Wham!/Michie Tomizawa – Last Christmas

 

Source: https://www.discogs.com/pt_BR/Sailor-Moon-Merry-Christmas/release/6416512

Back in early December, at the beginning of one of the two year-end editions of FNS Kayousai (FNS歌謡祭), Johnny’s group Sexy Zone performed a song called “Last Christmas”. At first, I thought: here we go... Sexy Zone singing a cheesy Christmas song is probably not the best way to start a show. The thing is, while I generally don’t care for Christmas music, this one was somewhat cute, so I went back to look at the composer, and it was none other than George Michael. Shamefully, I haven’t heard this song before, or maybe didn’t pay attention to it.

I may be just a casual George Michael – or Wham!, for that matter – listener, but I’ve learnt to really appreciate some of their songs through the years, such as the silly, yet catchy “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, the summery “Club Tropicana”, or the more disco/R&B outputs in the form of “Outside”, “Fastlove” and “Too Funky”, from George Michael’s solo discography. Also, do I need to say how gorgeous “Careless Whisper” is? Alongside Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and Spandau Ballet’s “True”, “Careless Whisper” is one of my favourite 80s ballads.

Back to “Last Christmas”, while I’d enjoyed Sexy Zone’s performance of the song very much, it only stuck on me when, days after watching FNS Kayousai, YouTube recommended Wham!’s original version to me while I was watching some random 70s/80s/90s music videos – from Japanese artists to American/British ones – on a Sunday afternoon. The song really shined that time, and it probably helped that I was listening to the original version, and not a Johnny’s group covering it.

Released in December 1984 by Wham!, George Michael’s duo with Andrew Ridgeley, “Last Christmas” was a hit back in the day, and apparently became a modern Christmas staple alongside Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You”, John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” (just out of curiosity, here in Brazil, there’s a famous version of John’s song, “Então é Natal” by singer Simone, that’s still huge after 25 years of its release), and maybe a couple of other songs (Sir Paul McCartney's “Wonderful Christmastime” is also a playful attempt, so kudos to him).

What surprised me the most, though, is that “Last Christmas” seems to be especially popular in Japan, since not only Sezy Zone sang it live on FNS Kayousai, but it was also played in 1992’s movie “Mirai no Omoide: Last Christmas” (未来の想い出 Last Christmas), starring Misa Shimizu (清水美沙) and Shizuka Kudo (工藤静香) – which, by they way, I also watched around Christmas time –, and served as the theme song for the 2004 Fuji TV drama called... well, that’s it, “Last Christmas” (ラストクリスマス). Other than that, it was covered by boy band/R&B group EXILE at some point, and also by Sailor Mars’ seiyuu Michie Tomizawa (富沢美智恵), from popular anime series Sailor Moon (美少女戦士セーラームーン), in November 1996.

Besides the original one, Michie Tomizawa’s version was the one that made me feel really good. EXILE is okay, but I couldn’t resist this lovely feminine voice with some cheesy dialogues thrown between the singing parts, where Tomizawa almost whisper some random things right into the listener’s ears. It’s cute, warm and even a little bit sexy at some points. Other than that, the strings in the arrangement are a very strong adition, and while there’s nothing wrong with the original synthpop arrangement, this more classical feel that only strings can bring really contributed to the song’s more traditional Christmas mood.

Tomizawa’s version can be obscure outside Sailor Moon’s fandom, and can sound a little bit gimmicky if you’re not in the right mood, but I liked it very much. Thankfully I’ve found it by accident on YouTube, so now I will certainly listen to it on heavy rotation, just like the original one, even if we’re not around Christmas time anymore. A good pop song is a good pop song!