Time to Fall

Seeing so I'm gonna review the second album might as well start with the first. Here is the review for Ayaka's first message, released on 2006.11.01. It brought Ayaka huge success, even reaching number one on the world charts and being the 13th best (selling) album of the year 2007.

300px-Ayaka

The album opens with Start to 0 (love), a very upbeat and catchy opening tune with gospel influences. Ayaka puts alot into her vocal performance, sounding good singing low but reaching higher notes easy- also note how she accents certain notes. It's a very catchy tune, very up-tempo and nice to listen to.  The lyrics carry a message of hope and new beginnings, fitting for the opening of a debut album. I love the guitar part too.

The second track is Real voice, another fast and upbeat tune with a very funky little piano part this time. Gone is the gospel infleunce, and instead the song sounds darker with guitar part and an edge to Ayaka's vocals- which are stunning of course. Some nice ad-libbing too. The lyrics are slightly angry, but continue to be hopeful.

Next up is Sha la la. The song starts pretty dark and gritty with disjointed piano, deep and gritty vocals from Ayaka. The song picks up in the chorus, with Ayaka using the higher notes perfectly- sounding very beautiful. The disjointed piano carries through the song, as well as a strong electric guitar part. The song sounds slightly forlorn, but again despite the dark meaning of the lyrics they present a picture of hope. Of moving forward, getting over the wounds of the past: "I just smiled to try and get rid of/The sad regrets etched into my heart/ The future I can’t see, the dark past/ Gotta purge it all from my head".  The bridge is definitly the best, carrying alot of emotion and being very beatiful with the "sha la la"'s. It's a very beautiful, laid back and relaxing song. Ayaka sounds stunning when she uses the higher notes, very pure. 

Fourth is Blue days, a very soft and mid-tempo ballad. Ayaka puts alot of emotion into it, her voice even cracking at times as if holding back tears. The song begins to pick up at the chorus, introducing the beat to the instrumentation and becoming louder, crescendo-ing into the full song. This one features accoustic guitar, giving it very laid back feel. It's quite sad, with the overall message seeming to be about breaking up. It's a sad and beautiful ballad, however it does get repetetive, even the bridge only livens things up a little. Give points to Ayaka for putting so much emotion into it. 

After Blue days comes her first single, the ballad I believe. The first song I heard from her. It's a very impressive ballad. Ayaka uses the alto part of her voice, sliding up to higher notes quite easy. Her vocal performance in this song is gorgeous- as is the intrumentation relying on piano and string (violin!!!) alot. The lyrics are the most hopeful so far, almost like ayaka reassuring herself that everything is fine now.  Love how it builds up, and the string part which doesn't sound "woe as me"- very few songs use the violin as a solo in this way :P It's a beautiful, simple sounding ballad.

Track 6 is stay with me, which goes away from the ballads to an upbeat tune, again tinged with gospel influence (i think). What to say that's not been said before: good emotion and powerful vocals with good instrumentation. Nothing more to say. 

Number 7 is melody another little upbeat number, again a nice electric guitar part. It's very fast paced, and the lyric seem to be about Ayaka appreciating music and being proud of her music. Aww. The repetetion of melody is a little irritating in many ways, espceially since it's pronounced wrong. But it's not bad at all.

After melody is Kimi no Power to Otona no Furi (Your Power and an Adult's Inseparability) another upbeat one, which starts with the piano key slide thing before bursting out into the full track. It's very lively and Ayaka sounds good as usual. Very poppy, and I like the use of backing vocals too. 

Track number 9 is Eternal Story- and it's back to ballads. It starts with Ayaka just over guitar, and it actually sounds like she is straining her voice -alteast it takes on a strange tone. Kinda offputting. 

Next is Turning Back time, starting off very laid back before introducing the brass (?) and gospel like organ (?). Ayaka sounds very beautiful, especially when she draws out the higher notes in the beginning of the verses. The song builds up the chorus which is pretty fast, almost angry sounding-  like the "heys". It's a pretty regretful song in many ways, and Ayaka conveys this bitterness well. Although, the blaring brass is a little irritating. 

