Review

Song Review: Snow Man – Orange Kiss

Snow Man - Orange KissAfter last summer’s delightful Hello Hello, Snow Man have returned with their newest summer single Orange Kiss (オレンジkiss), which also serves as the theme to leader Iwamoto’s new movie. I haven’t been shy about my admiration for Snow Man’s music. Their personality and charm enhances every song, but the music is no slouch on its own. Orange Kiss follows in the fizzy, upbeat pop tradition of Johnny’s and works its way into your heart the longer you listen to it.

The first time I heard Orange Kiss, it felt like a track more in keeping with groups like King & Prince or Naniwa Danshi. It has that sugary sound, lacking the quirkiness that’s infused in many of Snow Man’s biggest hits. But, the guys sell this sunny romanticism extremely well. It helps that the instrumental bounds forth on swirling strings and effervescent synths, optimistic and buoyant to a fault. Johnny’s music often uses these ornate touches to great effect, and the production gives Orange Kiss a satisfying heft even as its featherlight melodies spin around like candy floss.

Most importantly, the song doesn’t forget to build toward an incredible chorus. The melody ascends, bolstering its sense of jubilation. You won’t find any simplistic catchphrase hooks here. This chorus unfolds like a story, branching into multiple refrains. You get your money’s worth with Johnny’s, and the series of hooks give Snow Man plenty of opportunity to appeal their personality. After all, personality is one of the agency’s most prized assets. Even in a song as well-structured and pop-informed as Orange Kiss, that strength shines through and gives it great longevity.

 Hooks 9
 Production 9
 Longevity 9
 Bias 9
 RATING 9

(the second video includes the full song)

Advertisement

15 thoughts on “Song Review: Snow Man – Orange Kiss

  1. And this is rejected theme proposal for Disney’s next parade at Magic Kingdom. Orange Kiss? What does that mean? Should it be Rainbow Kiss? But should we be encouraging kissing – would some moms think we are grooming their precious kids? But this kiss concept, maybe this could be an option for the Snow White live remake credits song, rename it Just One Kiss …. ?

    Liked by 1 person

    • I think it’s a play on Iwamoto Hikaru’s movie (that uses this as its soundtrack)….it’s a story about firemen, and their uniform is orange…

      Like

        • well~~ the titular fireman character played by Hikaru falls in love with a girl (of course..LOL)~ so there’s romance there….and hence the reference to kissing…hahahah

          From what I’ve seen in the trailers and promotions, they’re a pretty hot group….Hikaru himself is looking hotter than usual for this role…

          Liked by 1 person

  2. Hey Nick. Sorry for the totally underrated comment, but I just came across this video that claimed SHINee had one of the worst discographies in K-pop. As an avid reader of this blog (should we get a fandom name) I felt the need to share

    Like

    • Seriously, why would anyone even make a video like this? How freaking miserable.

      Also, they’re standing alone on an island with that SHINee claim. They’re one of the most widely-respected idol groups for a reason…

      Liked by 1 person

    • Honestly I didn’t need to see this video, and they didn’t deserve the clout. Anyway I took a quick look at their profile. Another internet-poisoned zoomer on K-Pop stan twt whose only hobby is irritating fandoms and just being a dick in general (they used to have a twt, but have since deactivated it or something lol). Too many of these edgelords drove me to leave stan twt for good…

      Like

  3. Oh god you are so biased towards J-pop bands it’s ridiculous, I think this website needs to start coming with a disclaimer when you visit. I think it’s fine to love what you love but honestly this is generic pap that you find in every anime soundtrack. When I see the 9 I always think I’m in for a real treat but then I see it’s a J-pop group and my heart sinks. I understand everyone’s got a niche but critically this stuff is very underwhelming. As I said no hate it’s just you give 9s to music that would barely scrape a 7 in kpop circles. Still love the reviews regardless though, beautifully written.

    Like

    • 1) It’s probably selection bias. Nick reviews basically every major K-Pop release and quite a few minor ones to boot. Meanwhile, it seems that Nick tends to review J-Pop that comes from his favorite agencies (e.g. Johnnys), so of course he’s going to be handing out high scores.

      2) That said, if K-Pop were making songs like the J-Pop songs Nick featured I’m sure he’d happily be giving the same scores. Unfortunately, K-Pop is still remembering how to write a chorus…

      Liked by 1 person

      • Correct on all fronts! I’m biased toward Johnny’s just like I am toward Woollim, to an extent. If I reviewed every J-pop release, it wouldn’t be so pretty!!

        Also, the way the J-pop industry releases music, I’ve usually sat with a song for a few weeks (or in some cases months/years) before reviewing it. Songs almost always grow on me, so the discrepancy in ratings can be attributed to that as well. (Plus, I just genuinely like the music!)

        Liked by 2 people

  4. i’m late to the party but i’ve been waiting for your review of this! i find the full version + choreography incredibly charming, especially with the sincerity snow man sing this track with. standouts are hikaru’s great vocal tone and every time date gets a line.

    i greatly enjoy the bsides too! feel the light, lovely from their kabuki show is easily one of my favorites from the whole discography, and 僕に大切にされてね is very fun.

    Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.