Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Ryuichi Kawamura -- Love Is...


Well, I not only have done this blog for a little over 6 years and lived in Japan for most of the 1990s, and yet I completely forgot about this fellow! Gibbs slap upside the head for me.


But that's not exactly true. I did remember him as a part of visual kei band LUNA SEA. However, Ryuichi Kawamura(河村隆一)did have a mighty auspicious year as a solo artist. According to his J-Wiki entry, his first 4 singles, all released in 1997, were hits but arguably perhaps his most famous song was the last one to be released that year, "Love Is..."

I do remember seeing the music video for "Love Is..." make regular appearances on the rankings shows with cosmetic-free Kawamura pouring out his heart to the camera weekly. Now that I've heard the song again after so long, I'm kinda torn whether his hit was following a hymn or a classical piece such as Pachelbel's "Canon".


Whatever his intent, Kawamura definitely had the vocal power. I wonder if he had ever thought about a career in opera. Anyways, "Love Is..." was released in October 1997 and got as high as No. 4 on Oricon while managing to finish the year as the 44th-ranked single; not too bad for a song that was released 2.5 months before New Year's. He even got a quick invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen to sing this very song. Kawamura and Michiko Yoshida(吉田美智子)wrote the lyrics while Yoshida took care of the heavenly music.

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