Then it's 1.2.3.4. It starts off and builds up the chorus, very fast and upbeat- poppy. It's nice, nothing outwardly annoying about it, and Ayaka gives a great vocal performance.  

Track 12 is story, it starts off sounding very typical with the instrumentation and slowly builds up the first verse, toning down the instrumentation to introduce Ayaka. Again, good vocals. The rythmn of the chorus is irritating though. 

Next up is Rairarai- a very nice tune, tinged with gospel again. It's upbeat with powerful vocals. I love the "rairarai" bits to it. The song carries on the message of hope with it's happy lyrics- "We can’t lose our chance, move forward!". the variotions in the song are good and keep it interesting. It's good, really good. 

Second to last is the very well known Mikadzuki (crescent moon). A  piano and string driven ballad to finish the album off. It's very sad, and unlike alot of the album there isn't much hope- rather hopelessness. Of loneliness and longing. Ayaka conveys this with stunning vocals, especially the chorus starting with the "ah". This song has fantastic composition, and alot of emotion. I love it when ayaka sings high, and she does alot here. Beautiful song, very relaxing to finish the album off.  Love how it builds up then quietens down.  

But that's not all! Lastly it's message. It's basically Ayaka speaking over soft instrumentals (well that's what I remember, I deleted it long ago. No use to me!) The message Ayaka gives is cute though: "I want to sing for you/I want to sing for the people listening/If I can tell people about something I feel/That’s all it takes to make me happy" Kinda like something from a manga where the girl wants to be a big singer for various reasons but nvm.

Overall this is a very strong debut album, and it's actually quite amazing. Her voice is very powerful. For a young girl this is admirable. I also like that she never shows off with her vocals, the high notes slide in perfectly as do the low. She's not just using her higher notes for the sake of it- if that makes sense? Nothing worse than that. I also love the emotion she always puts into it, makes the songs really powerful.  I also think she wrote alot of the lyrics, if not all, which is definitly admirable. The album is either upbeat pop (often with gospel influence I note), or meloncholic ballad. The overall sense is of hope, lots and lots of hope and new beginnings- fitting to a debut and her acheiving her dream of being a singer. Some of the tracks have weakness', and sometimes it does drag- meaning it's best for background music usually.  I'm giving it a eight because it's good, but to me personally it is not the best thing- and everything which gets a 10 is really really super good, anything above and it's awesomeness itself.

It's finally out!! I'm so happy. Released on  this is Suzuki Ami's  29th single, her 14th on Avex and her second produced by that awesome dude from capsule.  Then again I only like his Suzuki Ami productions, as well as perfume's secret secret. Otherwise both meg and perfume are rubbish. Suzuki Ami though really suits the genre- and she can actually sing.  And she looks really hot on the single covers, somehow not sl^tty at all.

SuzukiOneCD

Tracklisting:
1: ONE
2: A token of love
3: ONE (instrumental)
4: A token of love (FM88 mix)

ONE kicks off with the distorted vocal part before coming in with the electronic instrumentation. Ami's voice is distorted, especially on the longer notes, but it don't sound bad. The song builds up the very catchy chorus. Again her voice is distorted but it works really well in the context of the song.  For sure it meets the specification of "upbeat" and "sparkly". It's an amazing song, comparable to the awesome FREE FREE. It's got great electronic instrumentation, effects and variation. I love Suzuki Ami's voice, emotionless or distorted or just as she is. I love the repetetion of "number one" and also the meaning of the song, which is I think about "the one" and "only one in this world". It's cute. But it's also quite sexy, especially with the whispering voices and stuff.

The PV for ONE is also very sexy, with bad dance moves but cute outfits and pretty face makeup. Suzuki ami looks great  and though the lights are blinding, it fits the song well.

ONE is cute and sparkly with a sexy edge. It is AWESOME.

