DA PUMP -- Dream on the street

 

Being Hump Day today, perhaps something with a little oomph on another day of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" would be in order.

First things first. Although I had been spelling out the network's weekly kayo program in romaji as "Uta Kon" all this time, because NHK has labeled it as such now in the corner of the screen, I will be referring to the Tuesday night show as "Uta Con"（うたコン）from this time forward. Anyways, it was a fairly auspicious night last night as the show was broadcast from the Osaka venue this time around, and it was the first time there since the pandemic began last year that a small audience was allowed to view the acts. I'm hoping that this continues in the right direction.

One of the other things was that song-and-dance group DA PUMP was back on the stage, this time to feature their latest single...their 34th, to be exact. Released a week ago, "Dream on the street" first sounded some bells in my City Pop head because I wondered whether DA PUMP was improbably covering the 1981 song by Noriyo Ikeda（池田典代）. But then, I realized that there was a prepositional misunderstanding since Ikeda's most famous song is actually "Dream In The Street". Still, it would have been fascinating to hear a DA PUMP version of that.

Nope, "Dream on the street" was written by shungo and composed by MUSOU, DEY GON GET IT and PAICH JR. Beginning with an intro including an appropriately street-level busking saxophone that made me go "Hmmm...." at first, the song actually has turned out to be a pretty cool and soulful listening experience. Of course, with the music video, it's also been a visual treat although I'm not sure whether the choreography will be able to be emulated by the masses like their big hit "U.S.A." did a few years ago. 

Can't quite believe this statistic either but "Dream on the street" has become DA PUMP's first No. 1 single on Oricon in their history. I would have thought that Issa and the guys had already gotten the top position among their past releases.