Japanese rock group, BUMP OF CHICKEN has recently announced a new single titled “Uchuhikoshi e no Tegami / Motorcycle” slated for release on October 13th. It has been six months since their previous release campaigns for both “Happy” and “Mahou no Ryouri ~ Kimi kara Kimie~.”
This will mark the first time that the group will release a single with three new tracks, “Uchuhikoshi e no Tegami,” “Motorcycle” and “Good Friends.” The group also revealed that some time after the single release, BUMP OF CHICKEN will be releasing a full album. At this point, they have yet to give further information about this full album.
「Uchuhikoshi e no Tegami / Motorcycle」Tracklist
1. Uchuhikoshi e no Tegami
2. Motorcycle
3. good friends
While the girl group 2NE1 has confirmed their title song, they’re speeding up their comeback, by currently filming the music video.
2NE1 is announcing their first official single on the 9th of September. There will be a total of 12 songs on this album.
It is 2NE1’s first time announcing a new album with new songs, since 1 year and 2 months ago, when they released their first mini album in July last year, with “I Don’t Care” as their title song. As this album is their first official single album released ever since 2NE1 stepped in the K-Pop scenes in May last year, it is garnering more interest than ever.
2NE1, who is preparing their comeback with people’s and fans’ much interests, is filming their music video of “Go Away”, one of their title songs of their official single from the 30th.
2NE1 has exclusively chosen three songs from their single album as their title songs, and has recently confirmed one of these song’s title as “Go Away”.
On the afternoon of this day, YG Entertainment, 2NE1’s agency company, said “this is the first time announcing that one of 2NE1’s title songs’ title is ‘Go Away’ and said “the music video of ‘Go Away’, which is currently being filmed, is by the famous director Cha Eun Taek and will be continuing to be filmed until tomorrow (31st).
Then, CL, the leader, said “I’m exclusively transforming into a female car racer in the music video of ‘Go Away’,” and said “it will be a unique joy for the fans to see a new side of CL”.
YG also said, “there are three title songs for 2NE1’s first single, and the music videos for two other songs will be directed by another famous director, Seo Hyun Seung.”
Actress Ueto Aya, 24, will star in NHK’s time-traveling drama “Still Love You in 10 Years” (starts Tues Aug 31, 10 p.m.). Ueto plays a lovelorn heroine who is visited by her husband from 10 years into the future, a man she has never met.
Ueto appeared at a press conference with her costar Masaaki Uchino, 41, with whom she worked once before in 2004 in “Aim for the Ace!” IN that film, Uchino played her merciless tennis coach.
Ueto acknowledged that she had come of marrying age. “Naturally I could empathize with my character since I am now 24. And yes, I’m thinking about marriage,” she said wistfully.
Celebrating their 15th anniversary this year, V6 sat down with Oricon Star to talk about their new single “only dreaming/Catch” (to be released September 1) and Yoshihiko Inohara’s (34) upcoming drama “警視庁捜査一課９係 (Keishicho Sousa Ikka 9-gakari)”.
Oricon Star: You’re about to release your first single in a year. ”only dreaming”, which is the theme song to “警視庁捜査一課９係 (Keishicho Sousa Ikka 9-gakari)”, has a sorrowful melody and I was thinking it was mirroring the emotions that arise at the end of a police drama when the criminal finally gets nabbed.
Nagano: Oh I see, that’s another way of thinking about it.
—–
Oricon Star: When did you record the song?
Morita: Record it? It was a while ago.
Inohara: It was during our tour so around April?
Sakamoto: What, April? Was the tour that long ago?
Miyake: We started it on April 3 and finished on June 13, remember!
—–
Oricon Star: When a group records a song, it’s normal for everyone to record their part individually and it’s not until the group appears on music shows that they sing the song together. Does this mean you haven’t sung the song as a group yet?
Inohara: No, we sung it at our last concert. When we all went for sushi the day before we were saying “tomorrow’s the last day so let’s do something. Maybe we should sing the new song?” Our Avex staff member brought along their laptop and we heard who was singing what for the first time. My falsetto made everyone laugh so much. They were like “kawaii~”.
