Carlos Toshiki & Omega Tribe -- be yourself

 

Dang! That is one epic song for an insurance company commercial. Indeed, "be yourself", the title track from Carlos Toshiki & Omega Tribe's（カルロス・トシキ&オメガトライブ）February 1989 album was representing the Dai-Ichi Life Insurance Company with a ballad so Omega Tribe that I was willing to pay for several months' worth of premiums and an Aloha shirt.

"be yourself" is a really dreamy and yet inspiring J-AOR/City Pop song written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）. Toshiki's voice sounds even more velvety and smokier here making this an ideal sunset or nocturnal urban tune. As for the album, it hit No. 9 on Oricon. 

The song "be yourself" and life insurance might make for strange bedfellows but the title is solid. As Toshiki croons at the very end, "Just be yourself". Don't lie on your application form, pay your premiums and you won't suffer any delays in payouts. Too bad that I couldn't find the actual commercial, but there is their performance on "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）.