Girl rock trio Stereopony's fourth single Smilife is, true to its title, a bright and uptempo pop rock piece with plenty of spunky teen spirit. Written and composed by band vocalist AIMI, the energetic song draws fast lyrics and a positive message over a catchy melody and furious beats. The song is close in style to the girls' previous YUI collaboration single I do it, and should appeal to those looking for feel-good pop rock with a kick of youthful honesty and energy.

Side track Cupido follows in the same vein with a chirpy pop composition and clapping vigor. Though the song is standard fare, it's dressed up well with interestingly varied drum beats and well-timed sentiments. There is a bittersweet beauty to AIMI's atmospheric lyrics about young love and the last week of summer, and the song certainly comes at just the right time to connect with the heading-back-to-school crowd. Nagare Hoshi reaches a little further with abstract musings about life, loneliness, and growing up. The likable mid-tempo rock ballad has a clean, earthy sound, and though AIMI stretches a bit on high notes, overall her delivery is expressive and appropriate for the song's wistful sentiments. As a three-song package, Smilife captures youth at different emotional paces, and feels genuine and uplifting in its pop rock notes and bittersweet lyricism - being young and alive is something to smile about.

Stereopony's fast rise with their first two singles fueled talk of them being the next big band out of Okinawa, but without the anime tie-in, their following two singles have garnered less impressive sales. Either their curve is a lot lower than Orange Range and High and Mighty Color, or the best is still to come. Considering their young ages, cute looks, and upside talents, I choose to believe the latter.