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!

To Yours (2020)

We’re coming down to the last few Kisumai singles that will be part of this feature. When it comes to music, the group hasn’t been as active during the past couple of years. To Yours comes from their most recent studio album, released in March of 2020. It’s another song that suffered from its release date. That month also saw super-strong albums from agency-mates News and Johnny’s West, and I was still knee-deep in those releases when To Yours was unveiled.

This is a nice single, though it’s pretty generic by Kisumai standards and doesn’t really draw upon their strengths as a group. The song’s “found sound” percussion is its most interesting idea and should have been drawn upon further to enhance the individuality of the music. Instead, we’ve got a straight-ahead pop/rock anthem – designed with huge venues in mind. Ironically, those huge venues would fall silent as the pandemic emerged, making the song kind of lost in time. It’s not a single I seek out often, but I definitely enjoy it. There are stronger moments on the album, as well a clunker or two (I pretend Kisumai never recorded Maharaja).

To Yours’ music video is similarly generic, and the YouTube upload is buttressed by advertisements for the album. Like a gazillion other J-pop mvs, it’s shot in that familiar European-style outdoor mall. I get the impression you could just hang out in this shopping center and stumble upon idols any day of the week. It’s the J-pop version of K-pop’s oft-used helipad or quarry setting.