I've been wanting to write a blog post on Ieiri Leo for some time. I first heard her when I decided to check out a link to the short version of her PV of Taiyou no Megami and I rather liked the song and how she sounded. At that point in time, she reminded me a little of YUI whom I also like.
It was then that I found out that she came from the same music school as Ayaka and YUI did. I talked about her a little with some friends on facebook and one of them recommended me more of Ieiri's songs and I ended up really liking her. She no longer reminds me of YUI because her other songs don't remind me of YUI, for some reason, Taiyou no Megami did.
I really love her songs Shine and Bless You and listened to them on loop for a while. Check out the official preview versions of these two songs below.
She's young. She's not even 20 and is pretty new in the music industry and is listed in wiki as being active from 2012 to the present. I think she's really promising. She writes her own songs which is probably one of the reasons why she sings them with quite a lot of passion and conviction. And she's also pretty good live too. Check out the following live versions.
Ieiri has quickly become my favourite female solo artist. I've not been so in love with a solo artist since Faye Wong, Stefanie Sun and Kit Chan. I own every single album released by these 3 singers. I only just discovered Ieiri, so I don't own any of her CDs just yet but I have already pre-ordered her next single.
I'm really happy she's come along. Utada Hikaru is still in hiatus, YUI's sort of still in hiatus (I'm really not sure) and Angela Aki's going on a long hiatus next year.... I was running out of solo female artists to like... then Ieiri Leo came along... and she's like a breathe of fresh air to me.
And as an indication of just how much I love Ieiri's music...
1) I have delayed my purchase of Kajiura Yuki's Rekishi Hiwa Historia soundtrack 3 till March or April. (imagine that!!!???!!!) Well, since this is a minor Kajiura Yuki / Kalafina release and is hardly likely to come with any First Press bonuses, I decided that I'll wait before I purchase it. I will purchase it but I need to spread out my purchases... I have a budget to keep to. :)
2) I have pre-ordered every single version of the soon to be released "Chocolate" single. :P
Okay.... I'm still not as crazy about her as I am about Kajiura Yuki, FictionJunction and Kalafina. I ordered all versions of Kalafina's Kimi no Gin no Niwa even though each version contained exactly the same tracks. :) Ieiri's "Chocolate" single comes with different live tracks in all 3 limited edition singles which is really the biggest reason why I ended up ordering all 3 in the end. If they didn't contain different live tracks, I would have ended just getting one version of the single. The price for these singles is also very reasonable. 1000 yen each for the two CD only versions and 1500 yen for the version with the DVD. That's even cheaper than her previous releases.
The preview version of the "Chocolate" was released recently. Check it out here.
I like the song. :) This isn't exactly a "new" song from Ieiri. She wrote this when she was 15, I think and she sang a live version of it in a tv program called Girl's Factory in 2012. This is the studio release of this song which was previously unreleased.
The cover art is also out for the 3 versions of "Chocolate".
Type A
Click me for the CDJapan product page.
1. Chocolate
2. LIVE at Zepp DiverCity Tokyo 2013.11.28 part.1 (Second Dream / Last Stage / Fake Love / Shine / Ijiwaru na Kamisama / Wake you up)
3. Chocolate (instrumental)
Type B
Click me for the CDJapan product page.
1. Chocolate
2. LIVE at Zepp DiverCity Tokyo 2013.11.28 part.2 (Say Goodbye / Hello / Lady Mary / Bless You / Taiyou no Megami / Kokoro no Ka・Ta・Chi)
3. Chocolate (instrumental)
Type C (CD+DVD)
Click me for the CDJapan product page.
CD
1. Chocolate
2. LIVE at Zepp DiverCity Tokyo 2013.11.28 part.3 (Who's that / Linda / Sabrina / Kimi ni Todoke)
3. Chocolate (instrumental)
DVD
Chocolate Music Video
All the CDs will come packaged with a sticker and a hand-written comment. Each sticker will be different for each of the 3 versions of the release. The Type C release will come in a specially packaged box.
I think I will do an unboxing of these 3 singles when I receive them. :)
If you, like me, like her music... then please purchase these CDs if you afford them.
Also... Sony Music Entertainment and Spacecraft etc etc... you'll probably never read this... but I still want to say this... watching YouTube videos is how I became an Ieiri Leo fan. That's how Kyary Pamyu Pamyu did it too. So quit being sooooo old fashion in your approach and at the very least make short preview versions of Kalafina's PVs and make them available for international viewing. Restricting Kalafina's videos to Japan-only only limits their reach and I really think that Kajiura Yuki and Kalafina deserves a wider audience too. Flying Dogs doesn't limit FictionJunction's CM videos and I don't think it's adversely affected their sales.
Alrighty... I'm off for now. :) If I'm not too tired.... I may come back and write a Kajiura Yuki or Kalafina or Mahou Shoujo Madoka or Japan post... but we'll see... I've been out all day and slept really late last night... so am a little sleep deprived.... so... we'll see. :)
cheers
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