I’m
truly in love with Yufu Terashima (寺嶋由芙), and she’ll probably be my top aidoru
of the year!
Like
I said in my past article about two of her singles, “Campanulla no Yutsu” (カンパニュラの憂鬱) and “Neko ni Naritai!” (猫になりたい！), this cute girl was part of the
punk/anti-aidoru unit called BiS (the group disbanded in 2014, but
Yufu-chan was out of it since 2013). I thank her for realizing that her true
destiny was at being a traditional aidoru.
When
I say traditional aidoru, I really
mean it! After months exploring her not-so-big discogaphy, I concluded that a
good portion of her repertoire is made of retro-sounding
tunes, which is a nice change in this era of hyper-energetic or rock-based aidoru groups (Babymetal is pretty nice
and was a valuable addition to the aidoru universe, but things are getting
strange with lots of indie groups trying to copy them and bite a slice of this
niche market). However, she also records some denpa songs eventually,
so variety is not a problem for Yuffie.
When
I first heard Yufu signed to a major label, I was instantly happy for her. My
only problem was how strange the title of her major debut single turned out to
be: “Fuhehehehehehehe Daisakusen”.
Also, it didn’t help that the short snippet on YouTube didn’t sound interesting
at all.
Well,
I waited a month before the single was oficially released and “Fuhehehehehehehe
Daisakusen”, while not irresistible at first, is a cute song that showcases Yufu’s sound in a positive manner with all
the fairy tale elements in the
arrangement, such as the strings, synths and flutes. Also, her voice is one of the sweetest things on earth. Yufu’s level of
saccarine is so high in “Fuhehehehehehehe Daisakusen” that I think about a
fluffy cotton candy while listening to it, and I don’t even like cotton candy
in the first place.
Finally,
the video is pure heaven! Yufu is awkwardly beautiful, especially when she opens that big
and almost disproportionate smile.
As
a side note, “Fuhehehehehehehe Daisakusen’s” coupling song (b-side) is a cover
of Sheena & The Rokkets’ (シーナ&ザ・ロケッツ) “You May Be”. Yufu’s cover is pretty similar to the original, but I’m a sucker
for her cute vocals, so I like the cover over the original. You can hear it
below.
(Unfortunately the video has been taken down.)
I’m
already eager to her first album release!!!
“Fuhehehehehehehe
Daisakusen” was released in May 2015.
Lyrics for the song were written by Seiko Oomori (大森靖子), while music and arrangement were done
by rionos.
Hi, Marcos.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe that she was in an anti-aidoru unit when I hear and see this song. There's a part of it that sounds very Seiko Matsuda-ish (the "please, please" part) but the arrangement also has that light pleasant pop sound from the early 2000s.
Hi, J-Canuck.
DeleteI also think about Seiko Matsuda when I listen to Yufu's cute songs. Maybe a return to the early 80s aidoru style was one of the intentions here. I hope Yufu and her team continues in this fine route.
About her anti-aidoru days, I'm not a fan of BiS. Some of their songs were quite critical about some aidoru's elements, such as the overly cute character they impersonate, and also how some cute girls prostitute themselves or are abused by creepy men... well, topics like these. In the end, the messages are nice, but I don't like the sound. It's too much noise for me to handle.