BoA -- MeriKuri (メリクリ)

Recently, JTM was kind enough to send me a recording of a radio broadcast that comes on regularly in which a couple of professionals in the music industry discuss about Japanese music whether it be kayo kyoku or J-Pop through various themes. The theme for this episode was on the lyricist Chinfa Kan（康珍化）. Now anyone who knows a lot about Japanese pop music from the 1980s should know about this fellow since he notably wrote songs for Anri（杏里）. And I was actually surprised to find out from the broadcast that his first laying down of the words came on Ann Lewis' "Shampoo" which I had only written about late last month. And that song was all the way back in 1979.

Well, Kan was still laying down the words into the 21st century. He provided the lyrics for Korean singer BoA's "MeriKuri" (Merry Christmas), a gentle ballad composed by Kazuhiro Hara（原一博）almost as a country-pop song. Highlighting the Japanese attitude toward Xmas as a 2nd Valentine's Day, BoA sings about a couple falling in love as the snowflakes come down. There's some of this song which reminds me about another Xmas song that I had written about earlier this month, Hikaru Utada's（宇多田ヒカル）"Can't Wait Til Christmas".

Released in December 2004, this was BoA's 15th single which was also a track on her "BEST OF SOUL", a BEST album released in February 2005. The album hit the top of the charts and became the 9th-ranked album of the year. Meanwhile "MeriKuri" itself peaked at No. 5 while becoming the 74th-ranked single for 2005.

Should try to get some more of BoA since this is just the 2nd article I've attributed to her so far on the blog. For her other entry, take a look here.