Morning Musume '15 - Sukatto My Heart Music Video Thoughts

    The Promotion Edit (aka the Official Music Video on the YouTube Channel) was finally uploaded for Morning Musume ‘15’s new song: Sukatto My Heart. Before I begin to share my thoughts on the music video, I’d like to talk about the costumes. While I’ve seen some very mixed things about the costumes, I personally like them. The sailor outfits with the slightly sexy look (exposed midriff) are actually quite cute and I really like how they each have a slight personal touch to them in order to fit each girl while still remaining relatively uniform. Having skirts instead of pants or shorts is also a nice touch, because it helps the dance feel more elegant, which plays off of the disco vibe due to the giant disco ball prominently displayed during the whole video.

    The video itself is your standard Hello! Project fare, which constitutes dancing with some kind of unique backdrop. It doesn’t really tell a story, and the creativity lies strictly with how the dancing and the performance is presented. For what it sets out to accomplish, it’s a fantastic style, but not everybody will like this when compared with the really flashy and creative videos of some other groups (or even of some of the other videos within H!P).

    That being said, compared to what Morning Musume ’15 has done lately, this isn’t one of their most complexes dances. Still, it really fits the music really well. There are a lot of sections where the group splits in two or three and they coordinate a different dance move to add a dynamic to the mix or to shift focus to particular members. While this isn’t something fresh or innovative, it’s used extremely effectively here. It essentially makes it feel like the members being displayed are surrounded by a very fancy picture frame and it looks really cool. The stage itself is pretty plain, but there is a giant disco ball overhead which adds a little flare. That, coupled with the smoke effects and the way the lighting is used is what makes this video really fun to watch. Plus, Erina does a cartwheel, which always makes me happy!

    There are also two different types of solo shots featured in the video. One I really like and the other I think is only ok. The one I really like is the one where they are standing amidst a bland background with smoke behind them and light shining from behind which makes them stand out like a shining star. The one I think is only OK is the one where they are on the same stage that they dance on but the disco ball is lowered and displayed right behind them. It merely doesn’t feel as creative as the smoky solo shots in my opinion, that’s all. Speaking of cuts, something I noticed is that this video tends to cut and transition a little too often, so you never really have enough time to properly appreciate each scene. I’m hoping this will be edited a little more with the official release with the single later this month.

    After everything is said and done though, the song is really catchy, really fun and the dancing really complements that. The video is really flashy and as a result it’s really eye-catching. Each member is featured to an extent so you get to see everybody shine. Being the second video released for their upcoming triple A-side single, I have high hopes for the final video.

    Morning Musume ‘15’s upcoming single, Oh my wish! / Sukatto My Heart / Imasugu Tobikomu Yuuki releases on August 19, 2015. You can pre-order it at cdjapan.co.jp.

Morning Musume ’15 is:

-          Mizuki Fukumura
-          Erina Ikuta
-          Riho Sayashi
-          Kanon Suzuki
-          Haruna Iikubo
-          Ayumi Ishida
-          Masaki Sato
-          Haruka Kudo
-          Sakura Oda
-          Haruna Ogata
-          Miki Nonaka
-          Maria Makino
-          Akane Haga

You can watch the full music video below: