ow.
The King of Flops is here for a green room update! Lots to catch up on, so I'll try to be brief... [edit from future-me who has finished writing this post two hours later: I have failed to be brief]
WV114: Minami - Kawaki wo Ameku
The qualification here was a pleasant surprise! 25th may not be the biggest success, but it's something I can never complain about all that much (especially given, uh, my results in the following six editions).
It was particularly lovely to finally make it to the finals with a rock song, which I'd been trying to do for a
long time – to my count, I'd previously sent nine rock songs over the past 50-ish WV editions, and NQed with all of them. I was thrilled to break that curse, so thanks to everyone who got this into the finals!
WV115: Yurika - Kyoumen no Nami
This one was kind of a last minute decision as I approached the submission deadline, but it's nonetheless something I'd wanted to send for a year or so (it'd been my backup entry a number of times, and it's a great listen when I'm in the right mood for it). I love the chaotic instrumentals and the odd rhythms in particular; I'm able to focus on something a little different each time I listen.
In the end, Kyoumen no Nami may not have gotten too many supporters at the contest (placing second from the bottom in its semi to start off my current NQ streak)... but as usual, I'm happy to have shared it in the first place.
#noregerts
Nuedori actually appeared in one of my earliest WV NFs,
back in WV67. I'd thought at the time that it was the equal most likely NF winner, so I was a tad surprised when it came a distant fourth; either way, I still wanted to send it, so I put in on the backburner for a later time (albeit not expecting that time to be a solid 50 editions later).
Then when I was trying to decide on my entry for WV116, I had the music video for Nuedori pop up in my recommended feed on YouTube... I hadn't even known there
was a music video! Probably because in classic Japanese-music-industry fashion it was only put online a solid four years after the song released. But anyway, that was my entry decided!
Apparently I hadn't learnt my lesson from Nuedori's flop in that old NF, because to be honest I was half-expecting a decent result from this in WV. I think my bias was getting in the way a bit there - I'm a huge sucker for big epic ethnic stuff like this, what with the traditional Japanese touches and the big drums layered over a tasty power ballad. And then it came 19th in the semi. Which obviously wasn't
quite what I was hoping for. But it always feels good to send through something that's been in the backlog for ages; and as usual, it was nice to see at some people saying they liked it!
WV117: Hilcrhyme - I'm Ready
Okay, so I can't complain about
this one flopping; while I love it as much as anything else on this list, I knew before I even sent it that it was doomed
Combining nasally vocals, Japanese rock and in-your-face hip-hop sounds isn't exactly the formula to WV success, after all, so the eventual result (second-last in its semi) is about what I expected.
But I was enamoured with this from the first time I heard it (i.e. a few years ago, when it was released as a B-side to a more poppish song that got used as an anime ending theme), so I felt I had to send it nonetheless. It's kind of liberating, I think, to just go in with rock-bottom expectations for the occasional edition and have some fun with it, and I don't plan to stop with that any time soon!
Sending Arashi as a full band was a big plan of mine back from when I first joined the contest in WV65. Originally, I'd planned to send one solo entry from each of the five band members, sprinkling them throughout my WV career before finally sending the band as a whole. And I did actually get off to quite a fun start with that, sending Aiba's
Disco Star as my second entry in WV66 and then Ohno's
Bad Boy in WV82.
I cheated a little in WV98, sending a third member (Sho) not as a solo but as a trio with the returning Aiba and Ohno for the recently released and rather quirky
Bazuri Night. That left me with Nino (who has one solo that I quite enjoy, but was never quite in the right mood to send to WV) and Jun (who, uh, has kinda boring solos despite being one of my favourite members of the band. Dammit, Jun). So I figured, eh, bugger it, I'll just skip ahead to the big finale and send something from the full band.
That something ended up being Truth, a piece of... power pop, I suppose you'd call it? with some big orchestral instrumentals that I just adore. Thankfully, in the lead-up to the group looking to essentially disband later this year (
) after a 20-year career, they finally started to make some of their music videos available online just recently, and that included Truth. And I latched onto that opportunity hard - a group I'd been wanting to send for almost 60 editions, now without the need to jump through Vimeo hosting and copyright strikes? Sign me up!
In the end, Truth only came 21st in its semifinal despite my internal hype, which was a tad disappointing. But at the same time, I managed an amazing fourth-place score in REJU - much higher than expected, and a pleasant surprise! So I think I may have been a tad unlucky with the draw for that edition. Nonetheless, it was nice to finally get the full band out there at WV - and should the opportunity present itself, there are plenty more of their songs that I'd like to send in an effort to avenge the flop...
WV119: Okamoto's - Headhunt
As with
I'm Ready in WV117, this is something that I wasn't much expecting a qualification from but felt the need to send anyway. I first heard it when it was used as an anime opening, it'd been on my shortlist for quite a while... yadda yadda, the usual Zobo "why I sent this song" spiel
To be honest I'm not usually the biggest fan of grungy-sounding music, but I nonetheless love Headhunt; I suppose the fact that it's kind of grunge-lite draped over a pop-rock framework helps a bit there. And the way the verses gradually build up and promise more, leading into that explosive, catchy chorus... yes please
Again, this didn't exactly get me the best result at WV - coming fourth from the bottom in its semi, albeit with a much nicer 9th-place finish in REJU. But I still had a lot of fun being pop-rock-bop Zobo for the edition.
Wah o-wah o-wah-o.
WV120: Egoist - Euterpe
And finally we're just about up-to-date in this writeup with Euterpe, a stripped-back ballad that's decidedly on the more moody, melancholy side of my tastes. I realised when trying to decide on an entry here that "hang on, why have I just sent three male-fronted upbeat-ish entries in a row, those never do well for me and I try to make it a goal of mine to mix things up every edition". So of course I had to go full Pot-8 sad-Zobo this time around. It's something I feel I haven't done quite enough lately.
Euterpe itself is yet another song from the "I'd been considering this as a WV entry since I first joined" pile; I can never quite resist this kind of overstated melancholy in music. Unlike most songs, my favourite bit here is actually the first verse; that moody minimalism, with the quiet breathy vocals against the piano minor chords and nothing else, gets me every time. Though I do still like how it all develops throughout (side note: why does the bridge at 2:03 sample what sounds to be a WW2-era English-language news clip? I've never seen anybody else mention it before and I'm curious, especially as I can only make out the odd word here and there).
The result here wasn't anything to write home about - 18th place in the semi, marking a fifth consecutive edition of bottom-six SF finishes. Not the worst thing ever, since as always I'm in WV more to share my favourite music and find new stuff rather than top the scoreboards every edition. But still, I think at this point it's long past time to change things up a bit. Which brings me to...
WV121 soundtracks/instrumentals NF coming Soon™
(hopefully over the next couple of days)
love you zobo