The single takes a slight downfall with A token of love as the B-side. It's still great, but it's very very long. Like ONE it's all very electronic, and it's great with lots of varioations and effects. This one has a much more spacey feel though. Suzuki ami comes in with her "oh" and she sounds really good. It's all very techy and quite nice. She sounds a bit robotic in the verse though- like she's trying to be cute but the distortion means she sounds like some sort of alien. The pre chorus continues to be irritatiing, before the plain and dragged out chorus. The  you and me is like some creepy alien coming after a human... "hehehe. You and me~~~~~"

Can you imagine that? XD sorry... bad joke...  

There are good parts of the song, and they are very good, sprinkled with some bad parts of the song, and they are pretty irritating. It's all very cutesy  (more creepy) and techy. Not bad but it may have to grow on me.

Overall? ONE is so awesome, and A token of love despite my taking the mick out of it is also quite good. I do think that Yasutaka brings out the best in Suzuki Ami, and I'm glad that there's also gonna be a full album of this standard. It's not a bad single, on the contrary it's pretty damn good. ONE is up there with my favourite electronic songs. A token of love will continue to make me giggle, but will probably still linger on my playlist.  

I remembered to check when Misono's new album is coming up, having liked her rock project. turns out it's another great release on my birthday! (Tohoshinki's new single out on my b-day as is Versailles album! :P)

I thought that perhaps I should have pre-ordered it...

then I saw the cover.

o_o

It's definitly gonna be alteast ok msuic wide, naturally I'm hoping it's gonna be good or amazing. The cover though... very risky.  Not something I could allow my parents to see...thus I probably won't be buying it.

Ahh... but Tohoshinki's new single soon! I should be getting the photobooklet!! And the B-side is called box in a ship! LOL

LOVEppears (love appears) is Hamasaki Ayumi's second full length album on avex, released way back on 1999.11.10. The album has a very trance (dance music) feel to it, and though Ayu's vocals are far from matured- they sound alot more polished than the often squeaky-ness of song for xx.  Here is some information taken from wiki.ppn: The album is a double album where the first disc is a collection of new tracks and the second disc is a mini-compilation from Ayumi's other releases. The album reached #1 on the Oricon charts and stayed on the charts for a total of sixty-four weeks, selling a total of 2,562,130 copies. The album is the #38 best selling album in Japan. The singles off the album all came out to be quite successful. The album's single "LOVE ~Destiny~" was her first #1 single, and "Boys & Girls" was her first single to sell over a million copies. The single "A" featured four a-side tracks and the single holds the record for the longest Japanese CD single. The tracks "Fly high" and "kanariya" were re-released a few months later as singles. kanariya is the first re-cut single in Oricon history to hold the top position.

Loveappears

This is a digital single from Gummy, released on 2008.06.26. It's a cover of an old song from 1969. Judging by the cover it's being used for that upcoming film about the women who becomes a sexy singer during wartime in order to find her husband. Technically, this review is me cheating since it's only one song but nvm.

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Nimeun meon goseh (in a distant place) is a beautiful meloncholic ballad. It starts quietly with only gummy then introduces a repetetetive piano part. It's very beautiful and haunting- and Gummy's voice suits it totally, as well as the amount of emotion she puts into it. Slowly the song builds up, getting louder and instroducing more instruments. There's a wonderful use of piano and string, alongside modern isntruments (theres a good guitar solo somewhere). The chorus is repetetetive but full of emotion and beautifully sung, with lots ad libbing. Gummy reaches the high notes perfectly. It's a beautiful song that builds up then fades away- packed with lots of emotion, fantastic instrumentals and amazing singing from Gummy.

This is a beautiful beautiful song. I cannot copare to the original, but I'd ay that Gummy did it justice. I've had it on repeat for a little while now- and it's not yet gotten old.

I said FT island was a boyband. And yes, they are a band. And yes they are all boys.

But no they are not a "boyband" in the typical sense of the word. They are an actual band.

My bad. I can't be bothered to change the phrasing in the review but I get it now.

Sorry (_ _)

I'm doing a survey again! Well here's my answers to A Very Bikkuri Survey.

1. You have found a magical J-pop genie who will grant you one J-pop related wish (so no wishing for a million dollars or world peace or anything like that). It can be virtually anything as long as it’s directly related to J-pop, and don’t worry, because this is the nice sort of genie, not the kind who will try to find a loop-hole and screw up your wish. So, what do you wish for???

