Dai Hirai(平井大) - Wave on Waves Album Thoughts(J-acustic/pop)

    Dai Hirai is a singer that's music appeared to me on Youtube one day. I have a sometime(ish) kind of relationship with his music. He's only released one single during his career and he has a number of albums that seem to garner more and more popularity for the singer as they're released in Japan. His musical style also went from pop Reggie to a pop acoustic sound after his 2016 album: Life is Beautiful. Wave on Waves is the singer's newest album.

Tracklist:

01. SONG FOR TWO
02. RIDE THE WAVES
03. hajimari no uta (はじまりの歌)
04. MyLove
05. I SHOT THE SHERIFF
06. SOUNDS LIKE A LOVE SONG
07. BEAUTIFUL LANE
08. MyFam
09. FAMILY SONG
10. hajimari no uta with Hakase Tarou (はじまりの歌 with 葉加瀬太郎)  



   One reason that I have a love/hate relationship with Dai Hirai is that his music doesn't always give me what I crave from him. Dan's background has him coming from Hawaii so you can assume that dude is chill as hell. The music that comes from him is the same way but I didn't care for his earlier style of  ocean wave reggie because it wasn't strong enough to stand out to me. Now that he's older, he lost the youthful image of long dreadlocks along with the tropical beach style. Each album shows growth in a more solid direction of musical vision for Dai Hirai. He can speak English fluently… probably even better than he speaks Japanese, However, lyrical content in his songs have slowly mastered his craft of mixing the two languages together. Both languages actually form a complete thought using Japanese and English combine in his new songs over the last three albums. Wave on Waves is just an expansion on his acoustic guitar sound that seems to fit the singer like a three week old pair of pants. Song for Two contributes to the popular dance pop music thats popular right now in Japan. It's a track that might grow on me later on. I think that I enjoyed the song more accompanied by the music video. By itself, the track is a sugary pop number based a little too much on bubble gum music. A lot of the album is a mixture of pop and ukulele harmonizing off of each other. Beautiful Lane was a bit of the sound that I wished to hear from Dai. It's a med tempo pop track that brings out his vocals in a smooth emotional way. My Love basically sets Dai's place as the Jason Mraz of Japan, very cute but so fun that it's catchy. Hajimari no uta (はじまりの歌) was the stand out track of all on Wave on Waves. This track was the track used from promotions for the album as well. I couldn't agree more with the decision since this song might be one of the best songs that he has ever released. Life is Beautiful comes in a close second in my opinion. There's a second version of the track with Hakase Tarou who is a violinist. I loved the song even more because the second version added a new take on the original. Just Dai playing the guitar accompanied next to that drum rhythm beat really made the magic happen for the singer. Wave on Waves is Dai coming more into a mature version of himself as an artist.

   Dai Hirai has an easy going voice. Not too much or too little comes from his vocal ability. He sings in a chill manner without worry about the world around him. I look for him to give me more in his singing and he does little by little. I'm not wowed yet but he shines in an acoustic setting. Which should tell you that he can sing.

   I love this guy's style as a person so much. I absolutely didn't like his last album though[MIC DROP!]. Dai Harai is good artist who is a working progress…. Wave on Waves will probably sell more than On The Road since his albums seems he gets a higher chart positions with each album he releases.