Flashback Friday: Crystal Kay featuring Ryuji Imaichi - Very Special | Seasonal sabotage

Crystal Kay’s eleventh studio album Shine was a bit of a mess.

It was very clearly geared towards being a Christmas album. And it could have been a good one had that theme followed through. Or if half the songs were taken off, and Shine was just put out as a Christmas EP. But we got what we got.

There are several egregious choices which were made with Shine. But one of which stands out the most to me is the inclusion of Ryuji Imaichi on the song “Very Special”. This was when I knew LDH did not have Crystal Kay’s best interests at heart.

There are 231 members of Exile, and Crystal Kay gets paired with the one member out of all of those who can’t sing!?

Was Atsushi too busy?

Girl, fire the whole management and marketing team. 

The folk behind this shit even knew Ryuji couldn’t sing, because they went and cut his entire verse out of this video.

Ryuji Imaichi would have been better on Jennifer Lopez’s “All I Have”, where he and Jenny from the Block could just be off key and off pitch together.

Christmas is not a national holiday in Japan the way it is in the West, but it’s still acknowledged, celebrated and is used as a marketing driver across every industry, including music.

J-pop doesn’t really have an equivalent of Mariah Carey, although there are original Christmas songs which are regarded as holiday classics, although which song may depend on the generation. Some may name BoA’s “Meri Kuri”, whilst others may name Tatsuro Yamashita’s “Christmas Eve”. But there is definitely a space for an artist to take up the mantle and own Christmas to some degree. Or at the very least really capitalise on the holiday with a music release, and that artist could be Crystal Kay.

It’s always been strange to me that Shining was the only Christmas release we got from Crystal, and even that was half-arsed. Christmas has factored into Crystal’s music consistently over the years. “Koi ni Ochitara” has big Christmas vibes. All Yours was a very cosy album which is perfect for Christmas (The Japanese “Cater 2 U” i.e “Cherish” is a Christmas song TO ME). The album even released in a special Winter / Holiday edition. “One” had big Christmas vibes. Spin the Music was similar to Shine, in that it felt like a release which was initially geared toward Christmas, but then became something else. You hear that intro on “Superman”? It’s a Christmas song. I Sing was pretty festive, in large part because of the single “I Love...”, a song which Crystal did NOTHING with commercially. Crystal has enough Christmassy songs, that I was able to pull together an albums worth of material, and still have songs to spare. Crystal Kay has spent the past 2 to 3 years doing Christmas shows.

All o’dis. So why does Crystal not just release a Christmas album? It’s a very clear angle, and one which could serve her well at a point in her career where her releases have no angle or point of view whatsoever.

I’m not saying she should just become a Christmas artist, because I don’t think the market in Japan is really set for that. But going all in for a Christmas release is an easy sell, an easy way to reach a mass audiences and actually impact on the Oricon - because when was the last time Crystal was even on the charts!?

And if Crystal is to be paired with artists, pair her with people who can sing and compliment her. But as long as she’s with LDH, it’s gonna be whichever member of Exile gets their ticket number called first.

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💿 CK album reviews: I Sing | For You | Vivid | Shine | Spin the Music | Call Me Miss... | All Yours | Color Change! | 4Real | Crystal Style | Almost Seventeen | 637 -Always & Forever- | C.L.L. ~Crystal Lover Light

📀 CK Special Editions: Euphoria, a Crystal Kay dance album | Sparkle, a Crystal Kay Christmas album

🎧 CK playlists: This is Crystal Kay | Crystal Kay: Ballads