There are so many things I could ask! Thinking about it rationally, the thing I've wanted for the longest time is to see hamasaki Ayumi live in concert. Alas with her hearing going the concert may not be as great, and I'll never see favourites like Is this LOVE? or Because of you live- but I'd love to see her concerts. The costumes, the dancers...everything is just too amazing.

2. Is there any J-pop artist or group who seriously pisses you off? If yes, who, and why?

Koda Kumi. she's a Sl^t- not even tastefully done. Her music is crap and she wh^res herself out. It's absolutly disgusting. Oh wait she can sing but  her songs are crap. I think sometimes if done right her voice sounds OK, like real emotion, selfish or love goes like. But all the sexual innuendo, the wh^ring... it's disgusting. If your'e gonna sell yourself instead of your music do it freaking tastefully. Have a little pride in yourself. Or just become a gravure idol or something'. Even gravure idols look better than Koda kumi though.

3. Who do you think is the sexiest japanese singer out there?

Oooo-tough question! I think both Hamasaki Ayumi and Namie Amuro look amazing for their age and both are extremly sexy. Males would be Hyde (how can he look so good for his age?!) and Gackt, though lately Gackt looks are deteorioting (he's either aging, melting or gone to the surgeons too much). Practically all of visual kei. There are way too many sexy singers. I suppose it gets down to what you define as sexy. 

4. How about the cutest?

Can I choose Se7en? He's korean but he's released stuff in Japan. He's cute. Not cute in the morning musume or Jonnys way but cute. Oooo Jonnys.... tough decisions here. Too many cute Japanese singers >_>

5. Best personality?

Miyavi has an amazing personality. I've heard how he treats his fans and about his live performances- he sounds quite sweet. Haha.

6. If given the opportunity, would you rather date person 3, person 4, or person 5?

None. I'm realistic. they are all to old, and it's impossible for me to meet them anyway. Why would I date Hamasaki Ayumi anyway?

Have I answered the question wrong?!

7. You work for a Japanese music magazine, and you have the opportunity to interview your favorite artist or group. What are a couple of the questions you want to ask them?

Hmm...    no clue. I'm so shy  I'll probably just stare in awe for the whole interview.

8. What’s the best (J-pop) song to listen to when you are really sad?

A song for xx hamasaki Ayumi and many more. But that one comes tops. It caputres feelings of loneliness and insecurity and wanting to grow up quite perfectly. Especially that remix on her A ballads.

9. When you’re really happy?

No idea. Anything will do when I'm happy. Often I like rock music when I'm happy...

10. Do you often sing along to your favorite songs?

Never! Or I might try if I'm alone at home.. but my Japanese isn't very good. I'm not home alone often either, and when I am I don't remember. Haha..would never allow my parents to hear my pathetic attempts at Japanese.

11. How about dance?

NEVER! I look like a elephant when I dance. And my rooms small.. I'll break something. Lots of somethings!

12. Artistic integrity question!! If someone offerrered to pay you for blogging, but they were allowed to censor some of your opinions or veto some of your blogging ideas, would you do it?

Nope.I'd never do it. Not unless I was desperatly poor. Actually, I might. If they offered me enough money to go to Japan, or even just enough to go to london for a couple of days and see a concert. Then maybe. As long as it was a seperate website. I could still keep this one and keep it uncensored. This questions quite tricky actually...

So... I probably didn't answer those right. I like giving vague answers, and answering more than I should. I like to ramble ok?! Yeah.. quite an interesting survey though. I might check out all  other peoples answers.

Their latest album came out yesterday- but I'm not listening until my copy arrives. Haha. I'll see how much that one lasts :P Anyway, time to use Caps-lock again- here is LAST ALLIANCE'S second album released 2004.11.08.

The album opens with the highly memorable South Wind Knows, which I have practicaly memorised the tune of despite even listening to the song all that much (it is that insanely catchy). I guess a year of sporadic listening to does that too you. Anyway, this must have been my second or third last alliance song. It's a good one. The song opens with very fast mesh of instruments in the insanely catchy riff, before enthuastic vocals. The vocalist makes good use of his voice, reaching up to the higher notes in the pre-chorus bit and the bridge too. It's cool how the instruments accent the vocal part. It's got a great, insanely catchy, arrangement and is a nice, fast opening to the album.

