°A-iri’s new single!

So, you guys all should know by now that I tend not to be very impressed by °C-ute. However, previews of their new song SHOCK have some out, and… I kind of like it? Then again, look at it. It doesn’t really sond like a °C-ute song, or not like anything they’ve done recently, and the lyrics are very predominantly sung by Airi and only Airi. When the other girls sing? They all seem to be trying to sing like Airi. Before the preview, there was an Airi mic rip of the song that showed up and most people thought there was something wrong with it because it seemed Airi was singing the entire song. Then the preview came out… and we know she pretty much is. This is probably why I like it. A lack of Maimi singing is always a plus for me. I also listened to the b-side… and I find it to be typical °C-ute and I don’t so much abhor it as I just don’t care to finish listening to the song once I’ve started.

Over at H!O on the forums, so many people are up in arms about this single and demanding that somehow another girl at least gets to dance in the center. Only, that wouldn’t work. When you have 5 girls in a group, whoever’s singing is going to be the one up front. If Airi’s always singing… Yeah. Back when the group was 7 or 8 members, it was easy to not really have a center. Berryz still manages it. One girl might be predominantly in the center, but they switch up enough that it’s really just taking turns. With 5 and only one member singing for most of the song, I just don’t see where they’re even going to try to manage something “even”.

Granted, none of the fans have any idea why Airi is getting such a push for this single. Previously, she and Maimi have been relatively even, but now Maimi is as much in the background as Chisato is. If this is going to be °C-ute from now on, I might be able to get into them at last. But, maybe this is a trial. After all, °C-ute’s sales have been down this past year. Only their cover song sold well enough to make it onto the Oricon Top 200 list, and even then it was just barely. Maybe Maimi asked to not be a lead this time because she’s trying to focus on school, or H!P is trying out Airi in a larger role to maybe start her down a solo career path. I’ve already called that I think the end of °C-ute is near unless they add new members. Is H!P preparing for that as well? No one is in the know on this matter at the moment, and regardless? Airi has the charisma and the voice and the look to be able to make it on her own, so why not try her as the sole lead? I don’t think Maimi could pull it off. Airi does not fade into the background. Maimi can. Then again, the Maimi fans probably don’t think so.

I am interested to see the PV for this. The song samples from the James Bond music, but the outfits from the single covers look more like they’re trying to be ringleaders. Fans who have already seen a live performance describe the dance as being very beautiful, but °C-ute generally does a good dance anyway, so I’m not too worried there. Also, my list of °C-ute preference have changed to allow Nakki into second place. I don’t like her voice all that much, but I like her dancing and her attitude, and her voice is acceptable. I’ve started to forget Mai is even in the group because I’m so “meh” about her. And I don’t like the other two, but they’re hardly a feature in the song, so we’ll see.