Now Minami has to be my second favourite AKB member and when I found out she was having a solo career I was so excited to hear the single and the covers of the single pleased me so much and raised my expectations from this single. And for the first time in a long time I wasn't disappointed! The music video, the covers, the song were all amazing and gave me a fantastic package for what is an amazing solo debut for Minami!
Now the music video begins with many establishing shots of Minami as she is walking through what seems to be a church? And then suddenly her beautiful vocals are introduced and we have a variation of rotating shots of her face as she transforms from her red dress to her much more darker, and sexier, leather black outfit so it introduces two sides of Minami within the story line of the music video. I love the use of the mirrors too because it looks like she is looking at a different person through the reflection, and she is about to do something that she doesn't want to. She then starts into the song with pretty soft vocals over a soft piano playing in the background, allowing a light introduction before the full instrumentation of the song kicks into action and picks up the pace.
We are then introduced to two parallel goings on and these are separated with the two outfits that Minami wears. In her red dress, she walks onto a catwalk of a stage and throughout the rest of the music video she is stood there in a beautiful red dress where she is performing this song to an audience. Again, mirrors are re-introduced and in my opinion these mirrors are there to highlight the innocent side of Minami and showcase her innocent beauty through the mirrors and we're seeing the same image in all of these reflections which highlights how this is all we see to her when she is performing. We just see a performer, and there is no interest into what this girl is actually about.
Whereas, in contrast to the other scenes where Minami is wearing black, her stance is much more strong and she is much more empowered and has a stronger sight of what she wants to achieve. This allows us to identify to a much more truthful Minami, who is powerful and determined to achieve what she wants.She also has much more freedom in this field in comparison to how she has to carry herself as an admired doll on stage. This time Minami isn't on stage but it looks to be as if she is a kind of Robin Hood who is stealing from the rich to give to the poor, even though we aren't shown who is the poor. There are all of these rich people here, in what I think is a theatre, who are out to see a show but they are so dressed up that it looks kind of ridiculous. It's like me going to the cinema in my prom dress!!! However, Minami seems to have the same thoughts as me and in this she steals a silver necklace from a woman and manages to escape onto the rooftop of the theatre and in cheesy idol fashion throws it out into the sky to create a bright light of "heroic innocence". You get my drift with what I'm going with. Basically in a nutshell Minami is Robin Hood in the theatre and steals a necklace from a woman to teaches us that we should be happy with the better things in life and not base our happiness around materialistic things.
The music video was fantastic to me, and it ticked all of my boxes. When it comes to music videos I love a darker tone of it but with a moral undertone and this music video did just that. Minami does look like a villain in the black but her actions speak otherwise. I also loved all of the shots of the mirrors and the symbolism they carried, and I do love simple symbolism in a music video. H!P take note...sorry I had to go there!
Anyhow back on track, I was also impressed with the track because just like the music video, I love a dark rocky song that still upholds a positive message and gives it a bit of light so it isn't all depressing. It also showcased how amazing Minami is as a solo singer, and the dark tonality of the song also complimented Minami's lower voice as well. She was in her comfort zone and even though it didn't blow me away she did sound amazing! And I do hope the continues to release these kinds of singles. As I said, this whole release ticked a lot of boxes for me, and even though it's been in and out of the charts now, I'm still going to buy the single regardless! I want that music video in beautiful HD!
RATING: 9/10
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