Yuna Ito - WISH
Posted in Japanese Albums | Tagged as: Yuna Ito
Tracklist
1. Power of Love
2. alone again
3. Anata ga Iru Kagiri
4. Urban Mermaid
5. HEARTBEAT
6. Colorful
7. Unite As One
8. Mahaloha
9. A Long Walk
10. Moon Rabbit
11. I’m Here
12. Wish
13. Tokyo Days
14. MY HEART WILL GO ON
WISH is Yuna Ito’s second album. Although her debut album sold and charted amazingly, WISH didn’t measure up. So far WISH has sold around 100,000 copies and peaked at #3 on the Oricon charts.
Power of Love is definitely an interesting piece, starting dramatically but changing to a more upbeat and optimistic chorus. While the first verse was serious and intense, the rest o f the song had somewhat of a gospel vibe to it. WISH starts with gospel influence and semi-ends with it in Tokyo Days. I don’t really like Tokyo Days. The gospel backing is pretty cheesy and kind of annoying. Still, if I can ignore it, the song is not bad. It’s a fun optimistic poppy piece and the chorus is pretty good.
One of my favorite tracks off the album, alone again is a mix of relaxing lounge and light R&B. It has a rather nice tempo and the melodies are quite pretty. I especially like the chorus and the instrumental interlude. Although the track moves at a pretty brisk pace, the whole atmosphere of the song really speaks the feeling of being “alone again.”
Anata ga Iru Kagiri is a gorgeous sweeping ballad sung with Celine Dion, who took notice of Yuna after Yuna sang a cover version of My Heart Will Go On for a Celine Dion tribute album. This track is also included at the end of the album as a bonus track. Needless to say, Yuna does a great rendition of this classic.
I still think Urban Mermaid is a rather cheesy song at times, but despite that it’s a nice pop track. For some reason WISH also includes the b-side of the Urban Mermaid single, Colorful. It fits right into the album, though, much better than Urban Mermaid does in terms of style of and feeling. Although I didn’t like this track too much when I first heard it, I’ve come of enjoy it a lot more than Urban Mermaid.
Unite as One is a beautiful ballad with lovely vocals. While it is very beautiful, it gets pretty boring though because it’s almost 7 minutes long! After it passes the five minute mark, generally, the entire thing just gets jumbled up in my head. The better ballad on the album would definitely be album’s namesake, Wish. While it’s not as powerful as some of her previous ballads, it does stand on its own (especially compared to Unite as One). The arrangement isn’t as sweeping, but it is still rather nice. The chorus is really beautiful and Yuna’s vocals are great.
I’ve never particularly liked I’m Here, but it’s grown on me a little. The verses aren’t bad, but the chorus needs work. Yuna just seems out of her league here with more aggressive songs like this.
I really like the chorus of HEARTBEAT. It’s really beautiful and I love the long notes. The arrangement is also very interesting and the strong beat combined with Yuna’s ethereal vocals makes a very enjoyable track. Moon Rabbit is also a great new track, albeit with rather…interesting lyrics. However, the beats and the instrumentation is all very well done, as are the melodies and Yuna’s vocals as usual, deliver a strong performance.
A Long Walk is most definitely my favorite track off the album. The distorted instrumentation is really interesting and coupled with the beats, I just can’t get it out my head! I also really enjoy Yuna’s ethereal vocals and the long moving notes sound really good. The part where Yuna sings “release me now” over and over again is a favorite part of mine too.
WISH is definitely a step up from HEART. Actually, I can’t remember any of the non-single tracks from HEART anymore, but WISH has quite a few stand-out tracks. While the entire package isn’t amazing, it is still an enjoyable listen.