Tokyo Girls Style – Stay With Me Review

Tokyo-Girls-Style-Stay-With-Me-Cover

Release Date: March 11, 2015

Track Listing

  1. Stay With Me
  2. A New Departure
  3. Kasokudo
  4. Stay With Me (Instrumental)
  5. A New Departure (Instrumental)
  6. Kasokudo (Instrumental)
  7. Say Long Goodbye – Vocal Only for Remix –

Review

In January 2015, Tokyo Girls Style announced their intention to move away from being idols and starting a new chapter in their career as artists. Or perhaps artistes may be the more appropriate term to use.

Stay With Me is the first single to be released by the post-idol version of TGS. So one would expect, with the exodus from being idols to serious artists, that there would be a shift in musical direction.

And what do we get with the new Tokyo Girls Style? The same thing they have been doing since their inception. That’s not exactly a letdown. After all, the stuck in 90’s R&B/Funk vibe they got going on has worked extremely well for them.

So it should be no surprise that Stay With Me and its associated b-sides fit exactly what one would expect from this group. Does that make this an unworthy listen? Not at all. The a-side features lyrics written by group member Yamabe Miyu, and it sounds like it channels something from the world of U.K. Soul.

Stay With Me is an Arai Hitomi solo song with the other group members providing backing vocals. There are no line exchanges as is customary with normal Tokyo Girls Style tracks. That might suck for those who like equal opportunity or believe there are other members who might have done a better job.

Whatever you might think, the end result is rather pleasing, and if this is the direction that they are heading in as the members enter adulthood, then so be it. It certainly is better than the alternative of calling it quits or becoming a parody like similar groups in the age range of Tokyo Girls Style who is also going through a similar transition.

Whatever b-side you choose to listen to will be a toss-up. Both are some quality material, so for the wishy-washy, I recommend giving both a shot.  I prefer Kasokudo, but that’s just me.

In the end, Stay With Me while not exactly pushing the group out of their well-established comfort zone, is an acceptable launching pad for the next stage in their careers as not idols.

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