Kohmi Hirose -- Ai wa Ballad（愛はバラード）

I caught my first "Uta Kon"（うたコン）of the year on Tuesday (the actual first episode for 2020 was the Tuesday before but I missed that due to a movie), and the theme was winter songs, so the usual lineup was trotted out. But of course, Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美）, the Queen of Winters herself, was invited on to perform her famous "Gerende ga Tokeru hodo Koi Shitai"（ゲレンデがとけるほど恋したい）, to get everyone in that skiing mood.

However, I've already gotten that song up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" along with a whole bunch of her other high-energy hits. But I saw this one tune that I hadn't tackled yet, her 6th single from May 1995, "Ai wa Ballad" (Love is a Ballad).

Released between the very first song that I had ever heard by Hirose, "Shiawase wo Tsukamitai"（幸せをつかみたい）and the aforementioned "Gerende", "Ai wa Ballad" represented a dip in the rankings as it only went as high as No. 41 compared to the No. 6 rankings that the bracketing tunes received. Written and composed by the singer as usual, it's still her great delivery but I guess the somewhat subdued tone and the fact that it was released in a non-winter month may have explained its relatively tepid standing. Moreover, instead of ski wear, "Ai wa Ballad" was actually used to adorn a commercial for life insurance. The song was then placed onto Hirose's December 1995 album "Love Together" which hit No. 10 on the Oricon weeklies and even ended up as the 72nd-ranked release on the album charts for 1996.

Considering her status as the Queen of Winters, it was ironic to find out last night when she appeared on "Uta Kon" and admitted that she was now currently living in sunny tropical Hawaii. Maybe JTM can get a sighting someday.😉