Ringo News 2015

[Inseu]

I give it 5/10, bland and tasteless.

[FadedSun]

You guys love numbers.

[Entry№1]

Originally Posted by deadgrandma

As much as I find SMAP gross too (fake tan is always gross), I'd probably be more selective with your choice of words, this is verging on homophobic.

Yep, that was definitely gross hetero/cis-normative. Saying "I don't think it was homophobic" doesn't make it so...

This single is very underwhelming. Still upbeat though about SR's recent creative decisions though. I also appreciate the updates on Aya & Bambi (thanks, DG) - they're great vogue/waacking dancers and deserve all the opportunities they've been getting.

[Inseu]

Believing you're the opposite sex doesn't make it so either.

As for Aya and Bambi

[deadgrandma]

Every time I see the picture of the upcoming blu ray I always surprise myself remembering that it's something that's coming out so soon. Noone talks about it, there's no hype, no nothing. It's like "Oh yeah, that's coming out..." every-time.

Maybe its for the best, no expectations, less disappointment.

[gekokujyo]

what's there to talk about when hardly anyone has seen the show? I'm stoked to see the concert on dvd but what's the point of repeating that ad nauseam? and for that matter what's the point of repeatedly expressing disappointment in the Sunny era?

[deadgrandma]

Originally Posted by gekokujyo

what's to talk about when hardly anyone has seen the show? I'm stoked to see the concert on dvd but what's the point of repeating that ad nauseam? and for that matter what's the point of repeatedly expressing disappointment in the Sunny era?

You know, I was gonna give a joke answer.

But no.
I'll go a bit deeper.

I often asked the same question when it came to Variety and the non stop bashing it received for years. I could never get why people who disliked or perhaps even hated it kept going on and on about it. My disdain with Sunny really opened my eyes and answered this question for me. When you like, no, LOVE something so much as people love Ringo, it's hard not to feel personally affected when they release something average. For people before, it was Variety. For me it's Sunny. The only value I get from it IS talking about it, be negatively or not. Sure, I admit I know it's not really THAT bad in the scheme of things, but I'm not gonna sit idly by when SHIINA RINGO delivers chum bucket after chum bucket, when we all know she's perfectly capable of making Krabby Pattys.

Re: repeating ad nauseum... You may not agree, but to me, hype IS important, and when theres none, it feels like the artist is dying.

[FadedSun]

Where do you go to talk about Ringo besides here? How do you know there's no hype? Do you frequent Japanese discussion boards? It's hard for me to take what you're saying as concrete because you can't keep track of ALL of the discussion about Ringo. Not to mention there are plenty of people that don't even use online discussion boards to talk about music. What is "hype" to you? A few posts on jpop suki, here and Last FM?

Just looking at the first video of the single it has 30K views and around 400 likes and 4 dislikes. People seem to be enjoying, unlike the 5 people here that discuss it.

I'm with gekokujyo, what is there to talk about? It's a DVD. They released the track list. It looks solid. That's all I personally I have to say about it. I would buy it if I could afford it. Otherwise, I'll wait.

[deadgrandma]

I just feel that there is a hell of a lot less talk about Ringo anywhere. This used to be THE place to go for English speaking people. Now all the old regulars are slowly disappearing and I think its mainly due to having nothing to get excited about anymore. It's sad to see that the most talked about thing related to Ringo right now is fucking Aya and Bambi. I'm trying hard to find anything to clamp onto but it's just not there right now. I'm not saying she can't get it back, but Ringo certainly isn't doing any favors for herself right now. Maybe that is her plan- to reel in a lot of easy going casuals and dump the hardcore in a state of confusion and perpetual disappointment. Or maybe she just doesnt give a fuck and we shouldn't either.

I remember when a new concert DVD used to get people pumped up, and there was an sense of real excitement in the air on here (this is a board dedicated to Shiina Ringo after-all); this release just seems to be causing exhaustion and sighs of 'eh' (maybe it's cause everyone's broke/needs a break after the Jihen breakup releases, 15th anniversary stuff and Sunny?). I'm not fully judging it till I get it- but it's just an observation I've made. It's quite disheartening to me. Is it a crime to be honest with myself and make these observations? Sigh.

[zeroryouko]

Actually I feel quite the opposite. Starting with Variety her work with Tokyo Jihen seemed to slump, I think mainly because she was not composing nearly as much of the music anymore (or any of it, in Variety's specific case). This is not to say they didn't put out a few good tracks from Variety onward, or that she didn't have some great performances even of material she didn't write. But something seemed like it was just missing and I think what was missing was simply her undiluted influence. Sanmon Gossip proved she still had it.

But her solo work remained strong, and all of a sudden in 2013, with TJ disbanded, she was *back*, and all the interest I had lost suddenly returned. No, she hasn't produced another KSK, but Sanmon Gossip, Reimport, Sunny, and Toutaikai were all good releases IMHO. Maybe there is a bit of fatigue, just because she has released so many things in the past couple of years.

I would fault Sunny for being a collection, rather than a cohesive album, and I would fault it for containing too many previously released singles - but the songs themselves were good to great.

I've had my copy of Ringo Expo '14 on pre-order since it became available and I'm really excited about it. Live performances of the new songs from Sunny? Can't wait! New performances of the classics? Love it. Souretsu? Check and double-check.