S/mileage "Warugaki①" Album Review

I've been really looking forward to a S/mileage album ever since I got into S/mileage, right around when they major debuted. Here's my take on their first album.





同じ時給で働く友達の美人ママ – Blah Blah Blah Tsuji Nozomi

Kind of a predictable album opener – Tsunku tends to start albums with the most recent single. Like in MM’s newest album. And Berryz’ newest album. And Mano’s newest album.

踊ろうよ – Odorou yo!

Thanks a heap, Tsunku, for the lovely opening rap lines. I couldn’t help but think of Insane Clown Posse. But once S/mileage starts to sing the song becomes lots of fun. Some of the effects on the vocals, especially in the verse, give a little something extra to the song, like when the ends of the vocal lines are looped. I love the part where each girl sings a line and the rest join in at the end; very classic pop sounding. A good choice for S/mileage’s first album song? I believe so.

女ばかりの日曜日 – Onna Bakari no Nichyoubi

Well, this one gets you on your toes with the hyper-intensive intro. Once it gets started, though, it sounds more like the Beatles. God, Tsunku, I’ve used your name and the Beatles in the same sentence more times in the last few weeks than I ever had before. But not that it’s bad – why not go to a legendary group for inspiration? And it’s not that the songs are copies; it defiantly sounds like it came from the brain of H!P with all the familiar backing track effects and synth. You’ve left your mark, Tsunku.

夢見る １５歳 – Yume Miru 15

Love the placing of this song in the album. It’s been happy and genki up till now, but strap in, because this song cuts the shit and brings out S/mileage’s darker side. I love every bit of this song except Dawa’s awkward whisper at the end. “Summer love”? Pretty sure we were all clear on that throughout the whole rest of the song. The lyrics aren’t so subtle about it being summer. (Not that Japanese lyrics are ever subtle on that subject…)

シューティング スター – Shooting Star

I love the intro – clearly some real instruments were used and extra time was taken to make it sound good. Once we get into the vocals it does dissolve a bit into the b-side style, but the melody is fun and I can just see the relaxed dance that they’ll come up with for this one.

○○ がんばらなくてもええねんで！！ -- Gambaranakutemo Ee Nende!!

My favorite S/mileage song ever. No reason for me to review it twice.

スキちゃん – Suki-chan

My least favorite S/mileage single. But I’ll admit it’s really grown on me. Everyone else seems to be crazy about this song, so I guess I’m in them minority.

学級委員長 – Gayuuinchou

Well, if you’ve been keeping up with Bijou Gaku, you’ve already heard this song quite a few times. But it might be my favorite new song on this album. I wish their voices were stronger, but they’re just kids still so hopefully as time goes by they will sing it better in concert. I like the minimal piano backgrounds and the vocal melody is just the right amount of sadness. And HELL YES at Sakitty’s solo in the instrumental break. That girl is freaking awesome and without a doubt in my mind, the best singer of the group. (Although Kanon makes me doubt myself from time to time…)

しっかりしてよ！もう – Shikkari shite yo! Mou

Another great track. To me, it sounds a little like something from Morning Musume from the pre-Love Machine era, at least in the vocal melody. I liked the long dramatic pause towards the end too.

オトナになるって難しい！！！  あすはデートなのに、今すぐ声が聞きたい  ぁまのじゃく aka “Awkward Indies Medley”

Yeah, these seem really tacked on. Did they just forget about it until the very end? “Oh shit, I forgot about all those, just drag them to the album track list and burn them; the goddamn truck’s already here.” I mean, I like these songs, so I’d rather hear them integrated into the rest of the album, like Suki-chan. But, I do think that aMa no Jaku is as good track to end with. Just like Yume Miru 15, it’s a bit different than all their other songs.

In conclusion? This is a great album. I've really liked all of S/mileage's stuff put out so far -- they've really had a consistently good track record so far. This album doesn't hit a hiccup, either. It's a solid release, with the only flaws being that it has a LOT of singles in it and doesn't leave a whole lot of room for new material, but that's bound to happen when you have a group that has indies singles and then later debut singles to squeeze into one release.

If We are Buono! didn't exist in 2010, this would be my favorite H!P album of the year. Go S/mileage.

Thanks for reading!