Hello, Arama! Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw Morning Musume. ’18 defeat Southern All Stars and DA PUMP. Southern All Stars are back this week, facing off against three newcomers and a blast from the past. Find out what Ronald thought of the songs that topped the singles charts this week and share your thoughts on them too!
Oricon #1: MAG!C☆PRINCE – SUMMER LOVE (Billboard Hot 100 #2 / not in the Oricon Digital Singles top 20 / not in the Billboard Download Songs top 100 / not in the Billboard Streaming Songs top 100)
Ronald: Simple, fun, summery. It’s not really trying to be more than what it is. It’s enjoyable, but not something I would seek out to actively listen to. 5/10
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Billboard Hot 100 #1: GOT7 – THE New Era (Oricon #2 / not in the Oricon Digital Singles top 20 / nott in the Billboard Download Songs top 100 / not in the Billboard Streaming Songs top 100)
Ronald: This is more like a bunch of random words and phrases, repeated ad nauseam, than an actual song. Listening to this, I feel like I’m at a sporting event and they’re trying to hype me up. It’s not working though. I’m always annoyed when a KPop act puts a bunch of English in their song because it just makes me think they’re too lazy to sing in Japanese. 0/10
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Oricon Digital Singles #1: Southern All Stars – Tatakau Monotachi e Ai wo Komete (not released physically / Billboard Hot 100 #5 / Billboard Download Songs #2 /not available for streaming)
Ronald: Same review as before: I’m surprised by how much I like this. I normally find Southern All Stars’ material to be quite… pedestrian. This is a lot more lively. This has a nice almost-Latin sound to it. 7/10
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Billboard Download Songs #1: Yonezu Kenshi – Lemon (Oricon #23 / Billboard Hot 100 #4 / Oricon Digital Singles #2 / not available for streaming)
Ronald: Same review as before: Kenshi is a mixed bag. I liked him at first, then he fell out of my favor. I hated the singles from this last album, but the album itself was surprisingly strong. I think that may be happening again, because I’m not really wowed by this. There are some moments where I like the production, but overall, it sounds like something any other male singer-songwriter / male-front band would do. 5/10
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Billboard Streaming Songs #1: BLACKPINK – DDU-DU DDU-DU (not released physically / Billboard Hot 100 #7 / not in the Oricon Digital Singles top 20 / Billboard Download Songs #32)
Ronald: Is this a leftover 2NE1 song? Sounds like it could be, because it does sound dated, like it belongs in the first half of this decade. I never really cared for 2NE1 because they were too busy aping Western trends I was trying to escape, so why would I like this? I actually found this quite aggravating to listen to, to the point I had to stop a few times. BLACKPINK does nothing to disprove the point that KPop is nothing more than a bunch of acts who replaced the previous generation that did the same thing, and will soon be replaced by a new generation doing the same thing. They are no different from 2NE1 than Bodan Shonen Dan is a Big Bang clone. No identity of their own, just pleasing a bunch of fans who will are here today, weren’t here yesterday, and won’t be here tomorrow. A sad state of affairs. 0/10
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Ronald’s Rank:
1. Oricon Digital Singles #1: Southern All Stars – Tatakau Monotachi e Ai wo Komete
2. Oricon #1: MAG!C☆PRINCE – SUMMER LOVE
2. Billboard Download Songs #1: Yonezu Kenshi – Lemon
4. Billboard Hot 100 #1: GOT7 – THE New Era
4. Billboard Streaming Songs #1: BLACKPINK – DDU-DU DDU-DU
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