I thought it was about time that Ayaya finally got one of her own up on the blog (although she has appeared on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" once before with her cover of "Watarasebashi") so here it is. And besides, for a while, she was the IT girl for Hello Project for her gosh-darned spritely perkiness.
Although Aya Matsuura（松浦亜弥）never auditioned for Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）, she did try out and got into the Hello Project. She debuted in 2001 but the song here is "Yeah! Meccha Holiday" (Yeah! Super Holiday), her 6th single from May 2002. Ayaya has basically seared herself in my memory with her singing this particular title and the lyric "suNge, suNge, suNge, suNge..." which can, depending on my mood, be cheerful or darn annoying. But with that original music video above, the song is just so bright and sunny that summer is the only season which can be imagined for it.
Plus, there is that dancing which has probably inspired many a singer at karaoke. Being a Hello Project member, "Yeah! Meccha Holiday" was written and composed by Tsunku（つんく）. It peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and got her 2nd invitation to NHK's Kohaku Utagassen that year.
Rino Sashihara（指原莉乃）of AKB48 did a cover of "Yeah! Meccha Holiday" for her debut single as a solo singer "Soredemo Suki Da yo"（それでも好きだよ...I Love You In Spite Of It）in May 2012. There seems to have been quite the gimmick surrounding this release since there were four versions from Type A to Type D. Sashihara's take on the Ayaya song is on the Type C CD.
However, the person I know the best when it comes to the various cover versions of "Yeah! Meccha Holiday" isn't technically a singer but a transsexual tarento by the name of Ai Haruna（はるな愛）. She basically made her way onto everyday terebi by giving her own high-energy take on the song, and she also shows up with Sashihara in the video above.
Hi, J-Canuck.
ReplyDeleteThanks for introducing me to Sashihara's version of "Yeah! Mecha Holyday". Even though she's one of my favorite AKB48 members, I never listened to the coupling songs of her two singles. Shame on me!
As for Ayaya, I may not have given enough attention to her in the past, but I remember listening to "LOVE Namida Iro" and "GOOD BYE Natsuo" a lot. "Yeah! Mecha Holyday" is very catchy as well, but I do agree with you that, depending on the day, it can sound annoying. Well, many Ayaya's songs fall in that category at times, unfortunately.
I was almost forgetting... I remember the gorgeous Ai Haruna from a Morning Musume's medley on HEY!x3 where she happily danced along to the tunes ("Renai Revolution 21", "Koi no Dance Site" and 'LOVE Machine"). Also, I read a while ago she did won a transsexual beauty competition in Thailand, and while I haven't seen the other candidates, I think she probably deserved.
Hi, Marcos.
DeleteYeah, that "suNge" part can be irritating at times. I think it's a riff on how teens talked back in the day. Although as someone in the English-teaching industry I am linguistically fascinated in jargon and how specific groups use language, let's say that I am not completely in love with that lyric. :)
I did hear about Ai Haruna winning that beauty contest in Thailand. In fact, I think it even made the major news broadcasts in Japan! And to be honest, back in her earlier days, she looked even more stunning as a race queen:
http://image.search.yahoo.co.jp/search?p=%E3%81%AF%E3%82%8B%E3%81%AA%E6%84%9B+%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9&ei=UTF-8&fr=top_ga1_sa#mode%3Ddetail%26index%3D0%26st%3D0
Oh, I was not aware Ai Haruna was a race queen before. I thought she turned into a tarento after winning the beauty contest.
DeleteThanks for the link! I just spent some minutes here admiring her beauty.
Good to know that the link made your day there, Marcos! :)
DeleteYeah, it's hard to believe that she was actually born a boy.
J-Canuck, sorry for my broken promise :(
ReplyDeleteHi, Larry.
DeleteNot sure what promise you are talking about.
I said a year ago that I'll write something about Aya. You beat me to it :)
DeleteAyaya! Well, I guess you're gonna have to catch up! :)
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