Hey Taka, I like your manliner.

Anyone who knows me knows my wallet is emptied in favor of CDs. One of the bands who destroys my lunch money is ONE OK ROCK, and $70 later I'm still missing their live DVD, two most recent singles, and recent album. Import$ $uck. But anyway, the lead singer is Taka, the rapper/guitarist is Toru, the guitarist is Alex, and the drummer is Tomoya, for a little background. They're known for their mixture of rock and very subtle rap vocals, and they've been together since 2006.

As for their most recent single, Koi no Aibou Kokoro no Kupido? Well, let's just say I'm not impressed.



This song seems very Americanized for someone who is known for having an anti-American attitude toward his non-Japanese fans at concerts (even going so far as to call them out on it, or glaring at them). Taka has thrown away his grey hoodies, jeans, and brown hair for black skinny jeans, a thinner figure, and eyeliner. Huh? I guess he's still desperately trying to get away from his short-lived pop music career with one of the highest-grossing boybands in Japan. Oops!

One of their 2007 singles, Yume Yume, was a cliché motivational ballad about following your dreams, and it was awesomely creative and very much "them" - a few singles later, they released Hitsuzen Maker, their second most recent single. Hitsuzen Maker was a song about learning to get over grudges and not hating people because it's pointless, and it had a very 90s alternative rock feel to it with a loud, stomping 10-second bit toward the end that had me marching. And then Koi no Aibou Kokoro no Kupido happened.

On the specifics of arrangement: the whining guitar background takes away from the steady beat of the drums, which should have a more prominent role because they have a very talented drummer. I will always think Taka's voice is awesome because I'm biased, but it does sound pretty forced in this song. The guitar solo is overly obnoxious and high-pitched, not to mention ridiculously uncreative. Also, what happened to Toru's rapping? The last three singles haven't had any rapping!

Despite all this, I'll probably end up buying the single and album to complete my collection because I feel obligated to, but also because I know this ridiculously cheesy mainstream song will grow on me.

11/12 edit: I just thought I'd pop in that I had a chance to listen to the whole CD yesterday when it came out, and overall I'm all right with it. The average score was about 3/5 stars, but it was a huge disappointment, and as I suspected: no rapping. TORU'S RAP WAS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS ABOUT ONE OK ROCK! They were getting so good at combining rap and rock without looking like d-bags, and then they went and ruined it and turned into a drunken Japanese version of Fallout Boy. Ugh.