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!

Positive Man (2020)

Positive Man was initially an album track on Kisumai’s To-y2 and I didn’t pay much attention to it. But once it was given a music video months later, the song’s charms pulled into view. Some pop songs just make you feel happy, and Positive Man’s goofy, optimistic energy delivers the perfect burst of uplift.

Marching on a mid-tempo tropical beat, the song has strong percussion and brilliant flourishes of brass. It’s reggae music as seen through Kisumai’s lens, which shouldn’t work nearly as well as it does. But, the melodies are so strong. It’s hard not to be won over by the sheer sunniness of the verses and chorus. Even when the pre-chorus briefly devolves into silliness, it feels in keeping with the loose energy of the performance. And to add to these strengths, Positive Man ends with an anthemic coda that sends the song off on a high. I absolutely love when pop songs tack a final melodic surprise to the tail end of their structure. B1A4 used to do this a lot.

Positive Man’s music video is such fun to watch, and the YouTube upload gives us the full thing. It’s a simple concept done very well, with the individual member colors front and center. Kisumai’s colorful personalities are one of the many reasons I love the group so much. This video offers a small peek at those charms.