Music video: Arashi release their Bruno Mars penned song "Whenever You Call"

Arashi are still going. Still securing the bags. Still a fixture on national television after close to 20 years. Meanwhile, every other music act under Johnny's Entertainment is imploding, disbanding, getting caught in scandals and Lord knows what else. I hope Arashi are in good contracts and are well paid, because they be keeping that problematic-ass company afloat with their souls.

Arashi's latest digital single "Whenever You Call" is their first English language release, and as the title post already discloses, written by none other than Bruno Mars. The production is handled by D'Mile, who co-produced Janet Jackson's criminally underrated "Feedback" and pretty much the whole of Victoria Monet's punani EP Jaguar.

When you know that Bruno Mars has written a song, it's hard to not hear him on it. Arashi don't give much in the way of dynamics on this song in the way Bruno would, but they do a nice job with it all the same. Daichi Miura would have been a good fit for this song, as he's given us Bruno-esque songs and before, and pretty much ripped off one of his music videos, for his 2017 single "U".

The cool thing about this song is that it wasn't a case of a Bruno Mars song being acquired. He wrote it specifically for Arashi, knowing this would be the last song they'd release before going on hiatus.

I've never been a big fan of Arashi's music, but I've watched them on variety shows and J-drama's that they've featured in (Season 1 of Hana Yori Dango starring Jun Matsumoto and Stand Up!! starring Kazunari Ninomiya are both highly recommended). They have really likeable personalities, so it's not hard to see why they've endured such long success, even if their music isn't all that great. And the thing that's always struck me about Arashi, is that with the exception of Jun, the members of don't have looks that conform to the standard of what is oft considered male beauty, and I've always liked this about them. And nobody in this group is a particularly great singer or dancer, which is Johnny's groups all over. You're lucky to get one member who can do both. Regular Guy Energy y'all.