1300482!
Yay congratulations! 1,300,482 copies sold! Another million selling single in the bag. AKB gets the record for being the first and only artist to have 3 consecutive million-selling singles. Kaze wa Fuiteiru is also the 10th consecutive #1 Single for AKB48.
Also involving the number 10, the total sales of all AKB48 singles together has exceeded 10 million!!!
However not all is good. If we compare Kazefui's 1st week to the preceding single Flying Get's 1st week of 1,354,492, we see a drop of 54k. It's nothing much for AKB since they are selling millions now, but everything starts with a ripple right? Could this be the start of AKB48's decline? Only Mariko knows.
Well here goes my review. I already did Kaze wa Fuiteiru's review in here and here, so I'll skip that and go on to the remaining 3.
Kimi no Senaka
This is definitely meant as the upbeat counterpart to the angsty power ballad of Kaze wa Fuiteiru, which I think makes the two a nice juxtaposition. However, the song itself leaves me wanting something more, especially given its high-power intro. After the intro, I was super pumped and really expected something quite power rock, like RESET from the K6 stage. This song is happy, and it does sound nice, but it didn't really grab or move me as much I would have liked. I just want it to be a little more energetic, as the intro (and the backing music) seemed to indicate, or actually go the whole way in being gentle, rather than something in between which is what it feels like right now. I think the chorus starts to get at the rock feeling I was wanting, but the verses don't quite match and as such, break up the energy of the choruses. As it is, the song feels a bit lazy and blends into the large body of songs that AKB48 has, so it doesn't really stand out.
Gondola Lift
Now this is a ballad *_* And anyone who knows me at all knows I love a good ballad. This song has a beautiful lilting melody, and I like how the voices in the first verse appear to build up to the chorus (as if there were more and more voices joining in). The title is definitely appropriate for the feel of the song (feels like I'm riding on gentle river waves). The unexpected harmony in the second half of the first phrase of the chorus I think also adds a nice flavor by creating a sense of tension that's relieved by the continuation *_* (Music Theory Nerd Alert). I promise it's not my ballad-bias that makes me feel like this song and Kaze wa Fuiteiru were the only songs on this single I really liked. This song fulfills its role as the ballad, it has a pretty melody, and has a good balance of drama and relaxing (harmonically speaking), which I think makes it a good song.
Vamos
I believe the concept with this song is something like an energetic type of cheering song. Vamos Vamos Vamos!! Which is great! Except I don't feel like that was quite delivered on... I liked the little harmony bits, because harmony is always awesome and one of the reasons I love AKB48 so much (that they actually sing their own harmonies rather than relying totally on backup singers). However, this song as a whole doesn't really do it for me either, which is sad because I would've loved a good cheering song. I don't know if it was the melody that wasn't energetic enough, or if the backing was lacking in power. In any case, instead of sounding like a cheer, the repeated "Vamos" just started to get... repetitive... and almost annoying by the end T_T Also...VAMO? What happened to the 'S'? That honestly kind of distracted me throughout the song, and maybe made the repetition just that much worse... Also, whoever composed for this single must've been in cahoots because they really liked the repetitive descending third interval pattern... (VAMO VAMO VAMO in this song and HELLO in Kimi no Senaka both fall in that pattern...).
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