Takashi Nagayama, or “Nagayan”, is a Japanese actor & singer. He is probably best known for his roles as Eiji Kikumaru in the Prince of Tennis musicals and Tōshirō Hitsugaya in “Rock Musical Bleach”.  He made his television debut in 1998 with the drama Change, and his debut single [Kokoro Ga.../ My Heart...] was released in 2005 (exact date unknown- not even available to purchase)

The single opens with the endearing 「心が…」(My Heart…) a slow, calm soft rock number with jazz and subtle gospel influences. Nagayan’s vocals shocked me the first time I heard them, they sound very young and have a unique tone to them but they aren’t bad at all. He sings with a lot of emotion and his vocals are pretty powerful- not too nasal either. This song sounds like a bittersweet love song of sorts, but mainly due to the vocals it sounds sweeter than bitter. I also appreciate that just as the song is becoming repetitive, it subtly begins to change for the “kokoro ga, sayonara” part and afterwards. I really like that part of the song- the last half. But I guess I really like the entire song. It’s quite simple, borders on being a bit too repetitive, but it’s calming  to listen to and has a sweet feeling to it. I do wonder though at “kokoro ga, sayonara” – my heart, goodbye?

Following that is 「おくるうた」(A Song for You) – which more upbeat, quicker and livelier,  than 「心が…」 but is still the same kind of soft rock. Nagayan’s vocals are still childish, but it makes this sound youthful and fun. I don’t like the backing vocals/layering of his vocals in the chorus much, but it’s not obnoxious/difficult to listen to. This song is also a bit repetitive, more noticeably than 「心が…」, because despite the liveliness of the song I feel bored.  Finally there is an instrumental solo, and then how the song changes for the bridge.  Nagayan’s scream/woah thing is bizarre though…really I have no idea what he is trying to do there because it fails at anything other than an animal like noise. So yeah, a pretty average song which would be nice to listen to in the background- apart from weird backing vocals, and an even weirder attempt at a exhilarated shout.

The third track is 「雨音」(The Sound of the Rain) which is pretty funky with some lovely bass. Like both of the previous tracks, the instrumentation is pretty simple but effective- just allowing Nagayan to take over and drive the song forward. His vocals actually manage to sound mature and smooth here. Throughout, I really like the rhythm of this song, it’s cool and laidback but not slow, or dragging. And the chorus- Nagayan’s vocals are just great and I love the electronic distortion. This song is really cool. It’s simple, and repetitive but I love the electronic effects, and the “cool” feeling. The gospel influences come out again, quite strongly here, with what sounds like an organ during the end.

Lastly is a different version of the title track, 「心が…」(Toscana version). It’s noticeably shorter than the original, and there is definitely something different about the instrumentation… yes, it’s more string based? I think this version brings out the ballad of this song. It’s nice, but the strings are obviously fake and well… was there any point to this really?

Overall rating: 4/5 (Good)
Favourite tracks: 心が…, 雨音

I really liked this. It’s simple, but effective. Each song is different from the last, but they are definitely soft, bordering on pop, rock with some jazz and gospel influences. It’s quite a unique style, something I don’t hear a lot of personally. Nagayan’s vocals are childish sounding however there is something captivating about them, and it does make his music very unique; give it a unique feeling. There really isn’t much else to say about this… it’s good, it’s nice, it’s relaxing and lovely to listen to- unfortunately it just doesn’t go beyond that to be 5/5 or awesomeness (above 5).