I would say ROCKBOUND NEIGHBORS is one of her greatest, but saying it's the best now somehow feels unfair to me. Like
Sai addressed, I feel like we are looking through glasses with pink lenses towards RN. We are romanticizing the album as it came out almost two years later then IMPACT EXCITER, with MUSEUM II inbetween. For a reason. The album has great singles, and it's super well balanced compared to her other albums. All of the tracks stand out except for Happy☆Go-Round! and Yakusoku.
Personally, I feel like if certain songs for SUPERNAL LIBERTY, SMASHING ANTHEMS, and probably NEOGENE CREATION as well, were used on ROCKBOUND NEIGHBORS, we would love them more? This might sound confusing, and believe me it is. I don't know how else to explain it, but we keep comparing new albums to the one that started this era, ROCKBOUND NEIGHBORS. And that only makes sense, as they keep using the same formula. We are clearly noticing it now. A good thing about it is that we know what we can expect of her, a bad thing is that we feel like she should not play by the 'rules' that Nana and her team has set up for themselves. A crave for her to come out of her comfort zone. But hey. In the end, it's a Nana album, and there will be gems! I believe that Nana will surely release an Enka cover album in the future, maybe when she quits being a seiyuu. Or not. I just could see her starting an Enka career. Just casually performing. We will see what happens.
With that, I have a list of the things that I predict for this album, and we've talked it over on the Skype chat. (Which you should consider joining if you want to and have free time,
sevenpetals ! Would love a new addition!)
As of now, the songs that have been announced are listed below, along with that I think we can expect of them. This is based on my own guts, together with what other information I have gotten.
STARTING NOW! - We've all heard this! Not bad, but nothing to clap at.
STAND UP!
- A pop song simular to Lazy Syndrome, but still unique. Hope phatmans won't let us down.
UNLIMITED BEAT
- Sounds interesting, but doesn't turn away from the familiar territory's,
stranger perfectly described it.
Please Download
-
I think we can all agree that this name is odd, and mostly, the odd names have been great songs so far. I have high hopes for this one, and hope it's maybe even a continuation of the story that's told in Lazy Syndrome.
RODEO COWBOY
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We've all heard Fun Fun★People, and imo, that song is great. Same composers, so I hope this one will be just as great.
GLORIA
- I still can't wrap my finger around this one.
めぐり逢うすべてに
- This song could either be a ballad/ballad-like song, or the Japanese song that Nana has mentioned on her blog. I am looking forward to this.
はつ恋
- I feel like this is going to be the generic ballad,
sevenpetals . Yakusoku, FATE, Koiuta., Hatsukoi. All generic titles. I must say I personally really like FATE and Koiuta., so I'd be okay if it would be on the same level. Yakusoku is alright but really not that interesting compared to the others. That's how I feel about it.
絶対的幸福論
- Another phatmans. I'm excited but also a bit worried, just for the title.
JEWEL - I feel like this is going to be another ballad/ballad-like song. I am looking forward as Nana wrote the lyrics. Also, I feel like this one is going to be the one that gets the PV.
ALONE ARROWS - From the same lyricist and composer as Risouron. The lyricist has also worked on a lot of other songs that are good, so I have high hopes. This song will be somewhat of a continuation of Cresent Child's story, it seems. Something like that is mentioned in one of Nana's blogposts, I believe Amelala linked it somewhere here.
Which means we'll have 4 songs left to be announced. We know Nana has worked with one of Yukari's composers, which was described as a passionate love dance track. And we know that Nana's own composed song will be on there. Which means she didn't mention two songs.
We (a few people from the Skype chat) came up with three theories. I've decided to give them all a simple name.
The theories are, in order:
Nightmare,
Reality,
Dream.
The nightmare theory would be them adding all of the STARTING NOW!'s single songs... I and
amelala will surely flip our tables. It would be such a stupid action of them to do this.
The reality theory would be UNLIMITED BEAT being the opener, but having a separate intro track, just like MAGIC ATTRACTION and IMPACT EXCITER. I see this happening the most, to be honest.
Last but not least
, the dream theory, that would be that an opener has already been recorded a little while ago, one that will blow our minds. I really hope this dream will come true. Avalon No Oukan and VIRGIN CODE hadn't been announced until the official website aired. Yet Glorious Break was early recorded, just like UNLIMITED BEAT now. I mean, they can still use it as the biggest tool to promote the album, but just not put it as an opener. It's just not on that level. It's growning more on me each time I hear the preview, but it won't be on that level, ever.
I believe either Antifona or Rensou Hanabi could make the list. I hope that it will be Antifona, as this album will be a phatmans overdose otherwise, also, I feel like Rensou Hanabi is unique, and should stay on the single, so that it can still get the sales it deserves. Otherwise, the single just will stop selling almost immediately. It would not be a smart marketing strategy, in my opinion.
Sorry for this huge ass post, but yeah. Leave your opinions and/or tell me if you have other predictions, I'd like to discuss it! I feel like we'll get the full setlist very soon though, maybe even this week?