miwa "Oneness" (Sony Records)
On her 2013 album "Delight," singer-songwriter miwa spent a lot of time stressing out over the change in her musical style. She gained attention in 2010 making reflective acoustic numbers while still in college, but three years later she had started dabbling in big pop moments and electronic sounds, finding herself conflicted at the possibility of alienating fans.
Her unease has vanished on "Oneness," a collection that finds miwa embracing pop with open arms. It's a familiar narrative in music history, most recently played out by U.S. artist Taylor Swift, who went from awww-shucks country to the pop titan that was able to sell out two shows at Tokyo Dome earlier this month. And, like Swift, miwa's shift is misleading because she has always written catchy songs that unabashedly attempt to appeal to as many people as possible. Now, she's just expanding her style to reach an even wider audience.