Next up is CLONE. It opens with distortion, notably they don't use extra synth but their instruments, then introduces the gritty sounding guitar part. The verses have a slighty echo, adding a dark edge to the song. There's also a bit of screamo type bits, where the vocalist speaks the lyrics quite forcefully more than screams. Adds a bit of atmosphere and doesn't ruin the song or sound of place thankfully.  The lyrics are in english, but unfortunatly not really understandable unless you look at the booklet scans. It's a dark, almost angry,  song that I'm sure carries a great message too. The song has a nice feel to it, and ain't boring. Not stand-out either.

Track 3 is Solitude. It has a very relaxed, laid-back opening- more meloncholic. The feeling of meloncholy is backed by the verses where the vocalist sings quietly and draws out notes, building up to a rythmic instrumental and another similiar verse- slighlty louder, building up even more at the end to the bitter pre-chorus where the vocalist voice takes a strange but emotional tone. The chrous is good with the "yeahs" at the end. It's  a bitter sounding tune with great vocals and instrumentation, as you'd expect from the band. I like how even though the verses sound quite laid back, they still retain that edge. The song has a great feel and brilliant use of dynamics and subtle variations. Amazing ending too.   

After Solitude comes Filter- a slighlty less angry, more upbeat song than the previous.  It's a powerful track, that is hard to review. I don't know what to right without repeating myself. It's got great varation throughout the song, amazing feel to it, great instrumentation and great vocals too. I'll point out the awesome chorus where the vocalist belts out the notes to create the "awesome" feel to the song. Love the slight distortion/electronic effect on the vocal part- though not sure how much that's down to the quality of the song (192). The guitar part at the beginning and end are cool too.    

Then it's One Hot Second. The song, like CLONE might just have english lyrics which are lost to me. The layering of the vocals in the chorus is real cool though, and the guitar part is love too. Like CLONE their is also the half speak, half sing belt it out thing. The song is short, upbeat with a grittier edge. Nice.   

Track 6 is Musou Jidai, a very grungy song with a heavy feeling. Another great track, I love the rythmn of the chorus and the distortion in the bridge. It's fast paced with a darker edge.  

Next is urge. The song starts off quietly and the vocalist sings high, before introducing a very rythmnic guitar/drum part. The song is upbeat with nice fast pace to it,  and again distortion is used for a bridge of sorts. It's an OK track, but quite bland and nothing extra-ordinary. Thankfully, it's not dragged out at just 3 and a half minutes. 

Then it's GREENS SUNLIGHT. The song has a very quiet opening, introducing a ELLEGARDEN like guitar part before going to the more LAST ALLIANCE guitar part, but still remaining the ELLEGARDEN feel to the instrumentation (freak- look at that capitalisation!). The song has very nice rythmn to it, don't really like the chorus with the dragged out notes and almost whiny feel to it. This is an OK track but personally I don't like. It's stupid because it's really catchy too >_>

Track 9 is Jikuu TRIP. The song opens with almost speaker-killer distortion before slowly introducing the instruments. The song has a very tech feel, with the introduction of some synth to give it a spacey feel. Strange. It's a slow and laid back, almost chilled out song in the verses. Building up to something darker in the chorus, yet still remaining upbeat. It's quite a good track. Not sure about the synthy spacey bit. A little cheesy neh?  

After Jikuu TRIP is Okizari ace. The song opens very quietly and simply, just the vocals over guitar before building up to be a powerful and emotional track. The singer makes the most of his voice, singing quiet and low in the verses to give across a feeling of raw emotion. The song builds up into the chorus, which has alot of drawn out notes- feeling very powerful and giving a sad feel to it. This is a powerful and emotional track. Raw emotion. Heavy, but rythmic instrumentation. Lots of variation and great vocals. I like.   

