“by myself” is a song by hitomi, a model turned singer
that was quite popular in the 90s. It was the last single released prior to her
second album “by myself” in 1996.
The song is a beautiful ballad with some very nice
orchestra playing in the background (love the flutes). The only flaw, for
me, is the absence of an instrumental break with this orchestra (we can
hear it better at the end of the song, but it fades very soon), but, other than
that, is a great piece of work from Tetsuya Komuro (小室哲哉). hitomi’s voice is not my
everyday cup of tea, but at the same time is typical hitomi, so I kinda learned
how to appreciate it properly with time.
As for the video, it really transmits this lonely and
melancholic feel of staying “by yourself”. It’s a very simple video as most of
the time hitomi is just walking thought Tokyo while singing the song. But, although
simple, it’s a very good way of portraying the loneliness in a big city. I don’t
know how the lyrics are connected with that, though.
Here’s a live version of the song performed in 1999 (Ed. : Unfortunately, the live version has been taken down, so here is the album version instead.)
Oh, and I find “by myself” way better than “CAN YOU
CELEBRATE?”, the monster hit ballad released by Namie Amuro (安室奈美恵) in 1997. I’m just
saying that because Komuro was responsible for both tracks, and in “by myself”
he really showed some inspiration for composing and arranging a ballad.
“by myself” was hitomi’s seventh single. It was
released in August 1996 and reached #7 on the weekly Oricon charts, selling
around 291,000 copies (source: generasia). The song was later included in the “by
myself” album, released one month later in September 1996. The music and
arrangement were made by Tetsuya Komuro, while the lyrics were written by
hitomi herself.
A funny personal story about this song is that I
happened to find a second hand 8cm single of “by myself” here in Brazil. It was
really cheap and made me very happy. I listen to it very often, and I must
confess that I love the style of the 8cm singles. Here’s some photos of my own
copy of the “by myself” single.
Hey, Marcos. Thanks for putting up another member of the Komuro family. I was never a huge fan of hitomi but I remember this song and her debut, "Candy Girl"(?) at around the same time. It was nice seeing some of those old Tokyo landmarks like Odaiba and The Big Eye at Shinjuku Station.
ReplyDeleteI used to see and hear the video for "by myself" on "CDTV" but didn't hear the whole song until now. I didn't realize how lush the orchestration got near the end.
hitomi is hit or miss for me. I enjoy some of her hits, but not the whole discography. I don't care for the pop-rock material that she started releasing after 1997.
Delete"Candy Girl" is classic Komuro. It was not hitomi's debut, though. Her debut was "Let's Play Winter", an awful track in my opinion. As for "Candy Girl", it was her third single, but first real hit, because the two precedents were flops.
The orchestration is my favorite element of "by myself". I enjoy listening to the instrumental track on the single as well.
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ReplyDeleteThanks Marcos V for this great post on hitomi's 「by myself」. I agree, a lot of her songs were very hit or miss (which seemed to be the case for a lot of the 小室ファミリー). 「Candy Girl」 is an OK song but not one of my favorites. I guess I'm the opposite as I liked her later Rock-flavored hits like 「Japanese Girl」, 「Samurai Drive」, 「キミにKISS」 and 「IS IT YOU?」.
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