Kaori Kozai -- Yume ni Yowasete（夢に酔わせて）

 

The kayo trope of drowning one's sorrows in drink has continued up to the present day. Obviously, it's not a good thing to chronically pickle your liver but some reason, hitting the bar to cry in your beer has made for a popular mise en scene in all of those Japanese songs.

(shortened version)

I think that the trope has popped up in all genres of Japanese music although the traditional genres of enka and Mood Kayo are usually seen as the areas for being a barfly. And sure enough, I have this September 2021 single by enka singer Kaori Kozai（香西かおり）"Yume ni Yowasete" (Drunk on Dreams), but the song has been done more in a pop ballad style rather than enka.

Written by Safari Natsukawa（夏川サファリ）and composed by Hitoshi Harukawa（春川仁志）, Kozai sings about trying to recover from a personal crisis such as a romantic breakup by drowning oneself through dreams (and perhaps the bottle, too). Although the lyrics might seem a tad grim, the singer's vocals and the arrangement by Harukawa reflect some hope and reassurance in the recovery process as if the person in question will eventually sort themselves around. It does have that style that I think singers such as Misia would love to tackle with that grand piano and languid guitar.