Crystal Kay releases her SLB (Sad Lonely Bitch) anthem “Love Me”

Crystal Kay has released another single, fresh on the heels of her November single “No Pressure”. And as was the case with “No Pressure”, we don’t get an official music video, but a lyric video which is kind of a music video; featuring footage of Crystal Kay on vacation around Europe. And as was also the case with no “No Pressure”, unfortunately, Crystal went ahead and gave us nothing.

This is a really cute lyric video, which could easily have been flipped into a music video proper. It’s a shame that it wasn’t. Crystal having a nice video shot in Menorca would have been a good look to stand out from everybody else’s videos shot on sets and sound stages. Music videos aren’t shot abroad on location anywhere near as often as they once were, so it’s always a nice surprise when one pops up which was. This is what made Kaze Fujii’s video for “Grace” stand out. But the song? “Love Me” does nothing for me. It sounds like an album cut from Crystal’s worst album to date, For You.

Crystal sounds good on “Love Me”. I really like the lyrics. And the back and forth between the English and Japanese is cool. The lingual switching isn’t new for Crystal. She’s done it her entire career. But it feels more pronounced here, because it feels like the song is split so evenly between English and Japanese in a way I don’t think a Crystal Kay song has been before. But the song itself is so boring. There’s just nothing to it. I don’t need a song to do the most and be musically dense. But I do want a song to feel complete and whole, and “Love Me” just doesn’t. There is too much dead space in the song. We coulda had a little acoustic guitar action somewhere. Some strings. Some backing vocals moments. But instead we just got these drone of a beat which isn’t interesting to listen to, and undercuts the sincerity and strength of the lyrics.

“Love Me” was co-written by Emyli, who has written for a whole bunch of artists, most famously Namie Amuro in the later part of her career. Emyli has also been recently featured in front of the cameras, as a vocal trainer / producer on the talent show iCON Z - which seeks to form the next big boy group and the next big girl group. Emyli is a great choice of talent for such a show, given that she’s written for the likes of Exile, Kis-My-Ft2, Blackpink and Red Velvet.

Crystal really is in dire need of an A&R team that can not only source her better songs, but producers who can help her recapture her sound. Not only is Crystal losing her sound, but so little that she’s put out post Vivid has truly stuck. And it’s unfortunate that we’re even here, given that Vivid was such a great restarting point for Crystal following the stench that was Spin the Music. And yet, here we are.

Gurl, fire the whole management and marketing team.

Where I am falling with Crystal’s 2022 string of singles is that they are just not good singles. As album filler cuts, they'd be fine. I guess. But as singles!? “Love Me”, “No Pressure” and “Gimme Some” aren’t really cutting it. None of them have that special sauce to help them do what they desperately need to at this point in Crystal’s career, where it honestly feels like she’s floundering, with nobody in her corner able to provide a clear direction for her sound.

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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

🎧 Emyli playlist: Written by Emyli