Kikkawa Yuu goes Solo!

[Purin-chama]

I'm a little surprised by people saying this is the best soloist that H!P has ever had <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' /> She's good, but no where near some of them. I do like her songs, though. Interested to see what they do with her.

[Vikitty]

Anything is better than Mano. *shudder*

[Haru]

[quote name='The Turtle Moves' post='91253' date='Jan 9 2011, 06:52 AM']Her four albums are excellent, she sings in French, Greek and Italian and illustrates the covers with her own paintings, a talented woman <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' />.[/quote]



Those were her paintings? I had no clue.

Now that makes me wonder if Shoko Aida's two albums that were in the same style (and on the same label) were painted by Shoko. ("Paris, Je T'aime D'amour" and "To Pathos.")

[eri]

[quote name='Myst' post='91272' date='Jan 9 2011, 07:41 AM']I'm a little surprised by people saying this is the best soloist that H!P has ever had <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' /> She's good, but no where near some of them. I do like her songs, though. Interested to see what they do with her.[/quote]



I guess everyone has different tastes but when Matsuura was in her tiny-robot-idol mode, she could have taken over the universe. She was successful beyond anyone's dreams. People might have been embarrassed to like mm in the early 2000s still but they'd go to Matsuura concerts. She had the best PVs and amazing songs. AND THEN SHE DECIDED SHE WAS 55 YEARS OLD.



I will get more excited when there are official releases and not grainy concert recordings but I must say Kikkawa is pretty amazing so far.

She sings well and has a distinct voice. She is pretty. Her fan blogs are funny and endearing.

I like Mano a lot but she's a very different kind of idol. So, it is great to have 2 soloists who are so different from each other.



Kaori's wanna be jazz albums were so pretentious - it reminded me of that hilarious Utaban episode where she announced that she was not an idol but "an artist." <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' /> I wouldn't say she sang in "French, Greek, Italian" but mimicked the sounds of each in a semi-successful way. I couldn't help liking the album though.

[Purin-chama]

[quote name='eri' post='91284' date='Jan 9 2011, 12:01 PM'][quote name='Myst' post='91272' date='Jan 9 2011, 07:41 AM']I'm a little surprised by people saying this is the best soloist that H!P has ever had <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' /> She's good, but no where near some of them. I do like her songs, though. Interested to see what they do with her.[/quote]



I guess everyone has different tastes but when Matsuura was in her tiny-robot-idol mode, she could have taken over the universe. She was successful beyond anyone's dreams. People might have been embarrassed to like mm in the early 2000s still but they'd go to Matsuura concerts. She had the best PVs and amazing songs. AND THEN SHE DECIDED SHE WAS 55 YEARS OLD.



I will get more excited when there are official releases and not grainy concert recordings but I must say Kikkawa is pretty amazing so far.

She sings well and has a distinct voice. She is pretty. Her fan blogs are funny and endearing.

I like Mano a lot but she's a very different kind of idol. So, it is great to have 2 soloists who are so different from each other.

[/quote]

Agreed with that, but overall, I think H!P's soloist have always had a different distinction... At least until Abe graduated, and then it was all over the place (aside from Maeda really). So it would be nice to have those distinctions without a "battle" between the soloists like Berryz/C-ute. Now we just need someone to fill in a few other genres that are left out of H!P nowadays.



While everyone says Matsuura suddenly turned old, she had a gradual change to that genre in my opinion. You just don't realize it if you listen to her first so many releases and then her last releases <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' /> Goto did the same thing almost, though... Just not quite as noticeable.

[neshcom]

[quote name='Haru' post='91277' date='Jan 9 2011, 11:24 AM'][quote name='The Turtle Moves' post='91253' date='Jan 9 2011, 06:52 AM']Her four albums are excellent, she sings in French, Greek and Italian and illustrates the covers with her own paintings, a talented woman <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' />.[/quote]



Those were her paintings? I had no clue.

Now that makes me wonder if Shoko Aida's two albums that were in the same style (and on the same label) were painted by Shoko. ("Paris, Je T'aime D'amour" and "To Pathos.")

