Okayu -- Yokohama Henry（ヨコハマ・ヘンリー）

 

I've already put up a few of modern balladeer Okayu's（おかゆ）songs onto KKP, thanks to her appearances on NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）over the past number of years. With her musical creations, it does have me thinking, though. As much as we have Neo-City Pop as an updated version of the groovy urban contemporary stuff from the 1970s and 1980s, do we also have a Neo-Mood Kayo, music surrounding the bars and other watering holes in 21st-century Japan? Or is it possible that there is a New New Adult Music in tribute to another subgenre which spanned that middle space between kayo kyoku and enka in those two decades mentioned for City Pop?

Not sure myself, but for the sake of argument, why don't we go with (Neo) Mood Kayo tonight since I've also used that Label to categorize other Okayu songs that I've written about? So, the song here is her major debut single "Yokohama Henry" from May 2019. Written and composed by the singer, it's all about falling in love and living life large in the famed international port; the melody is a bit tango-friendly and snazzy and the lyrics name drop some of the popular districts in Yokohama: Motomachi, Bashamichi, Isezaki and Honmoku...just like an old-fashioned Mood Kayo. Heck, even some of the back chorus is reminiscent of what groups like The Cool Five and Los Indios did back in the day.

Allow me to give my compliments on the music video director for those gorgeous shots of nocturnal Yokohama. It was almost a couple of months ago that I wrote about Okayu's most recent single this year, another song that pays tribute to a famous entertainment area.