Tommy february6 -- Bloomin’!

 

The above is the double act of The Hard Rock Café and Tony Roma's at the end of a side street in Roppongi. I know that the Outback Steakhouse (of which there were once at least a few in Tokyo) had that famous Blooming Onion, but I think that even either Hard Rock or Tony (or maybe even both) possessed their own versions. Ah, yes...I remember now! Tony Roma's had the deep-fried onion loaf.

Yeah, that Blooming Onion was the thing for us back then. We used to order it as the main appetizer at the Outback before our steaks arrived and we would still nibble on it after dinner and before dessert. Cholesterol be damned! Incidentally, one of the other YouTube channels that I've subscribed to is Cowboy Kent Rollins with his down-home recipes, and he's proud to boast his own Blooming Onion which is supposed to be better than anything from the Outback.

My gastronomic preamble ramble (and also rumble since my stomach is starting to make cooing sounds due to my mention of the Blooming Onion) is all for introducing Tommy february6's January 2002 single "Bloomin'!". It's been a while since I've brought up a song by one of the brilliant green's Tomoko Kawase's（川瀬智子）alter egos; the last one was "je t'aime★je t'aime", and even for that article, I mentioned that it had been a while for a Tommy february6 tune.

Her 3rd single, "Bloomin'!" is all about the sweet purrs of love toward the beloved thanks to Tommy's lyrics. It's refreshing and nostalgic listening to the synthpop that has me going back to my high school years, European pop and even some music I remember coming out of Quebec. But this isn't melodic poutine that I'm writing about but musical maple syrup candy. I have to give my compliments to composer MALIBU CONVERTIBLE whoever that may be. As for that "Alice in Wonderland" reminiscent music video, I can't help but think of the videos by Men Without Hats who come right from Montreal.

"Bloomin!" peaked at No. 10 on Oricon and was a track on her self-titled album which was released in February 2002. It hit No. 1 for a couple of weeks and ended up as the 17th-ranked album of the year. The song was also used in a Shiseido commercial.