A few years after their performances in Europe it seemed to be quiet for a while about pop group color-code. That is not entirely true, because after their last double-A release 冬恋花火 (Fuyukoi Hanabi)/SCRAP&BUILD in October of 2018, the ladies have been busy with the release of several choreography and live studio videos for their fans, but they also shared cover videos. Not only that, color-code had a number of performances earlier this year under the name color-Scramble Tour 2019, with the groups ROYALcomfort, kolme, honeycome and rapobake. The all-female group knows with the new digital single KAGEROU to indicate that they have never been away.
Most people familiar with color-code had a good introduction to the group through their first commercial single I LIKE DAT via Nippon Columbia. Since then, the group has continued to work hard. In 2016 they were in Europe for the first time for a tour under HIGHFeeL. In 2018 they provided a song for the TBS series CDTV, this song became one of the ending theme songs. Next month, color-code will celebrate their five-year anniversary with performances in Osaka and Tokyo.
The interesting thing about the single KAGEROU is that it was released in an original Japanese version and an English version. The foreign fans are not forgotten, even though it was a while ago that they were in Europe for performances.
After the song has started with a hard beat, NANAMI takes the lead and starts off but is alternated by MARISA which increases the tempo, which gives an insight into what the chorus will be like; namely stirring with a fast pace. MARISA and MAKO alternately provide the quiet intervals, while NANAMI shows her rap side. The three girls all get an equal chance to make themselves heard in the song, which creates a good balance. The hard beat in between ensures that the tempo stays high and the electronic tune easily lingers in your head.
In the music video, the focus is mostly on solo shots of NANAMI, MARISA and MAKO and their dance choreography, which is a strong point of color-code. The choreography for this song was developed by Reiko Katsuyama, a choreographer who has been linked to the three girls for years and has done the choreography for a lot of their songs.
You can listen to the digital single on Spotify, Apple Music, AWA, and LINE MUSIC.
If KAGEROU sounds a bit too dull to you, maybe you should try out the single from last year. One of the tracks, called マ ボ ロ シ (Maboroshi) was given a very intriguing and artistic music video.
Rating: 75/100
