My copy of SWEET BLACK just arrived this morning. It’s really cute how it arrived one day (Or a few hours [Because of Japan time]) before Maki’s birthday. Last year I ordered Utada’s discography/videography and it arrived one day before the release of HEART STATION. I’m full of stories when it comes to my international orders.
Here it is! The beautiful, wonderful, marvelous, SWEET BLACK [FIRST PRESS]!
SWEET BLACK [FIRST PRESS]
![SWEET BLACK [FIRST PRESS]](http://alvycunha.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/sweet-black-first-press.jpg?w=300&h=259 "SWEET BLACK [FIRST PRESS]")
SWEET BLACK [BACK]
![SWEET BLACK [BACK]](http://alvycunha.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/sweet-black-back.jpg?w=300&h=257 "SWEET BLACK [BACK]")
SWEET BLACK [BOOKLET-LESS COVER]
![SWEET BLACK [FRONT]](http://alvycunha.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/sweet-black-front.jpg?w=300&h=256 "SWEET BLACK [FRONT]")
I fell even more in love with the album once I saw it live and in color! At first I was concerned with the cover of the first press edition, but it’s only the booklet cover and it’s still amazing. The picture is very beautiful, actually, and it’s very unique and contains a distinct style of drawing, I really loved it.
The booklet does contain some explicit content, though… Which is very surprising because it looks so harmless, but I don’t understand much of the story-line since it’s all in Japanese, so to me it’s just explicit content, but there must be a very interesting story-line behind it that I’d love to understand! It looks like a very interesting 64 pages to read!
I fell in love with it all over again, especially for Candy. The PVs take a whole other atmosphere when watched from the TV screen and made me fall in love completely with the CD+DVD!
The full review will come out later, and you’ll understand why, when and where this Sunday, as ~12 weeks~ comes to an end!
SWEET BLACK feat. MAKI GOTO
「SWEET BLACK」
2009.9.16 Release!
【CD】
01. Queen Bee with BIGGA RAIJI
02. Lady-Rise
03. Candy
04. TEAR DROPS with KG
05. Mine with KEN THE 390
06. Fly away
07. Plastic Lover
08. with…
【DVD】
01. “Fly away” MUSIC VIDEO
02. “Lady-Rise” MUSIC VIDEO
03. “with…” MUSIC VIDEO
04. mixiドラマ完全版
Lately, my tweets have all been about how Maki’s music is amazing and about all the wonderful things that are coming out about her lately. Just today, the cover art for her first avex project, SWEET BLACK, came out. At first I wasn’t liking it at all, it was too random, especially because I was expecting something pink and black (Because of the whole theme behind the SWEET BLACK collaboration), but now I’m really loving it just for that same reason, it’s beautiful and unexpected and I think it’s really cute for her first mini-album.
I’m really excited about it! It comes out next month with 4 brand new tracks (Since Fly away, Lady-Rise, with…, and Plastic Lover have all been released previously) and the DVD comes with 3 music videos. If you pre-order it, though, you’ll get a deluxe 64-paged booklet with a special cover and a bonus documentary/drama.
I want to pre-order it so bad, I love every single song that came out by her recently and I’m sure this mini-album is going to be amazing. Some radio rips have leaked into the internet but they’re still not enough to quench my thirst for more Maki.
Plastic Lover (Club Mix) was released yesterday as part of HOUSE NATION’s new compilation, Aquamarine. I’m still crazy looking for it and I can’t find it anywhere, but I think it’ll come up soon.
A friend of mine, Rapha-chan, is a big fan of the ravex project, where many avex artists come together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of avex and the 80th anniversary of the artist, Osamu Tezuka. He showed me the PV of the song Golden LUV featuring Maki Goto, and ever since I first heard, I couldn’t stop listening to it.
When I had finished downloading her albums, I was expecting something really pop, because she used to be involved in Morning Musume and Hello!Project, so she had that idol figure to her that could only mean bubblegum pop. I was right, and even though her work is a lot better than the diabetes-inducing bubblegum pop we hear out there today, it lacked that element of originality and fun instrumentals that Golden LUV brought to the table.
Some time ago, Maki Goto’s brother was arrested for thievery, and this dropped her from her label, similar to Kumi’s scandal, but lighter. This brought Maki to Los Angeles, where she restarted her singing and dance lessons. Apparently, Maki’s parents trained her since she was a child to become a Japanese idol, and during this break that Maki took, she was signed with the avex label and a change in her image took place (Including a nose job, as you can see below):
That is the Maki from Golden LUV! She has 2 digital singles released through the avex label, fly away and Lady-Rise, plus Golden LUV, released through the ravex album, trax. Honestly, I was so happy she had that nose job. It was so hard to look at her. Her work is amazing now! avex did a great job, and I’m really looking forward for Maki’s new releases, because all her singles have been amazing ever since she changed her record label!
Bitches Aloud has put together a really cute unofficial single called GOLD Lady, which features Maki Goto’s latest singles and it comes in a CD and a CD+DVD version. The instrumentals and PVs aren’t in top quality, but the whole concept is really fun. It comes with 6 tracks: Golden LUV, Lady-Rise and Fly away. All of them are amazing and the registration to their forum is worth it! Especially since the digital singles have no cover art or things of that sort. It’s all really neat and the booklet that comes with each version is different, as if it were an official CD and CD+DVD release. Remember, if you’d like to distribute this single, you need to credit Bitches Aloud:
Also, brought to you by Bitches Aloud, so if taken, please credit Bitches Aloud or I’l personally rip off both of your arms and then I’ll eat them :D ^^ xD.
I’m really looking forward to other releases by Maki Goto under the avex label because she sounds and looks great! I love Fly away, so make sure to check out the PV and judge if Maki’s dance lessons payed off:
