Earlier in the year, I found out about this Neo-City Pop group called SPARKLING☆CHERRY mentored by singer-songwriter Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）and led vocally by Cherry. Liking the cut of their jib, I bought their late 2021 album "Windy" and have enjoyed their 21st-century take on Japan's urban contemporary scene.
Well, in gathering the information on SPARKLING☆CHERRY, I discovered their website and also the fact that "Windy" was the fourth of their album releases. Sometime between that "Windy" article and now, I did bring in one of their past tunes into the backlog, and I'm now happy to introduce it. This is the title track from the band's 2nd album "Mirage" released in July 2018.
May I say that the album cover is one handsome fellow? No, I don't think that it's an Eizin Suzuki but the loving feeling for him is there. Of course, when I think of Suzuki in that musical sense, I will always have images of Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）dancing in my brain, and the same thing happens when Cherry sings out the refrain of this title track (she was also responsible for words and music). I can imagine Tats singing it as well. Considering that July release month, "Mirage" is a perfectly upbeat and summery song to listen while envisaging that beachside resort. It may have made its debut quite a few decades following the initial City Pop boom of the 1980s, but "Mirage" still packs an homage punch.
Speaking of homages, the Johnny's boy group Snow Man released their second album this week and one of the songs, "ミッドナイト・トレンディ" or "Midnight Trendy" is a homage to City Pop. Thought I should let you know in case you wanted to check it out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip. I just listened to the song and yep, the City Pop influences are there. Will have to talk about this one as the first Snow Man article on the blog.
DeleteIt's ironic that most folks in Japan don't have any particular knowledge or interest in the genre right now, and yet acts such as Snow Man and Perfume have been recording songs along City Pop lines.