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Originally Posted by Baco__
I thought it's really bland as well. I guess she was slightly successful with nandodemo, right? Maybe she's following that trend. I was so surprised to learn VIVID sold less than shine....
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I can't really pull any significant numbers to support this statement, but I think, like you, that she had some success with Nandodemo and her label/management wants to replicate that, and thus we get the very similar-sounding Shiawasette which also has a drama tie-up (well, almost all her singles since 2015 have had drama tie-ups - except for Revolution, which had the apparently much more effective Namie tie-up, and Sakura).
By the way, I separate her label/management and CK herself in my previous statement very intentionally because, at the risk of assuming too much, I think her music is much more corporate-made these days. Ever since she transferred to LDH management, almost all her singles have been these extremely prototypical, safe drama ballads, and it feels like she is made to kiss up to the audience more than before. I also can't help but feel that she's not quite as invested in her current music as she used to be - I've seen her talking about VIVID and delicious Fridays on twitter so many times years and years after their releases, it's obvious she loves that era and was super into it when it was happening, and I don't think the same thing has happened (or will happen) with Kimi ga Ita kara or Nandodemo. I'm sure she still puts work into her music and is invested in advancing her career but I don't feel like she loves her newer songs as much as some of the older ones.
All this talk around Shiawasette, and I haven't even mentioned how I feel about the song. I think it's very ok. I'm happy it's not another drama ballad, I've fully had it with those. I hope she has some gems as album tracks. Shine was also weighed down by boring singles, but there were still some real gems in there.
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On a completely different, somewhat happier topic: as I was browsing Youtube to look at the views on her newer videos, and for the first time, I found videos of her performing in New York back in 2014! I'll link them all below, in case someone else hasn't seen them either. She sounds completely flawless in them, even when the guitarist accompanying her is off and she messes up her lyrics lmao, she's amazing.