Release Date: 2010.07.28

Life sure has been rough for Miss Maki Goto. In addition to being under the scrutinizing public eye of the Japanese media, her mother committed suicide and it’s quite possible that her record company is using this as a sympathy case to sell more records. After all, all Maki seems to do in her performances is cry whenever she sings a ballad. It’s a sad story to tell, but in any case, it has seemed to do nothing but make her stronger, as evident in her debut avex release, “ONE” (and they all said, “FINALLY!“). So stronger, in fact, that when stacked-up against the Westernized mainstream dance-pop of previous project SWEET BLACK, it’s quite evident that this is Maki’s trump card. Not only are all five tracks extremely high quality pop releases, there’s no annoying fat rappers thrown in and she actually seems to have matured. And when you’re working with Shinichi Osawa and you chose the theme, “70s revival”, I guess you have to.

Listening to “宝石” (Houseki) is liking taking a walk on a sunny day after a storm, a rainbow popping out of the sky and the ground wet, but not flooded. The minimal electronic touches added to the adult contemporary feel of the song could easily draw comparisons to artists like Toki Asako (I even got an Owl City vibe ocasionally), but being produced by electronic mastermind Osawa, similar to Eri Nobuchika in her heyday, Maki makes this song all her own. The other electronic track in the release, “言えないけど” (Ienai Kedo) manages to sound eerily similar to late 70s dance hits, despite the updated production. Or it could be the idol-feel.

Surprisingly, a few of the songs on this record actually still carry out the slight idol-ish feel of her Hello! Project releases. The most notable of these being “EYES“, a fun dance idol-pop track that, upon closer inspection, is much better than it initially seems. It has one of the best synth riffs ever, jfc. “わがまま” seems like a fun hitomi cover, or something along the lines of Sheryl Crow or some other American pop-rocker. It’s the least memorable but it’s still a good track. The obligatory Maki ballad, “華詩 -hanauta-” is really beautiful. An epic ballade that someone like Ayumi Hamasaki or the like wishes she could make. The chorus hits and BAM! you’re transported into a wonderful world of sadness and beauty. Makes me tear up quite a bit.

Not only is this my favorite Maki release, this is a pretty damn good mini-album altogether. Although it’s not completely perfect, it’s quite close to that level. It’s a shame we waited so long for only five songs though. It’s quite shocking how much I underestimated her.

See you when “TWO” drops, eh, Maki?

★★★★★½

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