Song Review: the brilliant green - Stand by Me

Title: Stand by Me
Artist: the brilliant green
Single: Stand by Me
Released: August 22, 2007

Review

Kawase Tomoko begins by taking a deep breath to start the brilliant green's 10th anniversary comeback single "Stand by Me." I brace myself for disappointment or joy. Luckily, it's the latter.
Tomoko wastes no time by starting us off with an intro where her voice sounds an awfully lot like YUI. I fear monotone vocals for the first 30 seconds of this song but am relieved when her voice picks up energy for the chorus. Without a doubt, the chorus is the hook in this song. Whenever Tomoko sings "stand by me, akirame to negai no tobira no mae," the song's mood becomes so happy that I literally sing a long with it. The electric guitar and percussion complements Tomoko's voice perfectly in this incredibly addictive chorus.

The song's instrumentals are decent, nothing spectacular, but it gets the job done. Matsui provides a brief guitar solo as a nice break near the 2:44 mark.

Thankfully, Tomoko's English pronunciation for phrases like "yeah baby," "you're always on my mind," and "stand by me" don't sound terrible. I cringe at some of Tomoko's bad English in some of her previous songs, but I'm glad it doesn't kill this song. However, I was disappointed at Tomoko's typical neutral tone for most of the song. This song could have used more energy, but luckily the chorus saved it from destruction.

The verdict: "Stand by Me" has plenty of lasting appeal with it's incredibly energetic chorus. I highly recommend this song.

Lyrics

Here are the romaji lyrics for you to sing along with:
nagai ichinichi ga owari
kiete yuku kako e no tobira
kizutsuitemo ii sore yori
chigau jibun wo mite mitai

can I try? "Why should I?" togireta koe
kioku no hako ni nemuru 憶(omo)i
You're always on my mind so...

Stand by me
sabitsuita sekai ni
nani ga aru no? Show me stars again itsuka
demo mienai kirameki ga aru koto
kidzukasete kureta kara

kokoro wo nozoketa nara
imasugu ni raku ni naru kana...
dare no mono ni mo naranaide
katte na negai dakeredo

dakedo itsuka kowashite shimau
garasu no hako ni
furetara kitto modorenai so...

Stand by me
akirame to negai no tobira no mae
ugokenai zutto
kanau no nara tomodachi de ii kara
tokubetsu ni naritakatta

dareka no tame ni nakeru nante
wakaranakatta
omou dake de itoshikute
setsunaku naru no
Stand by me
Stand by me yeah baby

so Stand by me
(so Stand by me oh...)
yeah baby Stand by me
(you're always on my mind)
mada mienai kirameki ga aru nara
arukidaseru kitto
mitsuketai no anata to so...
Stand by me

Source: http://www.jpopasia.com/play/3626/the-brilliant-green/stand-by-me.html

Metadata

Artist: the brilliant green
Release year: 2007
Genre: Pop
Song speed: Fast
Dominant voice: Female
Dominant language: Japanese