Tune Evaluate: Kis-My-Ft2 – Glory Days

It’s been difficult being a Kis-My-Ft2 fan currently. I’ve lengthy held them up as my favourite J-pop group and just lately ran down their whole discography when it lastly made its strategy to streaming (test the posts out right here and right here!), however I haven’t cared for any of their materials prior to now couple years. And with key member Hiromitsu Kitayama leaving the group, their energy appeared diminished. These circumstances make new single Glory Days much more satisfying. It’s the closest we’ve gotten to an ideal Kis-My-Ft2 track in years.

The key phrase right here is “rock.” Kis-My-Ft2 have at all times labored extremely properly on this style, with a lot of my favourite songs that includes distinguished guitar and anthemic melodies. For Glory Days, they’ve labored with composer Kamikaze Boy from wonderful rock band Man With A Mission, and I hope this turns into an enduring collaboration. He provides them the form of uplifting stadium singalong they made their title on — equal components open-hearted cheese and hard-fought grit. The instrumental surges with power even because the track itself has extra of a ballad construction. This mix is extremely impact, feeling like a celebratory victory lap.

Melodically, Glory Days remembers previous hits like Residence, merged with the sentimental heft of a track like Chotokkyu’s Yell. Once more, this can be a successful formulation for me. The melody has such elevate, constructing till it explodes in a rousing post-chorus chant. It turns into extra satisfying every time I lhear it and solely jogs my memory why I like this group’s music so dearly. It has such life-affirming power. And after the diminishing returns of the previous few years, it provides me such pleasure to offer this an unabashedly excessive ranking.

Grade: A