【予選1st 第21ブロックA】OTONOVA2023 - fierce battle to the last minute

As a lover of all kinds of music, I have been following with great excitement the fate of all the performers who entered this wonderful event that is the Otonova2023 competition. 

In this block, we could witness a fierce duel until the last minute between fans of two great personalities like 石原有輝香 (Yukika Ishihara) and the band Pale Diary. I have to admit , I was very impressed by both of them and I congratulate both of them on their advancement and current struggles in the second qualifying round.

In the case of 石原有輝香 (Yukika Ishihara) who is a wonderful singer and songwriter hailing from Kobayashi City, I was impressed by the intriguing timbre of her voice with a wide range of tones whose range is truly awe-inspiring (from very low to very high). Her voice is very warm, but also very powerful at the same time. I also greatly admire Yukika-san for her continuous development in several aspects of life, and all at once! Yukika-san is constantly developing as a solo singer under her own label "Ishihara Yukika", as a vocalist in the band "Nishitachi Blue", as a guitarist and as a pianist because, in addition to her excellent vocals, she can play both instruments sensationally. And she balances all this with motherhood. This is amazing. I would like as many people as possible to listen to her excellent original song "夏響" available on her Youtube channel (@yukikaTV), which impresses with its pure flawless sound. Most noteworthy is that it is a video of a live performance, which enhances the listening experience and gives you the opportunity to get to know Yukika-san better.

In the case of the four-member band Pale Diary, I was delighted by the excellent balance between Nino's gentle voice (who is also the band's guitarist) and the band's powerful yet mellow sound. Each of the three singles they have released impresses with their original sound, and they also evolve more and more from single to single. I live outside of Japan and so far have not been given the opportunity to listen to you live, but thanks at least to the MV for the song "2分間だけ" played live in "渋谷eggman", which is available on the band's Youtube channel (@palediaryofficial166), I was able to imagine the wonderful atmosphere and experience the accompanying emotions. Everything about this performance is enthralling: the lyricism, which is dosed to us along with various emotions through Nino's vocals, the rhythm section as well as the sheer chemistry of these guys. This is a good band that deserves more attention.

I would also like to thank two great artists like Aria Aoki and Saito Mei for their hard work and participation in the preliminaries. In my opinion, there was just a lack of luck in this competition.