This was another SMAP song that seemed to fill the airwaves entirely when it was released. It just felt like I saw the scenes of the guys on that pedestrian bridge on a daily basis on the telly, and that was no surprise since it was such a big hit. In fact, "Yozora no Mukou" (Beyond The Night Sky) placed only 2nd to GLAY's "Yuuwaku"（誘惑）on the Oricon yearly charts for singles in 1998.
I wasn't ever a hugely dedicated SMAP fan in terms of their music but I'd felt that the Johnny's Entertainment group until that point was the group that took over from their sempai group, Hikaru Genji as the 80s went into the 90s. So I had usually thought of SMAP as the boisterous aidoru boy band. But then, "Yozora no Mukou" came along and Nakai-kun and the rest performed this down-to-earth mature contemporary ballad, and I got the impression that SMAP grew up a bit.
Released in January 1998, singer-songwriter Yuka Kawamura（川村結花） came up with the music while singer-songwriter Shikao Suga（スガシカオ） wrote the lyrics....or almost didn't. Allow me to explain that last part. According to the J-Wiki article for "Yozora no Mukou", Suga had been asked to come up with the words for the SMAP song but the request was totally forgotten by the singer until the very day that the lyrics were due. When his manager reminded him while at Tokyo's Haneda Airport en route to a job in Sapporo, Suga pulled off a small miracle by whipping up the words while on the plane and at the hotel in Hokkaido's capital city. Perhaps he must've heard he would have had to deal with an angry KimuTaku if he hadn't gotten it done.
In any case, the rest is history as they say. "Yozora no Mukou" became SMAP's first million-seller and has since been covered by a lot of other artists including the pair who created it. Of course, it hit the top spot on the Oricon weeklies and that invitation to the Kohaku that year came knocking.
Hi J-Canuck.
ReplyDelete"Yozora no Mukou" is one of three SMAP songs I like very much. It's interesting how they can pull off nice songs some times. And it was very interesting to read about the lyrics writing "process" you told. I laughed of the angry KimuTaku joke. We're so accustomed to his cool or happy vibe that it's almost impossible to think of him get angry. Shizuka Kudo probably doesn't agree with me, though.
Hi, Marcos.
DeleteYeah, I think having the right songwriter behind the guys can make all the difference....even with Nakai-kun's voice.
As for angry KimuTaku, I once watched a variety show in which one comedian and a film crew spent a day at Johnny's Entertainment while the new crop of young boys were doing their dance practices. Of course, with SMAP being at the top of the heap, Takuya and Shingo Katori were looking at the kids as the instructor was putting them through their paces. When it looked like they were starting to goof around, the two SMAPpers did Good Cop and Bad Cop with Takuya berating them for their attitude (which probably had most of the kids wetting their pants) and then Katori calmly explaining the need to always approach their studies seriously. It's the usual schoolteacher technique over there.
As for Kudo, I have heard rumours that she used to be somewhat of a punk. If so, I think she can put her husband in her place. :)
I am a recent SMAP fan (yeah, unbelievable that I discovered them only after they have disbanded) and I absolutely love this song! I even managed to watch all their concert dvds, hahaha! Yes I love KimuTaku and apparently he was a gangster during his schooldays together with Nakai. They were schoolmates but in different gangs, hahaha!
ReplyDeleteHello, lml55. I've also read that Nakai and KimuTaku had been involved in teenage gang activity and that the two had even traded a few punches although I'm not sure how accurate that rumour is.
DeleteFrom what I've seen of KimuTaku when SMAP was still in business during practices performed by the junior groups, he had a ferocious drill instructor type of personality. He despised any lack of effort from the kids and made it very clear to them. Katori was the good cop to Kimura's bad cop in that situation.