NEWS
Taiyou no Namida

01. 太陽のナミダ (Taiyou no Namida)
02. 美しすぎて Beautiful Eyes (Utsukushisugite Beautiful Eyes)
03. バンビーナ (Bambina) – limited edition
04. 太陽のナミダ(オリジナル・カラオケ) (Original Karaoke) – limited edition
05. Lady Spider – regular edition
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
Great A-side, but the coupling songs are a big letdown.

I haven’t done a proper review… in nearly two years? I suppose that shows up how much I’ve been ignoring this blog. Then again, a lot of things have changed since 2006, Hinoi Team is now a part of entertainment history – they broke up because Keika wanted to focus on her high school entrance exams and Asuka decided to pursue a solo career. I’ve also moved from the w-inds. fandom into Johnny’s Entertainment groups – Arashi, NEWS, Kanjani8 and Hey!Say! JUMP. So the contents of the blog are also slowly shifting to reflect my new loyalties.

Taiyou no Namida is NEWS’ 8th single and the A-side is the theme song for YamaP’s latest film, the hugely anticipated Kurosagi. The song can take a bit of getting used to… the opening melody is slightly strange, it reminds me of gypsy music in the way it seems to jingle. I also thought the verse was slightly tuneless on first listen, perhaps because the notes do not rise and fall like the usual pop melodies. But like all JE songs, it grows on you upon the second and third listen, and by the fourth you are hooked. I actually wouldn’t call it a pop song, because it was quite clearly written as a companion to the Kurosagi movie instead of a singable pop anthem. The song fits the enigmatic, mysterious quality of YamaP’s Kurosagi character and the mood of the movie like a glove.

To elaborate a little more on the lyrics, the theme of the song is ‘rain’. This is hinted by the literal translation of ‘taiyou no namida’ to ‘tears of the sun’. Hence, the PV features our boys dancing in the rain and looking sad. I don’t blame them for the sombre mood – the lyrics are all about the frustration of a troubled love that won’t go anywhere. The persona in the song wonders if he ought to ditch the umbrella and run to look for his love, but the continuous falling of rain or ‘tears of the sun’ seem to act as a deterrent. Eventually, he decides to look for his love. Alas, the song ends there! But not without him indulging in a bit of angst -

” The dazzling sun, somewhereup in the sky
Hiding itself, searching for a heart that won’t burn out
On the ground we act like we don’t notice we have been hiding our desires.
Ah! But the rain continues to fall”

One feels like telling him to get a grip, but well. People who write songs are usually not in the best state of mind.

Moving on to the coupling tracks. I didn’t think very much of them as they don’t stand out very much. Utsukushisugite Beautiful Eyes is a typical pop ballad about the eyes of a lover that are “too beautiful”. It’s a pure and sweet boyband tune that could have come out from any country.

Bambina is a song reputed to have very suggestive lyrics. I have not checked them out personally, but well. The moment the song opened with its synthetic beats, I thought immediately: PARA PARA!! I was pleasantly surprised that this song really starts off with the typical Para-Para sound because it’s been so long since Hinoi Team. Unfortunately, NEWS does not venture into ParaPara though the synthetic beats make a brief reappearance every now and then. Still, I wouldn’t call the song uptempo or upbeat – it isn’t very fast. Yet it also isn’t very danceable because the verses and chorus do not have distinctive beats. I’m quite frankly, confused. I would probably liken this to Akaku Moyuru Taiyou in terms of spirit / mood and maybe Ai no Matador in terms of delivery? I’m really confused by this song.

Lady Spider is another midtempo song that NEWS seems to have done before. It’s slightly like BOOM BOOM POWER in that the chorus and verses sound very different. Then again, NEWS seems to have done this kind of song better, even BOOM BOOM POWER had a more memorable sound. This seems… recycled. The interesting thing about this is that it features a mumbly RAP. NEWS nearly never raps in their songs, so I’m surprised.

Overall, I’m quite in love with the title track, but not impressed by the coupling songs which seem as though they were written hurriedly to fill up space by songwriters who’ve spent all their creative juices.

In fact, after writing this review I’m not sure if I even want to buy this single… Perhaps it might be wiser to wait for an album.