Ahhh...the cool, hopeful and gleaming sound of City Pop. With this song, I hear the smart horns and the reassuring keyboards relating the story of a successful metropolis in the 1980s.
However, like Mai Yamane(山根麻衣), Shirai the rocker also started out in the mellower genre of City Pop and J-AOR. In fact, "Pillowcase ni Sayonara" (Goodbye to my Pillowcase) was her 2nd single released in February 1982, but I got my copy through as a track on the aforementioned "Beams". This was indeed written and composed by the singer-songwriter, and I really get that American 80s urban contemporary scent and Al Jarreau vibes. Heck, even the cover for Shirai's debut album, "Do For Loving" from November 1981 has her looking like she was ready for a yuppie jog in the suburbs. Shin Kazuhara(数原晋), later of Tokyo Ensemble Lab, was on the flugelhorn.
As for the meaning of the title, Shirai is reflecting the feelings of a woman who no longer needs to cry into the pillow case, her to-go textile source of solace, since she's ready to get back onto her feet and face the world once more.
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