LADYBIRD feat. SARAH: Kitto… Sayonara / People Love To Be Loved (Review)

I have no clever headline for this review. I just want to get right into it. Not in a begrudging kind of “let’s get this over with” way. No, more like a “let’s get down to business, because I was shocked by the goodness of this glitzy J-Pop single” kind of way.

This single was literally thrown my way, and I was like “…what on God’s good green earth is this?” Released in August 2009 (catalog number BVCL-25), this single from two J-pop artists (Ladybird and Sarah) features two songs that made me want to get up and dance. Looking at the packaging art I thought “man, I am going to hate this. And I hate when I hate stuff.”

Instead I heard something that, despite *not* being a VGM/anime theme, reminded me of some awesome TWO-MIX (Gundam Wing) or Megumi Hayashibara (Evangelion, Slayers, etc). So, are you ready to dance too? After the jump, we totally can. Surely… this is farewell!

TRACKLIST ROMAJI STYLE!

01 Kitto… Sayonara
02 Aisuruhiton Aisaretai
03 Kitto… Sayonara (Instrumental)
04 Aisuruhiton Aisaretai (Instrumental)

ANOTHER TRACKLIST TO ANNOY YOU! THIS TIME TRANSLATION STYLE!

01 Surely… Farewell
02 People Love To Be Loved
03 Surely… Farewell (Instrumental)
04 People Love To Be Loved (Instrumental)

I absolutely love catching the unsuspecting reader off-guard with my ridiculous excitement over tracklists. Particularly when there are only four tracks. Later today, Jayson is going to smack me around for being “unprofessional.” Well, that’s what this single does to me. I get a little silly when I enjoy pop music. Ask my wife about me listening to Lady Gaga.

So, the first track, it strikes me as something similar to recent Falcom vocal tracks. At least as far as female vocals go. The ballad pieces on Ys VI “The Songs of Zemeth” and some of the Sora no Kiseki tracks, specifically. Almost everything is synthesized; precious little is studio musicianship, other than the female vocalists themselves. But darned if it isn’t catchy. Saying goodbye hasn’t sounded this good in a long time, especially compared to our American radio pop star equivalents. They haven’t made a good “goodbye” song in awhile, but this is great. I’d certainly prefer it over Angela Aki’s “Kiss Me Good-Bye” as well. In fact, next time I beat Final Fantasy XII (which may be never), maybe I’ll play this CD while watching the ending. Very, very well-produced stuff.

The funny thing is that, as much as I just lavished praise on the title track, I think I like the B-Side more. “People Love To Be Loved” Is an upbeat dance track that would easily fit in any rhythm game, be it Dance Dance Revolution or DJMax Technika. This is the track I would very much compare to TWO-MIX, though there are very small sections in the piece, especially the bridge, where I get a Daft Punk house vibe.

It may not be game or anime soundtrack music, but … and maybe this is just because I’m quick to associate “Japanese” with “game music” … it could be. And it should be. If you can pick it up digitally to avoid import costs, or if you’re in Japan or a major city that carries Japanese CDs, you might want to check out the Ladybird / Sarah single. It’s currently available at CD Japan.