Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Akiko Kobayashi -- Superstar no Baai wa (スーパースターの場合は)


Man, is it pouring buckets in Toronto today, thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Patricia. I'm definitely grateful that the distance between my workplace and my bed can be measured in millimetres rather than kilometres.

Also, I'm a bit lacking for translation work this week which means that I can get some blog articles up in the afternoon. And when it comes to the afternoon, Akiko Kobayashi(小林明子)often comes to mind. It's that mellow voice of hers which brings up images of chamomile tea and comfy armchairs. Of course, a lot of her work in the early years of her singing career in the mid-80s could be categorized as AOR-friendly, and her 2nd album, "Kokoro no Mama ni"/心のままに (1986) which I have already written about is one of the prime examples.

Track 2 from that album is "Superstar no Baai wa" (As A Superstar). Kobayashi's music is a bit more uptempo here with a bit of comical here and a bit of glamour there. Reiko Yukawa's(湯川れい子)lyrics about the titular superstar could be referring to anyone from a movie star to an all-star hockey player who has to not only handle the superficial aspects of the celebrity life but also take care of the serious and more heartfelt part of keeping an eye on the kids. Overall, I think it almost rolls out like the theme song for a Japanese comedy-drama on the subject.


2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hello, thoifur. I checked sites such as Amazon and iTunes but it looks like only the CD version is available.

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