Koisuru Candy Kiss

Candy Kiss is a 6-member dance and vocal unit. All members were born in Tokyo and attended the dance school "CLOVER" and are in middle school. Their first single, "Koisuru Candy Kiss", will come out on August 15.

In an EXILE-type of style, there are 2 vocalists and 4 dancers, though they all still dance. The members, in order of the picture, are:

Oguchi Ryouka (小口涼花) - Dance
Birthday - February 21, 1998
Hobbies - Music appreciation, basketball
Special Skill - Long-distance race
Favourite Book - Koizora
Favourite Movie - Titanic
Favourite Food - Pancakes
- 3 years of dance experience

Shimoda Kaede (霜田楓) - Dance
Birthday - November 20, 1997
Hobbies - Shopping
Special Skill - Massage
Favourite Book - Ranzuki
Favourite Movie - Disney movies
Favourite Food - Fruits
- 4 years of dance experience

Yoshizawa Ruri (吉澤瑠璃) - Vocal, Dance
Birthday - August 28, 1999
Hobbies - Reading
Special Skill - Knitting
Favourite Book - Eien no Natsuyasumi
Favourite Movie - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Favourite Food - American cherries
- 2 years of dance experience

Yamashita Honoka (山下睦夏) - Vocal, Dance
Birthday - June 20, 1998
Hobbies - Karaoke
Special Skill - My body is soft (Uuuh...what?)
Favourite Book - Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo
Favourite Movie - Usagi Drop
Favourite Food - Ume
- 9 years of dance experience

Kasahara Mahochi (笠原真歩地) - Dance Birthday - August 12, 1997
Hobbies - Golf, shopping
Special Skill - English
Favourite Book - Ryuusei no Kizuna, ONE PIECE
Favourite Movie - New Years Eve
Favourite Food - Korean Nori
- 10 years of dance experience

Sakurai Mayu (桜井まや) - Dance, Leader
Birthday - November 14, 1997
Hobbies - Reading
Special Skill - Dance
Favourite Book - Cellphone novels
Favourite Movie - Bokura ga Ita
Favourite Food - Yakisoba
- 8 years of dance experience


I was quite taken with the beginning of the song. It sounds like some alien copy from the beginning of a rock song that I can't quite put my finger on, but it's so weird that it's good! After that starts the main instrumental, which is happy yet isn't as upbeat as I'd like it to be. The main melody of the instrumental is led by trumpets, I think, and it just makes me feel uplifted and refreshed! The dying frog croak in the background is kind of disturbing, but it does make the intstrumental feel less empty than it'd probably be without it. After a while, the alien communications come back to unite with the instrumental between vocals, but like I said, it's weird in a good way. The whole instrumental pretty much stays consistent and non-changing without any climax. Good or bad, you can choose. But for me, it can get a little boring.

Speaking of which, the vocals - Oh, autotune, what could we do without you? I mean, they fit with the alien sounds and they sound good enough with the backing music, but it'd be better if we could hear what the girls actually sound like without effects since it IS their debut single. Otherwise, the girls' voices are SUPER cute without having to sing high. They sound more like children's voices than preteens/teens, but that's alright. I think they could work on putting feeling into their voices, though, since they sound empty, but they'll get better at that with experience.

The composition is quite amateurish and childish, but maybe that's because they're still a new group. Also, some of the lines sound cliche and/or stolen from other idol songs. The best part about it is the part before the last chorus. I have to admit, the CHUU's are adorable and the last part of it flows better than the rest of the song.

With the whole song, I guess it's cute enough to fit the idol genre, but not something I'd listen to a lot.

Besides the still images, the PV starts off with close-up shots of each member giving a kiss to the camera. AAAAAH, they were all so cute! And usually I don't think that, especially with new groups. All of their close-ups are so pure and innocent! It's like they were made to be idols! >w< They still could improve with their expressions, but man, they're already naturally cute! I found the number of sets in which they did the close-ups (There was a brick wall, a barn-like door and a white backdrop) a little distracting and unnecessary, but the girls themselves made up for it. :P

When it goes to the bed shots, they are not really well executed. The camera angles and awkward pauses make me cringe! XD But it's not the girls' faults. In fact, they did a good job in those scenes. They seemed to act real and like themselves, which is something I appreciate a lot!

The girls sit on the bed in their pyjamas and seem to have come up with a plan. Well, that plan looks like dressing up in pastel maid costumes and skipping to the camera! ^.^b Nah, it looks like the real plan was to make cute desserts in their costumes while showing off their idol appeal! And it works like a charm! It looks like they're having good and simple fun putting icing on the pastries and it makes me smile! And who doesn't love sweets, anyways? You're bound to get a cavity if you delve into these idols!

The dance shots are set in a white room with a checkered floor and mirrored walls, wearing the outfits that appear on their site and on the cover, and also in a simple white dance studio. Since they all attended a dance school, it's no wonder that they nail the dancing, for the most part! They have a lot of unity, attitude, and emotion in their faces! It was really enjoying to watch when they put so much into performing!

The whole PV is just a little more than standard compared to a regular Indie PV due to the addition of a storyline, but I think what made me really like it a lot was the amount of charisma these girls already have for being fresh faces!

Overall, I give the song and PV a 6.5/10. The song is mostly just really childish, and I'd give it a quite low score for that. But because the girls really owned it in the PV in personality and dancing, that made the score better. (It's still quite low, so you can imagine how low I'd score the song. ^.^;)

They're still an Indies group, and a new one at that, but I really think they have idol potential, as they're already so skilled in a lot of factors. I only wish that they'll be given material that will complement their talents more than Koisuru Candy Kiss. I mean, there have been new Indies group with better material to work with than this, so I believe that their true talents can really go all-out!

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