 | Album Title: Subarashiki Kono Sekai: Lullaby For You – JYONGRI |
| Record Label: Toshiba EMI | |
| Catalog No.: TOCT-22284 | |
| Release Date: July 25, 2007 | |
| Purchase: Buy at CDJapan |
Overview
This is JYONGRI’s third single and it was released on July 25, 2007. This single reached #12 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and has so far sold 8,652 copies. The title track was used as the theme song for the Square Enix video game Subarashiki Kono Sekai (known as The World Ends With You overseas). Here are my thoughts about the release.
Body
The opening piano chords of “Lullaby For You” are really pretty and set the gentle tone of this ballad. The song adds some R&B beats in the mix when it draws closer to the chorus. Speaking of the chorus, the vocals are great and JYONGRI puts a lot of emotion into her voice. This is a well-done song.
The two new B-sides on the single are both upbeat tracks, the first one having a more aggressive R&B style to it. “Catch Me” starts off promising but the annoying chorus kind of ruins it. The English lyrics of the song are cheesy too: “Catch me if you can” and “Gotta be a macho man”.
I liked the other B-side “Lovers Drive” a lot more. It’s very poppy and JYONGRI’s vocals really add flavor to the song. The chorus is also fantastic. The only problem I had with the song was its ending; the English lyrics at the end really annoyed me: “Sunny day, feels like it’s a holiday, come my way, so much fun like a birthday”. Those lyrics can also be heard as the background vocals during the chorus but, still, it’s a bad way to end the song.
The next track is a live version of “Yakusoku”, one of the songs from her debut album Close To Fantasy. The piano arrangement of the original is replaced by acoustic guitar. Compared to live versions by other artists, the quality of this one is sort of bad because everything sounds slightly muffled. Anyway, JYONGRI sings amazingly well live, so I’m not really complaining about sound quality.
Summary
To finish, JYONGRI’s third single should appeal to most listeners. There is a nice range of material here with both A-side and B-sides satisfying alike. It’s a decent theme song for the game too.
