I AM ME is the first full-length album release from the relatively new
pop artist Yuya Matsushita. He's very young (only twenty) and his career
started out with the single “foolish foolish” in 2008.
From there he went on to play the role of Sebastian Michaelis in the
Kuroshitsuji Musical (when I found out that existed I about had a heart
attack) in 2009 and then came the release of this album.
I Am Me by Yuya Matsushita
Track By Track:
Track 1: I AM ME
“Prologue -I AM ME-” is a mere introduction to the album and runs 30-some
seconds. It's a fair mixture of gentle and upbeat, which in my opinion sets
the stage well for the rest of the CD. And it flows nicely into the following
track, which is always nice.
Track 2: YOU
“YOU” opens the rest of the album with a great, upbeat song. Some parts of it
are much more quick-paced than others, but the entire song is great.
Considering the album is, as I mentioned above, a mix of gentle and upbeat, I
feel “YOU” is perfect for introducing listeners to the sort of tone his upbeat
songs take on.
I'd also like to mention that there's a section of the song that's more rap
than pop, at least through simple listening, and that really adds something.
Track 3: Foolish Foolish
“Foolish Foolish” offers a firm about face from “YOU”. It's the other half—the
gentle half. It's very pretty, a perfect fit for his voice.
A lot of the song takes on a sort of ethereal feel; typically when I'm
listening to it I end up picturing clouds. I wish I'd discovered it when it
was initially released two years ago.
Track 4: Interlude I
“Interlude I” brings us to our first interlude! That was fast, wasn't it? This
is basically a soft piano follow-up to “foolish foolish” with the sounds of
rain intermingled, and some of the tune and sound leads right into...
Track 5: Mr Broken Heart
“Mr Broken Heart” combines the upbeat with the gentle again. There are beats
in this song which have that slight upbeat feel even though for the most part,
it keeps to the gentle.
In other words, the other portions of the music are soft (though not slow) and
the lyrics are very much the same.
The tone of his voice is sweet here, and I'm a little bit addicted to the
chorus, which is brings the entire song together nicely.
Track 6: LAST SNOW
“LAST SNOW” keeps going with the softer tones for this track. It's the slowest
song on the album at this point, and it starts out a little boring, but it
gets so much better. Then it gets boring again. And then it picks up once
more.
Basically, I found the verses were dull; it was the chorus that always picked
up my attention, or at least the music portion of it.
This song really didn't allow Yuya to show off his vocals as much. I'll admit
it took a few listens for me to even like this song, and it's never going to
be my favourite of his.
Track 7: Koe ni Naranakute
“Koe ni Naranakute” features Sista singing with him and it's freaking awesome. This is one of the more R&B songs, I think (wrong person to ask: I don't
listen to much R&B).
His part isn't so much singing as it is speaking to a beat early on (though
it's relaxing) and then Sista comes in and her voice is entirely lovely.
I tried to look her up, but let's just say typing 'Sista' into Google doesn't
get you far, even if you add 'artist'.
When he does start singing, you can see how their voices complement each other
(more on this later!) and seriously...it's just awesome.
Track 8: Agitation
“Agitation” starts out with a tone that made me crack up...and picture those
little toy monkeys that have cymbals. I have no excuse for this. It's the
fastest song on the CD, good if you want something that's going to make you
smile. ...Which I think is a little odd, considering the title is “Agitation”.
I promise it's not agitating. And I promise to not make anymore dumb jokes for
awhile, because that wasn't even worthy of being called a joke, now was it? Anyway, the point stands that it's a good song, though probably not one of the
best on the album.
Track 9: Interlude II
“Interlude II” brings us another little break. More piano. Just as pretty as
last time. It's so good at drifting into the next track that I didn't even
notice I'd gotten to the next one.
Track 10: Futari
“Futari” is piano-heavy and one of my favourites on the album. I have a thing
for soft music with pianos and nice voices, and Yuya has me covered here. The
other instruments involved are equally nice.
