The girls of ME:I have released a new video on their official YouTube channel. This time, it’s for Million Stars, one of the songs from their latest single, MUSE. This is actually a performance video, similar to the one they released for Ready Go. Like their Pokémon theme, Million Stars also has a retro vibe, but I think this one feels even more nostalgic. The electronic music has a strong 80s synthwave sound, and the video starts with a grainy filter in shades of pink, purple, and indigo that really sets the mood.
ME:I (ミーアイ) ⊹ ‘Million Stars’ Performance Video
Maybe it’s that 80s sound, but I loved this song from the very first beat. It’s fast-paced, as you’d expect from this style. Right before the chorus, you can hear that classic electronic drum roll that’s so iconic of 80s music—yet it still keeps that super cute ME:I energy. The choreography is great, and their outfits are the same ones they wear in the opening scene of the MUSE music video. I think Shii-chan looks super cute in that outfit. They kind of look like school uniforms, but I’m not sure what kind exactly.
As usual, I do have one little complaint: the aspect ratio. The video starts in a 1.45 aspect ratio, similar to the old 4:3 TV format, but right before the first line of the song, it switches to an ultrawide format, almost 12:5. I guess I can’t complain about the video not filling the screen anymore, but I still find it annoying that there are black bars throughout—either on the sides or on the top and bottom. I’m not a filmmaker, so maybe I just don’t understand the creative satisfaction they get from adding black bars to everything.
Luckily, I found a Chrome extension that lets me zoom in on YouTube videos and fit them to my screen. It works perfectly on my ultrawide monitor, and it even works on a regular 16:9 screen—you just lose a bit of the sides, but usually, there’s nothing important there anyway.
Back to the music, this is the song I’ve been listening to the most lately. By the way, although I wasn’t too into Ready Go at first, it’s really grown on me after a few listens. The song itself is great; it’s just the distorted vocal effect that still feels a bit off to me.
Toward the end of the video, the colors on the screen behind the girls shift again. First, it turns orange, then green, and finally goes back to the original pink and purple hues—which happen to match the colors of the MUSE single.
That makes three out of the four songs from the single that now have videos on their YouTube channel. I really hope they’ll do something similar for Affogato as well. It’s a much calmer song with a sweet theme, like some of their other tracks, and it has a rhythm that feels like a mix of several styles—maybe even a little tropical.
ME:I – Million Stars (Performance Video)