Crystal Kay sings a bunch of Disney songs. Bob Iger needs to pick up the phone.

It musta been a damn Christmas miracle. Because Crystal Kay has uploaded a video to her YouTube channel of her covering not just one song, but a bunch of songs. And we get good acoustics, mic setups and mixing. None of that sitting in a karaoke lounge or some dressing room bullshit. That shit is fine, when you’re not singing songs the fans want to hear in the best quality. And when you’re not muthafuckin’ Crystal Kay. Although the step up in production may be because this video is a collaboration with YouTubers who have a format and a good setup for recording covers.

Crystal Kay partnered up with Rioske of music and Internet duo PeruPines to sing a bunch of Disney songs. Both have shared the video on their YouTube channels, but both feature different songs, so they both gets the views. C’mon strategy.

Rioske can really sing, which is a relief. Because for the past few years Crystal has constantly been mismatched with people that can’t, and it’s been upsetting me and my homegirls.

I don’t know what it is about Crystal’s raggedy team over the past few years pairing her with singers whose voices don’t really work with hers. I know J-pop isn’t really a genre or market known for vocals, but c’mon now. Let us start realising what does and does not sound good. Crystal Kay with Ryuji Imaichi? Does not sound good. But Crystal Kay with Rioske? Yes bitch.

Crystal Kay x Rioske | Beauty and the Beast, Part of Your World, Kagayaku Mirai, How Far I’ll Go

Rioske x Crystal Kay | A Whole New World, Tobira Akete, Can You Feel the Love Tonight, Let it Go

If you were unsure of what the Japanese song in the first video was, then SHAME ON YOU.

The song from the first video was “I See the Light” from Tangled.W hich makes me because me wonder what Japan’s relationship is with Tangled.

Tangled is not as widely acknowledged and revered as the likes of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and Frozen. Whenever there is any form of Disney anything involving music, we can always expect something from one of these films. But Tangled is a wild card. And yet during Perfume’s Disney special, they performed a song from Tangled. And now, here’s Crystal Kay and Rioske also singing a song from it. I don’t think it’s entirely random, even though it probably is. And if we really wanna reach, Tangled was also one of the worlds included in Kingdom Hearts III, which was developed by a Japanese company.

Crystal Kay & Rioske sing Disney Songs | YouTube: クリスタル ケイ / ペルピンズ-PeruPines-

Crystal Kay and Rioske sounded good from start to finish, but “A Whole New World” is when my wig cap slid off. I have heard so many different versions of this song, but none of them have really stuck. Well, at least not for the right reasons. [Looks over to the left at Kumi Koda’s version, and then looks over to the right at Jasmine’s]. But this version really struck me. Because not only can Crystal and Rioske SING sing, but they didn’t just do the movie version of “A Whole New World”. They instead based their cover on the Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle version, and then coloured everything else with their own singing styles and touches, and it worked wonders. But there was also some flipping that Rioske and Crystal were doing, where Rioske was going up high and Crystal was going down low, when you’d expect the reverse, and this added a different dynamic too. It’s a shame the two parts of the cover were separated. It woulda been nice to have heard the whole thing together. But that’s nothing I can’t fix with some editing offline.

The flipping was something which was happening a fair amount, especially in the PeruPines video. I was frequently surprised at the sections of songs Rioske was singing and the key he was singing them in. I was not expecting him to take on so much of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and “Let It Go”. He did good. And given those were in the video uploaded to the PeruPines channel, I get he wanted to be the focal point of those songs. But I woulda liked to have heard Crystal sing a little more of them than she did.

Crystal Kay | YouTube: クリスタル ケイ / ペルピンズ-PeruPines-

Hearing Crystal sing these Disney songs so beautifully really does highlight how Crystal’s team ain’t shit. Because how has she not been the Japanese voice for a Disney princess in a single film yet? How has she not been asked to record the Japanese version of one of the pop renditions of a main song for a Disney film?

Disney need to pick up the phone.

Crystal’s voice has such great clarity when she sings Disney songs, and she actually has an ideal voice for a Disney Princess. So, where are the Mickey Mouse bags?

Crystal is clearly a fan of some of these Disney songs. She’s definitely fucks with “Let It Go”. So, why did we not get a cover of a Disney song for I Sing?

Girl. Fire the whole management and marketing team.

Crystal Kay | YouTube: クリスタル ケイ / ペルピンズ-PeruPines-

Crystal Kay has shown that she does have a genuine interest in acting. But I think the overarching thing with Crystal is that she just loves to perform, however and wherever she can. Her music career as it’s been for the past decade just isn’t giving her these opportunities, so she’s trying acting. And doing Broadway musicals makes sense. But Crystal’s team aren’t lining Crystal up right enough of the right opportunities. It makes absolutely sense for her to have the look and the voice that she has, to be fluent in English and Japanese, to be signed to a big ass label like Universal, and have a 20+ year music career, yet to not be securing bags which should be hers for the taking.

I truly do believe there are people out there looking for a Crystal Kay, but her team aren’t putting her out in the spaces to be found nor seen. When was the last time she performed on national TV? When was the last time she had a promotional tie-in which had her face on billboards and posters up and down the country? When was the last time she had a song chart higher than 60 on the Oricon?

I know this is how it breaks sometimes for artists, but Crystal is not some new chick on the block with no experience, no resources, no connections and no access. She needs to be pink slipping her whole team, because shit ain’t been right with her career for too long now.

I really hope that these videos find their way into spaces where more people can see how talented Crystal Kay is, and then fall into a rabbit hole of her older stuff. And I would definitely like to hear Crystal and Rioske do something else together.

Rioske also has too good a voice and has too marketable of a look to not be doing bigger things. And for those of you who were feeling s’umn for Rioske, he is on Instagram, and there are photos of him thirst trapping.

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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