Shota Shimzu(清水翔太) - Hope J-RnB/Pop Album Thoughts

 

Tracklist:

1.intro

2.Curtain Call feat. Taka(ONE OK ROCK) 

3.Koi Uta (恋唄; Love Song)

4.Homie

5.Lazy feat. ASOBOiSM, Kouichi Arakawa

6.Tokyo Night

7.Side Dish

8.Prologue (プロローグ)

9.Cherish Feat. Aimer 

10.outro

11.Hanataba no Kawari ni Melody no from THE FIRST TAKE (花束のかわりにメロディーを –) 

     I just wanted to hop on here to talk about my love hate relationship with Japanese singer Shota Shimzu. I've written other posts about him but none of his music has been really doing it for me as a fan of his earlier albums. Shota as an artists had a DEEP transition into a hip hop RnB rap phase that brought out the most autotune tracks out of the singer. His music wasn't the greatness that Shota has in him as a vocalists, so I jumped ship away from most of his releases. Fast forward to now, where Shota drops that news ahead of his album that he's done a song with not only Taka from J-rock band One Ok Rock but J-rock ballad singer Aimer as well.  The album is titled Hope and is his ninth studio album. Hope debuted at number 13 on the Oricon Chart and charted for two weeks. 

  Hope is a much more stripped down album compared to his last album. Stripped down in terms that the musical production is reduced to guitars ballads that showcase what made Shota loved by many in the early 2000s. He decided to dump the audio tune for his pure vocals.... Not that this style wasn't working for me sales wise, cause it was. Shota has at least managed to keep his releases in the teens range on the Oricon Chart. Meanwhile many artists who started before or with him, can't even get a top twenty spot on the charts.... Don't even get me started on Crystal Kay's wonderful cover album debuting to a number sixty one spot.(even if the album did manage to chart for a long time..)  Hope was still one of those albums that Shota needed in his career at this time. The compilation highlights his old artistry he might have run away from to stay relevant to the new generation of listeners. Curtain Call sounds like old Shota from the early days however, what's amazing about this track is how Taka was so easily able to match Shota's vocals even when he comes from a completely different background of music. They're slick simple harmonies over a guitar and a saxophone just felt like every early morning view. Aimer's feature was the same thing only Shota felt more in her element than his. This could have been because Aimer has a very unique musically style as well as vocal so she doesn't do too many collaborations. The other portions of Hope are a bit laid back or one could say slow moving with a bouncy moment here and there. Examples being Tokyo Night, Lazy, Homie etc.... Tracks here aren't too overproduced so you can appreciate the vocals overall.