Yoshie Kashiwabara -- Otome Gokoro Nani Iro?（乙女心何色?）

 

Well, yes, I am well aware that staying on tune was more of a helpful guideline rather than a hard and fast rule for an aidoru back in the 1980s, but I have to admit that whenever I hear the chorus part of Yoshie Kashiwabara's（柏原芳恵）4th single "Otome Gokoro Nani Iro?" (What Colour is the Heart of a Maiden?), I can't help but cringe. I'm not sure whether these are simply my ears registering the off-tune situation but it's the one way that I recognize the song.

Regardless, "Otome Gokoro Nani Iro?" was released in February 1981 and it's a young lady's oh-so-giddily happy treatise on spring as the season of budding love. She would know that for sure since she's head-over-heels herself. According to her, the colour of a maiden's heart changes seasonally and in spring, the magic hue is rose. Arranged by Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）, words and music were supplied by Haruo Chikada（近田春夫）which I was a bit surprised about since I'd always associated him more with New Wave, synthpop and rock n' roll. "Otome Gokoro Nani Iro?" is actually quite breezy and very aidoru-like.

The song peaked at No. 55 on the Oricon weeklies, selling about 40,000 records. It first appeared on an album in October 1981, her first BEST compilation "Kashiwabara Yoshie BEST"（柏原よしえベスト）. Interestingly enough, her stage performances of the single were more on tune.