[/quote]

I'm gonna assume #3 and #4 weren't. Interesting to know about the other two. I wanna look up Shoko now knowing she released music. I think she and Kaori performed at the same dinner show and I had no idea who she was.



Back on topic...which one is Yuu again? The ugly one or the teeth?

[Gerald]

[quote name='neshcom' post='91297' date='Jan 9 2011, 06:09 PM']I'm gonna assume #3 and #4 weren't.[/quote]

Look, pay attention, I told you she was a very talented woman, these are two examples of her photographic style self portraits. Now go away.

[makky]

Ooooh, I really like the new Candy Pop song!! I wanna hear the other one!!!

Gah, they really need to release at least a single for her soon! I'm dying to buy it!!!!

More exclamations because it's MORE IMPORTANT!

I love her so much more than Mano. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... #>/wub.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' />

[Renai]

Candy PoP is just win I'm leaving it with that

Kikka is OFFICIALLY my favorite soloist as of now!

[momoirosaya]

....we don't even know if Kikka is even going to be a soloist yet, but everyone already says she's their favorite! <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':puppyeyes:' />

[EmEl]

[quote name='Saya' post='91335' date='Jan 9 2011, 07:02 PM']....we don't even know if Kikka is even going to be a soloist yet, but everyone already says she's their favorite! <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':puppyeyes:' />[/quote]

What else is she gonna be? She's been singing solo for a week. She's gonna have an event later this month. She's a soloist for now since that's what's she doing. And, no, she's not my favorite.

[Shoujo Q]

[quote name='Em-El' post='91343' date='Jan 9 2011, 09:48 PM'][quote name='Saya' post='91335' date='Jan 9 2011, 07:02 PM']....we don't even know if Kikka is even going to be a soloist yet, but everyone already says she's their favorite! <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':noway:' />[/quote]

What else is she gonna be? She's been singing solo for a week. She's gonna have an event later this month. She's a soloist for now since that's what's she doing. And, no, she's not my favorite.

[/quote]



She'll do a Miki and become a brand new Morning Musume member. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... stling.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':puppyeyes:' />

[EmEl]

Right, but my point is, Miki was still a soloist whether she would have later become part of a group or not. Kikka is currently a soloist whether she currently has an official release or not. They didn't write three songs for her and make her the opening act to have her become... a movie star. And if she somehow ends up only doing this for January, I'll still consider her to have been a soloist for a month.



Has anyone found her new song? She didn't mention it in her blog, but 2ch and twitter seem to be calling it "fuuzora hanabi" instead. They're saying it's a midtempo, higher pitched song. They seem to really be making use of her ability.



EDIT: only found an unfortunate mic only rip for now http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpKlauJCVgo I couldn't make it through the whole thing, but we'll see. It's nice that they're giving her a bunch of songs at least.

[Renai]

ANOTHER song? What did they pre-plan all her singles or set her up for singles with C-sides.

Still really good though. That makes her explected list to 3 :

-Sayonara Namida

-Candy PoP

-Fuyusora Hanabi



I go for Candy PoP as the A-side if they're doing A,B,C sides.



EDIT: from what i heard of the background (which isn't much so far) it sounds like Fuyusora Hanabi has a bit of a traditional-Irish-mix flow to it. I'm not sure, but it sounds like that... it's kinda pleasent really.

[Purin-chama]

Non-mic version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hseJtBkH3VE



It'd be interesting to have her release a mini album first.

[Pi Mako]

^ That song is going to sound so amazing in the official recording. Thanks for the link.

[Renai]

Sounds like Kikka's got a LOT of attention since she started performing!



Can someone translate what she said at the end of the Non-mic version please?



Edit: I didn't see a concert rip of Candy PoP posted yet so I might as well. This is the 2nd song before Fuyusora Hanabi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTaiM32qyF4



It sounds slightly more upbeat than the others, but it seems to follow the same tone as the other 2 songs. I'm hooked on it, I know that's for sure.

[neshcom]

Listening to Fuyuzora Hanabi now. I was not expecting that voice from her. It really is a more mature sound than Mano or any of the other groups in H!P now. She really seems like great solo-idol material. Fuyuzora is really an interesting song and I actually like the track.



