Beyond the Sea ~ The Style. Edition

Tracklisting
1. anytime
2. Bounce
3. anytime Free TEMPO Remix
4. anytime Instrumental
5. Bounce Instrumental

This is Koda Kumi’s 39th single and it was released on January 23, 2008. The single reached #4 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold 53,189 copies.

anytime is just one of those songs that always puts a smile on my face everytime I listen to it. Koda Kumi has done it again with this gorgeous and incredibly sweet pop ballad. The strings are really pretty and even though there is a pretty constant beat in the music, it doesn’t deviate from anything but actually gives the song a little personality. Kumi’s vocals are excellent as well and she reaches those high notes with gentle ease and precision. This song was supposed to be on the FREAKY single as just a B-side but I’m glad that it got its own single release.

The B-side is an absolutely thumping track. Bounce is a spunky song filled with quick beats and short synth lines. Kumi’s vocals are carefree and flow quite well with the music, making this a fun song to jam to. An excellent B-side and definitely one of her better ones.

Included on the single is the Free TEMPO Remix of anytime. The remix has the classic FreeTEMPO touch with its faster paced vocals, jazzy piano at the beginning, and a buildup to a more club oriented sound further in. This guy makes good remixes, what can I say? The only problem I had was that speeding up Kumi’s vocals made them sound odd at times, especially during the verses.

Overall Rating

5 stars