predia – Kindan no Masquerade Review

Release Date: January 25, 2017

Track Listing

Type A

1. Kindan no Masquerade
2. Yukiyo no Bambina
3. Girl Love
4. Kindan no Masquerade (Instrumental)
5. Yukiyo no Bambina (Instrumental)
6. Girl Love (Instrumental)

Type B

1. Kindan no Masquerade
2. Yukiyo no Bambina
3. Kindan no Masquerade (Instrumental)
4. Yukiyo no Bambina (Instrumental)

Type C

1. Kindan no Masquerade
2. Girl Love
3. Kindan no Masquerade (Instrumental)
4. Girl Love (Instrumental)

Review

predia is a Japanese idol group formed in 2010 under the Platinum Passport agency. They are the sister unit of PASSPO and Palet and showcase a more “adult and sexy” style. They have released two studio albums, two mini-albums, one best-of album and ten singles. Their most recent single is their 10th, called Kindan no Masquerade.

This was a group that I had a mild interest in initially. I did not go out of my way to seek their material or anything like that, but I did give their stuff a listen whenever I came across it. It wasn’t until I saw them live in January at the New Years Premium Party that I better understood what this group is about. And thanks to our own Kelly-Mae and her predia week articles I was able to go through some of their older material as well.

So that brings us to Kindan no Masquerade. A song that does live up to the “adult and sexy” concept. It sounds like mainstream dance music taking a cue from euro-pop and weaving traditional Japanese instrumentation into the mix.

This kind of sound is nothing new to idol music, as other groups have tried incorporating the “mature” or “cool” sound into their repertoire. Given that predia are, on average, a bit older than the typical idol group, this type of music fits them naturally. You don’t feel like it is forced like you would with younger idol groups.

Yukiyo no Bambina is another up-tempo dance track less aggressive than Kindan no Masquerade. In a way, it gives off the same vibe as GIRL NEXT DOOR’s Jounetsu no Daishou. On the other hand, Girl Love goes in a different direction from the 2 songs before it. It is kind of cutesy in a Girls’ Generation type of way. Whether you like this particular song or not will depend if you think they should stick as close to their “adult and sexy” concept as possible or not.

In the end, this single contains some great songs that will satisfy predia fans. It may also serve as an excellent introduction to the group for those who are not familiar with them.