Nozomi Inoue -- Shadow Boy/Prima Donna（シャドー・ボーイ & プリマドンナ）

 

Currently as I write this, the Ontario government is announcing the careful and slow three-step process in reopening the economy, so perhaps there is hope that the summer will be at least salvageable although all of the usual events and festivals have been cancelled this year.

To commemorate a happier summer then, I bring you the full 6th single by aidoru Nozomi Inoue（井上望）, "Shadow Boy" and its B-side "Prima Donna" (both are in the video above at 0:00 and 19:57 respectively) which was, oddly enough, actually released in October 1980. "Shadow Boy" is a pretty jumpy and cheerful song about a girl who has feelings for that titular boy but cannot really confess to him quite yet. In that case, I kinda wonder the tune should have been titled "Shadow Girl" instead, but that's all academic since I like the throw-in of some of that doo-wop and West Coast into this aidoru number. Singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）provided the lyrics while the composer was Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）and Tadashige Matsui（松井忠重）was the arranger.

"Prima Donna" makes for a fairly solid B-side since it's a song that seems to meander around with its arrangement by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）. The song by lyricist Kazuya Senke（千家和也）and composer Ben Sasaki（佐々木勉）initially begins with that hint of classy baroque waltz as Inoue sings about a singer hitting the stage for what could be the performance of her life. Then, the refrain seems to melt into something more country-like in melody. It's almost a sudden shift in visual setting from a French castle into a Kentucky field. Considering the more adventurous arrangement, I couldn't really see "Prima Donna" as an A-side.