Puella Magi Madoka Magica ☆ Magia Exedra Game Theme Song "Lighthouse" FictionJunction feat. LINO LEIA

Nah, they didn't hear me. Those extra vocal credits were in every post and announcement since the OP animation's release and the ARTIST listed is still "FictionJunction feat. LINO LEIA", despite KAORI taking the lead in the bridge, which was my issue.
 
tsubasa said:
They can just make it FictionJunction to make it less complicated 😂
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But then Kajiura will be acting surprised again that it's never been a "unit", just her with guests.

Just to add to this, because I feel like venting. Warning: This is just me caring about bullshit like this. I realize others might not care about this subject or situation at all.

This loose way of listing singers on FictionJunction releases started around PARADE. If you're checking VGMDB credits for PARADE, they are not actually accurate to the way they are printed in the booklet. Singers are NOT always listed in the same line for every song.

Nowhere in the booklet will you see something like VGMDB's:
Code: 
M-05
Feat: rito, KEIKO, YURIKO KAIDA, Joelle
for "MOU KIMINOKOTO WO MITAKUNAI".

What it actually is in backcover and lyrics pages:
Code: 
feat. rito
What it actually is in credits:
Code: 
feat. rito

KEIKO
YURIKO KAIDA
Joelle
But you might ask "well isn't it the same as the credits on VGMDB list it?" And I'd say no. Because those other singers are not actually in the "feat. rito" credit.

So the way it is in the CREDITS (not as an artist listed in the backcover or lyrics pages) is the following:

Code: 
SONG TITLE
feat. ARTIST

(...)
Chorus: YURIKO KAIDA
Code: 
SONG TITLE
feat. 
ARTIST1
ARTIST2
ARTIST3

(...)
Chorus: YURIKO KAIDA
Obvious. All non-chorus singers equal. Happens on "from the edge" and "Sokyu no Fanfare" respectively. I don't think there is a "chorus" credit on any other track - why it is like this compared to other songs, I do not know. Maybe because these were the two songs (and I guess tie-ins) released before PARADE. Definitely an inconsistency with the rest.

Code: 
SONG TITLE
feat. 
ARTIST1
ARTIST2
ARTIST3
Like on "Sokyu no Fanfare" but without the chorus credit. All "feat." artists billed equally (not one artist listed directly next to the "feat. " with others underneath). "KOTONOHOKAYAWARAKAI" for example.

Yes, KOTONOHOKAYAWARAKAI is credited to "FictionJunction feat. KAORI/KEIKO/YURIKO KAIDA/Joelle", much like something like "YAKOU TORYO" is credited to "FictionJunction feat. ASCA" despite "YAKOU TORYO" having more singers doing backing vocals and listed in the credits like below:

Code: 
SONG TITLE
feat. ARTIST1

ARTIST2
ARTIST3
On many songs with "our regulars" (KEIKO's bokumachi cover), Sony artists (ASCA's "YAKOU TORYO") or other guests (rito, LL, AIRA). Implication (or my assumption) being that it corresponds to the artist credit "FictionJunction feat. ARTIST1", with the first line "feat. ARTIST1" meaning the lead singer and other singers not being billed equally, implying chorus/backing vocals.

(To be fair, there is always a full line break in PARADE booklet credits after the "feat. ARTIST" line when there are more singers listed underneath. The line break isn't there in "lighthouse" credits. More inconsistencies coming in.)

I guess this is all up for interpretation 'cause this is just a dumb way that they chose to do credits now.

And to build on that even more, this isn't exactly "new" now.

"Nohara"'s credits on FictionJunction's "elemental" album and "Toki no mukou..." single:
Code: 
Vocal KEIKO
Chorus KAORI/WAKANA/YURIKO KAIDA
And yes, KAORI gets to sing lead vocals on "Nohara"'s bridge too, like on "lighthouse".

I feel (and it's why I am aggrevated, but you might not be) if you're announcing something as "FictionJunction feat. ARTIST" (or having separate credits for Vocal and Chorus like on "Nohara") that should be implying the lead vocals. Point blank. Clearly Yuki Kajiura and her team don't actually agree with me.

