Protocol Snow

Two new singles to keep an eye on, both releasing May 30th:

melody. - Love Story
1. Love Story
2. BoRn 2 luv U　[melody. loves m-flo]
3. Lovin’ U～Deckstream Remix～
4. Love Story（instrumental）

Leah Dizon - 恋しよう
1. 恋しよう♪ (Koi shiyou)
2. Could you be that one?
3. アイシテル～ Love Story (Aishiteru~ Love Story)

The “BoRn 2 luv U” track is particularly interesting: another collaboration between melody. and m-flo? That’s what I’m hoping for, but I’m betting it’ll simply be an alternate version of the “STUCK IN YOUR LOVE” track on the latest m-flo album. I finally got that album in the mail today, I’ll post something about it when I get a chance.

m-flo recently announced m-flo Tour 2007 COSMICOLOR, which will be hitting 6 venues:

6.16 Zepp Osaka
6.17 Zepp Nagoya
6.22 Zepp Sendai
6.24 Zepp Sapporo
6.30 Zepp Fukuoka
7.21 Yokohama Arena

I’ll be in Taiwan this summer for a few weeks, so in an ideal world, I would be able to stop by Japan sometime and catch one of these concerts. However, I have no idea how I’ll be able to buy tickets from the U.S., plus Eugene tells me that m-flo is a very tough ticket, which comes as no surprise to me. Unless I can figure something out, I guess I’ll just have to catch the tour on DVD. Like always.

In other news, I also found out that BoA will be in Los Angeles performing at the Hollywood Bowl as part of a Korean festival. However, that takes place on May 5th when I’ll still be at school getting ready for graduation, so that doesn’t help me either.

I’m eagerly awaiting the newest album “COSMICOLOR” by Japanese hip-hop group m-flo, which I’ve preordered and is scheduled for release in several days. This is the final album in the “m-flo loves” project where they’ve done nothing but collaborations with other artists since 2003. It’s definitely the end of an era, but now the question is: where does m-flo go from here?

Preceding the album release is the music video of m-flo loves Crystal Kay - “Love Don’t Cry”. It’s very fitting that the final “m-flo loves” music video is with Crystal Kay, considering that the whole project started with her in the first place, back in 2003 with m-flo loves Crystal Kay - “REEEWIND!”. The beginning of this MV even pays homage to the original with all the dizzying star backgrounds.

I don’t like the song itself that much, but the music video is great. I’m not going to spoil its plot so you can enjoy it yourself (it’s up on youtube and hopefully won’t get pulled. Or get a better quality version from Jpopsuki). Quite a perfect farewell.

The rolling “credits” at the end with all the artists they’ve worked with is a nice touch as well. Impressions from the full album are forthcoming when I get it in the mail.

My brother recently introduced me to Leah Dizon, a import car model and gravure idol who debuted on the Japanese music scene last month with her first single “Softly”. She had a pretty strong debut and stayed at the Oricon Top 20 charts for several weeks. Obviously (considering her career in the past), her physical beauty is to be expected, but she has a surprisingly sweet singing voice. Even though “Softly” is typical J-pop fare, she has promise and will be one to watch in the future. Unknown to me, she already has a big (likely male) following because of her modeling career. All I know is, I would love to be that bear on her single cover.