Jun 26 2008
The Voices of Arashi
Well, I’ve done it. I’ve assembled various clip of Arashi’s members singing in order to look more closely at their individual voices. Arashi presented some different challenges than I had with KAT-TUN (THIS POST). For one thing, I’m afraid that Arashi lip-syncs more often. Also, a surprisingly high percentage of Arashi’s songs either don’t even have solo sections, or they have only one and it goes to Ohno. Finally, KAT-TUN are, on average, much better singers than Arashi. Ohno is better than most, if not all of KAT-TUN, but most of KAT-TUN is better than the rest of Arashi. Anyway, that’s my objective opinion after critically reviewing lots and lots of footage to put together both of these posts. Read both posts, and you can decide if you agree with me or not. Don’t worry about Arashi though. If this were a personality contest, they’d win by a mile. Of course, if this were a sexiness/looks contest I’d have to go back to KAT-TUN, but for dancing it’d probably be Arashi, and I’m getting way off topic here, so I’d better end this train of thought right now.
We’ll go with AMNOS order.
Aiba has the most distinct voice in Arashi. It’s soft, breathy, and somewhat feminine. Personally, I’ve come to really love his voice, but I can recognize that listening to Aiba sing could take some getting used to. However, his voice is very sweet and fits him well, and he’s more often in tune than some of the others. You know how if you get really emotional about something (be it happy or sad) you get choked up and it’s hard to sing and especially hard to sing loudly? I think Aiba’s voice kind of sounds like that all the time. As sensitive as he is, that could very well be what is actually going on. In an interview about his last solo he even said, “While I was recording it I just couldn’t stop smiling, and I think you can hear that in my voice”.
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Matsujun. Sigh. Do you know the pain I went through to make this video? I was looking so hard for clips of him singing that didn’t make me either giggle or cringe. I was only somewhat successful. I’m sorry, but this is the best I can do. I don’t want to be too hard on him, but his nasal tone is just horrible, and he sings off key more often than not. It’s just a good thing he’s so pretty and charming. I will admit that his singing has improved somewhat. Sometimes he sounds like he’s really singing instead of just whining into the microphone. The other reason I can tolerate watching him sing is that he just looks so HAPPY when doing so. He sounds bad, but I can almost forgive him because he’s so darn cute.
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Nino is the second best singer in Arashi, after Ohno. I’d also say he’s the most improved. He can harmonize well with the other members, probably because he has a lot of knowledge of music, being accomplished at both guitar and piano as well as doing a lot of song writing. He has good range and his voice is relatively strong, for Arashi anyway. I’ll subtract points, because when he’s off key (not too often) he’s way off key, and because occasionally he gets into an irritating nasal sound, particularly on upbeat songs, though never near as bad as Matsujun, thank God. I really love him when he sings ballads, because he knows how to put a lot of emotion into his singing. That first clip completely breaks my heart. Oh, and I think it’s important to note that he sang that part in “Rock You” (last clip) immediately after making a mad dash all the way across Tokyo Dome with Ohno in hot pursuit.
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Ohno is a very good singer, indisputably the best in Arashi. Nice smooth tone, good stregnth and range, and to top it all off, he’s amazingly consistent. He can be throwing crazy dance moves all over the place, but you’d hardly know he’s even out of breath when he opens his mouth to sing. With Ohno, it’s honestly really hard to tell whether or not he’s lipsyncing sometimes. Lipsyncing or live, he almost sounds the same. Naturally, he has a lot of exposed, sometimes almost a’cappella, solo sections in Arashi songs. Can I think of a real weakness? Maybe that his sound is a little safe, meaning there isn’t much of an edge to his voice, but that’s just nitpicking really.
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As the rapper of the group, I neither expect nor require Sho to be able to sing very well. He’s not too bad, but he’s not too good either. His voice pretty much stays in the lower range, and he gets to sounding strained quickly if the song takes him out of that zone. Also, he always seems to sound hoarse when he sings, even when he’s not. Weird. Anyway, sometimes he does melodic raps, like in Pikanchi Double (2nd clip), and his voice is just perfect for that, but I think I’m more comfortable with him staying away from straight up singing.
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And that’s the most work I’ve ever put into an entry for this blog. Weeeeee! Oh, and BTW, I’m totally in love with the new single’s B-side “How to Fly”. Here’s the download. You really should give it a listen, ne? How to Fly- DOWNLOAD
~Celestia~
omedeto! you’ve managed complete this project. Are your ears ok? Listening to jun must have hurt your ears. hehehe
This entry have helped me identify their voices. And despite knowing their weaknesses esp. Jun’s I still love them and will support them! Thanks!
I’m falling for their How to Fly too. hehehe
I don’t know much of KAT-TUN so I won’t comment about them.
I have hard time deciding who is better between Jin and Ohno. But I totally agree with you on Ohno is better than the most and overall Kattun is a better singing group than Arashi, while Arashi is a better dancing group than Kattun.
As far as the group chemistry goes, I have to give that to Arashi. I feel like they are more together and harmonic. This is just my personal opinion, please don’t get offended in any way.
Thank you for spending so much time making the vids. You are awesome.
lol. i’m not offended. It’s easy to see that Arashi has better chemistry than KAT-TUN. Thanks for reading!
^^* Wow.. I never even thought of Arashi as a “dancing” group..;; Prolly b/c I compare them with Korean groups but.. that’s another story… –a (Plus, I don’t really listen to Kat-Tun so I can’t compare..) Hehe.. I used to think that Sho was the #2 singer after Ohno.. only b/c Nino’s voice kinda annoyed me… but I see what you mean about him sounding hoarse. Hmm… Prolly needs more voice lessons… (or maybe it’s b/c of how he raps.. T.T) Anyways~ Awesome post.. ^^*
as a HUGE fan of arashi, i’d still haveta agree on what you said here. really appreciate the work you’ve put in, btw! i’m so proud of ohno…esp considering how he began as a Jr. and how unpopular he was. i def. love arashi more b/c they have an awesome personality! its so clear how funny and amusing they r, esp on their shows. to me, the fact that they appeal to their audience that way ( not just trying to be sexy all the time) and not trying to be pretentious, is what makes them better than the other groups =]
I COMPLETELY agree with your analysis of all the voices!
Lol, from the very beginning, I couldn’t understand why people fangirl-ed over Jun so much-I really disliked his voice-but his cuteness does make up for it, I guess =]
While Ohno is like a revered being, so…PERFECT, Nino is my favorite of the group <3 I love his ballads, and his personality xD
I could never really understand what made Aiba’s voice unusual; I thought it was beautiful from the very beginning xD Aww, Aiba-chan, <3
And I LOVED Sho’s rap part in Pikanchi Double; that’s my favorite pv, I think, or at least one of them~ He’s a good rapper; I guess since most of his solos during songs have his rapping, I never paid that much attention to his actual singing…
Good job on this project!!
I really like reading your blog!
^Thank you! Nino’s my favorite out of Arashi too.
Thank you