I don’t care if it hurts, I wanna have control a perfect Jukebox score…
[Video][Website]
[4.43]
Iain Mew: There are moments in the chorus when it briefly resembles Alanis Morissette covering the middle eight of Radiohead’s “Creep”, but for the most part its metallic thickness is a much stranger thing than that suggests. While quicksilver sludge in this form is too wearing a feel to work for me, at least it intrigues for a while on its way to being too much.
[4]
Thomas Inskeep: The dream of ’90s rock is alive in this single, equal parts Lenny Kravitz and Liz Phair. Extra point for the way Shiina bends her voice.
[4]
Micha Cavaseno: In an unfortunate twist of fate, Shiina Ringo has placed her love of cheesy “jazzy” flourishes on the coatrack in favor of bland stadium rock with a slightly alt. edge. It undoes the flamboyant witchiness she can never shake off by providing a groove so… well, dumb. It’s worse than dumb, because quite frankly, she’s far above this sort of buttrock riff that even a 5th-tier group of American meth addicts getting played on “Modern Alternative Rock Radio” somewhere would turn their nose at. I know “Rocking Out” has so much symbolic use for a ton of people, but much like watching someone piss themselves, I don’t get much out of this continued farce of 50 year old pointless gimmickry instead of craft. Shiina can do better, will do better, and I don’t have to put up with this bullshit just because I think she’s talented. Its exactly that, however, that makes this a crock of shit.
[2]
Ramzi Awn: I’m pretty sure if you take acid and play “Shijou no Jinsei” and Radiohead’s “Creep” at the same time, you instantly turn into a Japanese Kurt Cobain.
[4]
Brad Shoup: Hot like a demo: all the levels turned to Fuck Your Ears, and the sense that Shiina is conserving on the verses to better contemplate how to attack the refrain. I love the harmonic space the guitar carves out, but the track’s too long without backing vocals or a French horn solo or something. But make no mistake: she does flay the refrain.
[6]
Will Adams: Muddy, mid-’90s pop-rock like this will almost always win in my book; you can practically hear the sepia tone. But despite its chorus, which pulls out all the stops, “Shijou no Jinsei” drags in spots.
[6]
Patrick St. Michel: I’m not sure why I ever doubt Shiina Ringo. It’s easy to listen to her first three albums — all excellent in their own ways — and long for that Ringo, but then you remember she already did everything she could to the J-pop landscape. She released an album last year I was dreading to listen to, but turned out to be solid, World Cup anthems and all. “Shijou no Jinsei” is nothing remarkable, but as far as ballads go it’s still better than most, especially when delivered by Ringo’s vice grip voice. Even her phoned in songs still have something special to them.
[5]