w-inds.
IT’S IN THE STARS

Overall Rating: 5/5
Easily one of the best w-inds. singles.

This single is a breath of fresh air. Why? Because w-inds. has finally come up with an upbeat single after that seemingly endless stretch of ballads – Shiki, Yume no Basho E, Kawariyuku Sora, Izayoi no Tsuki, Yakusoku no Kakera. After listening to one depressing song after another, I was prepared to fly to Japan and go on my knees begging the management for a single like this, which features “happily in love” lyrics. Needless to say this single has certainly exceeded expectations. Here are a few reasons why:

There is a novelty factor in this single: the songs have transitions. Meaning the ending of STARS connects with the beginning of Philosophy, and the ending of Philosophy connects to the beginning of Special Thanx. This means that the songs need to be played in the correct order for one to appreciate how well put-together the single is. It also seems a tad weird when you listen to the songs separately because they don’t seem to have a proper ending. But once you listen to the single in full, you start to see the genius behind it.

That genius is shungo. shungo is the uber talented lyrics guy who writes lyrics for w-inds., FLAME and Lead. This is the brilliant guy who did lyrics for the entire IT’S IN THE STARS single (please refer to tracklist). He also did Super Lover and my favourite w-inds. B-side of all time, SOMEHOW. The fact that shungo’s also worked on Super Lover has indeed yielded some interesting results for STARS.

Thanks to shungo, there is a very obvious allusion to a previous hit w-inds. single, SUPER LOVER. In fact, STARS can be seen as a sequel to Super Lover in a sense.

The links are apparent in the theme of the whole single, song lyrics and the musical arrangement of the songs. The common theme is the giddy flush of infatuation or romance: It’s so wonderful to be in love and a “boundless future” awaits all new couples that haven’t been together long enough for romance to fade away. IT’S IN THE STARS is essentially about how “Love is a miracle everyone can have a part of”, while Super Lover is about well.. how “I need a Super Lover tonight”.

Elements of the original Super Lover are also included in the coupling tracks to STARS. The Iffudoudou rap part is in Philosophy and the WoWoWoWoW transition made its way into Special Thanx. While these things might seem trivial to the casual listener, old fans of w-inds. are gratified by these subtleties. They add another layer of meaning to the new songs, and we can fully appreciate the thought that went behind this effort.

Spot the difference?

DOWNLOAD the PVs to see for yourselves.

Well okay, not much diff. Both PVs have the shiny 80’s discotheque feel and the suits just got a tad shinier – reflecting a higher budget? However, while both Super Lover and STARS have an upbeat theme and talk about the floaty feeling of being in Love (or RABU as Keita would say it), STARS does build upon and improve on Super Lover’s foundations – thus this single is by no means a regression or “step backward” into the old teeny-bopper w-inds. days.

Most would admit that with STARS there is a definitely more maturity about w-inds. After all, our boys toast each other with champagne in the STARS PV! This is not a coming-of-age single in the traditional sense because it harks back to their glory days, but the ingenious mix of traditional w-inds. charm with new elements propels this single right to the top of my favourites list.

Ah the nostalgia…