Channel-Ai Community Blog - JPop reviews, articles

Artist: Ayumi Hamasaki ISBN: AVCD-30961/2 Release date: 2006.03.08 Debut Ranking: #1 Label: avex trax

Ayumi Hamasaki’s 39th single has hit the stores in March 2006. This single managed to top the charts once again, claiming the title of the most No.1 singles by a female Japanese artist. Instead of following the rules of a typical J-Pop artist, Hamasaki does her own thing and releases a powerful single and reinvents her image and music.

This time we see a mature and sexy side of her with dark straight hair in her covers, where she wears a short furred dress and silver accessories with a black background for contrast. It’s plain that Hamasaki wants to give off a message of confidence and attitude in this single.

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*click this to see image noted with members names*

The shuffles for 2004 were different in all ways possible. First of all, as an anniversary of H!P’s 7 years in existence (since when is 7 a big thing?), the WHOLE Hello! Project, even the Hello! Project kids, formed one mega unit called the H.P. All Stars. They released a single together called ALL FOR ONE & ONE FOR ALL! Although the previous shuffles were considered summer shuffles and had singles released in the summer, this was released in December of 2004. (H!P fans like me were wondering where the shuffles were in summer 2004..) Yes, they all worked on it together, which meant they all had to fit on one stage for TV appearances. How they managed to do that, with 46 members at the time, you ask? No idea. But anything is possible with the Hello! Project.

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Artist: spellcheck & spyro (spespy) Composer: Leanne Lyricist: Laina Product Code: CACD-00001 Release date: 2006.03.08 Debut Ranking: #1 Label: Channel Ai Productions

Who ever said art has its limitations? And why should anyone simply stick to one genre? And ladies and gentlemen, this is the beauty of sHaKy LeGs, the very first single released from the label, Channel Ai Productions. This single certainly has variation, attitude and humour at one go so I suggest you won’t let this one slip through your fingers.

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7AIR

SALT5

11WATER

Ok, I’ve made up my mind. The 2003 shuffle units are my favorite shuffles by faaar. Each and every song + group are awesome, but still with their added specialness. Unlike other years, starting from this year, all 3 shuffles were combined onto one CD single, rather than 3 separate singles to buy. Perhaps this switch was because of a decline of sales and fanbase.

The groups in 2003 were 7AIR, SALT5, and 11WATER. The theme for all of them was the elements, air, salt, and water. Both 7AIR and SALT5 took a more rap/r&b feel, while 11WATER turned the other way and gave us a nice, poppy, upbeat, H!P-like happy song.

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	Happy 7
	Sexy 8
	Odoru 11

2002 is another one of my favorite Hello! Project Summer Shuffles years. Alright, I do have a lot of favorites. I remember how much I was obsessed with these songs in that summer of ‘02…

The 3 units this year were Happy 7, Sexy 8, and Odoru 11. The groups/songs were themed around shiawase, happiness; each song had to do with this shiawase component. The songs varied quite a bit. While Happy 7’s song was cutesy, upbeat, and cheerful, Sexy 8’s song was, well, sexy. Odoru 11’s song really doesn’t fit into any category other than the “odd-different-traditional-japanese-weird” category.

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