Happiness experiments with rap/rock sound on “Rewind” and hits more than misses

Following FLOWER experimenting with their sound on “Monochrome“, Happiness went ahead and also did the same, going with a rap/rock heavy release on “Rewind“.

The rapping was more like fast talking, but the verses were surprisingly adequate nevertheless. The conviction and attitude shown on the track was enough to power it through with the guitar riff serving as the main driver forward. During the vocal parts, the lower register was a relief to hear on this type of concept that’s supposed to have edge, though the echoing effect gets more mixed reviews from me as it worked in sections but seemed unnecessary in spots.

Initially, the chorus didn’t dig its hooks in, but on repeated listens the vocals with interlaced rapping worked better than I anticipated. That said, the repetition of “rewind” probably should’ve been switched up at some point, as that’s the only part that became a bit grating. Fortunately, the bridge provided a nice calm section when it was needed and allowed the track to build momentum back up. It ended with appropriate power ballad vocals, and the rock instrumental re-entered on the back-end and setup the closing well.

“Rewind” definitely had its share of flaws it needed to work around, but there were definitely more intriguing and/or appealing elements than not.

The video is … interesting? I still don’t get the plot of it, honestly. Apparently they are a wanted gang who are also like police special forces and they were rewinding time at the end or something.

Oh well, doesn’t matter much, I guess. Most importantly they were all visual as fuck…

…and the more aggressive sound finally means their dance style fits with the music.

Well … except for Yurino doing whatever the fuck possessed her to attempt that twerk. Fuck it, I guess.

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“Rewind” was more hit than miss for me, but there was definitely room for improvement in certain sections. It doesn’t surprise me that the release works better with the visual experience, but this is still the kind of song that I wouldn’t stop listening to if it came up on the radio or a playlist. So in the end, I think they can mark the experiment down as a success and hopefully they continue to mix it up a bit going forward.