Then it's Lucky Luciano ni Utareru Mae Ni. A very quirky, upbeat song. The verses are very fast, giving it said quirky feel alongst the instrumentation. Still retains an edge to it. Not a bad song, and not bad to listen to.    

Track 12 is TRUTH IN MY ARMS. The song kills me speakers with the distortion at the beginning, cotinuing to be pain with a shouted out call and response thing for the verses. This carries on throughout the song and if you don't mind I'm gonna skip. I'm not alone at home right now..  

After TRUTH IN MY ARMS  comes another long titled song, Tadayou Yuugure ni, Kiete Yuku Hibi. The song opens with wavering guitar part, the song feels slow and the notes in the first verse are drawn, compared to the shorter rythmns of the rest of the song (the majority, the slow part returns!). It has a nice rythmn and a sad, yet hopeful undertone to it. There's alot of emotion in it, and the song has great instrumentation (gah. repeating myself...) Love how it builds up and down- and the way the vocal part and other instruments work together. The overriding feel is of hope and moving on- me thinks. Rather nice to listen to. The guitarist gets a chance to shine at the end too ^_^   

Last up is the beautiful Letter. The song opens with a sad sounding mix of gritty guitar chords and a more plucked ryhtmn before introducing the full shebang. The song has great rythmn and a very sad feel to it. When the vocalist comes in he sounds regretful, his voice is beautiful though at the pitch he sings at and has a great level of emotion. The song quietens down, before blasting out for the bitter, regretful sounding chorus. It's a wonderful song, with stunning instrumentation and lots of good emotion to it. A brilliant end to a good album.   

This isn't quite the standard as their other albums, but it's still freakin' good. It was hard to review, and I probably repeated myself alot, simply because all their songs are the same yet different. Dude, that makes no sense. Those who listen to them will understand. I enjoyed this album. I love how LAST ALLIANCE make the most of the instruments, often using their instruments to create distortion effects instead of relying on synth. I also think that they are exteremly talented, I really love how the vocalist uses his voice (epecially in this album) and the guitar parts were all love. Also they tend to end their tracks properly instead of relying on fade-outs and the like- giving their songs a very complete feel (most of the time, every artist uses fade-out at some point...). Their songs have great atmosphere, and feeling to them. This album in particular seemed quite angry in many ways compared to their other ones. Either way, It's highly enjoyable to listen to, and often the tunes stick in your brain quite a bit. This album basically continues the high standard of Tears Library. I don't think it's on the same level as Tears library and me and your borderline though, there are a few weaker or "meh" tracks on here.

Well, I'll have the rest of LAST ALLIANCE up soon. For now here is Tiana Xiao's debut album, desTiny released on May 21, 2008.

X5uqa0

The album opens with aquarium. The tracks opens with a nice call and response, before going into the verses which are quiet and relaxed. The chorus is really powerful in it's own way, and sounds quite beautiful. Tiana Xiao puts the higher range of her voice to nice use. This a beautiful, laid back song with really nice vocals from Tiana Xiao, as well as excellent use of backing vocals and voice distortion sort of effects. I love the different layers of the song, so that despite the overall simplicity of the song it comes across as quite complex.

Track two is Destiny. The constant repetetion of "Destiny" at the beginning is highly annoying, especially the pitch she sings it at. However the verses are pretty good, with a nice and simple heavy beat and good vocals. There's a bit of voice distortion which works well. Once the track gets going it's alright, with a nice beat and good vocals. It sounds simple but not boring.  The thing at the end with the distortion of destiny going up the pitch is ridiculous and ruins it, but what comes after is quite nice. The beginning of the song is bad, that one other bit is bad, but the rest is good. 

Track three is the amazing KIZUNA, which I've already reviewed. Here is what I said:  KIZUNA I hated at first. I thought it was boring. I don’t think the PV helped either. However, after hearing everyone say how good she was I listened to it the whole way through and I must say, I really like it. KIZUNA opens with a heavy repetetive beat and a few other instruments, including good use of synth, which combine for a simple but effective melody. Tiana has a good voice, and puts in alot of emotion to this. There is also a bit of vocal distortion and good use of vocal effects and backing vocals. It’s a repetetive song, but really catchy and Tiana has a gorgeous voice. The highlight of the song is the ending, with the repetetion of “kizuna” and the electric guitar- giving it a gritty edge as well as an RnB rock feel- if that is actually possible (?!). It’s a really good track this which although comes across as simple, has enough variation throughout to keep interest- not to mention it is VERY catchy.

