Eri Kojima -- One

 

It's been over eight years since the untimely demise of Eri Kojima（小島恵理）in February 2015 at the age of 53. I've always remembered her for "Lonely Feeling" which was a song that I had first heard as a Vaporwave or Future Funk adaptation before I realized that the original was the B-side to her 1984 debut single. My discovery of it was just on the cusp of the explosion of City Pop onto the world.

At this point, I don't know how many singles and albums Kojima released in her career but she did keep on going into the 2010s. She put forth a 2012 album called "Nostalgia" and on it, there is the wistful "One". I couldn't find out who was behind the songwriting but it's a slow and lovely contemporary pop ballad which perhaps reflects that album title. It feels like a song of looking back on one's history and considering how short her life ended up only a few years later, "One" takes on a bit more gravitas.