Crystal Kay Promotes New Album: Watch 'KnO,' Listen to 'Step by Step' & 'Helpless Night' ft. Jin Akanishi

Crystal Kay performs 恋におちたら for the umpteenth time and I still swoon. She just sounds and looks so good. Love the pose at the end! Of course, Crystal is pimping out her most successful single to date on Music Fair to promote her new compilation album, BEST of CRYSTAL KAY, which is actually selling fairly well. I was a tad nervous when her double A-side After Love/Girlfriend basically bombed, but I guess a catalogue of all her hits along with Jin Akanishi's name on the cover of the CD is providing more of an incentive. As I've mentioned before, the album is absolutely amazing in all its awesomeness, and you should definitely pick it up if your a fan. Check out a couple of the tracks from the new disc below.


Step by Step
Crystal Kay
BEST of CRYSTAL KAY


Helpless Night
Crystal Kay featuring Jin Akanishi
BEST of CRYSTAL KAY

Step by Step must be a lot like crack. I don't know, I'll have to ask Whitney. But, seriously, I start to itch if I haven't heard it over six hours. It's the best result one could have imagined from a collaboration with Yasutaka Nakata; Kuri brought out the best in his style. Love it. Helpless Night is nice, but leaves a little to be desired. I'll go ahead and blame that on Jin; he just doesn't sell it. I would have preferred Wonder to be included instead, but again, it's not a bad listen. Honestly, with the After Love/Girlfriend single and the four new tracks included in this set, Kuri was well on her way to a new studio album. I'm a bit flummoxed as to why all these great tracks and high profile guests are being relegated to a first-press special edition disc, but then again, Crystal is never really promoted well. All we can do as fans is support our girl =D.

Because I can't help myself, I'm throwing in this video of Crystal Kay and BoA in the studio recording Girlfriend. They're so encouraging of one another. And Kuri doing the Eat You Up choreo!! かわいい！！

Happy Anniversary, Crystal Kay ♥

This bitch is giving good face! Crystal Kay is officially on the grind; After Love -First Boyfriend- is the latest Crystal Kay song to drop. Seeing her collaborate once again with KANAME from CHEMISTRY, it has been revealed that this track will accompany Girlfriend, Crystal's duet with BoA, on a double A-side to be released on August 12th. After Love strikes me as a more mature, but less catchy Two as One. Unfortunately KANAME doesn't have much of a presence on the song, but I do find the track easy to listen to -- the cutesy beat and smooth vocals have a nice effect. The song will serve as yet another tie-in for the Tully's Coffee chain.

Listen to After Love -First Boyfriend- (damn, how many Kuri songs have 'boyfriend' in the title?!) below.



While the upcoming double A-side will also feature 出会えた奇跡 (Deaeta Kiseki), there is still no word on when or whether Over and Over and Wonder, Crystal's collaboration with Jin Akanishi, will see official releases. However, Over and Over was recently featured in an NTT (a Japanese radio station) commercial and rumors abound regarding Wonder's future release. There is speculation that the single will drop within the year and that Jin and Crystal have formed a unit, aptly christened "Crystal Red." Of course, these rumors fuel those other rumors linking Jin and Crystal together romantically. Time will tell. Both these songs are too hot to sleep on, though, so something better happen. Also, can we get some music videos, please? Kthx.

Finally, there are whispers that Crystal's second compilation album, titled BEST OF CK, will be released this coming September in commemoration of her ten years in the music industry. Congratulations, Kuri! Perhaps Over and Over and maybe even Wonder will find a home in this compilation. Check out the three new commercials featuring Crystal's music below.

Crystal Kay's got songs in the oven - Over and Over, Girlfriend ft. BoA, Wonder duet w/Jin Akanishi

As Crystal's tenth anniversary draws closer, she reveals some of the tricks she has up her sleeve. Sneaky Crystal got a little more out of her collaboration with m-flo and BoA earlier this year than she originally let on. A couple of weeks back it was announced that Crystal had scored the theme song for new show DRESS. Over and Over, produced by Taku Takahashi of m-flo, was later debuted by Crystal herself on Japanese radio. Unfortunately, the radio rip is still all that is currently available but at least you can get a feel for the track while you wait for its release in HQ. Over and Over is a house track. Normally that's a dealbreaker for me, but there's no denying this song's heat. Check out Over and Over below (updated with HQ version).


Over and Over
Crystal Kay
BEST of CRYSTAL KAY

Kuri also revealed today on her website that her following single will be Girlfriend, another collaboration with BoA. Even after UNIVERSE, I have to say I'm still interested to hear what they will sound like together, especially without Verbal's rhymes taking up space. Crystal arguably outshined BoA when she was featuring so I'm sure she'll shut BoA down completely now that it's the other way around. Girlfriend will be a tie-in with the Japanese release of He's Just Not That Into You. The song is supposed to be a girl anthem, we-don't-need-boys sort of thing, sort of like one of her very first singles, Girl's Night. Hopefully we get a video this time. Here's an MQ snippet. Sigh. Even a pretty girl like BoA shouldn't stand next to Crystal Kay.

Update!!: Crystal is even busier than I thought! Jin Akanishi, the sexy and most un-Johnny like member of KAT-TUN, revealed a duet with Crystal Kay during their current tour. The track is titled Wonder and it is hot! During the live performance, Jin worked some choreography and sang his part while what clearly appeared to be a music video featuring both Jin and Crystal played on the monitors. If there's already an MV then there's a good shot that Wonder will get the single treatment! The song has a latin vibe to it, similar to the one Crystal worked on the B-side Girl, Move On. And though I'm not hating on KAT-TUN, there's thankfully nothing KAT-TUN about it. There are also rumors going around that Crystal and Jin have a little som'n som'n going on. If she's smart she'll keep that on the low, though. So exciting to finally hear the fruits of Crystal's labor over the past few months. Unfortunately, there are only fan videos from the tour on YouTube. We need some HQ mp3s, stat!!

Special thanks to LuluJay for the heads up on Wonder!!!