Album review: Bright - Bright

Album review: Bright - Bright | Random J Pop

Bright's second album Real was the obligatory follow up album. Far from perfect, but good enough that you could hear the potential in these girls to deliver something great in the future. But their third offering falls short on this completely. It features a couple of good songs, but there is nothing here to lead you to believe that these girls are capable of anything more. All this album does is make these girls come off as 'just another girl group'. When in fact they are able to do what many of today's group in J-Pop are able to. Sing and harmonise.

J-R&B is permeated throughout all of Bright's releases, but this splinters off into different sounds. On Real this was done is a masterful way. Each song had its own vibe, but collectively formed a cohesive album. Bright on the other hand is a raggedly put together selection of songs, with no sense of flow. Whoever put this track list together gave zero fucks about the listening experience of this album or whether these girls would be able to maintain a record deal following its release. Couple this with songs which aren't that good to begin with and you have a recipe for an album which was always going to lead to the group splitting up and getting dropped.

A third of the songs on this album are really nice songs. "Eternity" is the albums' sweet spot. A 5 minute summation of Bright at their finest, delivering smooth vocals over a hard hitting piano laden slow jam. "Ichinen nikagatsu nijiinichi", "Lonely tears" and"Autabi ni suki ni natte" all showcase Bright's knack for slick harmonies, sweet delivery and a comfort for mid-tempo J-R&B lite jams. But the remainder of the songs are just sub-standard filler which you wouldn't think twice about Shazaming if you heard them playing at your local McDonalds. Bright touch on EDM with album opener "Bad girl!", which sounds like a leftover from BoA's Outgrow. Album closer "Girls be ambitious" is a few BPM's short of sounding like a theme from Sonic R in the worst possible way (Sonic R's soundtrack is in fact, amazing). "Koigokoro " starts off really nice, but quickly turns into a thrashy mess which sounds primed for acting at a theme song to some high school J-drama.
Album review: Bright - Bright | Random J Pop

The album as a whole is generally midtempo, with occasional uptempo songs, all of which sound awful. It's a terrible representation of Bright, because contrary to this album the girls can do uptempo and do it well - as proven on Real's J-banger "Shining butterfly". And this is an overarching theme with this album. Poor representation. There is nothing about this album which would entice anybody to entertain looking into these girls and becoming fans. No matter how good a song "Eternity" is or the amount of flesh being flashed on the album cover.

These girls have nice voices, but what they lack is a particular style or that special factor which is unique theirs - both visually and musically. And if it can't be pinned down at this stage in their careers after 6 years, then it's probably for the best that they split up / got dropped / stop caring. Real wasn't an amazing album, but it was a damn good one which showed that somebody within the team responsible for pulling that album together had an idea of what Bright's sound should probably be. Bright on the other hand shows a lack of direction, focus and an utter lack of care. The whole thing is grossly mediocre.

Bye girls.

RATING: 2 / 10

Album highlights:
■ Theme of Bright
■ Eternity ★ J's fave
■ Ichinen nikagatsu nijiinichi
■ Autabi ni suki ni natte

Comments

  1. Richard Brandon Hernandez10 June 2013 at 09:51

    There albums are always a hit and miss with me.

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  2. "Nagi's Xbox jawline couldn't cover how much of a mess this album truly is" LMAO, dead!! It's too bad though because they were a really good group, I really will miss them.

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  3. I like Bright, but this album was trash. The only song that gets any love from me is Eternity. Theme of Bright is good as well, but other than that I couldn't care less about this album. It's a shame because Bright is talented and they have a lot of potential. O

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  4. I still love them though. Hopefully, the new album (whenever that is) will be a lot better.

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