Single arts + track listing: Crystal Kay - Kimi ga ita kara

Crystal Kay has finally emerged from under the rock called 'her US music career' to release a brand new single in Japan on May 13th. "Kimi ga ita kara" will be Crystal's first physical single in 3 years and acts as the theme song to NTV J-drama Wild heroes.

Crystal Kay has not been making so much as a pebble scratch on the ORICON charts for years and has not had a bona fide hit since "Konna ni chikaku de...". And as amazing as that song was, the popularity of Nodame cantabile (the anime series of which "Konna ni chikaku de..." featured as the theme of) at that time helped her to no end. I'm not expecting any similar level of success with this song, but I will light a vanilla IKEA candle for home girl and pray for entry into the top 10.

The single will also feature "The light" a song which was released on the digital down low and features in Samsung's iGalaxy S6 and S6 edge commercials in Japan. The song is not poppin' and it sounds like Crystal Kay is singing over an Galaxy ringtone. But whatever. It's promo, I guess.

• Kimi ga ita kara
• The light
• TBC

You can hear clips of both "Kimi ga ita kara" and "The light" in the videos below.

On a completely different...Note (cue rimshot) the Galaxy S6 looks really, really nice. But I vowed never to buy a Samsung phone again until they fix / get rid of / revamp their operating system: TouchWiz. I refuse. It's why I sent my S5 back and got me a HTC One instead.

Given this turn of events I think it's safe to say that Crystal's English language album has been shelved. Following the lacklustre chart performance of "Busy doing nothing", "Rule your world" and "Dum ditty dumb" it's no surprise. None of these songs were particularly great (although I did have a thing for "Busy doing nothing") and each song felt so regressive after the release of Vivid, which saw Crystal Kay completely transform her sound and deliver a great pop album which could sit alongside any US pop album, choke hold it to the floor and then take a giant shit on it for all eternity.

Crystal being musically active again is great. I will always welcome new music from Crystal Kay because quite simply, I love the woman and her music has been consistently good for years. It's great to know that Universal have not dropped her. A new album may seem premature to discuss at this point given the long periods of time Crystal leaves between albums, and I do not want to get hopes up in case her next release is a 5 track EP which will not quench a single thirst. But it's just good to know she's back on her J-swag and I'm eager to hear which direction she'll go in; especially in lieu the change in gears with Vivid and the experimentation she'd dabbled in with for her now debunked US debut. I wonder what will happen with all of that material she had recorded over the past 2 years in NYC. Will it feature on her next domestic release in some form? Time will tell.

"Kimi ga ita kara" will also get itself a video. Crystal's videos have never been that great, so I'm not expecting much. Set your expectations for a video that is shot on a Samsung Galaxy, with the budget of a one way cable car ride in Kobe.