[miwa] The 5th Thread ~ The 5th Year ~ Road to 5th Anniversary

[Bigtop]

Stupid content ID blocking not only in Japan but also YouTube Red (YouTube Premium) countries because of Sony's protectionist policies... (>_<)

Problem is that JPopsuki doesn't have it either. If anyone is able to upload it to there (and/or AHS) as soon as possible, it will be greatly appreciated.

[Yoake]

You can get it on https://eimusics.com/. It's where I found it.

[Bigtop]

Originally Posted by Bigtop

Her new single hasn't come out yet, yet miwa has just announced that she's going release a best album - "miwa THE BEST" - this coming July?

http://www.miwa-web.com/info/archive/?493884
https://natalie.mu/music/news/278885
https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2109902/full/

Okay, I do have some more details. (Rest assured the first photo from the announcement aren't the covers - these below are the covers!)

Two CDs, plus DVD/BD (yes, there's a BD!) will feature miwa clips vol.2 - another round of miwa music video compilations!

miwa THE BEST is scheduled to release 11 July 2018. They've also opened up a special site!


Special limited edition (2CD+BD, plus LP-sized jacket and a T-shirt!)
Pre-order on CDJapan (limit one per customer)


Limited edition (2CD+DVD)
Pre-order on CDJapan


Regular edition (2CD only)
Pre-order on CDJapan

Tracklisting

DISC1

1. don't cry anymore
2. リトルガール
3. chAngE
4. オトシモノ
5. 春になったら
6. 441
7. FRiDAY-MA-MAGiC
8. 片想い
9. ヒカリヘ
10. ホイッスル〜君と過ごした日々〜
11. ミラクル
12. Faraway
13. Kiss you
14. Faith

DISC2

1. 君に出会えたから
2. 希望の環（WA）
3. 月食〜winter moon〜
4. fighting-φ-girls
5. 360°
6. 夜空。feat.ハジ→
7. ストレスフリー
8. あなたがここにいて抱きしめることができるなら
9. Princess
10. シャンランラン
11. 結-ゆい-
12. シャイニー
13. We are the light
14. アップデート
15. Unchained Love
16. アコースティックストーリー
17. めぐろ川 -original ver.-

DISC3 "miwa clips vol.2" (BD/DVD)

1. ヒカリヘ
2. ミラクル
3. Delight
4. Faraway
5. Faith
6. キットカナウ
7. 希望の環（WA）
8. fighting-φ-girls
9. あなたがここにいて抱きしめることができるなら
10. We are the light

Wow, ten more miwa MVs coming to Blu-ray. Can't wait to see it in pure 1080p instead of HDTV-rips (from SSTV, M-ON!).

Any thoughts?

Spoiler:

At least she doesn't have to compete with KAT-TUN's new album "CAST" on the following week (18 July), because if miwa had to compete with them, even if it was a best album, she would be screwed for a #1 Oricon run because she would be competing with a Johnny's artist, and you know what happens when anyone competes with certain Johnny's artists such as KAT-TUN...

(However, she's competing with Daichi Miura and 2PM's Junho (though mini-album, but still), so I'm not putting high hopes on miwa getting #1 with this, which is unfortunate, but oh well.)

Personal thoughts: But I'm kind of at odds of purchasing this. My interested version is the BD version, but it's quite pricey at $70-$75, depending on the fluctuating USD-to-JPY exchange rate, and that doesn't even include the shipping (and I intend to use DHL express shipping, which is costly enough, but I'd use that for such expensive releases like this). Also, I've already got a Leo Ieiri single (scheduled to release on August 1st) on preorder as well, so I may be facing a bit of a budget crunch. It's a little bit risky considering I have yet to buy an actual miwa CD (although it was close in 2015 when I wanted to order the "ONENESS" album until I changed my mind) and that would put me into buying more miwa CDs (because my mind says that once I buy a new CD from an artist, then I'm going to buy future CDs from that artist), which would be costly considering I've already gotten enough artists on my CD buying list (okay, actually Rina Katahira pulled out of Sony Music Artists and Pony Canyon just recently, so I'm not sure if I want to replace Rina Katahira with miwa at the moment). As I mentioned before, I'm in a bit of a budget crunch, but I'm trying to get a job, though, so this could change; however, I'm also aiming to buy some new computer parts as well since I still have the same computer...from the time miwa debuted to the J-pop world back in 2010. And I'm expecting to spend $1500 on new computer parts if I want to upgrade my computer to my specifications, including shipping and tax!

[mellody]

Let me say something about that Limited Edition and Regular Edition covers first:
In my opinion, those are better than ONENESS and We are the light, but still among her releases so far, that's just the worst. The Special Edition was very nice though.

First CD has 14 tracks but the Second one has 17??!? Those new tracks are short, I guess. Unchained Love was okay, hopefully the new track is as good as FRiDAY-MA-MAGiC. Okay, that was random.

