BENI – Bitter & Sweet
| BENI – Bitter & Sweet September 2, 2009 |
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1. Bitter & Sweet Intro 2. Kiss Kiss Kiss 3. Zutto Futari de (ずっと二人で) 4. Koi Kogarete (恋焦がれて) 5. Dakishimete feat. Dohzi-T (抱きしめて) 6. Anything Goes!! 7. stardust 8. KIRA☆KIRA☆ 9. GO ON 10. Shinjisasete (信じさせて) 11. STAY 12. nice & slow 13. Beautiful World 14. Mou Nido to… (もう二度と…) 15. Kiss Kiss Kiss (DJ HASEBE REMIX) |
This is originally supposed to be reviewed by Tsuki because she won a coin flip. I am stealing it. Hi Tsuki! That said, most of BENI’s Avex material was horrible. I could barely sit through her first two albums, while the third one was passable but mostly boring. Ever since she’s moved to Universal, I immediately noted her big improvement from what I heard from the debut and gradual improvement from the third album. This fourth album finally places BENI in a position where she’s actually worth listening to, despite still needing improvements musically and vocally.
The intro to Bitter & Sweet is a nice one and not totally useless when it comes to introducing the album to the midtempo R&B style of the album. It’s nice, and is done around some kind of stormy sounds going on in the background while BENI sings over the background vocals. It’s nice and it does its job.
I’m still a rather big fan of Kiss Kiss Kiss. Despite numerous comments about how this track sounds like whatever other R&B track (which can be said about a lot of the songs on this album), I personally find it a rather addictive midtempo song. It’s pleasant with a kind of smooth melody and a nice piano accompaniment over a heavy beat and snapping in the background. BENI’s tone is quite gorgeous on this track, despite it not being a particularly challenging track melodically for her. Nevertheless, she pulls off the song very well and she inserts quite a bit of energy and emotion to what she sings on this track. Her phrasing in the verses is nice and consistent and this smooth phrasing contrasts well with the choppier rhythms of the chorus. Her singing is quite fitting for this song.
I’m not quite as fond of ずっと二人で since it was the single that appeared after a slew of midtempos and ballads for ballads. It really doesn’t stand out as a song on the album, and I still wonder why it was even a single to begin with. That said, it’s not a terrible song either; it just doesn’t stand out very much. The first thing I thought when I listened to this track was that it was total song to show off her “tone”. This track is even less challenging than the previous track. The range is pretty limited and the tempo of the track is pretty slow. Nevertheless, BENI shows off her improved tone and improved control on this track. Musically, this isn’t the most interesting track, but it does show that BENI has improved technically and emotionally on her vocals. She pulls it off beautifully, despite how bland the actual song is.
Universal really went all out when they decided to stack three of BENI’s singles together at the beginning. Seriously. In any case, 恋焦がれて is yet another midtempo track. This one has a stronger usage of the acoustic guitar and a more frequent beat in the background. It’s nice track like the rest of the bunch. This one has a bit of a dreamy quality, especially with the added background vocals in the chorus. I wasn’t really a big fan of this track when it first came out, but I enjoy it enough to listen to it all the way through.
抱きしめて Feat. 童子-T is the first new track off the album, and it’s more of a laid-back midtempo track with a nice bass beat that keeps the song going forward. Again, BENI sings well and bit more in a lighter manner for this particular song. I find the melody quite catchy despite the track being rather laid-back. I also find it amusing that Dohzi-T randomly interjects throughout the song with random grunts. Seriously, what. And his rapping is terrible and monotone. He sounds like he’s half awake and adds absolutely nothing to the track. He could be replaced by a grunting monkey and I wouldn’t know the difference (err assuming the monkey can speak Japanese).
What is this? An upbeat track? Anything Goes!! uses heavy synthesizer beats over a more emphatic melody for this next track. This track is a less smooth and exercises BENI’s ability to accent consecutive short notes, which she does quite well in the chorus. She still has a bit of a habit of making the melody a bit too smooth at points where it could really use a bit more punch. However, she handles this track well vocally. The melody is pretty addictive, although she does get a bit drowned out by the accompanying music and the random chanting in the background. Who is this guy who keeps yelling?
Hello to second upbeat track in a row. stardust is the track that everyone seems to love. I’m a little less enthusiastic, but I still like it. It has a nice mix of electronic elements and R&B elements. I find that BENI’s voice can be a little bit too light at points of this song where she could have sounded a whole like enthusiastic if she didn’t sound like she was avoiding any prospect of belting. Nevertheless she sounds nice, although her voice can feel really thin at times and some of the effects put on her voice really don’t help her in this case. The song itself is really quite catchy, and I like the little answer and reply before the chorus kicks in. She does a good job with the rhythms in the chorus, although again, her voice is a little too light for the beat-oriented track.
