Maika – Yadayo…

I gotta be completely honest with you, I’m startled with the style change in Maika (舞花). In 2010, she released her debut album simply titled Possible, which I had often described as reminiscent of Shakira’s pre-MTV Unplugged days (in voice). She had that type of voice, which you can hear in her single Oshieteyo ~miseducation~ (教えてよ ~miseducation~) [MV].

I was sold on her sound, and fell madly in love with the song Never Never Never give up [Xiami]. There was just a terribly rebellious tone in that song that I immediately dug without much effort. It had the quality of a pop rock anthem, if only people had listened to it, complete with a catchy easy to sing chorus in that “Hey, boy- stand up, stand up. Never give, never never give up, stand up. Hey, girl – stand up, stand up. Never give up, never never give up, stand up!”

So color me surprised to find Maika’s newest single, titled Yadayo… (やだよ…), set for a May 9th release, has softened her image and sound to the point I barely recognized her. It’s not like Maika hadn’t dabbled into the sea of Japanese ballads, she had with Kokoro (心) [Xiami] — main theme for Raiou — but even then she sounded like herself.

So… what’s up, Maika? Or more importantly~ What’s up, Universal Japan?

Also… what’s up with the super cheap video? I know it’s unfair to comment on a short version of the video, but if you’re going to release a short version of it, you’d better give me the best of the video to sell it to me.

I am so not happy with this.