Sara Hamamoto -- Follow Me

 

I've never heard of Yokohama-born Sara Hamamoto（浜本沙良）before, but according to her J-Wiki profile, she started out as a model but being a great admirer of Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）and Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）, she decided that she would also become a singer. I believe that Miki Imai（今井美樹）had those same thoughts of wanting to be behind the recording mike although she was also acting, too.

Hamamoto would make her debut in June 1994 with the single "Sayonara wa Tenshi no Hajimari"（さよならは天使のはじまり...Goodbye Means the Start of an Angel） while Takao Yamazaki（山崎貴生）, a member of the band Aido（愛奴）which included Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）, would become her mentor. Her first album "Puff" was released a little over a month later in July, and I found this really nifty track there titled "Follow Me".

From the popularity of the genre at the time and that design of the album cover with those frames, the French language and some tasteful black-and-white photos of Hamamoto, I was thinking that "Puff" might contain nothing but Shibuya-kei. But listening to "Follow Me", which was created by lyricist Kinshi Natsuno（夏野芹子）and composer Hitoshi Haba（羽場仁志）, I think that it's closer to City Pop via late 80s sophisti-pop. It's got some nice groove and a combination of sharp and mellow horns in there. And not to leave anyone out, Hamamoto herself has got some pleasant vocals.

Although it isn't featured for this particular commercial above for Renaissance Nagasaki Iwo Jima（ルネサンス長崎「伊王島」）, "Follow Me" was used in a previous ad for what I believe is this amusement park or resort area. As for Hamamoto, up to 2000, she released 11 singles and 4 albums before leaving show business.