The next track is titled 3・2・1.... This track is reminescent of KIZUNA before it with the beat, and the heavy, darker sounding vocals from Tiana Xiao. It's not the most interesting of tracks, but it's not bad to listen to.  

There is then the B-side to the Kizuna single for which I said: Painting is beautiful RnB ballad where Tiana really shows off her vocals a bit more. She puts alot of emotion in again, and I think the highlight and the catchiest part of the song is the chorus where she sings in fluent and well pronounced english “It’s a pianting of my heart”. Once again, good use of vocal effects and the repetetion on her voice but with a slightly electric feel is effective.

After painting comes Echo. The song has a heavy, and repetetive beat. The opening features some heavy distortion on the vocals that frankly, is annoying as hell. The song continues to annoy me way too much. This is a really really bad track on what has been a good album so far.

There is then PARADOX, which has a more poppy feel than anything on the album before. Tiana puts on quite a cuter sounding voice, and it works pretty well. This is an upbeat and happy sounding pop tune. It has quite a typical arrangement, but features decent instrumentation, good vocals and english. Quite nice overall- even if nothing more.   

Track 8 is TEMPTATION. The song is heavy on the synth with a heavy beat. This song is actually quite sexy, however Tiana's vocals aren't yet developed enough to pull of the "sexy" and "mature" that I assume she is trying to. In fact is comes off as a little immature her singing "temptation in your eyes".  I do really love the beat of the song, and the whole arrangment is interesting. Once again, her voice is beautiful. Not yet sexy though, sorry.  

Track 9 is Sweet obssesion. This is another poppy tune with only a slight RnB feel to it. I love the opening instrumentation, and Tiana sounds amazing. This song sounds quite desperate, and sad in the chorus- and longing with the long, forlorn notes in the verses. This is a strong track, with great arrangement and a good feel to it. There's a level of emotion in this one not seen since Painting. The song suits Tiana's vocals, and I think that's the key. Once again, excellent use of layering of different vocal parts.   

Next up is happy tears. The song is also pretty sad, opening with a simple guitar part before introducing the RnB feel expected of Tiana Xiao by now. She sings low and quiet, giving a sad feel to the song. This is a wonderful ballad, quietly building into a very expressive chorus and building up again at the end. Much like sweet obsession, her voice really suits the song and she puts alot of emotion into it. It's very beautiful song. The frequent use of english gives me small idea of what it is about too. I love how it ends with the vocals and guitar.   

The second to last track is Undo Hurt. It has a heavier beat than the ballad before it, and has alot of english. I can't help but feel I've heard it before though. This is OK. I don't find anything repulsive about it, but neither does it present anything new or different to the album. 

Lastly there is Mileston ~to believe~- a ballad to end the album off. It's OK, nice vocals and OK instrumentation. It's a little boring, but the hopeful feel is always good to end an album with. Can't help but feel it's a little boring though.  

Overall I would say this is a pretty good album. It' obvious that Tiana has alot of talent, but at the same time I think she also has alot of room to grow, mature and develop her style further. There were some good tracks on the album (aquarium, KIZUNA, painting, sweet obsession, happy tears), but there were also some bad ones (Echo, Mileston) which let the album down quite alot. There were also Ok ones like TEMPTATION and 3-2-1... which were just that, ok nice to listen to etc. I do look forward to whatever she does next, she has talent.

Tiana Xiao has potential. Lots and lots of potential. Her voice is beautiful and has a nice range, as well as that she speaks good english which is always cool. I also like how simple the songs sound, yet they aren't boring for it nor do they sound like they are lacking anything. I suggest you try the album, there should be one or two songs that appeal. There are some really good tracks on this album for sure. Pity about the bad and the "ok".