This release will decide if miwa will continue her future works or not, because you know, Best Album is always a warning of end of an era. I don't know the rest of the competition release, can you give us whole list of who are releasing albums on that date? (Other than Daichi Miura and 2PM)

PVs in Blu-ray though, yum. Hikari e.

[HTMSD]

Planning to buy the Special limited edition, and quite disappointed with the fact that she didn't include those MVs in the miwa clips vol. 2,

ホイッスル〜君と過ごした日々〜, Kiss you. 君に出会えたから, 360°, 夜空。feat.ハジ→, ONENESS, Princess, 結-ゆい-, シャイニー, SPLASH WORLD, アップデート

yet some newest PV like "We are the light" are included... It'll be a loong-loong time before we'll get Kiss you in actual HD without M-On watermark xD

However, the limited edition cover is nice :3

[Bigtop]

^ Yeah, now I just realized miwa clips vol. 2 doesn't include every MV since the release of vol. 1 (which was a standalone release). Don't know why they would make such a decision like this...

Now I'm not sure if I want to even buy this in the first place.

[Bigtop]

Sorry for double-posting, but...

Happy 28th birthday miwa!!!

[adantatu2]

The DISC 1 of the best includes the works that I truly love from her <3
The cover with the guitar is the best.

[HTMSD]

miwa THE BEST oricon chart ranking
(7/10) - #2 15,447
(7/11) - #3 4,455
(7/12) - #1 2,649
(7/13) - #1 2,226 (24,777)
(7/14) -
(7/15) -
(7/16) -

#1 for the first day is Hatsukoi, none can defeat Godtada

[Bigtop]

@HTMSD

miwa had 15,447 on the first day. JUNHO (from 2PM, K-pop group) was #1 with 27,270 (#2 on 7/11 with 5,176).

That being said, the sales numbers have been underwhelming at best. I'm disappointed this is supposed to be miwa's 'best' album and this is missing the mark - by being outperformed by 2PM's JUNHO (making matters worse, 2PM/JUNHO are signed to Epic Records, which is also a Sony label, and is also the same label that Utada is signed to!)...

I was also considering buying hi-res from Recochoku (or mora, which is owned by Sony? But I use Recochoku because I'm more familiar with that), but while the tracklist is the same as the CD (yes, you get every song), I'm not sure if the album is worth the value when the album mainly consists of A-sides, save for three songs at the end (two new songs and a different version of a B-side).

[mellody]

So, did she get #1 spot for weekly rank?

I guess this is the end of an era.

[adantatu2]

For a best I was expecting higher sales.

[Bigtop]

Originally Posted by mellody

So, did she get #1 spot for weekly rank?

I guess this is the end of an era.

No.

JUNHO (2PM) took #1 weekly, sorry.

No worse than third, to be sure. But I'd be shocked if UTADA takes #2 weekly!

[Yoake]

Damn I totally forgot about that CD XD

[mellody]

miwa is not even selling 50k copies for the best album means...

Her fanbase is relatively small, I thought by doing a tour she would be able to reach 100k easily.

Now I'm kinda wondering about her popularity, her state of being as a singer-songwriter, will she survive?

[Bigtop]

JUNHO (#1) sold 40,907.

miwa (#2) 'only' sold 28,949.

Utada (#3) sold 27,997.

(https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/w/2018-07-23/)

I'm not sure if miwa has anything left in her tank, bag of tricks, whatever...I don't know where she fits right now.

The reason why her popularity shot up was because of the guitarissimo album that was #1...but not without the earthquake and tsunami back in 2011 that really shuffled a lot of album releases (including AKB48's, which had to delay further to June instead of April). If it wasn't for that, miwa wouldn't be #1 - and the entire world wouldn't be in a position like this...

Also, not to forget, miwa was left out of the Kouhaku last year (2017).

[mellody]

Originally Posted by Bigtop

I'm not sure if miwa has anything left in her tank, bag of tricks, whatever...I don't know where she fits right now.

Also, not to forget, miwa was left out of the Kouhaku last year (2017).

This. Basically, that's what I'm wondering about.
I thought her post-guitarissimo era is the highest peak of her career, but soon after that, no more. Like I said before, her fanbase is actually relatively small, despite that full audience in Budoukan and any of her tour.

To me, she's not evolving anymore after Delight, even Delight itself is a carbon copy of Hikari e, which sounds like a lazy attempt. Compared to another singer-songwriter, she's stuck so much to the point she's not evolving anymore.

Another reason is that because the CD sales are declining as well.
I don't know if her digital release sells well.

[adantatu2]

Maybe she is stressed and she doesn't know what do to after all these years.

[Yoake]

I'm just so not into miwa that I came across her new digital single without knowing she had something on the stove. What surprise me isn't the song (because I haven't listened to it yet) but her haircut! She looks so mature and different. I wonder if title is different from her recent work.

Info

[mellody]

Girl better gives something nice after that haircut, kinda reminds me to YUI when she cut her hair short and release GLORIA, a great song.

I couldn't believe I just comparing them again