Superfly - Box Emotions

Superfly's much anticipated 2nd album Box Emotionscame out on 9/2.  The 1st album that came out in 2008 took the one-woman unit consisting of Shiho Ochi to instant stardom and this one is set to turn her into an icon (if she isn't already).  Already at the time of the release of the album, 5 tracks on the album have been featured on commercials as well as movies and dramas and you can bet there will be more tracks off the album used on various media outlets.
The album kicks off with a fun pop-rock tune "Alright!", which is followed by another catchy rock track "How Do I Survive?".  In comparison to her self-titled breakthrough album Superfly, however, this album seems to focus less on the rock-side of Superfly and explores more of the tender and pop side of her.  There are beautiful ballads like #4 "My Best of My Life" and #13 "Ai-ni-Dakarete" as well as more traditional J-pop sounding #3 "Searching", #10 "See You" and #11 "Haru-no-Maboroshi".  In these tracks, Superfly's voice sounds more controlled and perhaps a bit toned down, which effectively demonstrates to us how skilled of a singer she really is.  I personally, however, think that her greatest strength is in the unparalleled powerful rock voice of hers and find these tracks rather dull and uninteresting compared to the more rock-sounding tunes.  All in all, this is a solid follow-up work by Superfly aiming to capture broader range of audience and I don't doubt it will be well-received by most of them.
Superfly gave a free performance on 9/2 at the Roppongi Hills arena in celebration of Box Emotions being dropped. Although this gig was announced only a day in advance, a couple of thousands of people showed up to catch the free performance by the rising star. I was lucky enough to be in the arena to watch her perform some of the tracks from the new album for the first time as well as her biggest hit tune from the previous album "Ai-wo-Komete-Hanataba-wo". It was my first time seeing her perform live and man, this girl's got pipes. I would love to see perform live again.