Tracklisting
1. Rocket Sneaker (ロケットスニーカー)
2. OnexTime
3. Sora to Kujira (空とくじら; lit. The Sky and the Whale)
4. Rocket Sneaker (Instrumental) (ロケットスニーカー)
5. OnexTime (Instrumental)
Rocket Sneaker / OnexTime is Otsuka Ai’s 17th overall single, and the second in her latest era. Rocket Sneaker was used as the ending theme to the Japanese drama Sanma no Manma, and OnexTime was used as the POND’S CM song; Otsuka herself featured in the commercial. It reached #4 on the weekly Oricon charts, and sold approximately 44,428 copies. It was released on the 21st of May, 2008.
Rocket Sneaker opens instantly with Otsuka singing alongside a piano, before bringing in an assortment of fast-paced instruments that give the song a much more pop-rock influenced sound. It’s a much faster song than anything on Pocket was, and as such it’s a nice change after what was pretty much a slow single. Otsuka’s voice fits the song well, and she seems to be singing in a deeper voice at times in this song. The song tends to be a bit linear in its arrangement until the end, when Otsuka sings the final chorus at a higher key. The arrangement itself is interesting enough to keep you listening (Especially if you’ve been listening to a lot of Techno-Pop lately. Believe me.), and the fun atmosphere the song has only helps that fact.
The second a-side, OnexTime, starts in a much different manner, opening with a piano playing by itself with some finger snapping accompanying it, before some sparkling synth and a string arrangement and acoustic guitars join the mix. This song slows it down considerably after Rocket Sneaker, but it’s still an upbeat song. Otsuka’s using a lower tone in her singing for this song, which suits the change very well. Again, in comparison to anything on Pocket, the song is rather linear in its overall arrangement, and with a slower song like this, that’s not usually a good thing. It’s not in the same league as Rocket Sneaker, but it’s still a good song.
Sora to Kujira is the final non-instrumental song on this single, and once again it takes a different style. It opens instantly with a lone acoustic guitar, which Otsuka sings along with. It has a much more folk-influenced sound, which is nice to hear. Of course, more instruments slowly join the fray, with an electric guitar and the drums being just two of the present instruments. It’s around the half-way point when these songs gain more prominence that the folk elements are lost, which is a shame, as it makes the song sound like a simple rock-influenced ballad. The rock elements allow it to fit in much better with the single than if it was an entirely folk song, but it would’ve been nice to hear something like that.
Single Score
A
While Pocket was more of a piano-based single, Rocket Sneaker / OnexTime had a much rockier sound to it, which was nice to hear. Once again, every song on the single was enjoyable, but there are the usual linear arrangement problems that a lot of songs seem to face lately. Either way, it all sounds great, and the tracks were of better quality than most of the material on her previous single, which is a good thing. It was nice to hear a few different styles on this single, too, despite the most interesting only lasting for about half a song.
No comments yet
Comments feed for this article