AKB48 – Namida Surprise!
OMG ya’ll it’s a birthday song! Except this time it’s done right! Namida Surprise! does indeed feature the actual birthday melody sung near the end of the song, but the rest of the track is an upbeat, and (kinda)funky, fun pop song with uplifting vocals, although the strange background vocals of some random woman do kind of annoy me. It’s definitely cute though, I’ll give it that.
The first b-side is sung only by Team B. Shonichi is nothing to amazing. Sorry, but I just can’t describe it as anything more than a girly pop song. Vocally it’s fine and while the track may come off as generic at some points, it actually isn’t too bad.
I’m surprised I like FIRST LOVE as much as I do. It’s a solo song by Ono Erena and which by just looking at her, you know she isn’t a strong vocalist. Here’s the catch however. Her vocals have undergone a bit of touching, so she just sings soft, safe lines while an echo+layered effect is added, resulting in a dreamy, whispering tone. It matches perfectly with the slow, almost ethereal instrumental. Definitely loved this song.
Overall, the a-side was more of the same from AKB48. Not bad at all, but they could do something different now. My attention goes to Erena’s awesome solo song. I really do love the more slower songs from AKB.
♠Overall Rating♠
Namida Surprise! is AKB48′s 12th single and it was released on June 24, 2009. It reached #2 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and has sold 145,157 copies.
♠Tracklisting♠
1. Namida Surprise!♠
2. Shonichi / Team B
3. FIRST LOVE / Ono Erena
4. Namida Surprise! (off vocal ver.)
