You Were Wrong by reina (Album Review) ▸ J-Music Exchange/Rate
We got a good one this month
Hello and welcome back to another J-Music Exchange/Rate review! In case you're new around here, this is a cool little segment I've been doing with my good friend/fellow Japanese music fan Leap250 where we, essentially, give each other an album from our respective libraries, listen to them and later review on our respective blogs. Not only does it allow for Leap and I to consistently suggest new artists and albums to each other, but we hope that you guys get the chance of finding some cool new stuff as well! Our catalog of reviewed albums has now reached 80 total, so definitely go check out the whole list (by clicking here) to see if we've talked about a particular one!
And as always, Leap and I base our album choices on a specific theme every month. It was my turn for September and I chose a pretty cool one: multilingual/multicultural artists. Leap and I actually spoke about this a couple months or so ago and it seems like both of us have really gained an appreciation for artists who aren't only Japanese and/or implement other languages into their lyrics. Whether it's someone who originally grew up in another country and decided to create music in Japan or wanting to better express their feelings through a different language; I think it's neat whenever I get to listen to an artist who falls under those categories, since seeing people be able to show off/embrace their background and cultural identity through music is great.
All that being said, here are our choices: Leap went ahead and gave me the first album from R&B singer reina, titled You Were Wrong; while I tossed over something invisible, a really pleasant EP from Misato Ono.
Let's jump right in!
reina (レイナ) is a Tokyo-based singer, who is currently under the w.a.u. music creative label. She grew up listening to and being a fan of many black R&B/hip-hop artists from the states, such as A Tribe Called Quest, Mobb Deep and especially Soulquarians; all of which inspired her to pursue her own music career. Her beginnings saw her collaborating with and performing alongside many other up-and-coming Japanese artists such as VivaOla, Salasa, Wez Atlas and Kuroda Takuya, until she eventually released her debut single, titled Luxury, in June of 2022. reina would then go on to come out with, arguably, her most well-known track, "Do The Thing", as it quickly became a popular song for DJs to put on during club sets. In February 2023, she released her first full album, You Were Wrong, and started to gain traction as a full-fledged and authentic-sounding R&B singer in Japan.
As of when this post was published, reina has released ten singles and an album.
Tracklist
How Cute
Luxury
Do The Thing
either way
HEAL
Drafts
my apologiesss
Can't Be Here
Six Feet Under
Can I
Released: 2023.02.22
Not a lot is known about is about w.a.u's resident dancer-turned-R&B singer reina outside what little info her label is giving us. I'm not even exactly sure how exactly her album You Were Wrong made its way in my recommendations (though I guess that's more so a testament to how much Japanese Hip-Hop/R&B I've been listening to), but I'm glad it did. You see, I've been hurting once Friday Night Plans stopped doing her thing all of a sudden, and while finding out the reason behind the tonal shift in their musicality would be a very interesting inquiry, it has since left me in need of someone to fill that FNP-sized hole in my music listening. Enter reina who, quite literally does... "Do The Thing", as her song goes and now all is well and good again (lol).
In all seriousness though, reina checks all the right boxes for me and my Japanese R&B listening needs and then some, with You Were Wrong being a nice little showcase of her incredibly smooth delivery and playful lyricism in her songs. Oh yeah, did I mention this entire album is written and performed in English?
1 ▸ a superb expression of r&b
First off, let's go back to a thing I mentioned when I talked about reina and her overall musical background; that being her influences from Western hip-hop/R&B music. Being heavily inspired by those artists I listed earlier (according to her various profiles on Spotify and the official w.a.u label website), you can immediately tell what kind of direction reina is headed towards when it comes to her own music. She does a really good job conveying the styles and themes heard within R&B such as it being poppy, appropriate to vibe/dance to when at a club, and even exceptionally sensual (both in a musical and lyrical sense). Has the Japanese audience seen an artist that has expressed, what I'd say, a very genuine and down-to-earth display of that specific and generational American R&B/hip-hop sound? Definitely, you could say that a good handful have done that and even have put out some solid stuff as a result (e.g. aimi, MALIYA) and I think reina and her stuff is another great example.
One reason why is because, like I said, it's very reminiscent of the popular stuff that has been heard here in the West. I'm not the best person to connect the two, as I've only heard American R&B in a very casual sense, but I'm sure many who grew up listening to those great artists would be impressed at reina's attempt at a beloved style of music. And another reason is because this album is an absolute bop. Not even exaggerating.
The best way I can expand on that is just by describing some of the great tracks on this album. "How Cute" starts off the record with a very simple but effective track, as the beat loop is obviously the most prominent aspect of it but the subtle additions of the keyboard and guitar add a ton to its more alluring atmosphere. "HEAL" takes on a more modern hip-hop style with its 'space-y' vibe with the open-sounding synths and fitting bass line. And I love the slower and desirous emotions heard in "Drafts", as the traditional piano, sweet bass and those 'sparkly' sounds all come together make a very romantic song.
