My Million Live Playlist

I looped a lot of IDOLM@STER MILLION LIVE songs a lot the past twelve months, but after the third anniversary live I think I’ve been focusing on just a handful. Feels like worth sharing with you which, if only as a time-frozen snapshot of how it feels like.

Karen & Ritsuko

It’s a long list even after some heavy pruning, so in the interest of keeping a short list, I’ll just have two: the top 10, and the next 20 or so. The tiers reflects more my sentimental attachment than anything, but within tiers there are no ranks. To put it into perspectives, as of this writing, there are something like 152 Million Live vocal songs.

Youtubes and what not links when available.

First tier:

  • G♡F – Top image is sort of what this song is like. Full on corny cartoon girls being super coy about puppy romance! It’s actually called “Girlfriend” if you say it out loud, and the silly typography reflects fully reflects how corny this song is. But this is way too catchy.
  • アイル- Airu – I already like nano.RIPE (unironically), who produced the song. I like ML, I like Machico’s singing voice. Airu is that plus a little more context from the ML manga. But ML3rd took this up a few notches.
  • プラリネ – Praline – Julia and nano.RIPE at full power. It’s too cool for school. Thanks to her Bang Dream job Aimin has even gotten better at guitaring this. For a point of reference, here is Kimiko covering it. And by that I mean it’s obvious the band plays the backing track so…
  • Blue Symphony – Easy dance and nice smooth choreo, simple but cool rhythmic drawing of long sounds, and really nice set of singers make this song an early and easy favorite. Not just for me, but in general.
  • Bigバルーン◎ - Big Balloon – It’s not a song I loop all that much but when I heard it during Nagoya I basically cut onion like mad. It really snuck up on me with a sledgehammer of feels. The lyrics sort of backs this up.
  • U・N・M・E・I ライブ – UNMEI Live – This song is simple and straightforward, but it embeds the core tenant of the Lantis Million Live effort. It’s fun, light, full of call hooks,room for catchy dance moves, and you can even ad-lib in the bridge.
  • ジレるハートに火をつけて – Jireru heart ni hi o tsukete – The song itself isn’t that great, especially the way Lantis presented it, but in the live this song is a riot. ML2nd and ML3rd also did a great job setting up the dance teams for it for max gap.
  • Rebellion – This is most people’s first ML song, and you can see why. The Chokaigi rendition from Nunu was the best out there.
  • Eternal Harmony – Unlike Jireru I think this song is way better just quantitatively speaking, but we’ve only got a few duets here and there even if it has a great choreo to go with too. Maybe Mingos will cover it during an anniversary live iono.
  • ココロがかえる場所 – Kokoro ga kaeru basho – This was my defining song on 10th day 2 and it’s no less powerful today.

Second tier:

