The great and overlooked songs of Crystal Kay, Post Vivid

As we move through Crystal Kay week here at Random J Pop in celebration of Crystal Kay’s 24th anniversary, we’ll be going back into the Sony days like babies and pacifiers. But before we do that, I want to dedicate time to some of Crystal’s songs from the period in her career from which fans decided that they would not spin the music, as the quality started to go a lil’ downhill.

Crystal Kay’s career can be divided into 3 periods. Pre-Spin the Music. Vivid. Post Vivid. And right now, we are going to look at the ‘Post Vivid’. One of the more controversial and frustrating periods of Crystal Kay’s career.

Crystal Kay’s sales actually started to pick up during this post Vivid period, but it came at the cost of her core fanbase not really checking for the music, and the sound that Crystal worked so hard to cultivate being effectively erased. Whilst many of us core CK fans tuned out to a lot of these albums and went right back into her old shit from the Sony days, there were still some good songs within these releases. You had to wade through some doo-doo to get to them, which us fans had NEVER had to do before, because Crystal did not do doo-doo albums. But good songs and glimmers of Crystal were still to be found. So we’re going to get into these songs and uncover some of the Crystal gems post 2012.

My Heartbeat (2013)

This is when we all shoulda known that Crystal’s shit was about to go down like Avex’s stocks following Namie Amuro’s retirement. Because Crystal put out a song which could not have been any more primed as a single and could not be any more of a prelude to Spring if it tried, and yet it got no promo, no music video, not even a cute cover art. Absolutely nothing. *Turns and looks into the camera* It’s a crime.

To this day this song still deserves its moment in the sun. And with us being at a period in music where all that’s old can be new again thanks to everybody being a child of the Internet, streaming and TikTok; I actually think Crystal should consider shooting a music video for this song. So little was done with “My Heartbeat” when it first released, that everybody would think it’s new anyway. It barely even registered on the radars of her fans. That’s how Solid Snake the release of “My Heartbeat” was.

Shine (2015)

Shine wasn’t a great album. Especially after how good Vivid was. But it did have some great songs on it. One of which was “I’m Beautiful” – my favourite song on the album. I can imagine that this is a song lots of people skip over. But it was one of the few instances on Shine where Crystal’s classic sound that she cemented on Call Me Miss… and All Yours came through, so I was reeled in immediately and was also relieved. This relief would be short-lived as I made my way through Shine. But still. I was happy to take “I’m Beautiful” as a type of win.

I vividly remember a year when I wasn’t feeling too great. And in December of that year I went to buy myself some cookies, visited the Natural History Museum and then just walked around Kensington – with “I’m Beautiful” on repeat the entire time. And it just made me feel good in that moment and allowed me to forget everything else and feel optimistic for the first time in a while. So there’s a personal connection I have to “I’m Beautiful”. And it has become that one song which is always able to lift me out of feeling like shit.

The lyrics of “I’m Beautiful” really hit in a way that a Crystal Kay song hadn’t before, because you could draw specificity to her and her life. The entire song is an affirmation. That she is going to be a star and that she’s beautiful, and it’s not hard to draw this parallel to Crystal, and perhaps ascertain that this song is being sung from the perspective of a young Crystal Kay.

Growing up as a Black girl in Japan, with a Black father and South Korean mother, there is a very high likelihood that Crystal felt othered; intentional or not. And let us be real. Racism exists in Japan. Xenophobia exists in Japan. Colourism also exists in Japan. And even IF Crystal hadn’t experienced these things at the hands of others, there is the internal othering that she may have done to herself. Always being the only one with dark skin. Frequently being the one who could speak English. Always being the one without the curly hair. Always been the tall one. We can all find something about ourselves to internalise and tear down, especially when it’s something which doesn’t conform. So it’s not a stretch to think that Crystal experienced this growing up and that perhaps she still does now. Japan is still racist. Still xenophobic. And still colourist.

With all this said, “I’m Beautiful” may not be written from Crystal’s own perspective at all. It coulda been a song she was posed to write for a J-drama, which wound up not being used, and it just happens to parallel her own life. But I’ve always taken the song as one from Crystal’s perspective, because it’s hard not to. And it just makes the song even more heart felt. Especially to somebody like myself who grew up feeling very much othered and still feels this way even now.

“I’m Beautiful” really shoulda been a single. I think it would have given fans some hope prior to the release of Shine that Crystal’s old sound wasn’t completely dead after the collective sigh many fans did with the release of “Nando De Mo”.

Shine (2015)

Crystal had always done dance music. So her tapping into it for Shine wasn’t anything new. The issue was that this wasn’t really the album to do it. Shine really should have just been a Christmas EP and a follow up to Shining, with all the dance songs being left for something else.

HENNYWAY.

The dance angle on this album was wonky. Yes. Even that song with Namie Amuro, which I think would have flown better were it a Namie song featuring Crystal; as Namie was already doing this sound for Uncontrolled, Feel and _genic. But a standout song on Shine which was all electro and had a wobbly bassline was “Hashtag Heartmelt”. (Mariah’s impact).

