Chanmina was a rapper that blew up on Youtube originally. She actually has more Youtube views compared to pure album sales that she has made from her first album. I've kept up with most of her digital singles and the physical single for "I'm A Pop" but none of her releases has turned into a major success. Even the collaborations she has done(Teddyloid) got some Japanese people to check her out, just not to the point of having higher sales. I'm not quite sure how she had concert footage of a venue full of that many people either… unless she was opening for someone else. The audience seemed into her performance at least. Never Grow Up is the rapper's second album after a whole bunch of single releases. Fun Fact: Chanmina is of Japanese and Korean decent. She speaks English, Japanese, and Korean fluently. You can hear her rap some of the lyrics of "I'm a Pop" in Korean.
TRACKLISt
01. Call
02. I’m a Pop
03. Pain Is Beauty
04. Never Grow Up
05. Yesterday
06. You’ve Won
07. My Own Lane
08. Girls
09. Can U Love Me
10. Like This
11. Doctor
12. Cafe
13. A Song Saved to Archived
14. Sad Song
Chanmina's sophomore effort was highly anticipated when first I heard the tracks released to promote the album: Call and Never Grow Up(same name as the album title). Call is a RnB Pop fusion track that might be one of the calmer tracks on the album while Never Grow Up has a summer pop beat that's clearly catering to the J-pop loving mainstream market. Most of the highlights of the album come from previously released singles such as Doctor, Pain is Beauty, and I'm a Pop which isn't a good thing. I wanted an album that brought the same energy as I'm a Pop's boss bitch persona portrayed in diamond quality swag. It's dramatic beat patterns surely leave a lasting impression in the form of bullet smoke when the gun's been fired. Never Grow Up doesn't quite live up to the epic road created for it's homecoming but there's some alright sings worth noting. Yesterday fits in the same atmosphere as Call, only as kind of like a part two to expanding on the style during the album. Girls fits the same style as Never Grow Up in the comparisons of the cute girl pop vibe both songs give off. My Own Lane could have come close to standing side to side with I'm a Pop. There was just a little hint of creativity in "My Own Lane's" production that Chanmina's older songs have. Somehow the track still missed the mark lacking a sense to push the boundary. Never Give Up as an album lacked an artistic direction in each tracks instrumentals when it comes to the new material. All the beats sounded the same plus the album tries too hard to be a top ten charting album in Japan. Producers are probably to blame. She's started to remind me of Daoko, a female soloist who does the sing/rap thing too. She's not the strongest singer but she makes up for it with charisma. Daoko can rap pretty well when tested like Chanmina without the bad girl image though. I don't want Chanmina to conform to being another Daoko in order to sell well. She better sell based on her bringing her own unique self to the Japanese music scene. Which brings me to my next problem of the album's overall theme being all over the place. Sad Song doesn't even fit into the rest of the album. Then the track stands out even more because it's the very last track on the album. Producers got away placing Pain is Beauty on the record as a pop rock track until they pushed their luck adding a second one.. I don't like witnessing this tug of war Chanmina has created for herself. Never Grow Up isn't the masterpeice I wanted to believe it would be to say the least. A mini album might have been her best bet at this point. Considering the lack of good material Never Grow Up has.
Chanmina can sing pretty well considering she's claiming the rapper title most of all. I would like her to hone the vocals to be a bit stronger. She is still young so her voice could change again once she hits her mid twenties. Never Grow Up messed up the opportunity for her to shine as a rapper. Where was the bars that demands respect? Where was the swag that her first album had? Something is seriously missing here. Rapping takes a huge back seat to her trying to go mainstream.
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