(everyone laughs)
Inohara: Then we contacted the (concert) staff and told them we’d be doing this tomorrow…
Nagano: We rehearsed it the next day. It was our first performance of a song that didn’t have any dance moves yet.
Inohara: The staff were really amazing with the lighting
Sakamoto: There was no information about it at the concert so the crowd looked confused. When we said “this is our new single” they all screamed. But it’s a medium-tempo song so even though we wanted to get the crowd going, we sort of couldn’t (laughs).
Nagano: It was like they were thinking “well, we’ve just got to listen to it” (laughs). It was before the drama had begun too.
—–
Oricon Star: When you first heard this song, what was your first impression?
Morita: It was a break up song, and I thought it had girly lyrics (laughs). I thought men are so weak. It made me wonder what girls might make of it.
Sakamoto: To me, the lyrics stood out. None of our singles up to now had a straightforward break up message. But I kept thinking “what does breaking up have to do with Inohara’s drama?”
Nagano: The lyrics are sorrowful. It made me think “ohh, there’s no way to forget about…”
Inohara: You say it like you’ve experienced it Nagano-kun (laughs).
Miyake: (laughs) He is a popstar. But if you’re a man who has been in love, I think you would have experienced heartbreak like this at least once. To the point where the person you broke up with appears in your dreams every night…
Morita: I took it straightforward at first. I had heard it was a song for Inocchi’s drama, but it was a breakup song. ”Huh, this is so 9pm drama…maybe Inocchi’s going to do a different drama where he goes through a breakup” (laughs).
Miyake: I thought that when we did “GUILTY”. I was wondering whether (Tsunehiko) Watase-san was having an affair (in the drama). ”Is it going to spin off somewhere when I least expect it?” (laughs).
Inohara: I know what you mean. When you think of a 9pm drama series, you always picture Watase-san’s face (laughs).
—–
Oricon Star: The drama is an investigator themed story but in the music video it shows each of you expressing the sadness of heartbreak through singing. When did you film it?
Sakamoto: Sometime in July…
Inohara: It was a really humid day.
—–
Oricon Star: What did you think of the finished product?
Morita: We shot our individual scenes one by one so I had no idea what everyone else had done. When I saw the finished video I was surprised to see that some of members were crying (laughs). I couldn’t cry (laughs).
—–
Oricon Star: Were you asked to cry as well, Morita-san?
Sakamoto and Inohara: Eh, were you asked to?
Morita: Yes!
Miyake: I thought everyone was crying in their shot, but then I was like “hey, you’re not crying!”
Morita: It’s not my fault! I couldn’t get teary!! (laughs)
Inohara: I got asked to “suffer in agony” (laughs).
Miyake: Oh, so that’s why you looked like you were in agony! I thought they had made you take poison or something (laughs).
Inohara: But that was the shot they wanted. The director told me I did a good job afterwards.
—–
Oricon Star: So who got asked to cry in their shot?
Morita, Miyake, Okada: (all raise their hands) Me.
Nagano: I got asked to “imagine that the woman I love had died, and be sad enough to be on the brink of crying”. I got told everyone was being asked the same thing so I just went “oh, okay then”.
Sakamoto: I didn’t get asked anything specific. Just “think about the person you care about” and…thought……….
Inohara: It came out! Because Sakamoto-kun carries around so much sorrow (laughs).
Ayumi Hamasaki’s PR team recently revealed on August 28th that JaeJoong, of Tohoshinki (TVXQ) and J.Y.J. fame, will star in a PV for her single, ‘blossom‘.
Working under the same agency, AVEX, Ayumi and JaeJoong are now colleagues. Yet, despite the difference in seniority, they are known to have a close friendship.
JaeJoong commented, “Ayumi Hamasaki is a big senior in my record label, so when I received the offer to appear in her PV, I was really happy. Although I feel a lot of pressure, I’ll try to do it perfectly!” With 84 music videos under her belt, ‘blossom’ shall be the first in which Ayu will not appear in the PV. Ayu said about that decision, “If I appear in the music video by myself, I might be ‘talking’ way too much.”
The music video is reported to be quite emotional, and the producers believe that JaeJoong’s realistic acting will invoke tearful reactions from the fans.
