POP “P.O.P”
By Hajime Kitano
POP, whose former stage name was pla2me, wasted absolutely no time releasing an album!
Just a year ago, in 2014, Saki Kamiya, a former member of the idol group ‘BiS,’ and Mari Mizuta of the discontinued solo project, Izukoneko, performed on stage at [TIF] a.k.a. Tokyo Idol Festival as a new unit, pla2me. After Mari Mizuta’s leaving the duo in May, it reformed with new members, Maaya Inukai, Miki Yamamachi, Ao Shigusawa and Yua Yumeno in June as POP, which stands for ‘Period of Plastic 2 Mercy,’ and finally, their first album “P.O.P” has been thrown out into the world!
All the tracks in the album are numbers that have been performed from the former pla2me days; they were produced by Kenta Matsukuma (musician/producer/songwriter), along with members of the creator group, SCRAMBLES. Their specialty wistful emo melodies decorated with danceable EDM or electro-pop flavors have true style, emphasizing the coalition of the vocals by the five members centering on Saki Kamiya’s cool voice. Especially, the drum’n’bass tune “Daydream”, with a feel as if sprinting toward rays of hope, is truly hot! The already-released singles “Plastic 2 Mercy” and “UNIT” were newly recorded by current members, which makes this album, in essence, something like a new greeting from the group. Can’t wait for their performance at the upcoming