Which is exactly why she'd be thrown into MM. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /noway.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wheely:' />



I guess 2011 will be the Year of the H!P Solo Act.

[Melon]

I loved fuyuzora with the first recording mL posted and I love it even more with the tiny bit of background track. Cannot wait for a studio release. I'm lukewarm on the other songs; need better quality to make judgment.

[ShinUkyo]

In that one recording of Candy Pop, a YouTube commenter was correct in saying she sounds just like Goto Maki at the beginning. With a properly-shot and budgeted PV, something that's sadly almost completely foreign to H!P, that song could probably sell in the mainstream right now. I can't remember the last time I thought this about an H!P song, if even at all since their "golden era" ended. I love all three of her songs so far, as the same YouTube channel has decent-quality concert recordings up for them. If Riho isn't the next Goto Maki, then by gum, Kikka certainly could be! I'm sure she's been getting loads of training behind the scenes, ever since the Kirarin Revolution stuff ended. But even despite this, I never expected her to sound so great! She's even improved, quite drastically, from her sound just a few years ago. Not just in dropping the affected voice, obviously, but on so many subtle levels. I was already in love with her then, but now it's impossible not to be insanely optimistic.

[EmEl]

According to one of the recent You-mails (from like an hour ago), there will be an event on Jan 26. A hundred people who apply will be invited and these winners will be "Mobile Reporters". They will announce the Kikkawa project at that time, and expect the people invited to use their cell-phone cameras to take pictures and publish them on twitter, blogs, and social network sites.



So. Ten days until the announcement.

[sadude]

Sad, they can't even afford to pay off the press anymore to cover them.

[EmEl]

Hahaha, well, I think it said the real press would be there too. But, yes, it seems like someone figured out how we all learned about the 9th gen results.

[surasshu]

I was hoping they would go this kind of direction with her, but I was pretty disappointed with the songs I heard before, they seemed kinda boring (always a risk when H!P tries to do "serious"). Fuyuzora Hanabi is on a completely different level for me though. It sounds like a Key opening, like Last Regrets or Tori no Uta. It's fantastic! I can't wait to hear that one in full studio quality, it sounds like a really good arrangement.



Hopefully she'll actually go somewhere a bit, that would be nice. She sure has the looks and voice. I support her efforts!

[eri]

Bloggers with a certain number of followers always get press invites to major events -- even things like NY Fashion Week. I wouldn't see it as a sign of their lack of fans but the opposite -- acknowledging the huge presence of the internet in shaping and moving fandom.

[emily]

[quote name='///' post='91861' date='Jan 16 2011, 10:57 PM']Fuyuzora Hanabi is on a completely different level for me though. It sounds like a Key opening, like Last Regrets or Tori no Uta.[/quote]



This. Fuyuzora Hanabi is the first H!P song I want to download in... at least a year and a half? Good stuff.

[YunkuShiraishi]

[EmEl]

Oh yeah, that event was today.



Ok basically the new single will be a theme song to the movie she will star in called "Kikkake wa YOU!" which is also the name of the single (and also a play on her name. I guess it roughly means "The inspiration is you!" or something. GW means Golden Week, right? So the movie comes out in the beginning of May, but the single comes out March 30? (She was previously in the horror movie with Mano.)



But the hilarious part is the tracklists. There are four versions. The songs she performed at the concert are the various b-sides. Yes, putting "single" in quotes was perfect way to describe the multiple single.



Also, the single will be with Universal Music. This is no no indies debut. She even has a real artist page with them. http://www.universal-music.co.jp/universal...st/kikkawa_you/

Universal is not a common label for H!P acts, but it makes sense since she's also being given a movie. It also says the site will have around 10 videos about her going solo. There seems to be one up now. The same video is on youtube. I think that's the song in the background? it sounds pretty exciting.



Edit: In the latest you-mail, she says she'll be the opening act for Universal Dream Live which has some fairly big acts.

Promotion, promotion, promotion.

[eri]

[quote name='Em-El' post='92619' date='Jan 26 2011, 01:04 AM']Promotion, promotion, promotion.[/quote]



Damn, well good for her and good for H!P to get their shit together.

[Renai]

Universal might not be a common label for H!P, but heck THIS is probably a good sign for Kikka!