‘blossom’ was released previously in July, but the PV is to be included in the CD+DVD package for Ayumi’s newest single, ‘crossroad’, set to be released in the fall. With JaeJoong’s help, Ayu hopes to shatter the record for the most #1 singles sold on the Oricon chart. The title is currently held by Matsuda Seiko with 24 #1 singles.
Seems like romance is back on again between Tamaki Hiroshi (30) and Kato Rosa (25), according to this week's issue of the gossip magazine "Friday." The magazine even reported that they were seen in the company of Kato's mother, so you know it must be serious! The two actors were first reported as a couple back in the autumn of 2004 but split up in 2007. They both got involved in other relationships, Kato with Johnny's Jimusho heart throb Akanishi Jin (26) and Tamaki most recently with young actress Yoshitaka Yuriko (21). But in July and this month they were spotted driving around town together again. Management for the actress insist that the two are just good friends, while Tamaki's agency refused to comment.
Following reports of Jay Chou's hefty purchase of a large apartment in Taipei, his mother, Ye Hui Mei, is said to be looking into buying another apartment in Danshuei.
Jay reportedly splurged TWD300 million (S$12.2 million or US$9 million) on a prestigious condominium in Taipei last year and his mother recently bought another condominium at a different location.
According to reports, Ye visited the site at Danshuei with friends and has already purchased a TWD24 million (S$1.2million or US$886,000) apartment.
Jay is currently living with Ye in a condominium in Taipei and the news of Ye's purchase suggest that mother and son might be planning on living separately.
Jay's company was unable to give an answer, saying, "These are the artiste's private matters so we will not answer for them."
The construction company in charge of building the block which Ye has purchased a unit from also refused to answer.
"With regards to whether or not Jay's mother purchased a unit, we are not allowed to divulge any details"
On the other hand, the entrepreneurial Jay is plunging money into new ventures recently.
This time, he is investing in designers' pianos and also a music school with his good friend Yuri Chan.
Together with Yuri, they are investing in a new brand "Secret", offering pianos with designs done by themselves - one of their designs were featured in Jay's idol drama Pandamen.
Their music school will also open by September, although both singers will not be giving lessons personally.
It was announced that 【_Vani;lla】will be disbanding. Their last live will be held on December 22nd at Shibuya O-WEST.
Here is what was stated on their OHP:
Because the members have differences in the direction of the band, it came to this result.
Thank you for all of your assistances and apologies for the sudden announcement.
Please continue to support the band for their remaining lives.
[_Vani;lla]
It is known that BoA has had an allergic reaction from the cake that was thrown onto her face by SHINee member Minho. BoA performed at the SM TOWN LIVE ’10 WORLDTOUR in Seoul on the 21st of August. The concert also marked a celebration for BoA’s 10th year since debut. The other singers under the same management company also congratulated her on her 10th year anniversary.
SHINee member MinHo jokingly squashed the cake in BoA’s face, surprising the fans. However, this has caused controversy after the concert as a video was passed around amongst the fans.
BoA updated her twitter on the morning of the 23rd and said “My skin has turned inside out because of the cake massage, I need to sleep early. My last performance is next week, I’ll meet you with my following tracks.”
She asked her fans about the skin allergy saying “is there anything good for allergic reactions of the skin? It’s itchy, inflammatory and hurts too. If there’s a good cure for this, please tell me.”
BoA gave a live update of her skin condition by saying that her skin was very dry and that her face felt like it was going to explode.
Fans who visited BoA’s twitter showed their concern by saying “how can he cream your face with such an oily cake” “It was just for fun, didn’t know it would cause such a reaction” and “next week is your last performance, what’s going to happen?”
Giant pop group, EXILE, is releasing their second 10th anniversary single on October 6th, titled, “I Wish For You“. They released their first celebratory single, “Motto Tsuyoku,” on September 18th.
“I Wish For You” will include the tracks, “Choo Choo TRAIN,” ”Ginga Tetsudou 999,” and “Someday.” All of these are hit songs that are powerful dance tunes, and they serve as a stark contrast to the ballad sound of “Motto Tsuyoku”.
The coupling tracks will all be old hit songs, but they will be doing house remixes of them to freshen them up for fans. For people who have not experienced EXILE’s music before, the new singles will aim to give them a taste of their world.
