Tracklist
1. Odore
2. Yukiyanagi ~we’re watching you~
3. Odore -Instrumental-
4. Yukiyanagi ~we’re watching you~ -Instrumental-

Anyone remember Yuna Ito’s Mahaloha single? It was a duet with Micro from the now broken up Def Tech, and he has also started his own solo career. Odore is his second single, released on May 21, 2008. It debuted at #8 on the weekly charts and has sold over 30,000 copies. Also, it was theme song for the Aoi Yu drama Osen (which is where I first heard it).

Odore has this folksy, yet R&B/hip-hop feel to it. There’s this rap sequence in it, that I guess isn’t too bad, but feels a bit out of place. The verse melody and chorus melody are really good, especially the internal rhythm. Lately I’ve had the chorus stuck in my head, which is undoubtedly the best part of the song. Micro has a bit of a raspy voice, which actually works quite well for Odore. As a whole, I really like this track, but if I could just get rid of the rap sequence…

The b-side is also pretty good. There’s some really interesting classical elements in the arrangement, but the track is still distinctly modern. It reminds me a bit of Mahaloha, with the clapping and the island-y feel. I like the melodies; they’re not really catchy as Osen but are quite pleasant. His raspy voice doesn’t work as well here, though, as is does in Odore, but at least there’s no rapping.

Buy this single: CD only

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 7:35 pm and is filed under Japanese Singles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.