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[Pre-Release Review] Kana Nishino – if

Kana’s 11th single if, will release on 2010/08/04.

This cover SCREAMS Kana BALLAD! Overall, I really love the way everything’s placed in the cover; maybe ignoring the fact that her face looks kinda……round….(XD Gomen Kana!) But generally, the whole innocent, white background thing going on, makes her stand out alot – and the WRITING! Genius placement, and G.E.N.I.U.S is the person who chose the font. It’s perfect! Love this cover!

Okay, so to go the height of lame-ness, I’ll rate the covers!
This one gets:
7/10

On to the regular edition cover. Hmmm…..I actually like this more than the previous one. It’s again, very gentle, and ballad-y, with the same G.EN.I.U.S font. I also love her pose more in this one, and I love her clothes as well! Hmmm……Pretty, pretty Kana!

Rating:
8/10
GO! GO! GIRL! ROCK THAT BACKGROUND!

Now, moving on to the tracklist:

• if
• I’ll be there
• Beautiful

The title track if, will be used as the ending theme song of the Naruto Shippuuden movie: Naruto Shippuuden 4: The Lost Tower. No complaints on that decision – I love Naruto, and I LOVE her songs! Great Combo!

if is BEAUTIFUL (judging from the beginning)! Being a ballad, it obviously retains Kana’s usual R&B style. The song starts off with some piano playing, followed by a very melancholy violin, Kana’s vocals, and the soft beats kick in. I am a sucker for these sort of beginnings, so naturally I already loved the song. Now, moving on to the verse, where she starts singing. OH NOES! I don’t know what to say – since the version of the song I have is just a rip form the video, it’s not exactly good quality, but even-so, her VOICE! *panics* It’s HIGH PITCHED!, and it ALMOST hurt my ears! Don’t do this KANA! The verses are overall interesting (tune-wise). However, the chorus is what makes the song so beautiful. I don’t know how to describe it, it’s just beautifully gorgeous in it’s own mid-paced way (the tune she’s singing is CATHCY and GORGEOUS at the same time). I won’t say anything about her vocals now, I’ll wait for the proper quality version. Now the bridge – pretty pretty Kana, is all I can say – I’m glad it wasn’t long and boring, and instantly kicks off to the final chorus. Her ad-libbing in the end is a great highlight, and that’s it! End of song. I’m not sure if it’s Naruto material, but I guess that will be decided once the movie is seen. Listen and decide!

Right now, I give it:
6/10, for vocals (the chorus made it a 6 otherwise 4/10)
9/10, for arrangement and tune.

Looking at the rest of the tracklist, I’m glad that she always has 2 B-sides, so listeners get the FULL single satisfaction, but WHY THE HELL are there never any instrumentals? Her songs are beautiful and I absolutely LOVE listening to instrumentals – especially of beautiful songs – of which she has a TRUCKLOAD! Put instrumentals in!
I guess the tracklist looks okay; I just hope they aren’t ALL ballads; I’d easily get sick of her singing in the same melancholy voice of hers in all 3 songs! (I’m not really bashing her voice…in fact it’s a compliment saying that she puts a lot of emotion in her songs – which is good – but not ALL the time!) So I guess I’m really looking forward to the single! PLEASE GOD! LET IT BE WORTH WAITING!

Random thought: He-he, wouldn’t it be totally freaky, but kinda cool, if she did a cover of Tohoshinki’s I’ll be there! =P *bricked* It’s A RANDOM THOUGHT!

That’s it I guess….I hope the rest of the single is good! I’m kinda confused about if right now – at least it fits the cover! =P

Jaa! Mata Ne~

P.S – THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL PROMO PIC KANA-CHAN!