°C-ute's 8th major single "Bye Bye Bye!"

The PV for "Bye Bye Bye!" has been released on Dohhh UP! This single will be released on April 15 and the single V will be released on April 22.



Link to video on Dohhh UP!

After "LA LA LA Shiawase no Uta" I didn't think °C-ute's releases could get any worse. Good gracious was I wrong. "Bye Bye Bye!" looks and sounds like it is missing some essence. Let's break it down, shall we?

The clothes
Those shiny tracksuits that they are also wearing on the cover remind of "DANCE suru no da!" in a really awful way. The color and the shininess and the style are a little too turn of the century for me. It's also upsetting that they couldn't do a little more differentiation between the outfits. Everyone looks so similar in the PV. And why the hell does Maimi have a popped collar?

As much as I dislike the main costumes, the casual wear is even worse. First off, you can't actually tell what the girls are wearing because they only show them from the shoulders up. I'd like to imagine that they couldn't afford pants for them so the girls are all just wearing the sweats they showed to the set in. The parts we can see are all mismatched: Maimi is wearing a t-shirt, Airi and Chisato are wearing peasant tops, Saki and Mai look like middle-aged women at the office, and Erika is wearing a scarf and presumably a shirt.

The set
Set? What set? Oh, you mean that bizarre industrial room with a light display in the background that might have been cool before LCD screen came about. Or do you mean that worst-Hello!-Project-CG-background-yet "set" during the closeups?

But really, the screen that says the name of the song and flashes pretty animated colors is no substitute for a real set. And some stupid pastel interpretation of abstract art is even worse.

The dance
I think the dance itself is alright, but it seems to have been shot very poorly. During the dance break everyone looks like they are in the wrong place even when they are not moving across the floor. Perhaps it was originally choreographed for seven and the translation to six didn't work well.

The girls also look really bored and unenergetic, which is a cardinal sin in the world of idols. Even Risako manages to pull out some semblance of energy for PVs (I wish she would for concerts as well), but the °C-ute members (even the normally dance-tastic Maimi!) look like they aren't aware that they are performing.

The song
First off, it sounds like it should have been released about twenty years ago. Those backing vocals are ridiculous! They just don't fit with these girls' thin teenage voices. I do kind of like the "take control" bit though. It's very empowering.

The thing that really bothers me, and I mean really bothers me especially after they did it on the opening track of Platinum 9 DISC as well, is the vocal distortion. I wish I could say that I'm fine with them doing the distortion on Saki as I can't stand her voice, but the distortion sounds so harsh and jagged. Distortion like that is what they used on pop singers who couldn't sing before Auto Tune was invented. I also really hate those hiccups at 3:40. They sound like they aren't supposed to be there!

Now, I don't absolutely hate this song. I really appreciate that Mai started it out. With the hiatus of Kanna Mai has moved up my third-place °C-ute member. It was nice to see her featured so much in the song!

Maimi's belting at 3:50 was a seriously delicious climax. In fact, I really loved the last 20 seconds of the track. It seems like the girls gained some energy in the dance and the backing vocals changed to something more appropriate.

Overall, this is my least favorite °C-ute single so far. I was really hoping they'd get another great release like "Edo no Temari Uta II" or "Tokaikko Junjou," but this falls back into the ranks of the other major singles. I'm really hoping we get Kanna back before their next release!