Megumi Hayashibara -- Cherish Christmas

(karaoke version)

Generally, I don’t like Christmas music. Although Megumi Hayashibara (林原めぐみ) is my favourite singer, I will not lie and say that I truly enjoy her “Cherish Christmas” song to death. I do not love it, but as the Holiday season is coming, I decided to share the only Christmas song I may listen to sometimes.

In 1996, Megumi had a great year, probably the best since her official debut as a singer back in 1991. To end the year on a good note, she released her seventh album, “bertemu” (ブルトゥム), in November. So, as the album was released close to the Holiday season, she recorded a Christimas song under the name of “Cherish Christmas” and placed it as the last song of the album.

“Cherish Christmas”, different from a good portion of the Christmas songs I know, goes on a pop route instead of falling in the wintry ballad side. It tries to be cool, but it’s as cheesy as almost every other Christmas song. I can hear some light contemporary R&B influences here and there, alongside the annoying background vocalists doing “oooh oooh” through the whole song (I only tolerate them near the final). Apparently, it talks about a girl that has spent many Christmas alone, and finally found someone to spend the Holiday together. Not that revolutionary, but a nice theme, nonetheless. And Megumi’s vocals are as cute as ever, so that’s a plus.

“bertemu” was Megumi’s most successful album on the Oricon charts, reaching #3 and selling 222,860 copies. I’ll certainly talk about the standout songs of this album in another moment, but, for now, I’ll just leave the listener with "Cherish Christmas". Lyrics for the song were written by Megumi herself, while music and arrangement were composed by Nobuyoshi Hikarimune (光宗信吉).

Here is my "bertemu". It's certainly a fan favourite (not my favourite, though).