I knew the MV drop was coming, and I waited for it, and then it happened and I just spent about 30 minutes just going back over it and trying to decide how I feel. I love BiSH, you know? I’m one of the goobers who pretty universally supported what they were doing even as other folks found faults — that’s okay! we’re not always going to agree on everything! — and can be fairly said to have been really eagerly anticipating their second major label single.
So here’s “Promise the Star”:
Where are you on this one? And take your time; I have things, but I also don’t want to be setting an agenda here (thought you can probably tell what it is). Ready?
I guess this is the bright side of that weird Avex export ban!
/rimshot
Man, it’s one thing to jump the shark, but at least that usually happens because you’ve done everything that you can and are just plain out of ideas and will try anything; this is like being jumped by the shark. I feel like pretty much the entire creative team for this one realized that it was February and they had promises to keep, so they came up with something that would guarantee that they’d get paid, and that the CD would sell a bunch of copies to make Avex happy, and they dusted off their hands and called it a day.
The song sounds like Aina walking around looking for something to do while the rest of the members take turns delivering limp lines; even Chitti and Atsuko, who I tend to most look forward to, do nothing for me. And it’s not their fault! The song is weak!
Please tell me that the B-side is good. Please. I don’t want to believe that BiSH was responsible for so completely uninspired and heartless an effort.
Anyway, I know that feelings about BiSH run hot among you all, so I welcome any and all thoughts.
I bet this song absolutely kills it live.
I just checked in on the group, you’ve got a tempest brewing. 🙂
oh hell yeah lol gotta love abit of BiSH banter. I enjoy the song myself, sure its no Hontohonki for me or one of the classics (monsters,otnk,toumin shoujo) but its still a solid song.
It was better than I was expecting, ever since they announced the song title I pretty much figured we’d get “Orchestra” the lesser.
Fear not, the B-side is GREAT!
Do you know if it’s available via Western sources, like Google or Amazon? My Japanese iTunes account got nuked.
Only Jap itunes it seems, not even Ototoy anymore. If Avex are going to make this hard, maybe you could ask someone to hook you up…
The B-side is way better. You can stream it on Alljpop.co now and I’m sure it will be up on Xiami.com soon too.
Damn, dude, thanks for the rec on the streaming. I am VERY happy about this B-side.
yeah the B-side is pretty solid too, bet that will go great with the ling ling screams live aha
I kind of feel more people are starting to see them as i have always seen them…
Anyway… If they are going down this mainstream orchestral radio pop route they should at least go full out, get a permanent full live backing band/orchestra and stop relying on backtracks.
Right now i kind of feel they have each of their feet in different worlds (and not in an interesting way).
Yes its all a bit Aina and her backing singers. Cant say I dont love it though
Thats always been BiSH tho, Aina’s the main dish and the rest are just salt and pepper, without Aina there would be no BiSH lets be honest.
You know, it’s interesting, I was listening to the original version of Spark the other day, and she was in a much more diminished position relative to Yukako and Chitti. Made me wonder about how things might have gone otherwise.
Ah but imagine if they were now led by the singer on the *original* original version of Spark
*shudder*
Do you think he leads the sing-alongs in their tour van? 😛
This is a gross discussion.
Sure it sounds like an anisong and it’s pop as hell but it’s quite good in what it’s doing. I think it’ll be interesting if they do both, I personally think it’s a good gateway song.
I’ve been back and forth on whether I like it as a gateway tbh. It certainly would be for folks with more of a pop sensibility, like showing off Oomori Seiko or tofubeats or something.
I was going to say how there are enough groups making safe pop music already, so that’s a gateway better left closed, but I put on some Gang Parade and it helped me move on to acceptance. Whether we like it or not, we got us a group who can do both. I look forward to hearing the B-side anyway!
I think it’s a pretty good song. A very pop one for sure, probably a 1 out of 5 on the “Homici” scale of homicidol.
I wish they played more with the space theme, though.
^^^^^^^^
They gave us this weird Dune look and did nothing with it!
Old BiSH never really appealed to me, aside from a few videos. More than a few units often talked about here release things that sound just as safe. That being said, I’d gladly add this CD to my slowly-growing Idol collection. In a place of honor with VMO, Foxpill Cult, and other stuff that only seems to be coming out of Japan these days.
And Damn it. Generic band-aids are a sh*tty bonus for buying a CD, Are stickers Illegal in Japan or something?
The thing about BiSH is that I’m never a fan of their new stuff on first listen, the hooks in their songs tend to gradually sink their claws into me over time and before I know it whoops I’ve fallen in love all over again.
So – this sounds promising on first listen, more polished and commercial sounding than before. Lingling’s hair is a wonder. And at least the drums sound good this time, I’m still mad about the absolute disaster the production on Hero Wannabe was grrrrr.
I’m lukewarm on the song to be honest, but it may grow on me, however the MV got me thinking.
I presume that somewhere in the great big book of idol rules it says a percentage of any groups MVs must be performed on a rooftop. Do they get a tax break or something?
In fact for us idol newbys a guide to the rules would be useful.
e.g each group must have one (minimum) girl with twin tails.
One who looks like she’d quite happily eat the still beating heart of a sacrificed wota.
One who really does have a Samurai sword in her back pack etc etc.
I appreciate for Bish, Ling Ling covers all these bases.
Rooftop, and beach (see FiNAL DANCE), and someone with glasses is hot now, and a blonde member. Otherwise, I think you nailed it.
Also, the heavier the group, the more likely that blonde member is to have a bob cut. See Gusodrop, Fruitpochette, Yukueshirezutsurezure, original Deep Girl lineup etc…
/nodding
As I’m easy to please and I like the feel of the song in my ears I’m quite liking it.
I will definitely put this song in my daily playlist.
The one who is socially shy in interviews, possibly a bit of a “shut in” and was bullied or ignored at school. for example Ayuni D, Ano
Right! This is an important trope.
Isn’t that every member of BiSH though? Indeed, most members of most groups?
I think a lot of people have been really unhappy about this song and video but I enjoyed them. It’s not Monster, OTNK, or Hoshi but it’s still a solid song and the video isn’t terrible. It’s clearly the money making video that Avex wants but Watanabe didn’t totally forget all the fans and made a killer B side to go with it.
You know what it is? I’ll point the finger at myself on this one, too: Expectations are a bitch. BiSH carries a certain rep, and what people were able to get out of the single as of yesterday didn’t line up with that; a not-dissimilar thing happened with Orchestra, but that was kind of muted because that was a better video (AW FORBIDDEN YOUNG LOVE!) and better song. Just given the B-side in this case, we’ll probably get all of the fan service we need when the next album drops in October or so.
I did feel you was a little harsh, Orchestra had its place in the song line up and so does promise the star, I would even go as far as to say promise beats orchestra on certain levels musically except for raw emotion, orchestra has it beat there(barring Ainas godly voice hitting some ridiculous notes in succession near the end of promise). Seems like this whole thing has been a case of Expectations and “what BiSH should be” getting the better of some of us and causing a negative mentality towards it, which is shame.
Don’t get me wrong! I still think the song’s too safe and easy; you don’t need to go heavy to do great things (looking in “Spark”‘s direction here). But safe sells records, and that’s what they’re out to do. I appreciate “HELP!!” a whole lot because it’s not just more of what I want out of BiSH, it’s a way more interesting song to boot.
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So it seems a bit mainstream. I got no problems with that. Aina can do no wrong. If this gets BiSH a bit more mainstream exposure and success, why not? She deserves a bigger stage for her immense talent. I hope she takes the rest of the girls along with her. But if she has to go solo to follow her dream, then do it girl!