GIVE ME UP [Nami Tamaki - 16th Single]

Tracklisting
1) GIVE ME UP
2) Ichizu na Negai (イチズナネガイ; lit. Wholehearted Wish)
3) Kanojo (彼女; lit. Girlfriend) (Regular Edition Bonus Track)
3) in my life (Limited Edition B Bonus Track)
4) GIVE ME UP (Instrumental)

GIVE ME UP is Nami Tamaki’s 16th single, and the first after her transfer to Universal Music Japan, and the first single of 2009 for Nami. The a-side, GIVE ME UP, is an original song that borrows the chorus from the very famous 1980’s hit by Michael Fortunati of the same name. It was released on the 25th of March, 2009.

I’m a total Nami noob, so I have no idea how huge the sin I am committing here is to her devotees. However, I love GIVE ME UP. It’s bright, upbeat and insanely cute in a happy kind of way. I’ve always thought Nami’s voice sounded a bit too nasal for most of her previous works, though I find that it works a lot better here than she could actually hope for. The only real issue I have here is the odd transitions from verse to chorus, but it’s not as glaring since they do sound rather similar. I can see WHY there’s a lot of hate here, because it’s wildly different from the norm for Nami, but I personally found it to be an extremely enjoyable first promotional track for her Universal Music Japan career.

Ichizu na Negai, however, is an absolute mess. It’s a lot of the same sounds and horrid vocals with one too many choruses. The verses are too short to make much of an impact, but honestly, I don’t want them to. They would make a bad song worse. The short verses make the song drag on FOREVER in a constant barrage of choruses, though if they were longer it would be just as bad due to the verses being as awful as they are. Nothing good here at all.

This is where the order gets funky, so I’ll just review Kanojo at this state, since it’s on the Regular edition. This is, without a doubt, the best b-side on this single, and it could even be better than GIVE ME UP. It takes the 90s sound, yet again, with a ballad twist to it. I love the beats throughout the whole song, and Nami herself sounds pretty good throughout the song, apart from the badly performed chorus. I’m actually rather surprised by how horrible her vocals are in the chorus and outro into the following verses. That’s what keeps it from being the standout song on the single, but it’s the best b-side for sure.

Ending the single is in my life. This is a song I have a really hard time trying to form an opinion on. Again, it’s a case of “I love the instrumental but think the vocals are an affront to God”. Honestly, she completely ruins this song with her voice, which is an absolute shame, because I think this song had potential. This probably sounds stupid to fans: I have no idea whether people actually think she can sing or not, but this is just a little bit unbearable. And, admittedly, the arrangement does drag on due to a lack of change. Ah, well, at least it tried. Again, it drags on too long anyway.

Single Score
C+

Favorite Track
GIVE ME UP

Well… At least she’s doing the style she loves now. GIVE ME UP was a fantastic a-side in my opinion, and Kanojo came very close to following suit albeit the bad singing. The single was lowered into mediocrity by Ichizu an Negai and in my life, so honestly, this is a real mixed bag, and I’m kind of worried about how FRIENDS! is going to turn out. Negai Hoshi was a great digi-single (it came out just recently), so hopefully it gets onto FRIENDS! and keeps her next single from following suit. Ah, well, nice try, Nami.

Screw Be The Voice, I’ve got two new features for you

So instead of Be The Voice, I decided I’d add two artists I liked and thought were a bit more consistent. And to avoid another NEXT LEVEL fiasco (although no one has more annoying singles than Ayu, so that’d be unlikely anyway), I’m going to use some special circumstances for them.

YES, yes, I have decided to finally go ahead and feature one Nami Tamaki. I feel like one of the few people that can even stand GIVE ME UP, and I absolutely adore her upcoming digi-single Negai Hoshi, so I thought “Why not give the girl a bit more recent love?”.

As for where I’ll be starting, I’ll be initially reviewing GIVE ME UP and moving onto Negai Hoshi this week, MAYBE. I’m kind of debating it since it’s a digi-single and all, but we shall see, I guess.

Also note that if I decide to go through with my “reviewing past albums” idea, Nami shall be part of it as well. I’ve heard good things about her past music (with the emphasis going to her Make Progress album), so it’d be a nice way to force myself to see what all of the fuss is about.

This feature is a bit more… Controversial.

But you know what?

I don’t care.

From now on, I shall be featuring Imogen Heap on my blog, hearby making her the first English artist to be completely and fully featured here at Vitamin Drop. I’ve been in love with this woman and her music for many, many years. Remember how I said BONNIE PINK was my favorite artist? Imogen Heap is my number one English artist. My absolute favorite, and she very nearly tops BONNIE herself. I still can’t decide myself.

Since she’s an English (Literally from England, lulz) artist, I’ve decided that I will NOT review her singles. Since there’s much less of a focus on singles and more of a focus on recut singles in English countries, I will only be reviewing Imogen Heap’s albums. As such, I will start with I Megaphone, move on to Details, despite it being a Frou Frou album (Imogen was in the band, so I’ll do it anyway), and then I shall move on to her latest album, Speak For Yourself, and finish off with her upcoming album, Ellipse. Look forward to it~

Also, check out my reviews for MEG’s BEAUTIFUL and BONNIE PINK’s ONE albums. They now have their scans added in, made by yours truly. If you want either set of scans, feel free to ask and I can give you the mediafire link to the rars. All usages of them must include a credit to me, though, lulz.