Artist: 玉置成実 (Tamaki Nami)
Album/Single: Shining Star☆忘れないから☆(Wasurenai kara)
Release Date: January 28, 2004

1. Shining Star☆忘れないから☆(Wasurenai kara)
I remember back in the day, I completely hated this song. To be truthful, I don’t really get completely into this song until the prechorus, and the effect of this song usually is lost to me unless I watch the PV along with it. Admittedly, nowadays, I really tend to enjoy it quite a bit. The programming can get annoying, but the consistent beat gives it a nice drive throughout. Tamaki is fairly monotone singing this song, which is a slight surprise because she usually sings this rather energetically in lives. One of the highlights of this song is the change to the minor key of the typical “Twinkle Twinkle” theme, which is nicely incorporated as this songs theme. Tamaki’s singing is fairly off here, and the short ornamentations she attempts to use kind of ruin the sound of the song, but with that all being said, it is undeniably a happy, bright song. Given the right moment, it’s rather enjoyable.

2. 悲しみのバレンタイン (Kanashimi no VALENTINE)
This is probably the best Tamaki Nami ballad out there (although, there isn’t much for me to make that comparison). This is undoubtedly a very good ballad nonetheless. There isn’t very much happening in this song, in terms of the arrangement or music, but somehow, the simplicity really balances out the heavy programming that’s usually present in Tamaki’s songs. Tamaki makes very good use of phrasing and dynamic changes here. Her vocal ability is rather weak at this point in her career, and it really takes away from the song overall. However, Tamaki was never really known for her vocal abilities, so given her lack of experience here, this was surprisingly well done.

3. High School Queen
Here we have the main image and identity that Tamaki carried with her throughout her early music career. This is definitely a better effort than Shining Star, and it’s certainly a better effort from Tamaki here. It’s very evident that she’s energetic as she sings this. I like how she completely brings out the character of this song. Her vocal effort here is no different from the rest of the single, but her way of singing, though not impressive, somehow works very well with this type of song. Not surprisingly, this is definiely a fan favourite despite it only being a B-side to this single, and never reproduced elsewhere.

4. Shining Star☆忘れないから☆-Instrumental-(Wasurenai kara)

Overall -
Favourite Track: Kanashimi no VALENTINE
I always have mixed feelings about this A-side. At times, I’ll completely love it, at others, I can’t stand it, so although there’s nothing particularly special about it, it’s still a clever single, and a solid one at that. Tamaki has a way of making her album tracks or B-sides better than her A-sides, and this is no different. What seemed like a measly single at first, just got increasingly better with each track. As a fair warning though, if you’re not completely into dance/trance-pop styled songs, I would approach this (and most of her other music) with caution.