[Digital Single] Kana Nishino’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’

DIGITAL SINGLE REVIEW: Kana Nishino- I Don’t Wanna Know

Kana Nishino is a new artist under Sony who has not technically debuted in Japan yet. Her first single ‘I’ is scheduled to drop on February 20th. I watched the music video for ‘I’ and I have to say that she definitely has potential. I will save the assessment of her vocal talent for below in Kana Nishino’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Know’.

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I Don’t Wanna Know is the English version of her debut single I. Overall, I can say that Nishino definitely has the potential to be popular. Though her vocal tone is not flawless, she has raw talent and, though unrefined, shows promise. She can be pitchy at times, but I definitely hear that with some training and experience she will be capable of putting out decent and even good music. The song begins with faux guitar and futuristic synth, evolving into a full drums and electric guitar by the chorus. During the verses Nishino pulls the vocals well, and I generally feel that she did a good job. During the chorus she starts going all over the place a bit, but (probably by dumb luck) she manages to make it sound attractive anyways. She supposedly studied English in college, but it’s very difficult to understand her. You can definitely tell that she is speaking English, but everything is unclear, like she has a speech impediment or something. I noticed a very keen resemblance to YUI’s vocal tone in this song, mostly in the way that the high notes are executed. In her lower register, Nishino definitely has her own distinctions. YUI’s performances are a lot more solid also. But in a way she seems like a more poppy/girly YUI. The song is quite addicting in all of it’s unpolished-ness, but there are a few undeniable flaws. The drums are odd sounding, as if played be someone who doesn’t actually know how, but memorized how to do this one song. The vocals need pitch control, and lastly her English needs work. I’m not exactly sure why she even sang this in English. I think that the Japanese version will sound better because she’ll be understandable there. I like the heavy reliance on synthetics, but the song is definitely not perfect. The plus side of the song is that it is composed well. The chorus is epic and all the transitions between verses and chorus sound thought out and don’t come as a shock. How well the composition was pulled off is what is debatable.

Vocal Performance Grade: B — Musical Performance Grade: B+ — Composition Grade: A-

Overall Grade: B+

DIGITAL SINGLE GRADE: B+