In honor of Kis-My-Ft2’s complete videography being uploaded to YouTube (in edited form, of course…), I can’t resist writing about each single. To put this in context for Bias List readers, Kis-My-Ft2 (or Kisumai, as they’re often known) are my J-pop version of Infinite. That’s how much I love them and their discography.

Yet, I rarely write about them because finding online links to their music was so hard… until now!

Kimi, Boku. (2018)

Johnny’s has the ability to get away with releasing music that sounds so old-fashioned. Obviously not all of their output defies current trends, but every artist in the agency has their share of songs that feel as if they could have been recorded decades ago. Because of Johnny’s strong sense of legacy and tradition, the acts are able to make this material work in unexpected ways.

Take a song like Kimi, Boku, for instance. On the surface, it’s a deeply uncool sound. In fact, you’d be forgiven for calling it a little fuddy duddy. But, it wafts along on such a potent melody and is performed with such gusto that it becomes almost impossible to resist. It helps that the instrumental is exuberant, bounding out of the gate like you just left the window open and the song has blown in with a warm breeze. The arrangement has that snowball effect I love, where it grows bigger as time goes on and more elements are brought into the mix.

The video is just as uncool as the song, and I say that as a compliment. I love the “movie musical” theme – especially the dancing-with-umbrellas breakdown. I only wish the color palette wasn’t so dull. I see what they’re going for when the painted colors on white background, but it could do with more punch.