Aoyama Thelma – 守りたいもの [4th Single]
Aoyama Thelma’s 4th single, entitled 守りたいもの, was released on 11.12.08. The title track was used as the theme song for the dorama Team Batista no Iko.
守りたいもの is a sweet song that Thelma brings to life. The song begins with a soft and calming instrumental that drives the chorus. Her vocals here show a gentle emotion that gets under the skin of the listener and then some pure instrumentation kicks in. There is a much more poppy sound about it that can be shown without Thelma’s vocals and it wasn’t the best choice since it doesn’t sound particularly capturing. She sounds pretty good on the verses and somehow the poppiness of the song works a lot better here. Although the song is pretty simple, Thelma manages to bring out the calming prettiness in it with that wintery atmosphere perfect for season.
The B-side is the upbeat and catchy MADONNA. The song takes off on a good note with an exotic instrumental that smoothly entices the listener. When the first verse comes in, Thelma keeps the strength as her vocals give that sleekness that is perfectly mirrored in the instrumentation. On the chorus, she brings even more vocal strength to make it stand out and she sounds very comfortable here. There is a little rap section in English and Thelma gives that cute attitude that finds its home on the song. MADONNA is a fantastic song, possibly the best song she has released thusfar and could have been the A-side.
In order to promote the single, a PV for 守りたいもの was made. The video is very pretty featuring Thelma in a snowing setting under a gray sky. As the video goes on, the sky clears into a beautiful day. Thelma looks very pretty throughout and it makes for a very enjoyable video.
Single Ranking: A
Thelma certainly stepped it up from her last single and this song is even one of her most memorable ones to date. It has that wintery charm to compliment the sweetness that keeps the listener wanting more. MADONNA compliments the A-side perfectly by taking on a cool upbeat sound with attitude.
Amai Wana 
Karen said,
November 12, 2008 at 3:45 am
it kinda suck that 守りたいもの debuted at no.16 on the 1st day :O , aiyo & it’s only the 1st day , is the song that bad to begin with ???
amaiyume said,
November 12, 2008 at 7:30 am
I think the song is really good!!! Quite possibly the best song she’s released…it’s definitely better than Soba ni Iru…and a LOT better than Nando mo…this just goes to show that Thelma’s popularity has taken a REAL hit…poor girl 😦
Karen said,
November 12, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I don’t think Aoyama was popular to begin with because Soba ni Iru was considered a sleeper hit as no 1 expected it to have done so well .
Anyway it’s quite unfortunate such a thing has happened , hopefully things will pick up in due time
amaiyume said,
November 13, 2008 at 7:49 am
It was really weird for Soba ni Iru was a big hit since her previous single flopped…I don’t really know how that happened or why since IMO the song sucked lol
But this song was good and I figured she could at least retain some of the popularity from that single but the previous single did badly too…the album sold OK I think
Karen said,
November 13, 2008 at 11:54 pm
at least Nando mo debuted in the top10 overall for the daily & weekly chart . Something’s not going well this time round