Sonoko Kawai -- Jessy no Higeki (ジェシーの悲劇)

This entry is actually a response of sorts to the discussion about idols and artistic freedom that took place in the comment section of Marcos V's entry on Akina Nakamori's hit "Aibu". Do check it out if you haven't yet. It's an interesting read. :)

Sonoko Kawai (河合その子), also known as the Onyanko Club (おニャン子クラブ) member #12, had a relatively short but nonetheless intriguing career. When she joined Onyanko Club in 1985 at the age of 20, she became an instant favorite among the fans for her cute looks and sweet voice. She launched her solo career that same year with the release of the single "Namida no Jasmine Love" (涙の茉莉花LOVE) in September 1985. She graduated from the group in 1986 but still continued singing her old lightweight songs such as "Aoi Station" and "Saikai no Labyrinth".

By 1987, it became evident that swaying from side to side in frilly dresses to cute tunes just wasn't Sonoko's thing, and she threw her old image away to pursue ambitions in songwriting. Her seventh single "Jessy", renamed to "Jessy no Higeki" (ジェシーの悲劇.....Jessy's Tragedy) on her fourth album Rouge et Bleu, marked a real step in that direction and was even marketed as a self-produced single during its promotion campaign. The cover image of Rouge at Bleu you see above features Sonoko looking somber in a ballerina-like costume, hinting at the dark atmosphere of the music contained within. Tsugutoshi Goto (後藤次利), who composed and arranged all of her previous singles, was still present here, but he and Sonoko seemed to enter into a different conversation. She was finally given leeway to choose the material she wanted to sing, a feat that she would repeat for the rest of Rouge at Bleu and the albums following it while gradually taking control in the composing department. She peaked artistically in 1990 with her seventh album Replica, where she composed and produced all of the tracks. However, this was to be her final release: she retired from the music business in 1994 after marrying Goto.

I chose to write about the album version of "Jessy" because this arrangement sounds so beautifully bone-chilling compared to its relatively inferior sister. I can just picture the song playing behind a dramatic scene from an eighteenth-century French play. According to J-Wiki, Sonoko's artistic director suggested to her and Goto to go for a European classical music effect, as evident in the song's march-like drum rhythm and the blend of piano, guitars and synthesizer that seems to channel an orchestra. Masumi Kawamura (川村真澄) rewrote the lyrics of the original to change the melancholic mood of "Jessy" into a desperate one of "Jessy no Higeki". And let's not forget Sonoko's painful tone that echoes all over the piece. This was no longer the sweet idol everyone knew from her Onyanko Club days, but a real dramatic singer.

Here's the single version of the song (unfortunately that video was taken down) that was released in June 1987, about one month prior to Rouge et Bleu. It peaked at No.3 on Oricon weeklies and charted for nine weeks, selling 78,000 copies.

Source: generasia