“Hashtag Heartmelt” is one of the best songs on Shine. Even AK-69’s terrible rap isn’t able to ruin it, although it does come incredibly close. Crystal should definitely consider releasing an AK-69-less version of the song. If there was an insistence that “Hashtag Heartmelt” needed a rapper, then the only choices should have been Verbal of M-Flo. A very obvious choice given his history with Crystal. Or Aklo, who is not only a good rapper, but had Crystal feature on his song “Tokyo State of Mind” “I Don’t Care” in 2014. So him repaying the favour would have just been good business practice, aside from making sense creatively.

Shine (2015)

Crystal Kay’s ballads are always overlooked. Not just by fans, but even by her own team. Because the ones which should have been singles never are. And this is the case with “Everlasting”.

“Everlasting” sounds like a follow up to 2007’s “Kitto Eien Ni”, and the growth in Crystal’s vocals from then is like night and day. With “Kitto Eien Ni” you could hear how Crystal was pushing herself, and the music was kind of carrying her at times. Where-as on “Everlasting”, Crystal is in full command of the song and is so free in how she sings it. She is so fearless at this point in her life as a singer, that she isn’t afraid to play around with things and really go for moments that she may have hesitated on before. “Everlasting” is the one song on Shine which truly showcases Crystal’s voice, and that she’s not out of her depth in any sense when it comes to singing ballads.

Given that Universal was trying to push ballads with Crystal at this point in her career, it’s crazy that “Everlasting” wasn’t made a single. My speculation is that it may have been deemed too ‘western’ sounding for a single, as it doesn’t have the typical styling of a J-ballad. Everything Crystal was being made to do circa 2015 was with the aim of making her appeal more to the general public and kinda flattening out the R&B-isms of her sound. And “Everlasting” sounds like a 90s R&B ballad.

Regardless, releasing “Everlasting” as a single should have been the move. Because not only is it a great song, but throwing it out into the world as a promotional single would have increased Crystal’s visibility and the chances of her being tapped to record these types of songs for domestic films, TV dramas, and also being the Japanese singing voice for big Disney releases. It’s insane to me that Crystal is yet to get a Disney bag.

It’s a real shame “Everlasting” is buried on Shine, and that it wasn’t released as a single.

For You (2018)

For You was not a great album. I think we can all agree on that. I had never dismissed a Crystal Kay album so quickly in my damn life. Even though I wasn’t a fan of Spin the Music and Shine, they at least had more than a couple of songs which were still good enough to keep them in my memory – even if it were just for how badly Crystal kinda fell off with them. But For You was just a new low. I also knew it was serious how little Universal cared for a bitch when she wasn’t even on the cover of the regular edition of the album.

Mess.

One of the only songs on this album that I wholeheartedly liked was “Talk to Me”, which I actually think would have made a really nice single.

“Talk to Me” annoyed me. Because in the midst of Crystal’s music going through an identity crisis and Universal acting like Vivid did not exist, THIS was an instance which acknowledged Crystal’s sound on that album. Y’all know the meme of Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the TV? That was me when I first listened to For You and then heard “Talk To Me”. You could slip it amongst the songs on Vivid and it would fit perfectly.

For You (2018)

When LDH fried out Crystal’s hair and had her release “Sakura”, I could hear the collective sighs of the fanbase. But the one redemption of such an unremarkable single release, is that it came with an amazing B-Side, which really shoulda been the A-side. But Universal were too hellbent on having Crystal release generic ass songs which were more in line with what her J-pop peers were releasing to ever do such a thing. “Sakura” as an Ayaka song? Yes. But for Crystal Kay? Nope. It shoulda been “Waiting For You”.

As with “Talk to Me”, “Waiting For You” is VERY Vivid-like, which pleased me greatly. Because I knew Crystal still had that sound in her and that it wasn’t completely dead, even though Universal really wanted it to be. Universal wanted this sound dead for Crystal to such a point, that when “Waiting For You” was used as a promotional tie-in, the sound was reworked to strip out the energy, the bounce, the 80s of it all. Everything. And THIS was the version they released as a digital single.

Mess.

I Sing (2021)

This seemed to be a favourite amongst quite a few fans, myself included. And it’s not hard to hear why. I was sold on “Kaede” 10 seconds in because of how Crystal was running them notes.

The unfortunate thing about so much of Crystal’s material post Vivid is that the music really undersold her vocals. One of the best things about Crystal’s music from Almost Seventeen were her vocals. SHE made the songs. Her voice was THE special sauce every time. And yet, she ended up in this place where her vocals were so frequently downplayed. So to have a new Crystal album after so long where the first track has her immediately reminding you what that voice do, I was so damn relieved. Because there is no way Crystal could put out an album called I Sing, but not let people know that it’s something she’s been doing her whole life, singing is first and foremost, it’s her god given talent that she’s grateful for, and that what them other girls do is something different.

