eill -- Odorasenaide（踊らせないで）

 

The above is the burger that I had at Toronto's Pearson Airport back in 2017 as I waited for that Air Canada flight to Tokyo. Peering into that photo, I gather that it was a bacon cheeseburger.

In the last number of years of my time in the Tokyo area, those hamburger joints (and I mean, the ones with the buns and not the ones served on black iron plates) were popping up like rabbits all over the area, as the locals realized that they had an interest and a taste for the American classic fast food. Earlier in my time, hot dogs tried to make a play for the Japanese market but fizzled out for some reason, but hamburgers arrived and have stayed.

Then in July 2020, TV Tokyo  presented atled  late-night Friday drama titled "Joshi Gourmet Burger Bu"（女子グルメバーガー部...Women's Gourmet Burger Club） which had a plethora of young ladies exploring high and low all over the city for the many different kinds of hamburgers that could be made and eaten. Considering that this was early in the scourge of the pandemic, the show must have been one of reassurance and torture at the same time.

The theme song for "Joshi Gourmet Burger Bu" was "Odorasenaide" (Don't Make Me Dance) by singer-songwriter eill (pronounced as "ale") as a single released when the show came out. Written and composed by the Tokyo-raised artist with Ryo "Lefty" Miyata also helping out on the music, this is some heavenly R&B to help you digest those burgers, and the official music video above even has eill flipping some patties before the riverside dance party begins. I'm hoping that the video did bring comfort and hope to all those who had to be stuck in their homes during those dark times.

Sorry, I'm being a fuddy-duddy Dad here but make sure you give enough time to those burgers sitting in your belly before trying those dances as shown above in the Dance Music Video version of "Odorasenaide". But dang, those kids are really cutting up a rug! 

eill herself was once known as ENNE when she was a part of the acoustic session unit Plusonica（ぷらそにか） for a couple of years in 2016 and 2017. She had begun her songwriting when she was fifteen in the early 2010s and since taking on that new name of eill in 2018, she has released a couple of mini-albums and full albums and around 25 digital singles up to 2024. That also includes a cover of Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Plastic Love" from September 2021.