Crystal Kay shares her CK25 North American Tour performance of (yep, you guessed it) “Koi ni Ochitara”

I did wonder if we would get full professionally shot performances from Crystal Kay’s CK25 North American tour. And BING. Now we have one. And of course it is “Koi ni Ochitara”. [Smiles and sighs]

Crystal looked great and sounded great. I really like how she has a way of singing “Koi ni Ochitara” now, which works with where her voice and singing style is at now. Crystal reminds me a lot of Beyoncé when it comes to her approach to singing older songs. Sing smarter, not harder. Re-arrange and re-work songs to fit around where your voice is at, instead of trying to fight your voice and push it to sing how you did decades ago and risk ruining your voice in the process. And in both Beyoncé and Crystal’s cases, some of their older songs sound better being sung with their current voices, because their tones are richer and they are singing these songs with skills which have developed and grown considerably over the years. This is what pissed me off about Crystal’s re-recorded songs on her 25th anniversary best album. She just seemed to follow a directive of singing the songs how she did back then, instead of singing them how she ideally would now.

HENNYWAY.

“Koi ni Ochitara” is a great song. But Crystal Kay has many great songs in her discography. And I really wish more of an effort was made to acknowledge these other songs. We cannot keep being stuck on “Koi ni Ochitara”. Yes, it is Crystal’s biggest hit. Disproportionately so. It sold over 750,000 units and no other single of Crystal’s has managed to sell anything remotely close to this. But she still has other songs which did well commercially. “Candy” and “Two as One” hit number 2 on the Oricon singles chart. “Boyfriend (Part II)” is Crystal’s third best selling single. And whilst “Konna ni Chikaku de…” wasn’t the biggest of hits, it was a single from a number 1 album and it has a similar sound to “Koi ni Ochatara” whilst folding in R&B — which would also make it a song worth performing to wean Crystal and audiences away from “Koi ni Ochitara”.

Girl. Fire the whole management and marketing team.

Crystal Kay - Koi ni Ochitara | CK25 North American Tour

I just feel that everything being about “Koi ni Ochitara” makes it harder for Crystal to move forward and for people to see her as more than that one song. It’s like the whole Mariah Carey and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” situation. Having one song be so successful and adored across generations is an amazing gift. But it can also become a curse when it becomes the only song people identify you with and the only song people want to hear from you — especially if you have other hits and a sizable discography.

Crystal and her team have gotta start spotlighting some of her other songs. Surely Universal can’t be thrilled that a song from Crystal’s Sony catalog is getting more attention than anything she’s released with them. But this is their own fault for having her release so much nonsense after Vivid. Make “Superman”, “Delicious na Kinyoubi” and “Haru Arashi” happen. They were great songs. Let the people know they are great. Fuck that they only sold approximately 3,500 copies combined.

Crystal has too deep of a discography which features not just great songs, but great songs that fans and audiences know, have an awareness of and want to hear her sing. She needs to stop squarely putting herself in a box with “Koi ni Ochitara”.

Crystal Kay - Koi ni Ochitara | CK25 North American Tour

I really hope Crystal has shot footage of her entire show. There is zero chance of a DVD release. So hopefully she will just upload the whole thing to YouTube and make an event of it, with a livestream and all sorts.

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🎛️ CK mashups: “Koi ni Ochitara” (Crystal Kay x Janet Jackson) | “One” (Crystal Kay x Jordan Knight) | “Can’t Be Stopped” (Crystal Kay x Janet Jackson)

💿 CK album reviews: C.L.L. ~Crystal Lover Light | 637 -Always & Forever- | Almost Seventeen | Crystal Style | 4Real | Call Me Miss... | All Yours | Color Change! | Spin the Music | Shine | Vivid | For You | I Sing | All Time Best 25th Anniversary

☕ CK tea: The ways Crystal Kay influenced and impacted J-R&B AND Japanese music that not enough people talk about