Does JUJU soar in her single, Sky? (Review)

I’m going to be honest. I am not really familiar with JUJU, however, I liked the samples on the website so I decided to review this single. The only thing I knew about JUJU, prior to this single, was that she was the vocalist for “No Matter the Distance…,” which was one of the vocal themes in the game, Valkyria Chronicles. She also seems to have a few singles to her name.

Check after the break for my thoughts on JUJU’s Sky single!

The single opens with the title track, “Sky” and features an interesting blend of acoustic guitar, piano, and string work, with typical drum pad. The verses are peaceful and feature soft vocal work by JUJU. The chorus, on the other hand, is a bit more upbeat with JUJU increasing her vocal range. There’s a nice balance between more delicate sections, and the piano and strings bridge in the latter half is quite lovely. In the end, it’s quite a beautiful song.

The next song, “Missin’ U” features a pretty nice R&B beat mixed with piano. I’ve used this word before to describe music, and it won’t be the last, but the song has a bit of a smoky atmosphere. As with “Sky”, the verses are soft, but the chorus is much more entertaining. The mix between English and Japanese is interesting, but I’ve always wondered why artists choose to do that, but her English is quite good, so I can’t complain. It’s a pretty catchy piece, for fans of R&B, and JUJU’s voice is quite beautiful.

The last song on the album is a cover of Randy Crawford’s “Street Life.” It updates the original funk version with pretty nice acoustic guitar introduction that gradually builds into a nice fusion of big band brass sounds with a nice funk groove, making it more reminiscent of the original.

The jewel case for the CD is quite thin, much thinner than a normal CD. Think CD-R size. The booklet that comes included is very minimalistic in design, as seen from the cover art featuring a key, that even looks hand drawn. The contents inside the book contain the lyrics for “Sky” and “Missing You.”

The Sky single is pretty nice. It features a nice blend of more standard fare J-Pop, some R&B influences, and a nice tribute to Randy Crawford’s “Street Life,” by adding a nice acoustic section that blends into a more traditional big band/funk piece. If you are a fan of JUJU, I think you’ll enjoy this. Prior to this, I only heard her on the Valkyria Chronicles soundtrack and really enjoyed it. I found this single to be pretty impressive as well. You can find it at CD Japan and Play Asia.

Are you a fan of JUJU’s other singles and albums? What did you think of her contribution on the Valkyria Chronicles soundtrack?