Why was KIRA☆KIRA☆ a recut track again? This is another example of her midtempo tracks off this album. Rinse and repeat formula with slight variations. In any case, it’s still a nice song but not very memorable. She has that same kind of light voice (and effects, sheesh) as she did on stardust, which suits this track a bit more, but it makes her voice a little thin in the chorus. She does sing this track well and she sounds nice despite the song being really repetitive. The melody is pleasant and enjoyable and she does a good job not making the song absolutely dull, which seems to be the case for the majority of the tracks on this album.
You know what’s next? Another midtempo R&B track. Like just about very other midtempo R&B track, it’s a pleasant song. It has more of a focus on a heavy electronic backing with a soft piano and acoustic guitar backing. A constant beat occurs under BENI’s nice vocals. Again, the verses are smooth while the chorus brings in a slight more frantic melody as BENI repeats the title of the track over and over again.
What on earth is that sound at the beginning of 信じさせて? And I don’t mean the piano. Anyway, the sound is kind of annoying, but we get another smooth ballad for her. The sound is really, really distracting though. However, again, BENI’s voice sounds nice, although her performance here is a little more bland and linear than I would have liked from her at this stage. Her voice sounds nice, but a little more variety would be nice. I do hear her trying to add a bit more emotion on this track although in how she does some of the ends of her phrasing and there is some hint of a flow in how she does these phrases. Still, not a very interesting song.
The title of nice & slow pretty much sums up this track. It’s nice. And it’s slow. Obviously the title isn’t talking about the nature of the song, but rather BENI’s attempt at sexing it up on the album without being skanky and it works well enough. There’s a whole bunch of electronic stuff running around in the song. It’s a nice track (oh wait, I already said that) but really not one of my favourite tracks off the album nor is it one that stands out that much for me despite it being her ~sexy~ track on the album and it sometimes puts me to sleep. Ho hum, next.
STAY is next, and it’s another midtempo. Yup. It’s pretty catchy though, and it was one of my early favourites off her singles. Not even the random dude yelling “HEYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!” in the background can distract me to liking this track. BENI’s vocals are nice and the melody “stays” in my mind (Oh hur hur).
I pretty much agree with everyone that Beautiful World is the best track off the album. For one, it actually sounds different from the rest of the songs off the album with some random dude singing. Next, it’s absolutely beautiful and pulls out a bit more belting from BENI. I adore the atmosphere of this track as it has a bit more of a ethereal, dreamy quality to it, while BENI’s singing sounds really nice with the echoes and the male background vocalist. This is one of those moments where even though BENI doesn’t have a strong belting voice, her belting actually works for the song to add a bit more of a dramatic effect to the song. Beautiful track.
もう二度と… is still my favourite ballad out of her first era. It brings out BENI’s improved singing and really shows how much she’s improved since she’s started off. Her tone is beautifully supported and she displays emotion really well through her light voice at the beginning and nice vibrato. Her voice is controlled and soars through the track almost effortlessly. Granted, she’s still improved vocally since this track, she still sounds really nice on this simple ballad, which demonstrates her ability to emote on a simple melody.
I really don’t mind BENI’s remixes. The final track, Kiss Kiss Kiss (DJ HASEBE REMIX) is a cheery remix of the single with acoustic guitar and an addictive bass line. The drums are far more frequent, although the melody itself hasn’t changed, the song sounds a lot more upbeat for this version. It’s a nice remix, though, and I really don’t see a lot of problems with it.
Bitter & Sweet demonstrates BENI’s consistent performance on all the material given to her. Despite a bit of the nitpicking I had with her voice at times, I must really say that she’s really improved from her earlier days. The album itself is nowhere close to being groundbreaking in any way and lacks variety in the overall sound of her music; however, it is a solid, consistent piece of work both musically and vocally. Unfortunately, this may cause her not to stand out that much because her music doesn’t really pop out, but her work is pleasant to listen to and the tone of her voice is quite pretty. Her ability to emote has improved and this ability is displayed through the simplicity of a lot of these tracks. Although the music isn’t complex and doesn’t change much, her singing is what keeps a lot of these tracks interesting and as a result, the album is enjoyable.
Favourites:
Beautiful World
Was it really a coin flip? XD? I asked you if you wanted it all those months ago! You should have just said yes. =P BENI is now yours. =D
Yes it was XD. And you took too long so I stole it :D