But then I guess I have a question for people whose brains work faster, are there any Kajiura produced songs in which Yuriko Kaida actually takes over the bridge (or Kaori Nishina)? And by "take over" I mean singing lead vocals for an extended period of time (without the actual solo artist present) and regular lyrics that are in the booklets, not something they did not even bother to include.
 
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grunty said:
But then I guess I have a question for people whose brains work faster, are there any Kajiura produced songs outside of FictionJunction in which Yuriko Kaida actually takes over the bridge (or Kaori Nishina)? And by "take over" I mean singing lead vocals for an extended period of time (without the actual solo artist present) and regular lyrics that are in the booklets, not something they did not even bother to include.
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If "parallel hearts" counts..but that's only a one liner...

Most of the chorus made by Nishina and Yuriko doesn't take over the main vocals...even they're singing an entire solo stanza of Kajiurago chorus 😂
 
tsubasa said:
If "parallel hearts" counts..but that's only a one liner...
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Parallel Hearts is still credited to all of them on Vocal.

Code: 
Vocal WAKANA / KAORI / KEIKO / YURIKO KAIDA

At least in "elemental" booklet, cause I'm too lazy to check the single.

Edit:
And before anyone comes for me, allow me to re-iterate:
I realize this is just me being stupid and anal about certain things and maybe it would be better if I could just let it go and not work myself up.
I am what I am.
 
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grunty said:
But then I guess I have a question for people whose brains work faster, are there any Kajiura produced songs in which Yuriko Kaida actually takes over the bridge (or Kaori Nishina)? And by "take over" I mean singing lead vocals for an extended period of time (without the actual solo artist present) and regular lyrics that are in the booklets, not something they did not even bother to include.
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What comes to mind is Yume no Tsubasa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W0J02S064g where at 3:04 Yuriko repeats as a backing vocal a whole stanza of the song (the one at 1:08) But yea thats not additional lyrics.
 
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That's not that bad of an example. It does tread the line a bit, though maybe not to the extent of Nohara/lighthouse IMHO. It's not new lyrics and, like you said, the way Yuriko's vocals sound in that part (and consistently throughout the entire song) in the mix is nothing on par with Yui's lead vocals (not talking about performance or personal preferences).
 
grunty said:
And yes, KAORI gets to sing lead vocals on
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😅😅 Yeah that's how it seems. An uncredited lead.
grunty said:
the way Yuriko's vocals sound in that part (and consistently throughout the entire song) in the mix is nothing on par with Yui's lead vocals (not talking about performance or personal preferences).
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I think I've finally understood your point through the mix levels example. A backing vocalist shouldn't be mixed at the same level as the lead, especially someone like our dear Kaori who can take over the lead vocalist's role if they're not careful (with her intensity, belts, vibrato and all that) 😁😆😅
 
grunty said:
Sure. It's not just the levels in Yume no Tsubasa, it's how Yuriko's voice is processed too. I mean, you can NOT tell me this Kaori part in Nohara is "chorus" (backing vocal) work, even just within this song. Clearly a solo/lead, lol, and treated as such too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_hakUYHFHw&t=4m
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I've never heard this song before and I totally loved it as a showcase of Keiko's voice! 🌸🌸🌸

Nah, you're right. Kaori came in right after the modulation fully mixed forward. So Kajiura sees it as a chorus vocalist just popping forward to the front for a bit, then disappearing again? Maybe the dynamics with Kalafina has been in her ears all this time. Or she mixes those kinds of scenarios from the perspective of doing the song live?

Who knows?
 
^ Maybe the thought process was: Kajiura makes the song for Keiko.
Then adds Wakana-Yuriko for chorus, Kaori for backing Keiko.
Kaori goes puppy eyes "where is my part" :plz:
We end up with Kaori on the bridge, and the lead vocalist doing harmony to her lol

Highly possibly something similar happened for lighthouse lol
 
No particular surprises after the ED credits version. I feel it would've been a perfectly okay tie-in song that I'd enjoy whenever it comes up (even with the janky transitions), but I just can't get over that bridge... It still annoys me. :/
 
So I was finally able to listen on the full song as it just released in my area. So those parts after the flute was mainly for Lino Leia, then comes the final refrain/chorus, typical of Kajiura compositions nowadays I guess? The pattern of that last part kinda resembles from the edge, if you get what I mean.

I am overall satisfied with this song, and will be part of my daily playlist.
 
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