Yazawa Ai’s masterpiece manga “NANA” has been gaining a lot of attention this year: first with its very own tribute album, a dedicated café, and now a movie starring Nakashima Mika herself as the rocker-chick Oosaki Nana. To play with the “realism” of the movie a single has been released entitled “GLAMOROUS SKY” under the psuedonym “NANA starring MIKA NAKASHIMA”. Staying true to the style of Yazawa’s character, the single contains four rock tracks, the title track being composed by the famous rocker HYDE himself.
From the cover you can tell that SONY is trying to remind buyers that this is not Mika, but Nana. Her back turned away from camera shows defiance, while the black cover and minimum lighting represents Nana’s rebellious punk attitude. Let’s see how Mika & Co. did portraying the most popular female in the manga world: Nana.
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Newcomer YUI debuted in February with the song “feel my soul” and made her comeback on June 22 with “Tomorrow’s way”. At the age of 18, she writes the words and music to all her songs. With her sweet and innocent voice, YUI sings about maturing in “Tomorrow’s way”. This single’s cover features a picture of YUI looking out a window with her chin resting on a guitar. With rays of sunlight shining in through the windows behind her, it surely reflects the longing to grow up that is conveyed in lyrics of the title track. Let’s look at “Tomorrow’s way”!
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ORANGE RANGE’s 12th single “Kizuna” came out on August 24, 2005. The single shot straight up to the number one position on the Oricon charts and sales have been pretty good so far. Many fans have compared this single to their previous hit ballad “Hana” which was released in October last year. On the cover a swing set is shown and the symbol of the band is drawn in the dirt. The picture is in black and white and gives it more of a nostalgic feel. The CD design and the back of the sleeve feature little doodles of stick men with parachutes being eaten by alligators and struck by lightning and a game of tic-tac-toe won by the O’s. No doubt about it, “Kizuna” is about friends and remembering the good times, so grab your warm and fuzzy childhood memories and let’s go!
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Photoshoot from ‘Mahiru no Tsuki’
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Artist: Hitomi Shimatani
Product Code: AVCD-30805
Release Date: 2005.08.31
Debut Ranking: #12
Label: avex trax
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Approximately six years have passed since Hitomi Shimatani’s debut in the J-Pop Industry back then in 1999 with her debut enka single ‘Osaka no Onna’. Since then her music has undergone through multiple genres. She has released twenty singles, 4 studio albums, a best compliation album, a mini album and a concept album. Apart from her impressive singing career, Hitomi also has an acting and seiyuu career. In August, Hitomi was proud to release ‘Mahiru no Tsuki’ to commemorate the release of her 20th single.
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Name: Caroline Lufkin
Birthplace: Okinawa
Residence: Los Angeles
I’m sure quite a few of you have heard of Olivia Lufkin, a singer from Avex Trax. Olivia Lufkin is half Japanese and half American and has sung in a variety of styles ranging from rock to ethereal pop and alternative.
Caroline Lufkin is Olivia’s sister who currently resides in the United States and is working on releasing her first release with the company Temporary Residence Limited. Caroline moved around a lot when she was younger since her father was formerly a Marine, though was originally from Okinawa. She graduated from Berklee School of Music in Boston in 2003. Caroline writes her own material, and has a voice not unlike that of Björk. Caroline’s voice has also featured on several advertisments in the Japanese market.
“Where’s My Love” is planned to be her debut single. Produced by Sweden-born Andreas Bjorck, this track is a very soothing and has this unearthly feel to it. The song itself is rather captivating and ethereal especially with the addition of her soft voice. The background music gives you memories of those music boxes and wind chimes. One can also notice how her voice is quite similar to her sister’s, apart from sounding more delicate and less powerful. In this track I believe that Caroline has proved herself as excellent in her fragile vocal abilities as her sister as she subtly controls her singing to express the sorrow and longing in the verse. The result is a composition that swells with novelty and charm.
It has come to my attention that her debut will be on October 25th, according to her MySpace entry.
- Where’s My Love
- Where’s My Love (Magical Mix)
- Time Swells
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