Finally, after months made of waiting, expectations, suppositions, anticipations… the covers and tracklist of the 4th Perfume album JPN have been unveiled!!!

Here are the covers and the tracklists (the article is just below):

JPN - Limited Edition

Tracklist:

[CD]

1.The Opening
2.レーザービーム(Album-mix) Laser Beam
3.GLITTER(Album-mix)
4.ナチュラルに恋して (Natural ni Koishite)
5.MY COLOR
6.時の針 (Toki No Hari)
7.ねぇ Nee
8.微かなカオリ(Kasuka na Kaori)
9.575
10.VOICE
11.心のスポーツ (Kokoro no Sports)
12.Have a Stroll
13.不自然なガール (Fushizen na Girl)
14.スパイス (Spice)

[DVD]

1.｢スパイス｣ -Video Clip-
2.｢ナチュラルに恋して｣ -Video Clip-
3.｢レーザービーム｣ -Video Clip FULL Ver.-
4.｢微かなカオリ｣ -Video Clip TV Ver.-
5.｢微かなカオリ｣ -Video Clip-
6.｢不自然なガール/ナチュラルに恋して｣ -TV SPOT-
7.｢VOICE｣ -TV SPOT-
8.｢ねぇ｣ -TV SPOT-
9.｢レーザービーム/微かなカオリ｣ -TV SPOT-
10.｢スパイス｣ -TV SPOT-

JPN - Standard Edition

Tracklist:

[CD]

1.The Opening
2.レーザービーム(Album-mix) Laser Beam
3.GLITTER(Album-mix)
4.ナチュラルに恋して (Natural ni Koishite)
5.MY COLOR
6.時の針 (Toki No Hari)
7.ねぇ Nee
8.微かなカオリ(Kasuka na Kaori)
9.575
10.VOICE
11.心のスポーツ (Kokoro no Sports)
12.Have a Stroll
13.不自然なガール (Fushizen na Girl)
14.スパイス (Spice)

______________________________________________________________________________

Promotional Picture: simply stunning.

So, there are a lot of things to talk about. Some suppositions became true, exactly as some unexpected things. First of all, the tracks are 14 and not 13 as announced, probably because Tokuma didn’t count the intro (simply called The Opening. Oh, Nakata…) as a track in the announcement, which is nice. The new songs in the album are only 4; I wasn’t expecting more to be honest, but considering that Triangle had 6 new songs without counting Take Off as intro, well… normally i’d be disappointed, but instead of complaining, i just hope for these songs to be amazing and to fit well in the entire album concept: that’s all that matters in the end. Another thing i’ve always said both in the Perfume City forum and here in my blog, which became true, is the presence of both Spice and GLITTER on the album. It was pretty obvious in my opinion, but inside of me i was hoping for one of these two songs to be left as single-exclusive… though, sadly, my suppositions were right. The sales of the Spice single have already been lowered by the upcoming JPN release: It’s always a good #2 on the Daily Oricon Chart, but if compared to Laser Beam/Kasuka na Kaori, there’s a lack of 7.000 copies (more or less), which are not a few copies. And if you add that Tokuma unveiled today (the single release date) that Spice will entirely be in JPN, well… it’s not so good. Not a smart move at all Tokuma, and i’m afraid this mistake will afflict the Spice sales even more. I’m always more convinced this single release has been forced by a contract matter with Kirin, but at least it’s their best single since last year.

But… if this choice disappointed you, at least we can say to be happy for GLITTER, since the JPN version will be a Remix! Exactly, this is the first of the unexpected things: GLITTER and also Laser Beam will be the remixed tracks of the new album! Are you surprised? I guess you are, and i can say that this was totally unexpected and unpredictable. Personally, i can’t wait to hear the new versions of these two songs, and i hope Nakata added a decent bridge to both the tracks and improved them: I’m really looking forward to hear them.

I was saying that this has been a surprise, cause everyone was pretty much expecting to see a remixed b-side on this album; FAKE IT was the expected track to take the place as B-side of JPN. And here comes the second surprise: there’s no FAKE IT. Months of live performances including this track as opener, a new dance that hasn’t been unveiled yet and kept secret in a maniacal way and… it’s not on the album. Disappointed? Absolutely not, cause the beautiful 575 will take the place of B-side of the album, and guess what? It’s not remixed. They kept the original version for this album release leaving it untouched, and i can say i’m glad: this song is perfect, and it deserves to be in the album in its original form. I guess i’ll have to regret all the time i said with conviction that FAKE IT would have been on the album.

About the covers, i was expecting something different to be honest, a more “patriotic” image, considering the title: They’re not bad, but pretty simple and not really exciting, and I still prefer the Triangle/GAME formula. The Limited Edition probably has a slipcover (my opinion), so i’m curious to see how it looks like without the external cover. Fun Fact: looks like these pics were taken some moths ago, and not recently. It’s nothing sure obviously, just a supposition, but a lot of fans are asking themselves why the girls look like exactly as they were in the pre-Laser Beam era; It’s really curious, and I hope we’ll get more infos and a confirm about it. The outfits are simply beautiful (as you can see from the promo pic), and their beauty is sugar for heart and eyes: these girls are Japan’s most precious treasure.

In conclusion, these were all the main news about the upcoming JPN album. To be honest, I’m not disappointed at all. It could have been better, as it could have been worse. Normally, i would never buy an album with only four new songs, but  i know i’m too addicted to these three girls, and 4 songs, 2 unexpected (and well chose, i’d say) remixed tracks and an intro, are enough for me. I’m really looking forward to listen to the new tracks.

Now that we got what we wanted, we just have to wait for the release date. I have a good feeling about this album, and I’m looking forward to it: the girls won’t disappoint us.

That said, i’ll leave the word to you: are you excited or disappointed about the new covers and tracklist? Will you buy this album? Is this what you were expecting? Let me know your opinions!

In the meanwhile, I’ll go watch the beautiful GLITTER PV for the millionth time, and i think all of you should do the same (lol).

I’ll see you guys soon. Bye!