We Beg You, “Don’t Cry Anymore” – Miwa’s Debut Single Reviewed

You have to wonder how Wikipedia decides who should and shouldn’t have their own page.

I learned of one of the newest J-Pop sensations, miwa, primarily through her Wikipedia page. I had heard some e-water-cooler type chatter about her debut single “don’t cry anymore” and decided to learn more.

Turns out the song isn’t an anime theme, but is actually the opening theme song for a short (8-episode) run of a Japanese TV drama called Nakanai to Kimeta Hi. The song seems to have become at least as popular, if not more popular, than the show. We took notice and decided to check out the single, including its B-Sides, to see if miwa can be more than a theme song one-hit wonder. The results of our brief study: after the jump.

“Don’t Cry Anymore” has all the trappings of an ultra radio-friendly theme song. Vocally, miwa is more than merely adequate as a singer. When she sings in English (most notably, singing the title phrase over and over), she doesn’t struggle at all with the typical “Engrish” mistakes, but her R’s in “Anymore” sound a little forced, with a country twang to it. No surprises there, since she cites Sheryl Crow as a key influence in her young vocal life (presently, miwa is only 20 years old… I feel so weird reviewing music by people younger than me).

The instrumentation is excellent on the piece. Of course, it’s all done to perfection, the “almost too perfect” sound of studio musicians plus ProTools. But the chorus is ridiculously catchy. You generally can’t go wrong with a fast tempo and a vi IV I V chord progression. But it’s the syncopation of the melody that sells the song; that, and the violins. Gotta love violins in J-pop.

If you buy this single as a CD (catalog number SRCL-7217) you’ll be treated to two B-Side tracks. First is Meguro Gawa (Meguro River), which incidentally is a location featured in one of my favorite films, Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation). This is a mid-tempo ballad that, sadly, didn’t do much for me. When you’re repeating “Aishiteru” (I love you) over and over in your chorus, trying to decorate the melody a different way each time, I tend to get bored pretty quickly. Skippable, definitely.

The other B-Side, however, is on par with “Don’t Cry Anymore” in my opinion. Running at about the same tempo, “Wake Up, Break Out!” is the piece where we find miwa letting her hair down and singing in a more free, relaxed style. The session artists are decent, particularly the pianist, who adds a bit of a Bruce Hornsby-esque touch to the whole song.

Frankly, while miwa sounds like a talented singer, we know that such talent is a dime a dozen in a world of 7 billion people. We’ll see if the collective homogenous Japanese pop culture world continues to accept her. This single was released in March of this year, and a few months later another of her singles (yet to be released on CD) was chosen as a theme song for the ever-popular anime Bleach. Will this new star build enough popularity to be featured on more anime, or even games? Will she get full albums released on Sony Records? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, this naïve 20-year-old continues to urge you to stop crying already. Life can’t be that hard, can it? (We’ll see sweetheart, we’ll see…)