MELL: Why I to this date, have a massive crush on her.
I don’t mean just physically, I think that MELL is my favourite member of I’ve sound without any doubt. And I am not ashamed in admitting that I have a crush on MELL.
For those of you unfamiliar with I’ve Sound, MELL is basically the oldest member of the collective; presumably still with Kazuya Takase before I’ve was even formed. It wasn’t until 2006 that she got her big break with Geneon and released “Red fraction” an Engrish filled melange of awesome of heavy guitars versus sparkly piano and MELL’s vibrato filled vocals made to sound menacing with a hint of distortion.
Since then, she’s released one album and a slew of singles with Geneon. She’s also performed in America at Project A-Kon and is going to perform at Otakon this year. So she’s got the distinction of being the only I’ve girl besides KOTOKO who has performed overseas.
Prior to this debut with Geneon however, MELL seemed to be the darkest out of all the I’ve singers. And I seem to gravitate towards darkness a lot of the time, I always used this comparison when describing MELL to people.
“You’ve heard of KOTOKO, right? KOTOKO’s like a mermaid, all sparkly and happy and rainbows. MELL on the other hand, is a siren singing beautifully and darkly with just a little bit of sexual appeal to entice people.”
And in terms of songs? Egen, Out Flow, Proof, Spiral… all good things. Mind you she has had some misses with songs like Fall In Love and Fly To The Top. I don’t even want to begin how getting MELL to sing cutesy is a bad idea. It just doesn’t work and sounds forced for my ears.
Which is why I wonder why she released Proof, her second single. Or rather, I really wonder how she got dragged into singing such a bland song. It’s a flat song that I’d expect KOTOKO or Kaori Utatsuki to sing that has the elements of that sort of anison pop.
On the other hand, the b-side, no vain is pure gold. I always imagine that MELL would be like “Rawr, I don’t like this Proof shit. Let be who I am!” It also has some of the most interesting bits of Engrish written like “In the world chain of pain vomit.” That’s okay MELL, I forgive you because I find it endearing rather than annoying.
Your grasp of English probably meant that you were the most likely candidate to cover Lia’s Disintegration on The Front Line Covers. And I was impressed, the opening lines were pristine. Somewhere along the line though, your Japanese pronunciation just creeps in. But other than that, it’s a spectacular effort on MELL’s part. (I am suitably unimpressed by Lia’s delayed backing vocals left there, since you can tell it is Lia. Bad SINE6.)
But, I am not here to give you a single-by-single replay of MELL’s career. I am here to tell you why I love this woman as a singer and why she should continue.
… Or not. Recently MELL’s latest singles KILL and RIDEBACK have suffered from following the same format as Red fraction (which was inventive… when it was first released. Now not so much.)
But, the KILL single’s promotional photos looked like the closest to a MELL-sama S&M fantasy.
I suppose the biggest reason I love MELL is because I could never sing like her. She has acquired a certain tone and vibrato to her voice that is very hard to imitate. I have tried singing Red fraction and not even the massive amounts of distortion I placed on my voice gave me a little bit of MELL’s vibrato. And because I cannot sing her songs, I admire her.
Did I mention she’s really hot too?
Note: I am female. Let’s get this completely clear.
Tags: MELL
Ahhhh…MELL eh? I’ve gotten into I’ve Sound about last year and the first song I ever heard was “Red fraction” and I love that song to death. I do agree that cute + MELL = FAIL! But she sometimes can pull it off like “Utsukushiku Ikitai”, and I’m talking about the original not the rearranged one of her album which by the way “repeat’s” remix was amazing to me, iono why but that song gave me the chills and that’s good. I haven’t heard too much of the other I’ve Sound artists cept Mami Kawada and KOTOKO so I can’t fully make an opinion if MELL is the best, but yes she’s hot!!!
Utsukushiku Ikitai isn’t really a “cute song” in the same vein as like… Fly To The Top which is MELL attempting to saccharine and failing.
And I loved repeat’s remix, I think it was one of the best songs on MELLSCOPE. And in terms of the current I’ve Sound, you’ve only got Shimamiya Eiko and Utatsuki Kaori to look at, so you’re not too far.
Oh my, that is pretty uhm scary….the music is pretty cool but MELL is just a bit too happy here….excuse while I cry for a little bit. I read a little bout Kaori from your earlier post and it seems she’s not “that” good but is Eiko any good?
BTW i just added ya to the blogroll since I like your takes on dance music ^_^ (im huge on it too, though I’m usually busy with other such genres cuz of the blog hahaha)
Kaori’s just not as musically diverse as the others, because she is relatively new and stuff. But she has a nice voice and she does pop and denpa pretty well, so if you’re into that then you might like her. Eiko is a behemoth, KOTOKO, Kaori Utatsuki and Mami Kawada were her students when she taught at the Mitsuno Music School. Very distinct voice.
And re: Blogroll, haha, thank you!
MELL is certainly hot. She is SEXY
for me, cute MELL didn’t really hurt… it’s just one of her diversity
[...] MELL: Why I to this date, have a massive crush on her. [...]
[...] It is proving to be complete fun finding a song for me to actually sing. I’ve found myself eliminating most MELL songs for reasons stated previously. [...]