Superfly - 0 Album Thoughts(J-rock, ballad, Jazz)

    Superfly is a singer that is mostly well know for creating insert songs for films and dramas in Japan. The group used to consist of two people: Vocalist Ochi Shiho and Guitarist Tabo Koichi, who lest the forefront of the group to now only write lyrics or play the guitar  occasionally. Ochi went on to have four number one albums back to back out of the six albums she has released in her career.(the other albums were #2 and #3 respectively.) Zero is the soulful rock songstress's first album in five years.

Tracklist : 

1. Ambitious.
2. フレア(Flare)
3. Gemstone.
4. 覚醒(Kakusei)
5. ハッピーデイ
   Happy Day.
6. Fall.
7. Lilyの祈り
8. 氷に閉じこめて
9. Bloom.
10. サンディ
11. Gifts.

    I'm going to have to get this post truthful. Superfly is one of my all time favorite Japanese female singers however, the single roll out for this latest album wasn't something that I was feeling when I heard them. Chi decides to came back to the music scene sporting a whole new image change along with a "softer" musical sound. You know I've always preached about changing up your musical style being alright as long as it's good but these singles like Bloom for example, were downright boring. Classifying them as plain old ballads was the easiest thing to do because these songs packed no spice to eat on. Even I saw in the comments of Japanese fans asking her where her hard rock sound disappeared to. So all of this lead me to be really hesitant to listen to Zero. I eventually decided to just out of respect for Superfly being a hell of a talent. Zero ended up being an alright album overall. Superbly saved it by actually having a good track list. The leading single(覚醒) she picked to represent the album was different for her, then again there were many layers of elements that connected to one another. Genres such as groovy soul, rock, and acoustic piano all come together to produce a track that doesn't sound like any other singer out in Japan right now. Fans looking for a tiny glimmer of the old days of Superfly will enjoy Gemstone as the track, while being a subdued version of classic Superfly, still gives listeners a bit of rock n roll energy they may have been missing. I still can't get over that this women came back looking like a discount half price version of Mika Nakashima back when her hair was short in the late 2000s. [INSERT ME LAUGHING] She even tries her hand at Mika's jazz style and ….. succeeds to my surprise. Mostly due to the women having such a good voice. The rest of Zero plays around with this idea of Superbly being a changed women after five years which shows in her music. Many of the tracks are doable because she really is one of the top five best female vocalists Japan has to offer. Zero could be considered her most experimental album yet. It doesn't quite reach the hight of her previous albums. That still doesn't stop the compilation from being something enjoyable.

   My friend and I always would joke about how loud Superfly sings. He would always say, " Damn she sings loud as hell!"I agree. She's like that lone person in a choir who is suppose to be singing in harmony with everyone in their section but is singing louder than everyone instead.[INSERT ME LAUGHING.] Maybe I should say her voice sounds loud because she has powerful vocals. Ether way, I was hooked when I first heard her sing a track for a film. I had to know who she was right away. I would love for her and a singer like Crystal Kay to do a collaboration together.

   Zero manges not to be a flop at the end of the day. I was bracing myself for the album to be one too. Zero did well in Japan sales wise, debuting at #3 on the Oricon Charts with over 80,000 units sold…. Probably the lowest of her career. I believe Japanese people weren't feeling her new musical change on a mass appeal level. She might not even care at this point though.