That must have been a very happy surprise birthday party for aidoru Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）according to that thumbnail above. Unfortunately, she got a far more surprising but not so happy situation happen to her at the 36th Kohaku Utagassen on New Year's Eve 1985.
As KKP contributor jari explained in the original article for Kawai's "Debut ~ Fly Me To Love", the 80s aidoru was about to sing the song that got her invited for a 5th out of 6 appearances on the Kohaku as the second of the Red Team members to perform. However, the top batter on the White Team apparently had other ideas. Koji Kikkawa（吉川晃司）made his one and only appearance on the annual NHK special something very memorable and not necessarily for the happiest reasons as I explained in his own article earlier today. Suffice it to say, her performance of "Debut" was suddenly curtailed abruptly.
It was a pity to be sure, especially considering that Kawai got her one and only No. 1 single with "Debut", her 21st single released in June 1985. As much as her Kohaku appearance was damaged, though, the Osaka native was able to give a more pleasant performance earlier in the evening at the Japan Record Awards as a winner of a Gold Prize for the very same song (I've always wondered about how these award-winning singers get their prizes, do their songs and then literally race out of the venue to head over to NHK Shibuya Hall to get ready for the Kohaku).
There are a number of YouTube videos with Kawai performing "Debut" in concert, but none featuring the original recording of the song. Although there is nothing wrong with her live performances, I still prefer that version she made in the booth. It's bright, happy and soaring just like Kawai herself and there is a lot in common with Anri's（杏里）"Kanashimi ga Tomaranai" (悲しみがとまらない）, not surprising since both songs were composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）with lots of strings and horns. Masao Urino（売野政男）provided the lyrics, by the way. Also, I can make comparisons with the song that first made me aware of Naoko-chan, "Smile For Me", all the way back in 1981. Both songs are just starbursts of happy aidoru energy! As I mentioned, the song hit No. 1 on the charts and ended the year as the 76th-ranked single.
The B-side takes things more into the streets as an ideal aidoru/City Pop hybrid. "Manhattan Joke" was made for one of the "Lupin III" movies, "Lupin III: Legend of the Gold of Babylon", released in July 1985. "Manhattan Joke" actually does meld the Lupin swagger of Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）, who not only composed this one but also the iconic theme for the main character himself, and the cheerful sprightliness of a Kawai tune. Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）took care of the lyrics here.
Now, realizing that Jari had already given his thoughts on both the Kikkawa Incident and Kawai's single, I felt rather sorry for Kawai as I was writing the earlier article on Kikkawa so that I was rather compelled to give my own feelings on Naoko-chan's single. However, I do have to finish off by stating that Kawai truly has been a real trouper even going back to her debut appearance on the 1981 Kohaku to sing the aforementioned "Smile For Me". In that article, I mentioned that a few months before that appearance, she suffered a bone-breaking fall at NHK Hall itself, something that required her to wear a brace or a corset for a number of months going well into 1982 and yet my memories of her on the special were her still dancing about to the song. If she could handle that, I think that she could handle even the Kohaku schedule-dislocating misadventure of her preceding performer in 1985.
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