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I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Reiko Minaki -- Setsunakute(せつなくて)


In a way, I guess this article can also be considered to be an All-Points Bulletin since I have no idea who this singer is. I'm not even sure if the family name is pronounced right since apparently according to Jisho.org, there are multiple readings for it and I couldn't get any clarity on the singer's biography. But for right now, I will be calling her Reiko Minaki(皆木麗子).

So scarce is the information on this singer that it even took me a while to track down the fact that this particular single "Setsunakute" (Heartrending) was released in November 1994. However, I could guess that this was a 90s release from the shape of the CD single cover seen above and that particular arrangement for the song which reminded me of a number of other not-so-well-known singers from that time period that have ended up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" and one famous singer from that decade, ZARD. It's a pretty nice song and despite the fact that it's of average length at a little over four minutes, it's also quite zippy.

It was kind of the uploader to include the songwriting information. Lyricist Kiyoko Kitagawa(北川清子)and composer Akemi Kubota(久保田朱美)were behind "Setsunakute" with Masaki Iwamoto(岩本正樹)handling the arrangement. Ah, and the song was the ending theme for the TV Asahi drama "No Make"(ノーメイク...Sans Makeup). Aside from that, I have no other information on this lass, so if any of you know anything more about Minaki (along with the proper pronunciation of her last name), please drop me a line.

4 comments:

  1. Hi J-Canuck!

    Name's reading is correct.
    Here's a bit of information about her:
    https://auctions.c.yimg.jp/images.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/image/dr000/auc0401/users/6/1/3/3/rund77-img640x480-1516300933sciufv21044.jpg
    So, 2 singles and one album ("Permanent Love").
    Later known as SORA. Only one single in 2002, a cover of VOICE 1993 song "24時間の神話"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Once again to the rescue, Daemonskald! Thanks very much and I'm glad that the name issue could be resolved quickly.

      Delete
  2. Oops!
    Made a mistake; she had 3 singles under Reiko Minaki's name, not only 2:
    - "Boy" (ボーイ - 1993/12/12); ending theme of TV show "KISS KISS"
    - "Yume wo Dakishimete" (夢を抱きしめて - 1994/06/01) ; ending theme of TV show "Kuniko ga Touch!" (邦子がタッチ!)
    - "Setsunakute" (せつなくて - 1994/11/02)

    Then her album, "Permanent Love" was out in 1995/07/01. All at Sony Records label.

    Then came back in 2002 with new name, SORA, and new record label, Victor Entertainment. Had 2 singles:
    - 24 Jikan no Shinwa (24時間の神話 - 2002/06/21); a cover of VOICE's song out in 1993
    - Niji wo wataru Kaze no youni (虹を渡る風のように - 2004/06/23); ending theme of TV program "The Wide" (ザ・ワイド)

    And then disappeared for good...

    You can find all of the album tracks on Youtube. It certainly has this ZARD vibe on some songs.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I had Permanent Love album (even ripped off it) but forget where I've been put those.. here's my fav in those album that I've saved xD
    https://soundcloud.com/mardani-frederick/sns0llf0iixn
    u can eMail me if still curious with that full album, I'll search it for u if u want

    ReplyDelete

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