EP Review: Kana Nishino - Love Beat

Kana Nishino’s Love Beat EP manages to say a lot about Kana, whilst also saying nothing about her at all. Kana has been around for quite a while now, but I don’t identify her with a particular sound, style or image. So of course Love Beat features Kana with a slightly different look to that of which she sported on her last release, with 3 songs which each sound completely different to one another and give you no sense of what Kana’s sound is.

Great.

So, let’s start with the EP title track “Love Beat”.

“Love Beat” being a Kana Nishino song which features NiziU is crazy to me, because the entire thing sounds and feels like a NiziU song. Even the video looks like a NiziU video. Then again, Kana Nishino is the Mystique of Japanese pop, which is why I’ve always struggled to get into her. But we’ll get to that.

“Love Beat” being Eurobeat and featuring some Para Para choreo to go with it scratches an itch for me as somebody who is a fan of both. I have been wanting both to make a comeback to Japanese music for years. I don’t think “Love Beat” is going to kickstart a comeback. But, girl. I’ll take it. The song doesn’t bang as hard as it could. The chorus should have been bigger and featured all 9 voices of NiziU to give it more breadth. The faux Hip-hop breakdown is fucking awful. And whilst “Love Beat” is catchy, I don’t think it’s going to be a song that will be remembered years from now, because it sounds like any random song you’d hear blaring out from a Taito Station. But it is still a good song and nice for the Summer.

Kana Nishino - Love Beat | Sony Music Labels Inc.

“Otome no Mind” is completely different in vibe to “Love Beat”, because of course it would be. It’s Kana Nishino spinning a wheel with her music, as she often does. But I can’t even be mad at it in this instance, because “Otome no Mind” is such a good song and easily the best of the 3 on the EP. I really liked Kana’s previous single “Kimi no Sei”, so it’s cool to hear SOMETHING of that song be carried through here. “Otome no Mind” and “Kimi no Sei” remind me A LOT of Tommy heavenly6 and Tommyfebruary6, which is partly why I like them so much.

Whilst “Love Beat” absolutely made sense as the main A-side single, I do think making “Otome no Mind” an A-side would have been a great choice too. It’s a stronger song, but it’s still fun and great for the summer. And it feels connected to the previous single in a way which I think more of Kana’s singles should at this point in her career.

“Replay” is the weakest of the songs and Kana’s voice is the reason why. The production on “Replay” is really nice, but Kana’s voice just doesn’t suit it. “Replay” needed a singer who can tap into a lighter tone and glide over the music. Beni would have sounded great on this. Kana’s voice is too straight and too nasal for this type of song and it ruins it. Putting NiziU on this song too may have helped it. Because not only is the vibe of it something which would suit them, but I think their voices would have added that softness that Kana’s lacks.

Kana Nishino - Love Beat | Sony Music Labels Inc.

“Love Beat” is another set of songs amongst the string of Kana singles which highlights how she has no real sound or style. Kana Nishino is cosplaying as NiziU for this song, and I’m not going to drag her for this. We see artists shift to work within the world and soundscape of the artist they do songs with all of the time. And at a time when K-pop affiliated girl groups are extremely popular in Japan as well as America, it would make sense for Kana to want to get in on that and be a JYP girly for a day. But none of this stops it being bonkers to me that “Love Beat” is a Kana Nishino song featuring NiziU, which sounds like a NiziU song featuring Kana Nishino. Namie Amuro would never and did not. Look at “Make it Happen”. Namie said ‘Ladies, I love y’all. But you are features on MY song. And I will not be an honorary member of your group today. Y’all do your thing whilst I sit here in this chair like the main bitch that I am.’

Whenever Kana Nishino releases something I have to cross reference to remind myself that the person who released “Sakura, I Love You?”, “Moshi mo Unmei no Hito ga Iru no nara”, “Magical Starshine Makeup ☆”, “Kiminosei” and whatever new song she has out were all from the same person, because each song sounds so different and Kana looks SO different in each of the music videos. Consistency, whether it be sound or image, has long been a thing in J-pop. Even when Ayumi Hamasaki was changing her wigs every other music video and each single jacket shoot, she still had a look that was very her, which made them feel consistent. She had a brand. Kana just be changing everything for each song. But that’s a whole other post.

The Love Beat EP is Kana once again choosing to not commit to a sound or a vibe. If Kana and her team were really thinking about locking into a sound and image, then “Otome no mind” would have been the main A-side. But it’s clear this is not a focus for them — hence why we got Para Para Larsson’s “Mayonaka no Taiyou” instead.

The Love Beat EP is cute for the summer, but there just isn’t enough to it. “Otome no mind” is great, but it’s not enough to compensate for “Love Beat” and “Replay” both being good, but also kinda whatever.