Arashi - Don't You Get It PV + Making

I don't think I can say enough about Don't You Get It. As a song it's not the best thing in the world - I like it, but it's no Fukkatsu Love or Ai no Collection, but it's pretty good. No - for Don't You Get It, it's not the song that is the part I love - it's everything that has come with the song. The performance, the PV, the making - all of these things that Arashi appear in are the reason I fell in love with Arashi. All these things are exactly what I feel Arashi is.

FNS 歌謡祭 - Arashi [2015.12.03]

FNS Kayousai is my most favourite year end music special. Why? Because unlike Best Artist which is turning more and more into a Johnny's fest every year, and Music Station which tends to just focus on more current Jpop stars, FNS has a good mix of everything--and they literally mix it up! I love seeing the collaborations between groups and singers, and hearing older classic songs spruced up with the latest singles.

All in all, as a music show I think FNS has the most to offer and is the most entertaining. With that being said, ever since the great fiasco of 2011, Arashi stopped appearing live on FNS which made me not really watch it anymore. This year though, they were there, which got me really excited because that meant that a) they were going to collaborate and b) hopefully they would sing live again?

Well. A was partially true but I really shouldn't have gotten my hopes up for B. I mean, at the end of the day I don't mind if Arashi lip syncs. I really don't--I'm not  here for there spectacular singing voices anyway. BUT. The thing is, at FNS, it is so obvious that everyone is singing live. You can hear it. Even if you don't necessarily recognize the song and have never heard the recorded track, you can tell just from the sound of their voices that they are singing through a microphone. Arashi? Yeah. Nope. And the reason this bugged me?

BECAUSE  IT MEANT THEY DIDN'T DO A SINGING COLLABORATION. I was so upset! I loved when Arashi did their collaborations in 2009 and 2011. They were really great and super enjoyable and fun to watch. And at least for their version of Hatenai Sora in 2010, it was obvious they were singing live. But no. This year, they did a "collaboration" with Momo Clover Z where the girls just back danced for them. And obviously the girls couldn't sing a long because Arashi was lip syncing (and they were, it was obvious). If you listen to the sound of Arashi vs the sound of literally anyone else who performed, it is obvious those voices aren't coming from the mics. Or--if they were (which I think for Ai wo Sakebe they kind of were)--it was accompanied by heavy backing vocals.

Honestly. Part of me feels like the only reason they appeared live this year was because Matchy was there. If they didn't need to support their sempai (seriously watching all the Johnny's standing front and centre pretending to enjoy Matchy's performance was so embarrassing... I wonder what everyone else though), then I doubt they would have showed up. I wonder if they'll even bother showing up next year or if it'll be back to sending in studio recordings again :|

Also. Finally. What the hell was up with MatsuJun's hat?

Oh. This was supposed to be a performance review wasn't it? Um. I thought it was cute that MatsuJun shook the hand of that MomoClo girl before they left. Ai wo Sakebe had Sho making faces as usual and Jun looking super happy. Uh............ yeah. I don't even remember what song they did in between Wish and Ai wo Sakebe. Did they do song in between? You can tell how impressed I was with the performance. Sorry. I love Arashi, but guys, no one is going to freak out if you sing out of tune okay. We all saw the 2011 fiasco, you can't get worse than that. Seriously. -_-;;

Music Station [2013.05.31] - Endless Game Performance

If you're wondering why I didn't write a review of Endless Game it's because I actually really dislike the song. As for the rest of the songs on the album? I don't remember them but I just remember I didn't like any of them. I tried giving Monochrome a chance because it sounded jazzy but it was horrible.

With all that being said... I love the performance for Endless Game. Has it made me like the song? No. I still can't listen to the song without stopping it within 30secs, but I am willing to rewatch this performance multiple times because I legitimately think it's that great.

I was pretty hesitant about watching the performance because I knew how much I disliked the song but I was, surprisingly, hooked from the beginning. I was actually multitasking when I started the video so I laughed a bit when I paused the performance because it looked like the pose they'd have to the cover of an album. But onto the dance. It was cool. From what I could see, the black on black and crazy camera angles made watching them a bit of a pain but I enjoyed it. I really appreciate all the little, repetitive, precise dance movements they do like the horse-riding looking thing, the left-to-right hip swing, a few of the arm movements etc. I don't know why but watching any dance I've always appreciated little movements like that. They always seems more awesome and entertaining to me than spinning on the floor, or doing flips.

There were some parts of the dance that were kind of awkward though, like when they were trying to move in "slow" motion (or were they trying to do some pop-lock motion cause that did not show through at all).

The end of the song is also great though. I was glad they didn't go the Face Down/Breathless route having the members make a aisle on the middle for the main to walk through - I got tired of that already. What they did with the standing in a line was great. I know other groups have done it - and Arashi certainly has done things like this in other songs but a lot of the times the camera isn't centered in or it's just... not all that impressive to watch but for Endless Game it was impressive and I loved it.

Random note - when Sho (or any one of them) says "Warning" it sounds like "ワニ" (Wani) to me and that means crocodile so whenever I heard them say warning I couldn't help but grin or chuckle a little. When I first heard the song I was always curious about what Sho was saying because it sounded like someone took his voice and stuck it through the whammy bar of an electric guitar. But anyway.

All in all it was a cool performance and considering how much I hate the song - yet I love this performance - it goes to show how great it really is.

Music Station 2013.03.01

I really like Breathless. Ever since the Short PV came out for it I'd been absolutely addicted to this song and I couldn't wait for them to perform it on Music Station because I was expecting an amazing performance (along with Calling) and Arashi did not disappoint.