Seiko Matsuda -- Kagayaita Kisetsu e Tabidatou（輝いた季節へ旅立とう）

 

Beginning my journey into kayo kyoku and then J-Pop included following the fame and fortunes of the eternal aidoru Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）. There were all of the rumours about her love life and then there were all of those changing looks right down to her hairstyle; the famed helmet-like Seiko-chan cut was really only the beginning. The singer was going from sweet girl-next-door teen idol to glamourous queen chanteuse throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. What I hadn't known was that she was also campaigning for the famous chain of esthetic salons run by Yuri Takano（たかの友梨）.

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That might explain the cover featuring her bare midriff for her 38th single, "Kagayaita Kisetsu e Tabidatou" (Let's Travel to the Shining Season) released in December 1994. It was used as the campaign tune for the Yuri Takano commercials, and despite that release date, the song sounds like it was partially inspired by some West Coast AOR of the early 1980s, her former temporal stomping grounds as an aidoru. I was looking for the name of David Foster, but actually the song was created by Seiko-chan herself with the singer taking on the lyricist nom de plume Meg C. since she was a fan of actress Meg Ryan at the time. 

Co-composing "Kagayaita Kisetsu e Tabidatou" was Ryo Ogura（小倉良）and the arrangement was handled by Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）. The single hit No. 12 on Oricon and ended up as the 94th-ranked single for 1995, and it earned Matsuda her first appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen in six years. Apparently, the return of Seiko wasn't lost on anyone since she came down on a huge mirror ball onto the stage where she performed the entire song, something that is pretty rare on that program. "Kagayaita Kisetsu e Tabidatou" is also included on her 25th album "Its' Style '95" from May 1995 which peaked at No. 2.