Michiyo
Heike (平家みちよ) is another artist from Hello!
Project’s early days I’ve been listening lately. In all honesty, even though I’ve
known the girl for some years now, I basically ignored her until now.
The
thing is, Michiyo Heike will be forever doomed by one single fact: she actually
won the audition where the original Morning Musume (モーニング娘。)
members came from. She was the winner, and those five girls were losers.
Unfortunately for her, the five girls became hugely famous and her solo career
never really took off.
Michiyo
Heike’s songs are way different from Morning Musume’s: while the famous aidoru
group often sang funky pop tunes, Michiyo’s songs were pure pop-rock, often
with emotional choruses, as was the case of her fifth single, “Anata no Yume ni
Naritai”, released in February 1999. Moreover, I also hear a synth
melody in the background, which is always a plus for me. Well, 90s Japanese pop
music without a synth melody wasn’t right.
Although
I’m not the biggest fan of this kind of stuff, I quite liked some of Heike’s
works. Aside from “Anata no Yume ni Naritai”, other songs such as “Dakedo
Aishisugite” (だけど 愛しすぎて),
“scene” and “myself” are also strong offers from the girl.
What
can I say? As always, prejudices from the past didn’t take me anywhere.
"Anata no Yume ni
Naritai" reached #70 on the Oricon charts, selling 3,470 copies. Lyrics were
written by Emi Makiho (牧穂エミ), while music and
arrangement were done by Hatake (はたけ).
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| Source: Amazon |
The irony was also not lost on me when it came to comparing MM and Heike. The so-called runners-up from that Asayan contest surpassed the so-called winner although Heike got to participate as a general member of the Hello Project.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but even Ishibashi and Nakai-kun teased her a lot, especially because she didn't go to Utaban very often (she only showed up in Hello! Project Shuffle, as far as I know). One time they kept asking "Heike who?" and the girl, as shy as possible, explained she was the only soloist from H!P (at the time) and that she actually won the contest. Both guys just ignored her and kept teasing Iida, as usual.
DeleteIn the end, I don't think remembers H!P very kindly, because her career was just relegated to a secondary position after Momusu's success. Or she's satisfied. Who knows, right?
I've heard that Japanese variety TV is usually scripted right down to the letter so I think Heike was probably well aware of the ribbing that she would get from Ishibashi and Nakai-kun...still, I would have cringed in sympathy for her if I had seen that scene for myself.
DeleteI read on Wikipedia that Heike is now a songwriter for the most part under the name of Michiyo, so I'm hoping that she has become satisfied with her career now.