Mukashibanashi
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Revision as of 08:11, 17 June 2016
"Sights of Sounds" is an upcoming second full studio album and overall eighth release by Japanese pop idol group 8th & Beyond, released on TBA.
Contents |
Background Information
Released: TBA
Genre: Pop
Producer: Mini Bus
Label: Clumsy Media
Type: Normal Full Album Type A
Development
Songs for this album first began recording in March 2013, with some originally intended for release with the group's first studio album "Beyond" (2013) but failed to pass the inital selection round. The new writing process for the album happened "mid-October during the stressful promotion period," as described by member Chun Takahashi, "after each schedule we gathered around each other and talked about the potential results for our next full release, and eventually new materials emerged."
Recording sessions for the album took place at the Clumsy Studios located at the headquarters of Clumsy Media in Tokyo, Japan. Award winning producer Mini Bus took over the overall creative control of the album, acting as the producer after being asked by group leader Sumire Kimura. Member Rie Kotobiki also actively contributed to the music direction, writing the lyrics to several tracks as well as ultimately the acting co-producer. The group worked with several song-writers on the album, including previous collaborators such as School Sounds, Johnny Suimako and DJ Karma.
In an interview with Billboard, Cabello was quoted as saying, "We're about to start recording our new album the day after tomorrow." The interview was uploaded on September 21, several days after the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Festival, where Cabello spoke to the magazine.[6] In an interview with Spin, Dinah Jane said that 7/27 is "a side of Fifth Harmony that no one’s really seen. In the beginning, we were super happy. Our first album was very jumpy. This time, we're showing who Fifth Harmony really is behind closed doors."[7] The title and the cover of the album were unveiled on February 25, on the group's official Instagram page, with the following caption, "We know there has been a lot of talk, but we wanted you to hear this from us... Our new album 7/27 is coming May 20th."[8] The album's title refers to July 27, 2012, the date the group was formed on The X Factor.
Back in early October, Jauregui told Billboard that Max Martin was "heavily involved" in the production of the group's second full-length album.[9] On another interview, Dinah Jane told Spin that Martin had produced 6 songs for their album since the interview took place. Harmony Samuels, who previously worked on the Hotel Transylvania track "I'm in Love with a Monster", told Entertainment Scoop that he is "currently working on a new project with (Fifth Harmony)."[10]
On April 22, it was announced that the group would postpone the album's release date by one week to May 27. The following day, digital music platform site, iTunes updated the tracklist with two tracks under the explicit label, making this Fifth Harmony's first release to contain explicit lyrics.
Lyrics
According to the members themselves in a post-album-release interview, the album's lyrics explore themes of "social anxiety, stress, detachment, friendship and feelings of lost and nostalgia" but within "the perceptions of the minds of a teenager and young adult". Rie Kotobiki, who wrote most of the lyrics confessed that they were mostly influenced by "the sights the group experienced as a whole after debut".
Reception
Commercial performance
Critical response
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 7 reviews.[11] Matt Collar of AllMusic was positive, calling it "a sophisticated production that finds the all-female outfit nicely transitioning from the brash ingenues who finished third on the second season of The X Factor into reliably mature pop divas." He noted that "while 7/27 isn't quite as loose or as fun as one might hope, Fifth Harmony prove they can balance youthful swagger with grown-up sophistication."[12] Praising the mature environment, Nolan Feeney of Entertainment Weekly named it "deep, vulnerable, personal--these were some of the quintet’s stated goals for 7/27. It’s not a bad look by any means."[15] Maura Johnston of Boston Globe stated: "The group’s power has always come from its Spice Girls-like ability to form a massive unit of self-actualization, and the peppy 7/27 has no shortage of that, both lyrically and musically."[13] Lewis Corner of Digital Spy noticed that "while the debut album 'Reflection' was a mixed bag in terms of styles, '7/27' is a cleverly structured collection. The uptempo numbers pop off with confidence, while the slower tracks barely detract from the overall energy of the record. There's sass, there's vulnerability, there's sexiness; it draws upon all the emotions a great pop album craves.[14] Christopher R. Weingarten of Rolling Stone opined that the album "isn't a massive step forward, but with a constant bombardment of hooks, high energy and incredible harmony there's not much time to catch your breath to compare."[17]
Tracklisting
1. 序章 (Prologue)
2. 若者 夢想家 (Youth Dreamers)
3. 夏季神話 (Myth of the Summer)
4. ヴィンテージカメラ (Vintage Camera)
5. ユートピア (Utopia)
6. 恋人の激怒 (A Lover's Fury)
7. ラブポーション (Love Potion)
8. フィールドでのタンゴ (A Tango in the Fields)
9. 黒潔白 (Black Innocence)
10. エンディング： 満月 (Ending: Full Moon)
Deluxe Edition
11. Please Hold My Hand (Bonus Track)
13. Recording Message from 8th & Beyond (Audio Recording)
12. 移動＆ビヨンド (Moving&BEYOND) (Instrumental Ver.)
12. 移動＆ビヨンド (Moving&BEYOND) (Music Video)
