When the Idol Known in English as Not Secured, Loose Ends But Still at Home as Yukueshirezutsurezure Yeah I Can Still Type It teased out a noontime Sunday something yesterday, one could have been forgiven for thinking the worst. In a year’s time, two of the group’s most stalwart members had departed, a ton of previous momentum lost, and while fans have embraced the new order no matter how bitter their tears, I think disappointment is something that we’ve just come to expect from this powerfully underrated outfit.
And instead, thank heavens, it was the MV for their latest “Odd eye” single and not only is that a huge relief, but what a showing out of the new lineup:
This is a cool MV! I mean, it’s simple, yes and true and sure, but since when do we hold that against idols? It’s in the tried-and-true NSLE style, obvs, a lot of group and iso dancing and the band playing and a visual theme that your brain wants to make into more than it is but is probably just good branding at work. And (getting to the more jarring aspects in a second) it’s neat seeing updated roles and switched-up personae, like … Komachi in the lead as opposed to looming as the change-of-pace #2. Wild times!
What I didn’t expect was for the group to sound as different as they do, which sounds like a really stupid comment (there are like 3/4 new members!) until put into a Tsurezure context (they’re all still pulling screams duty!). But dang man, they sound really different. Not bad, not at all, but yes different. And despite that being reliant on the (more recent) losses of Tsuyame and Shidare, it’s exciting in its way, isn’t it? Almost like finding a new group that’s mimicking the style of one of your all-time favorites, but in neither a mawkish way nor a clear derivation. Like if Greta Van Fleet were good, basically.
This is good and cool, though, and I’m really glad that it’s out, and I hope that fans embrace the new lineup with the same fervor as the First Four* were blessed with. They charted a great path for the project, and there are reasons why Cococo is still closely followed almost two years after she left the group, but the past is the past and there’s a Tsurezure present with a Tsurezure future after all, and I wish it as well as hell.
*This needs a better name
