I have mentioned in the past that I did have my Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）phase a little over twenty years ago so I saw a few "generations" pass my sight going into the 21st century. One of the last members that I got to know before my interest in the group faded was Sayumi Michishige（道重さゆみ）. And one of my memories of her was that she had a segment on the Sunday morning MM music-variety series in which she very enthusiastically interviewed her fellow members and was more than happy to let the world know how cute she was...and apparently, that wasn't just a comedic bit; she was quite confident.
Well, over the past couple of decades, I've discovered that Michishige not only ended up becoming the 8th leader of Morning Musume in May 2012 in the last years of her time with the aidoru group, she reached the status of longest-serving member at well over 4000 days in early 2014 before graduating near the end of the year. After a few years off, she returned to show business in 2017 as a singer and social media celebrity.
It was a little less than a week ago that I finished off the translation for the interview with Night Tempo in his "Japanese City Pop 100 ~ Selected by Night Tempo" book, so I figured that it was time to put up this particular tune that had been in the backlog for a while. A track from his December 2021 first major album, "Ladies in the City", "Night Light", written and composed by the South Korean DJ, is performed by Michishige.
My impression is that in terms of tone and lyrics, "Night Light" is pretty reminiscent of Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Plastic Love". There is that slow and steady funk rhythm along with Michishige singing about another empty night on the dance floor. What can a lady do to find some real love here? The other thing to mention is that I'd never heard Michishige sing solo before since she was singing with Morning Musume way back when. Not sure how much of her voice was adjusted through technology but it's appealingly high and clear here.
I didn't know that Sayumi Michishige was with Morning Musume for so long! I wonder if her longevity it had anything to do with her being assertive or if she was just so popular? She has definitely aged well.
ReplyDeleteIt was as much of a surprise to me as well that Sayumi was with the group so long. She'd struck me as being rather "ten-nen" but I think for her to actually make it to leader and become the longest-serving member shows a lot more grit than I had given her credit for.
DeleteI was never into idol music, but to some in my age group who is into it, Sayumi Michishige was a pretty big deal. I remember visiting a high school friends who room was full of Michishige's merchs. This was way before those online services that buy you stuffs from Yahoo Japan or Mandarake became common-place. My friend probably had some relatives living in Japan.
ReplyDeleteAs for the track itself... Is it just me or does it feel like the hook is kind of weak? Maybe the Plastic Love comparison is truly apt, since I'm also not a big fan of that song's hook.
Yeah, it's always great to have someone "on the inside", so to speak. It really helps avoid those expensive middleman services that add onto what is already a pricey cost.
DeleteI've just been told by one of the other contributors to the blog that he's no fan of Night Tempo's original stuff although he's OK with the Future Funk material. I'm OK with "Night Light" although I'm not huge into the recent clubby stuff. I've been a big fan of "Plastic Love" since I first heard it years ago, way before it exploded on YouTube but even so, I can sympathize with Mariya if she feels that her other stuff has been neglected.