the second one is my personal favourite
tweaked the first one a bit
I didn’t know what flair to put, first time posting here lol
i’m posting this here bc everyone in the AG subreddit seems to love the new album, and I don’t want to make anyone in the AG subreddit upset. and I also don’t want to get my ass beat, but I feel like the new album just isn’t really hitting for me tbh.
none of the songs are exactly bad, but they aren’t great either. a lot of them are honestly kinda boring to listen to and don’t have too much going on. I feel like every time I listen, I expect more or something interesting to happen but then it just kinda…stays the same. like no cool beat drops, new instruments or anything, and a lot of the time the chorus is very lacklustre too. they just repeat the same word or phrase over and over again. (like, “Chanka Chanka Chan!” ”Utage Hikaru…Utage Hikaru..” “Leave It All behind!” “Revoooolution!”) and the composing/lyricism/arranging(?) of the songs is a little generic.
Rin and Kanon’s solo songs are the two songs that I honestly think fit really well into this description, or, mainly Rin’s actually. i honestly just don’t like hers at all and I can hardly last a few seconds before turning it off. the other tracks, mainly Oi AG, are also the same. The lyrics aren’t that interesting, the song is pretty predictable and sounds the exact same from start to finish with nothing experimentally unique going on. it sounds like a very basic, old rock song. and this isn’t a rock music diss because I actually love rock and metal and whatnot, i just don’t think this particular kind of rock really landed for them, or at the very least the way it’s produced isn’t really up there with my standards, or met my expectations, given just how many people hype it up.
the EDM/pop tracks at the end are also pretty mediocre, and while I might not be a fan of their EDM/pop tracks from a general standpoint, I feel like on this album, especially, they fall short. Utage Hikaru is really really basic with nothing really going on and in the live version it turns into another Pineapple kryptonite remix at the end(??). Leave It All Behind only really thrives on that upbeat low trumpet-ish sort of instrumental that they used similarly in Tokyo Calling and Essa Hoisa. if you take it away, the song starts to sound empty. And then Chanka Chanka…idk man. I can see why people like it, but it’s kinda amateur. It’s better than Utage Hikaru and Leave It All Behind, but still, not very impressive.
maybe I’m just in shock at how much more ‘chill’ the new album kinda sounds, in contrast to previous output. but then again, I wasn‘t a fan of One Heart, which is pretty upbeat, or Sailor Sail On or even Go Wild. so far Miyao is the only recent release that I actually really like, which gave me some hope for this album, but then I found out that it’s just a remastered version of one of their old songs, not new output. which makes a lot of sense since I like the older stuff more anyway. And a lot of the group’s other recent releases have been pretty mid too so, perhaps there has been an overall dip in quality.
the album itself is also really random. genre/sound-wise
like the first few 7 or so songs are kinda coherent, with that sort of classic rock mixed with funk sound, and then last three steer way off track into that EDM/pop sound I mentioned before. which again, is also another issue regarding recent discography.
Look, I know the group is kinda known for that, not being bound by any specific genre or sound, but I feel like it’s starting to affect the overall quality of the music. especially when certain members don’t really fit in or mesh well with whatever sound they’re going for. Like how Kanon and Mizyu’s high pitched voices stand out a lot in their more low tracks, so instead of trying to have them rap or sing within the same range as Suzuka or Rin, they get their own little parts or just shout in some instances. Which isn’t technically bad since now they have something to do, but it can get a little repetitive when they’re just in choir all the time.
in contrast, the music from the first two albums, Otona Blue and Seishun Wo Rikado are much better. the older music is much more versatile in the sense that no one really has to try to adjust themselves to anything other than what they can already do(rapping, extreme low notes) and I think it’s also a downgrade in the sense that Suzuka is basically the lead singer now, since she’s the ‘easiest‘ member to work with. I mean, she always was the lead, but now it just feels like she does everything. Even in performances she takes up the centrepiece a lot, compared to back then when it was more balanced. and I know it’s kinda mean to say this but her being the center makes the other members kinda..irrelevant? out of place? Idk, it’s honestly just starting to feel less like Atarashii Gakko No Leaders and more like Suzuka feat. Atarashii Gakko No leaders.
To be clear, i’m not a die-hard fan, but I do think the group is pretty interesting and has some really good songs. I became a fan thanks to Maningen and tuned into some of their other songs like Otona Blue(of course), NaiNaiNai, and the first two albums, Maenarawanai and Wakage Ga Itaru.
I could get behind Tokyo calling, and the AG Calling album a little, but in general I can’t help but feel like they’re kinda falling off in terms of music. I haven’t really felt all that compelled to engage in anything regarding the group itself anymore besides their music, so I’m worried that if they continue like this or go even more downhill from here I’ll have no choice but to just leave completely.
sorry to end on an extreme note, I know I might get downvoted for this, since so many people seem to like the new album. I also know it’s kinda stupid to post this here and not the actual AG subreddit, but again, I don’t want to ruin the vibe. anyway, anybody else feel this way?
edit; edited the text body a little and some grammar mistakes,,
this guy is so right. I wish I could say a lot more but he basically said everything I’ve been meaning to say. but just for some text anyway; No. Cortis wont be and can’t be real artists. no matter how badly they want to be recognized as such.
the fact that they were created by a billion dollar company with the intention to sell an image, completely goes against what the vast majority of the hip-hop audience stands for and has been standing for, since it was created. they are not a self-made band that signed to hybe, they are literally owned by them under contract. every single thing about them exists solely because of their company. Their company wants them to sell and image, not art. it’s one of the reasons as to why whenever someone thinks of Cortis, they think of the members or the brand first, not the actual music.
think about it. does Kanye west sell light sticks? no. does J Cole sell photo cards of himself? no. is 99% of Kendrick audience teenage girls and women? no. why? because they aren’t here to sell themselves, they’re here to sell what they’ve made. Cortis are not. Cortis are here, bound by a system to take black music, and use it as a mere tool for their companies profit, while their faces are plastered everywhere.
and hip-hop‘s “purpose” for decades has always been to go against that system. the greedy, money-hungry businessmen who only want to make money and will ruin the lives of actual artists, black hip hop one especially, just to do so. I’m serious. there are instances of hip hop artists signing to these kinds of companies and being backstabbed in the process. becoming victims to the system they fought to go against and prove wrong.
yes there are exceptions, but does minority really beat out the majority? Didn’t think so.
Cortis are not real artists, or a real band. even if they do participate in songwriting or like to make beats from time to time, you still cannot separate them from the system, they are the system. that’s literally the whole reason why so many ACTUAL black hip hop fans and artist(s) that we’ve seen, don’t like Cortis. Anyways, this guy is genuinely talking facts and I’m so glad more people are speaking abt it. His points about Katseye are also great.
I was scrolling through twitter this morning and saw this and similar posts about them allegedly faking a mosh pit at a concert.
some people were even saying that they only had their male dancers in the crowd to also give the illusion of a majority-male audience, which is funny because their audience is 90% female, their guy backup dancers hardly even compare to the amount of girls attending.
honestly, it kinda half looks like a mosh pit and half doesn’t. maybe they were just hoping around idk.
anyways, your thoughts?
edit: here’s a clip https://x.com/neneneom/status/2078412838377521403?s=20