Where are you at with Shiina Ringo in 2018?
Just a quick question: How is your standing with Shiina Ringo these days?
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Still follow, but don't purchase anything
Ringo can be frustrating to follow for sure, but the occasional gems make up for the lackluster releases. For the lack of surprises, Reimport 2 was her most cohesive, consistent release since Sanmon Gossip. Even if a song like Jinsei ha Yume Darake didn't reinvent the wheel, it was her most fun song in a while, and for me had a certain emotional resonance. The grunge-style Otona no Okite even hearkened back to her earlier days (and also made me wonder why it didn't deserve a place on Reimport 2...) But like I said, with Ringo it's give-and-take... Mainly I'm still holding out for her next bona fide studio album release, which I'm dreading will be another pseudo-compilation a la SUNNY given the duds that were Menuki Doori and Shijou no Jinsei. With her 20th anniversary upcoming, here's to hoping she's feeling generous this year. |
She's went from someone you would blindly preorder to someone you buy nothing from and just download the new release and try and scrape 1~2 good tracks from it.
New record will probably be half filled with old tracks and warmed over tie-ins. She doesn't seem to care about crafting an actual cohesive album any more. |
Well, I have to say nowadays she is doing better than the adult/variety years IMO
All her visual concepts and imagery linked to her solo career have never failed (with the obvious exception of the rising sun flags that are offensive to korean people, that thing made her lose most of her korean fans) so, visually she is all that I always loved in the world Nonetheless, there was never a release that made feel like the early days, or even the KSK~Kyouiku days Maybe the new releases are being a little bit better than SG and HF, but I'm not sure O.õ Here and there, there are small things that I appreciate in some of her new releases, but few full songs and of course no whole album These small things somehow give me hope that one day she will release something entirely good Overall, I have more hope now than I used to have back in the post-Variety days And I sure have more hope on SR than I have on Ayu or on Madonna In the past I said something here about SR/TJ releases being good if we compare with other artists, but we only felt SR/TJ releases are bad because we compare with SR's old material, and I still think this holds as true I also have said that SR is a spice, like pepper for instance and even if we don't like a food, but this food has pepper on it, we will like the pepper flavour that this food has in the same way that we may hate her new material, but the fact that it has some SR flavour makes it better than the thing we really really hate I don't know if this spice metaphor still holds, but now I think about SR as a flavour, like chocolate And of course I would like everything that is chocolate flavoured to taste like 100% natural cocoa powder brigadeiro(a traditional brazilian candy made with chocolate, butter and condensed milk) but some chocolate flavoured things taste like they are artificially aromatized, which is awful and even makes me puke sometimes, but if I am really craving for chocolate I have to eat those shitty things until I have the chance to eat the real thing This is what SR is for me right now |
Before EMF crashed I was still fairly defensive of her (though IIRC Sunny had soured that up a little bit).
Now, I just can't lie to myself. What she's been releasing is very painful to endure and my interests really have moved elsewhere. I'm so over advertisement jingles and I feel that Ringo doesn't really give a fuck either, so it goes hand in hand. She's more concerned with things that really do nothing for me, her poncy 'classy' image gains more cracks daily. What was fun a few years ago is now stale and needs a real touch up. I still get her stuff on a collectors basis, but I'll be damned if I can think of a single release that I've spent more than 2 weeks with since her 15th anniversary releases. The live blu ray is good however, but still would be better if it hadn't been shown on TV already. I'll mainly stick on EMF for the people now, rather than Ringo. |
I just want her to release an album without any Neko Saito involvement. Is that too much to ask? I know I'm beating a dead horse, but his involvement never fails to drain any enthusiasm I had left for her.
She still releases solid material every now and then, why else would I be here? At the very least she's still fantastic live and has an obvious passion for performing. But I have to say, it's hard to get excited about new material when there's a chance she'll release another Menukidori or Oishii Kisetsu. |
Can't be too long till he retires. The question is, will Ringo retire before him?
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Another thing: I don't enjoy what she's been doing with her vocals lately. The high-pitched, cutesy whisper-singing in Shoujo Robot and Oishii Kisetsu is seriously grating. She's known for her emotional voice, so why is she singing like she has the vocal capabilities of a Perfume member? It's especially confusing when you hear something like Saihate ga Mitai and realize that she's still capable of much better.
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I think it would be a lot better if the just dropped the orchestra, jazzy, classical pop stuff altogether
It would make a HUGE difference if the strings and brass where completely gone from her songs, those things are what turns me off DG, I don't think that if she retires she will be retired for long maybe just a couple of years but then she would be back to business, and maybe she would even be REALLY back Maybe she needs a time to rest, sometimes I think she only keeps going on releasing stuff to pay for her kids tuition fees when they reach the age to go to college |
Quote:
https://www.glamour.com/story/beyonce-gucci-kimono |
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