I came across
this odd aidoru singer called Rumi
Shishido (宍戸留美) about two weeks ago after listening to an eurobeat song by her called
“Rainbow Days” (1990). As I’m a sucker for late 80s/early 90s eurobeat songs, I
decided to give Rumi’s other songs a try. What I found, though, was a
collection of strange, bizarre, but also lovely techno kayo aidoru songs that had absolutely nothing
to do with eurobeat aside the above-mentioned “Rainbow Days”. Her “Otoko no
Ko Ga Naichau Nante” single was the one which quickly grabbed my attention.
Released in October 1991, “Otoko no Ko Ga Naichau Nante” is a song full of turn-arounds. In my mind, I’d describe it as a mix of “Kyary Pamyu Pamyu” (きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ) and “Momoiro Clover Z” (ももいろクローバーZ) with some anime-esque vocals. At first listen it’s a mess of a song and very unattractive for anyone who isn’t accustomed to cute/silly aidoru vocals. To be honest, I had to listen to it like five times to guarantee to myself that I really liked the song. It’s like a food which you know it’s good, but it’s not tasty right after the first bite. And interesting might also be a good word to describe this combination of Latin rhythms, synth-pop, little shouts and anime-esque vocals that, together, resulted in “Otoko no Ko Ga Naichau Nante”. Also, the song is sort of a cover version of the house song below. It's nice to see that a song full of attitude can become a silly and fun aidoru song.
(Unfortunately, the video for "Dance no Kamisama" has been taken down.)
“Dance no
Kamisama”, the coupling song for “Otoko no Ko Ga Naichau Nante”, is as much interesting
as the title song. Right at the beginning the classic melody for the “Swan Lake”
is sampled by a synth before the actual song starts with a dance beat and some
synth work typical of the early 90s. Then Rumi starts a very cute and childish
rap that seems very refreshing and not boring at all thanks to the way she
pronounces and expresses the words. The last treat is when, near the end, right
at the 3:55 mark, the “Swan Lake” melody starts playing in the background at the
same time Rumi is singing the final choruses.
Rumi’s aidoru contract ended in 1992. After
that she became a voice actress (the girl surely had talent for that) and
continued singing as an independent artist. But, although brief, her aidoru time (1990-1992) was full of
interesting and odd stuffs like “Otoko no Ko Ga Naichan Nante” and “Dance no
Kamisama”.
Lyrics for "Otoko no Ko Ga Naichau Nante" were written by Crystal Waters, while the Japanese lyrics were written by Yumiko Ishijima (石嶋由美子). As for the music, it was composed by Neal Conway. The arrangement, on the other hand, was done by Hirohiko Fukuda (福田裕彦).
Lyrics for "Dance no Kamisama" were also written by Ishijima Yumiko, while Hirohiko Fukuda was the responsible for both the music and arrangement.
I remember the aidoru since she had a pretty distinctive name and also because she appeared on a commercial one time. I also remember the Crystal Waters song and never thought that it would actually be riffed for an aidoru tune. :)
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