[HEDOfloe]

i recently went on a shiina ringo/early jihen binge and the new stuff really doesn't compare at all. i was able to enjoy variety and the new single because i hadn't listened to the old work in such a long time, but it really is almost heartless to some extent. while i really enjoy the latest single, i've been bothered to think that this is the best they can do, though i agree with maou that i think it's better than most of variety. but jr makes a good point that i guess explains it for me: it really is that middleground compromising that is holding them back. i don't doubt that shiina ringo can still write songs, but you can never, ever do anything great when you're trying to please everyone. it's like john lennon said, the beatles were the biggest bastards around and that's why they were the best. and apparently ringo was quite the bitch before, she dominated the band and that's why they were awesome (i even remember a translation of an interview where even saito neko said she was getting on him, i think during the making of HF).

i'm attracted, fascinated by greatness, and i seriously thought that's what everything from ADULT and back that Ringo had done was just that. while it's true, they still pwn most everybody out there, i'm a little bothered by thinking of the fall from grace and in the fashion that it's come, with this settling. i do think what the new single shows is pretty exciting and creative, but i guess at the heart, the songs just aren't the same, so any embelleshing can't save them.
question: who wrote these two songs? i think from an interview neko translated, it said ringo wrote the single as a sort of warmup? but what about the b-side?

after writing that, i'm thinking that really, it's the songwriting that is down the hill, and i excused her from variety because she had nothing to do with it, but SG wasn't so stunning either. i wonder if it's as shady nook said, that her success has gotten to her. maybe she just hasn't had any problems that have given her enough to burn into a song. she seems happy and i guess that's her problem. as an artist, that is.

so i guess their arrangements can stay awesome and that's what draws me, because they can come up with that no matter what, but for the heart, the song, just ringo writing it on piano or guitar, she needs some pain. makes sense how KZK came after a divorce* and pregnancy.

*i'm not sure if the divorce came before, during, or after the pregnancy