This song carries itself wonderfully and never overstays its welcome, probably
because of all the wonderful pretty parts. Oh, and you get to hear what I'm
just about positive is Yuya's falsetto.
Track 11: Negai ga Kanau Kara
“Negai ga Kanau Kara” is a bit offsetting at the beginning, if only because
it's such a distinctly different tone from “Futari”.
This is probably the happy medium of the album though, in between gentle and
upbeat. It's got both things going on and it does it pretty well.
Probably the only thing wrong with it is that listening to him say “All I need
is only you” so many times can get just a little annoying.
Track 12: Trust Me
“Trust Me” brought me to Yuya Matsushita in the first place, and I praise the
gods of anime music for that. Yes, have a look at my last review this song saw
use as the first ending theme for Durarara!!, not to mention it hit #10 in the
weekly Oricon charts.
I honestly think it deserved to go higher, but I have no clue what other songs
it was up against. But anyway, this is a strongly upbeat song which has the
constant power of making me tap my foot along and smile like crazy. I'm pretty
sure I had it on repeat for at least two hours, probably closer to three.
Track 13: First Snow
“First Snow” is the other song on the album featuring Sista, and it's tied for
#1 on my favourites (up against “Trust Me”). It's gentle, but maintains a
smooth pop feel.
It sort of pulls the same stunt as “Koe ni Naranakute” with some of his bits
being more spoken, but when he's singing on the track it's gorgeous, and some
of Sista's background vocals are very nice, as are her sections in the lead.
I'm praying that she's included in at least one or two songs on his next album
as well, because their voices really are perfect together.
Track 14: Sono Toki Made No Sayonara
“Sono Toki Made No Sayonara” was another song that gave me a picture right off
the bat, in this case of movement all throughout mountains and other pretty
terrain.
I'm not sure why. This one is a little addictive, too, and I fell in love with
the chorus and really, the tune.
I love it when the music is just completely
fitting for the vocalist, and this song is a great example of that. It's
another of my favourites.
Track 15: Interlude III
“Interlude III” is our final interlude, as we near the end of the album (sad
face!) and it's different from the others.
Not so much piano as it is strings and some weird noise that gets annoying if
you pay too much attention to it.
Track 16: Hallucination
“Hallucination” threw me off at first because it's...well he sounds a little
different. At least to me. Not different in a bad way, necessarily, but
different.
I think it doesn't give nearly a good enough example of his work, especially
his voice. The song itself isn't innately terrible or anything, but it is not
one of the best on the album by any means.
Track 17: Kiss me
“Kiss me” bolts back into upbeat. And reminded me of a strange, Japanese blend
of The Beetles and Michael Jackson.
I'm not sure what happened there. It's
another “smile or die” song. Hoppy, upbeat, get up and dance, whatever you want to call it. And let's be
honest who wouldn't want to kiss this pretty man?
Track 18: Honesty
“Honesty” in my opinion, wraps up the album quite nicely. It brings his voice
to the forefront, showcases how great his vocals are, and that's what it's all
about (at least in my world). It isn't exceptional compared to some of the others, but that doesn't stop it
from being a very good song. There's a lot of personality in it, too.
Conclusion?
Well the fangirl in me just wants to squee “OMG IT WAS PERFECT” and be done
with it. But in all seriousness, this is (I Am Me Yuya Matsushita) a brilliant debut album, because it goes
through so much variety and very much shows off what Yuya Matsushita is
capable of.
Let's just say I'm glad there are so many tracks, because I need something to
tide me over. I'm already eager for another album, and this one has barely
been out for half a year.
My rating: 10/10.
Yes, my inner fangirl wins out when it comes to the rating.
I Am Me | |
| Artist | Yuya Matsushita |
|---|---|
| Tracks | 18 |
| Genre | Pop, R&B |
| Release Date | June 2, 2010 |
| Label | Epic Records Japan |
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