy but because they give you the solo versions from each artist, I somewhat have dismissed listening to the Kingyo version in playbacks and listen to their solo versions.

I think that these three young women do such a great job on their own but when combined together, I don’t know, it just doesn’t seem to attract me all that much. Mainly because the three have their own style of music. Nagasawa-sexy idol pop, Kayo-kawaii idol pop and both have high pitched voices. As for Hasebe Yu, she can definitely sing and her voice is not high pitched like the other two.

So, the strength in this CD+DVD for fans is the solo versions of the songs because this is where each shine rather than as a trio.

As for the DVD, the music video features the three chilling in the countryside, playing jenga, making pizza, squirting each other with a hose, driving around and singing in their convertible. To tell you the truth, it’s not a great music video unless you want to watch it for Kayo, Nagasawa or Hasebe.

Kayo continues to showcase her idol cuteness in this video, Nagasawa on the other hand seems a bit out of place because most of her videos usually has her with not much clothes or super tight clothing and strutting her body, she is more subdued in this video. Hasebe Yu is the same as she has been seen in her music videos for dream but you get to see more of her.

The best part of the DVD is the making. Done in a way that you have seen on a Nagasawa or Kayo video, with the girls having fun with the camera. Especially as Nagasawa and Hasebe try their version of Kayo’s “Ai Beam” pose.

CD INSERT:

Lyrics and photos of the three (individually) and in a collage. Also, similar to other Girl’s Box releases, a card is included with the trio.

If you are a fan of Nagasawa Nao, Kayo Aiko or Hasebe Yu, I feel that this CD single is worth owning to hear them sing “LOVERS HIGH” ala solo.

As Kingyo, I really wanted to enjoy this CD single because I enjoy Nagasawa and Kayo as a solo act and Hasebe Yu (as part of a idol group DRM). But together, they just don’t have that musical chemistry that I was hoping for.

If anything, I’m just stoked to finally hear a all-Hasebe Yu song and to hear the song in Kayo and Nagasawa fashion.

The DVD inclusion of the “making of ” was pretty cool and great to see how the three interacted.

All in all, if you are a fan of either women, you’ll dig this CD single. Otherwise, if you are just a person looking for a new idol group to listen to, check out the new mini-album from DRM or Nagasawa or Kayo’s solo works.