Rie Ohashi -- Shiny Lucky Lady

When I listen to “Shiny Lucky Lady” it makes me think of an explosion of joy. Sang by aidoru Rie Ohashi (大橋利恵), it just screams 90s with its mixture of aidoru happiness and eurobeat generic synths.

Rie Ohashi was never a very famous aidoru, especially at a time when aidoru singers were kind of struggling to succeed. Released in November 1996, “Shiny Lucky Lady” was Rie’s sixth single and had to face competition from the female singers that were part of the “TK Family” at the time, and also from MAX, Namie Amuro’s (安室奈美恵) abandoned backing dancers who turned into a face of the eurobeat trend of the mid-to-late 90s. Well, to be honest, Rie Ohashi was no competition at all. She’s just one of those forgotten aidoru singers that pop up from times to times. But I like the girl, and “Realize”, her first full album (which also included “Shiny Lucky Lady”) is a nice listen with all the pop/eurobeat/techno/pop-rock sound (it sounds like a mess, but it works).

Talking about “Shiny Lucky Lady” itself, what I like the most is the sparkling eurobeat synths that are the main characteristic of the arrangement. Also, the chorus is ridiculously catchy with the “shiny lucky lady” line. Finally, I like Rie’s vocals as they’re girly in a good way, and not very sugary. Well, the song itself is already very sugary…, but who cares? It’s nice.

Ah, the video presented above is from the great “Idol on Stage” (アイドル　オン　ステージ). I really like this show because it gave some light to minor aidoru singers during the early-to-mid 90s. Even Ayumi Hamasaki (浜崎 あゆみ) made an appearance at that show before debuting as a J-Pop singer later in the decade.

“Shiny Lucky Lady” was written and composed by Mitsuru Igarashi (五十嵐 充), the former keyboarder and songwriter of Every Little Thing (ELT).