Nana Mori -- bye-bye myself

 

This week's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was held at NHK Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo for the first time in one year and four months due to renovations, and the show didn't hold back on its declaration: "WE ARE BACK!". It gave a relatively rare extended broadcast of one hour and fifteen minutes, had as full an audience as was possible during COVID, showed off some of that dry ice fog as a special effect, had veteran Takashi Hosokawa（細川たかし）rise up through the floor to do his minyo, and the duo Yuzu（ゆず）got to do a longer set than usual.

Basically speaking, this was a dry run for the 2022 Kohaku Utagassen, so I think that this pretty much confirms it. Early in the year, I had some worries that because of the traditional New Year's special last year hitting its lowest ratings (though still considered high compared to regular programming) and the top two people at NHK more than willing to swing the axe on long-running shows, my feeling had been that maybe the Red-and-White Song Festival was finally going to go the way of the dodo. However, as time passed by into the spring, the chances of that happening seemed to fade away, and certainly watching tonight's "Uta Con", I think the 73rd edition will be getting its due at the end of this year.

Anyways, among all of the familiar faces on stage at NHK Hall, I did see one young lady who looked familiar and not so familiar beside the hosts Shosuke Tanihara（谷原章介）and Nonoka Akaki（赤木野々花）. It turned out that she was actress Nana Mori（森七菜）, and I think that is her main occupation. Perhaps the familiarity is due to the fact that she had appeared on the NHK morning serial "Yell"（エール）a few years back.

Well, the Oita Prefecture-raised Mori has also been releasing her own music in the form of singles since 2020, and her fifth and most recent digital download single is "bye-bye myself" which came out last month. Written and composed by actor and singer-songwriter Naotaro Moriyama（森山直太朗）, it's a cheerful song of getting out of the blues with a sense of renewal and hope. I think that what has gotten me interested in it is that jangly guitar which seems to have me going back in time to the 1980s, although that's just me.

Anyways, welcome back NHK Hall!