Thursday, January 7, 2021

Wham!/Michie Tomizawa – Last Christmas

 


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!

11 comments:

  1. Hi, Marcos and Happy New Year!

    Wow! I didn't think Sailor Mars could sound so sultry and romantic...usually I hear her as being grouchy (usually because of Moon). :)

    "Last Christmas" was probably the big popular non-Japanese Xmas tune in Japan, at least until Mariah Carey came along. And I know about the Shizuka/Misa movie that you're talking about since my friend was actually doing a subtitling project on it back in the early 90s.

    Wham! conquered the charts for the first half of the 1980s and then Michael took the baton and ran with it in the latter half going into the 90s. Great voice...too bad that it was silenced while he was still fairly young.

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    1. Hi, J-Canuck.

      Happy New Year!

      I haven't watched Sailor Moon since I had five or six years, so I can't relate to the voices. And even when I watched, it was dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese, of course. Anyway, Michie Tomizawa was a very nice surprise.

      As for the Shizuka/Misa movie, it's not very memorable, besides the soundtrack (which includes the lovely by "Volver a Empezar" Julio Iglesias and "Let's Groove" by Earth, Wind & Fire) and also the fact that the two girls are very young and beautiful. As I've told the friend that recommended it to me, the nostalgia is enough.

      Finally, George Michael had a very beautiful voice. I grew up listening to Wham's "Make It Big" album, since my mother has the CD. It's surprising that "Last Christmas" slipped beneath my radar. Well, I'm aware it's from another album, but whatever. Sometimes his music style don't match mine, especially during the solo career, but when it does, I'm always pleased.

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    2. I've heard the English dub but I think I will always prefer the original Japanese especially because of the voice actor behind Moon herself, Kotono Mitsuishi. I've heard that the person behind Sailor Jupiter is arguably the best singer out of the main 5.

      As for George Michael, I did get the best of Wham! and also the 2-CD compilation for Michael's solo efforts. I think Michael really wanted to get into old-style soul when he went solo.

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  2. Last Christmas recently topped the charts in the UK, 36 years after its initial release. Previously, when it was first released, it held a record for being the best selling single never to reach no.1 (having co-existed with Do They Know It's Christmas at the time).

    Having mentioned Careless Whisper and Club Tropicana, how can you miss out the third track on their initial demo that won them a record contract? Wham Rap is an ode to the joys of youthful unemployment, with numerous references to the Department of Health and Social Security. It's hilarious.

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    1. Hi, Jim Laker.

      Thanks a lot for your comment.

      I've listened to Wham Rap every time I played their first album, but it wasn't an standout track to me. Honestly, I've not payed attention to the lyrics yet (English is not my primary language, and, even though I understand it, I rarely pay attention to the lyrics. Frankly speaking, I don't even pay attention to the music of my country, Brazil, so I think that's just a personal flaw of mine), so it's surprising to see them talking about these stuff. And besides "Club Tropicana", I also like "Bad Boys" very much.

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    2. I wasn't being serious. I do find it hilarious, mainly because of the subject matter and the fact that the refrain is a government department noted for its dreariness. Imagine if one of your most popular bands releases a single about the joys of collecting unemployment benefit with a chorus naming your department of pensions and benefits.

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  3. Hi, Marcos,

    "Last Christmas" seems to have become one of the standard Christmas songs a lot of Japanese artists feel compelled to cover. I have about a dozen different versions of it, but there are dozens more out there. I'm pretty sure there's even music box versions and versions played on wine glasses. It's played so often on US stations around Christmas that I stopped listening to it for the longest time, but I've warmed back up to it in recent years.

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    1. Hi, Scott. Not sure about the wine glasses treatment but there is surely a music box version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JwuW25fRcs

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    2. I'm not a huge fan of the music box stuff, but I'll probably get an album eventually. The one CD I just ordered is Crystal Dew Christmas. It's all wine glass music. There's a few of them available and at least one of them has "Last Christmas" on it. The one I'm getting is all J-X'mas songs.

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    3. To be honest, I'm not a big enthusiast of music boxes either, but I accidentally picked up an album of a music box tribute to Yumi Matsutoya 30 years ago. I'd thought that it was a plain compilation album.

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  4. "Last Christmas" is the more famous, but it should be noted that it was a double A side with "Everything She Wants", a song about depression ahead of impending fatherhood. The latter being the more played in the US, with the single selling over a million. Michael dismissed much of his Wham! material, but remained proud of "Everything She Wants" deep into his career.

    And while "Careless Whisper" is usually deemed one of his early solo efforts, it was actually a genuine Wham! song, with Ridgeley co-writing (he contributed the chords).

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