Review: Official Hige Dandism - Universe
So do you want to know what I think of Higedan (short for Official Hige Dandism), well, they have this site's top song of 2020 and are undoubtedly modern legends. What I like the most is that despite going viral in 2019 with mega-hits, they make actual music, not meme songs. I enjoy it when an artist uses quality to succeed, and Higedan are proof that can still happen.
Anyway, Universe is a song for a new Doraemon movie. Now as a little kid I watched a bit of Doraemon, but I have little memories of so, but Higedan making an OST for a kid's movie seemed a weird show. Their music has always been deep yet accessible, and a kid's movie is not what that will work with.
Well, I underestimated Fujihara's abilities to make a great song, because Universe is classic Higedan. The lyrics are uplifting, fun, yet somewhat universal and hopeful. It is amazing Higedan made something so accessible yet enjoyable.
The song opens with a piano loop. I get the feeling pianos are coming back to pop music (at least in Japan), and I love that. We get some electronic crunches, but uplifting and light, nothing like those in Golden Child's One (Lucid Dream) (actually, the two songs are really similar, they both have a flying whale in the MV). Fujihara does not belt over here, he just blends with the piano and the arriving and prominent brass.
The chorus is breezy and light. It is not ambitious, yet it is nice and pleasant on the ears. There is some brass here, placed nicely. There is a simple loop through the song. Normally I would fault this, but Higedan make it pleasant, melodic and indebted to a strong instrumental.
Of course, Higedan are masters of the bridge, and Universe is not an exception. The piano is used graciously here, while Fujihara finally belts his vocals a bit. He does so again after the final chorus.
Speaking of which, the instrumental end of the song finally lets in some classic Higedan guitar to assist the brass and Fujihara, ending the track on a high.
While definitely no Laughter, Universe is a fun song to definitely add to a playlist.
We have hit the nail. I'll just spoil it. We have the same rating. My review is coming out every Saturday, since I didn't have time to really compile Higedan. But Higedan and Fujihara deserves every accolade they get. They are amazing songwriters in modern music. Just like Lennon and Mercury. That's high praise but I always have seen them as on par with or even above them.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Higedan are great modern composers. Lennon and Mercury is high praise. I am not sure they are there yet, but time will tell. Amongst singer-songwriters, Fujihara is definitely the best.
DeleteOh and sidenote, I saw No Diggity teaser, my 1st teaser in 2021. It sounds hell. WHAT HAPPENED? RBW? Do you want from 85 to 75 in TrackScore? My gosh... :/
ReplyDeleteActually, I thought the teaser sounded rebellious and anthemic. Still, I fear the drop chorus and vocal processing. Cautiously optimistic...
DeleteBut same though, I'm always optimistic about the teasers. I just hope this works.
DeleteSame here.
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