Crystal Kay performs a gig whilst people are try’na sit there and eat their food

As has become custom for Crystal Kay at this point, she did a lil’ Christmas show at a couple of lounges. And whilst we are never going to get a professionally filmed and sound mixed of the performance in full (make it make sense), Crystal did give us a tease via a vlog uploaded to her YouTube channel. A channel which has her name as the search unfriendly クリスタル ケイ, when she is known and listed everywhere as Crystal Kay. A channel on which her handle is still @user-on1vg3xi8y because she has not claimed a vanity URL.

Gurl.

Crystal Kay sounded great. But we knew she was gonna.

She held that note at the end of “Shiroi Koibitotachi” to let all 59 people who streamed that song know that there was zero trickery involved on the studio recording. I actually think she held the note longer live than she does on the recording. And sounded better too.

The whole setting of this gig was appealing TO ME. I would go to more gigs if they were in settings like this, where my ass could sit down, order food and drink, but with enough room to stand up and shake my ass when the bangers hit.

BUT. I wish that Crystal was doing these cute little lounge gigs in addition to larger scale tours. Or just any tour.

Crystal Kay doing arena tours, or just holding national tours in moderately sized venues would be great, but it’s not happening with her sales and national fanbase size being what they are right now. But Crystal Kay does still have a fanbase in Japan who would absolutely pay to see her perform a show, as her Christmas gigs for the past 3 years has shown. And crowds fucking love her, because she can sing and puts on a show. This is precisely why Crystal’s team should have her do small scale tours annually. Touring with an album would be ideal, but it’s not a requirement. Look at Ayumi Hamasaki. 7 years with no album. But did that stop her from touring? Fuck no. She’s been doing A Countdown, A Arena, A Christmas, A Valentines, A Mess. As long as the tour has a package and a performer has the discography, it’ll work. And Crystal has a big enough music catalogue to tour with until the end of time.

Touring would be a good way to rebuild and reignite Crystal’s fanbase. It would also remind people who are a bit jaded by the lack of vocal talent in popular Japanese music that there are artists in the game who can actually sing. And I think it could also bring in older audiences for Crystal, who remember the late 70s and 80s, when more women in J-pop could actually sing and weren’t afraid of the mic being on.

But if Crystal were to become a touring type’a bitch, her team would need to start being strategic with her releases. They should be strategic with her releases regardless; but that’s a lot to ask from a team who stayed dropping balls over the past two years, when they had easy shots at amplifying Crystal. Because in 2021, we absolutely should have gotten a re-release of I Sing with a couple new songs, or an I Sing EP with studio recordings of the songs she performed on The Masked Singer. And in 2022 we should have gotten an Unplugged live album, along with a YouTube livestreamed performance, or a follow up to Shining to coincide with her third year of Christmas shows. Yet we got nothing.

Crystal Kay | YouTube: クリスタル ケイ

Crystal Kay is being squandered, and she’s too talented for this to be the case. There are so many small wins Crystal could be bagging, but her team just are just spinning on their desk chairs.

The streets ain’t talking about new Crystal music. The streets ain’t talking about Crystal’s Disney covers. The streets ain’t got official uploads of all of Crystal's music videos. The streets still ain’t got “Kirakuni” on streaming after 2 years.

Gurl, fire the whole management and marketing team.

---

💿 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