As for the cover itself, it was one of the unfortunate few instances on the album where Crystal deviated from the original to truly make it her own. As great as she sounds on every song on I Sing, the covers were overwhelmingly safe. It was too much a case of her singing over arrangements which were identical to the originals with no liberties being taken. With “Kaede”, Crystal transformed the song into something which was so different, so her own, and so good that there was little point in even comparing it to the original, which is exactly why her cover of Official Hige Dandism’s “I Love” worked so amazingly well.

I Sing (2021)

Okay. So I just highlighted a cover which was great because it completely deviated from the original, and now I’m naming a Crystal Kay cover which doesn’t. But stay with me.

Porno Grafitti’s “Saudade” is a classic. And whilst there are ALWAYS a myriad of ways you can cover a song, there are some instances where it is preferable to not fuck around TOO much with the original. “Saudade” is one of those songs. And in Crystal’s case, I think she was smart to keep the original arrangement of “Saudade” the same, because it is one of the most defining characteristics of the song. Opting instead to give the song a specific sound by throwing in a bit of seasoning was a clever way to transform the song without transforming it. The Latin seasoning that got thrown onto the song suits Crystal’s voice so much more, and it aligns with the energy she has when she performs energetic songs live. Crystal had done the sound of her “Saudade” cover with “Dream World” back in 2007, which was my shit. Crystal has such a great sense of musicality that she’s able to be really playful when she sings; and playfulness is a big characteristic of this type of sound.

I Sing didn’t even get a proper singles run, which was a huge fucking mistake given how big “I Love” had the potential to be. But if LDH and Universal were on their shit, they would have made “Saudade” a single and given it a great big glossy music video, with Crystal Kay serving Tia Tornera in a Bob Mackie dress. Not only would it have broken the streak of ballads, but “Saudade” is a very well known song which would have easily grabbed attention.

Start Again EP (2023)

Not that we needed any more evidence of how few fucks LDH and Universal had to give Crystal, but the release of her Start Again EP is another instance to file away. A pretty heavily promoted Amazon Prime Video series, marked as Kyoko Fukada’s big comeback. And yet, the songs Crystal recorded for it got no promotion, no televised performances and no music video?

Gurl, fire the whole management and marketing team.

The Start Again EP was the only good thing to come out of A2Z, because the show was dusty as hell. The lack of promotion from Universal was truly foul. I will never understand having an artist on your label bother to release music just to not promote it. But from a purely quality standpoint, the lack of promo truly was a shame, because this small collection of songs Crystal recorded were some of the best and most consistent set of songs Crystal had put out in a VERY long time. “Start Again” in particular was / is just stunning.

Add “Start Again” to the list of great ballads Crystal recorded which should have been released as promotional singles.

Whilst the quality of Crystal’s music has been erratic and dripped below the red line with way too much frequency than I would like, the one thing that has been consistent and great to hear, is that Crystal takes the art of singing VERY seriously. Her voice has continued to get better and better, and with each release there is something new about her voice she’s able to tap into, and “Start Again” was an instance of Crystal tapping into something new. The sign of a true singer to my ears, is when somebody is able to not only show how well they sing by doing very little, but when they are able to sell the emotion of the song. It’s far easier to belt and scream than it is to sing low, sing quietly, but still pack in feeling emotion, texture, tone and control. Loudness does not always equal good singing, and it certainly isn’t always a measure of emotion.

As with “I’m Beautiful”, “Start Again” also hits lyrically and feels very timely. Not only with referencing to swiping left and right on dating apps, but trying to start new at a point in her life when you didn’t envision it. 2020 was a year which forced many of us to start anew in some form or other. But so much had been happening in the world prior and continues to happen now, that people are constantly being forced to start anew, or ask the question whether it is time to. And I think Crystal should take the sentiment of this song to heart and ask herself if maybe it’s time to start again in regards to her career.

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Shine, For You and I Sing may not have been the jewels in Crystal’s discography that we had grown accustomed to once upon a time. But they weren’t completely unsalvageable. Bad albums do well all the time. And shit continually ends up coming up like diamonds. It’s all about how you market it. And Shine, For You and I Sing were all marketable. LDH and Universal just didn’t care enough. And creatively it was just confusing. Because whilst there was no consistency with Crystal Kay’s sound on Shine and For You, she was writing a lot of the material for them. So, I’m listening to these dusty songs, whilst looking at ‘Lyrics by Crystal Kay’ and shaking my head like ‘Gurl, why did you write to this?’. But maybe Universal didn’t want to pay for songwriters, and the ultimatum was ‘You either write to these songs, or nothing gets put out’. I wouldn’t put it past them. The music business is nasty work, as we CK fans should know. Because look at what happened to Crystal’s shit after Color Change!. None of it made any sense.

This list is reflective of my tastes. It’s by no means reflective of the Crystal Kay’s entire fanbase. So if you’re a CK fan, who like me was underwhelmed with Crystal’s material post Vivid, what’s an album cut or B-side that you like and feel others should know about? Drop ‘em in the comments.

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