But if I were to determine what the 'best' song is on You Were Wrong, I wouldn't even hesitate to pick "Do The Thing". There is a reason why this is reina's most well-known track, since it has such a vibey and obviously nostalgic feel to it. The beat, the soft keyboard playing, the funky bassline, the basic-yet-awesome record scratching throughout the song, the background ad-libs... while I wouldn't be able to make a clear connection on what 90's/2000's R&B song this reminds me of, it does sound very authentic to the overall and popular sound heard in a lot of dance-y and clubby tracks from that era. I would also like to point out that the synths heard at the beginning and the chorus parts *heavily reminded* me of the iconic melody from tofubeats' "Suisei" (although, I recently learned that that part in "Suisei" was sampled from another/older song, but either way it's still fire).
I think the main takeaway here is that reina knows her stuff. It's clear that she has an excellent grasp of R&B and hip-hop, as heard in songs like "Do The Thing" and "Six Feet Under". But at the same time, I think she also was able to implement other musical aspects to a lot of these tracks like the more 'produced' sound in "HEAL" or even stuff like the rock-like electric guitar solos heard in "Can't Be Here". It's almost like an interesting 'extension' of the overall R&B sound and I enjoyed a lot of the things that reina did with this record.
2 ▸ reina's vocals and an intriguing story about love
And as you can tell, reina performs this entire album in English. While I do somewhat understand why she decided to present this album in such a way, given that a lot of her musical inspirations were from America, I'm honestly curious if there's another reason involved. There isn't much information about reina herself that I could find, like whether or not she actually grew up here in the states and/or was raised to also speak English (or some other related reason), but I thought her vocal performance and lyricism was on point. She sounded extremely clear and I loved listening to her smooth, deeper and sultry vocal register that fit really well with the overall atmosphere of each song.
But I wanted to emphasize the lyricism within this album for a few reasons: one, it's in a language I can actually understand so I might as well take the time to know what reina's singing about; and two, throughout my many listens of this album, I really started to notice a cohesive and fluid narrative that reina was trying to convey here.
Many songs within contemporary R&B has dealt with romance and love from a ton of different angles, whether that be someone expressing their genuine admiration about a loved one/interest or something more on the vulnerable side of things. And I think reina nails that concept really well in this album. "How Cute" starts off with reina (or whoever the protagonist is here) being this ruthless person who seems like she doesn't have the interest in actual love or relationships (just hearing the lines "How cute, how cute / You think I'd fall for you" makes me feel bad for whoever is on the receiving end of this lol), but as the album progresses, you can quickly see her open up more which also results in a very... messy situation.
The first half felt like a good build-up to this whole story, as "Luxury" shows her actually starting to fall in love and the suggestive undertones in "Do The Thing" help things advance (and you can probably imagine what 'the thing' means in this situation lol). But towards the latter half, you can really start to see things crumble, as the protag starts to display a sense of loneliness ("my apologiesss") and uncertainty about their new love interest and how their partner may not feel the same way romantically ("Drafts").
I think my favorite part of this whole story line (and probably my favorite song from this album) was within "Can't Be Here", as it honestly had some pretty heavy shit in it. Seeing this person have so much trouble trying to move on from a relationship that has obviously damaged her, and then finding out that she was caught up in a cheating situation this whole time... damn. And the way the album ends with a beautiful piano-based soul ballad in "Can I" just reinforces those aforementioned struggles and ideas from reina's point of view, with it even giving off a very melancholic feeling to it.
Reading through these lyrics was certainly something else, and who knows if I'm actually right with this interpretation, but I think reina did a phenomenal job with telling a story in this album. Just seeing how complicated and messy love can get, and hearing reina sing in a way where it's genuinely sad when listening to some of these sentiments... it took a few listens to actually get the whole gist of these songs but in the end, I thought it made the album even more enjoyable.
Funny enough, I found out about reina (and this album) right before Leap suggested You Were Wrong to me for this month's Exchange/Rate. At the time, I just thought "my apologiesss" was a cool song but I'm honestly glad I got the opportunity to get the full experience of this record.
Hearing reina's expertise and evident knowledge on R&B/hip-hop music was awesome. She was able to give us a nice range of tunes to enjoy, from a catchy dance track in "Do The Thing" to even something much more sentimental in "Can I". While I do think that the middle part of this tracklist felt a biiiit weak (when taking the entire album into account), every song from top to bottom has its own charm and is enjoyable in its own right.
But also, being able to get the full understanding of what reina's singing about here made me like this album SO MUCH more. Seeing the fascinating development of this album's main character, going from someone who just likes to play around when it comes to love and to them feeling genuinely conflicted/heartbroken after getting involved in a legit relationship... not only is it very fitting in terms of the R&B genre that's being expressed, but I think reina's just that good at setting up a pretty coherent and captivating story.
While I only found out about reina literally a month ago, this first album from her was incredibly impressive. Honestly one of my favorite records from this year and I am absolutely looking forward to whatever she releases next.
Rating: 9.5/10
Aaaaand that's all I got for you today!!!
Hope you enjoyed that album as much as I did! It was really good, and if you want another cool song that reina performed in, check out this collab she did with VivaOla and fellow w.a.u talent voquote... it's been on repeat lately 👌
Now that you're done here, definitely go head over to Leap's blog where he talked about the album I gave him for this month, something invisible by Misato Ono! Coincidentally, this is another album that is performed all in English and I've really enjoyed listening to it these past few weeks. Click here to check it out!
Thanks for reading!! :D
-al