Living in the Tokyo area in the 2000s, I was accustomed to regularly seeing R&B conglomerate m-flo on TV with his various buddies hip-hopping, rapping and grooving. My question is where did they all go, although as for the core, I'm happy to say that they are still around. In fact, they released something just last month.
However, let's go back those two decades to October 2003 when m-flo's 15th single was released. "miss you" with the singers for this one being Ryohei Yamamoto（山本領平）and Japanese-American singer Melody Ishikawa, stylized back then as melody. (not to be confused with the aidoru group Melody). Ryohei would also collaborate with Verbal and gang a few years later on "Summer Time Love".
I remember "miss you" because of its music video which is a conveyor belt of MC Verbal, DJ ☆Taku, Ryohei and melody. having fun and acting out a romantic relationship working out some issues inside what looks like an IKEA storeroom masquerading as a movie script read-through session venue. Between Verbal's pointed hip-hop banter and the two main singers cooing at each other, I'm also enjoying melody.'s soft grooving voice. The song managed to hit No. 8 on Oricon and it's also included on m-flo's May 2004 3rd album "Astromantic" which peaked at No. 2 and ended up as the 42nd-ranked album of the year, going Double Platinum.
One piece of trivia I found out regarding melody. is that she's married to musician Miyavi.
I bought this single because of its double-A side partner, Astrosexy by m-flo loves Chemistry, but I came to love this track as well. The interplay between verbal, Ryohei, and melody. is practically acrobatic at times and all three of them get fun flourishes that it makes choosing one of them to sing along with tough.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I went to private karaoke room (in Los Angeles) the walls were thin and echoey so I could hear the person across the hall attempt this one and I tipped my cap to them.
Hello, Matthew. That fellow in the next karaoke room gets my respect. I have enough problems with an enka tune.
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