  • Sentimental Venus – God tier ML song in general, thanks to ML2nd. But really, if you’ve seen this song on day 1 SSA you would already keyed this in your mind’s retina. In a way this song is like the guardian angel of IM@S lives…to let us know things will be all right even if something bad happens during the live, and it’ll just be all the more sentimental, looking back.
  • Welcome!! – The second of the ML group songs, this one is special because it is the most fun live and I like it more than Dreaming!! Plus it’s got those secondary DD calls…
  • 夜に輝く星座のように – Yoru ni Kagayaku Seiza no You ni – This is like an early ’10s SHAFT OP quality. The two idols singing it are not the best fit vocally but their characters are perfect for it. Old school enough to be catchy and new school enough to party with in 2016.
  • Growing Storm! – Otome Storm’s theme song, it’s actually one of the more catchy ones. I thought the LTH group themes were kind of hit and miss, but this one probably pins well above average even if it’s not my among favorites.
  • Decided – It’s like the only Matsuri song on my list partly because whenever I hear Illumination I go into call practice mode, and it’s not that fun of a song (although you do those classic matsuri calls for it…). Uh anyways, this song is hilarious live because seeing Miina and Suwachan doing the furi cracks me up for the serious-not-serious gap. Also it’s a pretty cool song too. Also like how Decided drops references to a Matsuri song (Festa Illumination) and a Konomin song (Suichuu Candy)!
  • アライブファクター – Alive Factor – This power duet is powerful when witnessed live and now that I have that context to go with the song, it’s a notch more interesting for casual listening. In some sense this song could have been a lot more powerful if arranged/presented above its idol context even.
  • 夢色トレイン- Yumeiro Train – It goes choo choo. It’s got Mocho doing conductor in English. That’s almost better than JR. Also, you shouldn’t MIX to this song but you so caaaannnn…
  • Day After “Yesterday” – Another assuring tune about self doubt and a uplifting song? What’s not to like.
  • WOW! I NEED!! ~シンギングモンキー 歌唱拳~ -WOW! I NEED!! ~Singing Monkey Kashou Ken~ – The ludicrous title goes with a Mami song about love’s battles. It’s really catchy and builds up nicely. Nice calls too, if you like Bruce Lee.
  • りんごのマーチ – Apple March – Think what you may of Marble, but the magic still exists in the music of Kikuchi.
  • Super Lover – This song for me is always going to be how  Yuiton tries to be a sexy Nao, and kind of fails because Nao fails at being sexy. The song is catchy and cool, but the calls are nice now with those claps…
  • サマ☆トリ ~Summer trip~ – Summer Trip – Yeah summer trip is about summer trip. The redundantly kira☆kira name reflects maybe Reika’s airheadedness, but it’s kind of catchy in the same way GF was? But it’s also a nice tune I guess. Really stands up to listening IMO.
  • 絵本- Ehon – We joke about Shiho’s erohon, but the song is a moving ballad fitting Tenchan’s vocals more than the faux-cool stuff she likes to strut out.
  • Catch my dream – I had a hard time putting this song in this tier because I think it’s really a tier 1 song for me. Coupled with Koroazu’s vocals this song is a feels machine. Won’t be surprised it goes back up the next time I do this.
  • …In The Name of. …LOVE? – This song originally felt way too gimmicky to enjoy on a normal basis but after watching it from Miliraji Party 02 it really sold me as a song that is much better than I have taken it for. Now it’s more an earworm. An earworm with feels aaaah.
  • Happy Darling – Happyda is the kind of song that feels like a proper upbeat image song for a bipolar-y girl who “turns on” on the stage, but it was sooooo much better live with the full calls and the interplay between Nansu and the crowd. I’m glad I experienced it!
  • Nageki no Fraction – Chiaking continues to showcase her amazing vocals. I mean serious this woman can sing like the best of them.
  • チョー↑元気Show☆アイドルch@ng! – Chou Genki Show Idolch@ng! – This song is so hype both in the live and on the record. I don’t know, you just have to see it. A.R.I.S.A!!! Also, this is the most Rieshon thing ever.
  • PRETTY DREAMER – When you ask me to name the first ML song on the top of my head 100 different times on 100 different days, I think this one might come out as the most frequent one. Maybe it’s more a testament of how likely I remember a show if you repeat the name of the song in the song? Well I guess this song does repeat a lot of things too…
  • 恋花 – Koibana – Probably my gateway ML song, as the first that I heard and liked. As how it relates to Hara Yumi’s performance, Koibana felt like an upgrade to Kazahana for her style.
  • Dear… – Reminds me of the time when I was looping Utada, lol.

Bonus: 求ム VS マイ・フューチャー – Motomu vs My Future – It’s wrestling idol song…that becomes alive during ML3rd. Something you really have to see once it comes out on Blu-ray.


2 Responses to “My Million Live Playlist”

  • TheBigN

    >>An earworm with feels aaaah.

    And the beat drops nicely in this song, which is more than I’d expect.

    I feel like I’ve only listened to a handful of songs from ML, but ones that I like besides some of what you’ve listed her include 合言葉はスタートアップ! – Aikotoba wa Start Up! (and from that same album, ストロベリー・キューピッド – Strawberry Cupid and smiley days), ハッピー☆ラッキー☆ジェットマシーン – Happy☆Lucky☆Jet Machine and 鳥籠スクリプチュア – Torikago Scripture.

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