Quote:
Originally Posted by novalysis
The incorporation of a wide range of musical influence, I feel is something that can keep the Love Live Franchise going, and making each iteration of the franchise and each new group feel distinct from one another. A willingness to play in a wider range of genre and musical material provides much more opportunity for each group to distinctively develop their own identity
I'm hoping that Thrilling One Way is not the furthest into heavy music they take Aqours into. It is hard to pinpoint exactly why, but I feel that the differences between Aqours and Muse come out most strongly in those genres outside of the traditional idol fare. To me, Daydream Warriors and Thrilling One Way is uniquely Aqours (even when compared to Daring! or After School Navigators, the closest comparable Muse song I can think of out of the top of my head), while more "normal" pieces like "Is your Heart Shining?" feels as if it could easily be sung by Muse without much of a difference.
Then again, Aqours started feeling like a distinct group to me, with Mijuku Dreamers. It might actually have been a deliberate strategy, to start Aqours out to resemble Muse and gradually have them perform songs that distinguish them from Muse.
I actually wouldn't be surprised, if it turns out that the next Guilty Kiss song due to come out with the BDs might be even heavier than Thrilling One Way.
Ultimately, I think the idea of each group having to find their own identity distinct from Love Live, is both going to be a theme within the "narrative" of Love Live (so the next group will take a season to realize the need to distinguish themselves from Aqours, just as Aqours took a season to distinguish themselves in Muse), and in actual musical output.
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Haha, I know exactly how you feel. That said, I think a bit of a backstory is in order...
I first got into Love Live some time after the second season of the original series finished, so I ended up going on a bit of an anime and music binge to get caught up with everything. Naturally, when LLSunshine was announced, I was a bit hesitant to become interested in it because, face it, we can be pretty resistant to change.
That resistance started to crack as I started to watch LLSunshine from start to finish, and even more so as they introduced more songs throughout the series. The first time I heard the ending "Yume Kataru yori Yume Utaou", the first thought that came to my mind was that I could actually detect two ABBA songs in there: "Mamma Mia" and "Under Attack". The cracks grew upon listening to "Yume de Yozora o Terashitai" since I was pretty sure I could detect the Bee Gees in there somehow (used to listen to my dad's music collection as a kid during road trips), and as a sucker for music harmonies (whether it's dual lead guitar stuff in heavy metal or vocal melodies), any resistance that I had against LLSunshine was finally broken upon listening to "Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare".
Tying everything back together in response to you, and to keep things on track, I wholeheartedly agree with the notion that the decision to incorporate a wider range of influences into Aqours' songs has definitely given Aqours a unique feel compared to µ's. If they do choose to carry on with the franchise after Aqours' story is wrapped up, I'm looking forward to seeing how this will affect all future songs for future groups.
Random thought is random: if the heavier songs from the original Love Live series were influenced by Judas Priest, will the heavier songs from LLSunshine be influenced by Iron Maiden, or will they stick to the bluesy hard rock of Guns-N-Roses?
Heh, this has been a pretty good discussion. I'm definitely glad to be posting on the forums again after years of inactivity, and what better way to do so than to talk about music in the Love Live sub-section?