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%20Crystal%20Kay%20All%20Time%20Best%2025th%20Anniversary.png "Dis Cover: Crystal Kay - All Time Best 25th Anniversary | Random J Pop")
Crystal Kay is finally releasing an album. Sure, it’s just a best album. But, bitch. I’ll take it. Although, how crazy is it that we have not had an album of original material from Crystal since 2018!?
Girl. Fire the whole management and marketing team.
All Time Best 25th Anniversary will release in a limited and a regular edition, both of which have different covers. The regular edition is my favourite of the two, which is no surprise — regular edition albums in Japan almost always get the better cover. But I also like that it reminds me a little of the single art for “Eternal Memories”, which would feel fitting as a reference if it were one, given that this is a Best album celebrating Crystal’s entire career and that “Eternal Memories” was Crystal’s debut single.
%20Crystal%20Kay%20All%20Time%20Best%2025th%20Anniversary%20%232.png "Dis Cover: Crystal Kay - All Time Best 25th Anniversary | Random J Pop") |
| Crystal Kay – All Time Best 25th Anniversary [Limited Edition] | Universal Music |
%20Crystal%20Kay%20All%20Time%20Best%2025th%20Anniversary%20%231.png "Dis Cover: Crystal Kay - All Time Best 25th Anniversary | Random J Pop") |
| Crystal Kay – All Time Best 25th Anniversary [Regular Edition] | Universal Music |
Now, Crystal isn’t exactly an act known for her album and single covers — but she’s had some pretty nice ones over the years. But as with near enough everything concerning Crystal’s career, things took a turn after Vivid. And her single arts and album arts started to get a bit ropey. Whilst the design and branding started to fall by the wayside, the most notable change was Crystal ’s hair. Crystal’s hair was such a prominent feature of her album and single covers during her Sony days. Even though Spin the Music stupidly featured a cover which hid her hair, the shoot for that album had her sporting red hair, which looked so striking on the cover for “Journey ~Kimi to Futari de~”. After Crystal’s first Universal album, Vivid, her hair was fried blonde and then cut short, which drastically changed her look. And then for her second Universal album, For You, Crystal didn’t even feature on the regular edition cover of the album, which was ridiculous. And then there was I Sing, which featured such a boring ass photo of Crystal with a flat press ponytail, whilst the shot which should have been the album cover — with Crystal with the hair out and looking gorgeous — was used for the inlay. So with this Best album, it’s nice to see Crystal’s hair be a focus again.
Crystal’s hair is also significant in these shots because of how it’s styled. Crystal got her hair braided like this back in October 2024 and it’s not a style we’ve seen her in professionally before. And maybe it’s just me, but I noticed a shift in how Crystal presented and carried herself from this moment onward. There was a sense of pride, ownership and ‘Yes, I’m that bitch’-ness that Crystal exuded. It felt like Crystal had reclaimed something of herself again. And it’s not crazy to think her new blickitty-black hairstyle was a part of that — given that hair is such an intrinsic part of Black women’s lives and their identity. And I could imagine the relationship Black women have with their hair is different and more complex when you’re a Black woman in Japan. You’re seeing less people with hair texture like yours. Less people with styles for your type of hair. And very few places that know how to properly care for and style all Black hair types.
Crystal has never downplayed her Blackness. She’s always been proud of being Black from what I have seen as a fan. But something has certainly clicked in her since rocking her braids. And it hasn’t been a short term thing and then ‘Blooop’ we’re back to the curls and presses. She has stayed with this hair like her scalp and livelihood has depended on it. She has sported it for interviews. She’s sported it at public events. She performed her 25th anniversary show with this hair. She featured in a music video with this hair. She went on Korean television with this hair. And now here she is on the cover of her Best album with this hair. There’s suttin’ about this hair y’all. I don’t know how Crystal actually feels about it. I’m just making assumptions. But there is a reclamation and pride Crystal is taking in this hairstyle, and it’s really beautiful to see. And it’s also nice to see that for the entire time Crystal has had these braids, that her career seems to be making strides that it’s not made for years now. So it’s cool to see this hairstyle be immortalised on an album cover. She looks gorgeous, as she always does.