Hitomi Yuuki -- Lady's Melody

 

Whether it be Japan or Canada, I've been stymied about which type of potato chips I've preferred all these years. Pringles is available in both nations and I've always enjoyed it for that uniform stackable shape and the various flavours but at the same time, I've enjoyed Calbee in Japan and Frito-Lay Chips in Canada because of the randomness of each chip along with the increased greasiness and delectably rough crunch.

Now, why am I talking about junk food on a Saturday night? Well, the song of this article was used for a Calbee potato chip commercial in 1994, and it strikes me as a bit unusual since "Lady's Melody" by singer-songwriter Hitomi Yuuki（又紀仁美）sounds quite a bit more refined in voice and arrangement...even more than Pringles chips. To be honest, I would have thought the breezy pop song would have made for a better fit for a cosmetics ad, but here we are. 

In any case, "Lady's Melody" was released in September 1994 as Yuuki's 3rd single. It was written by Kyohei Natsume（夏目涼平）and the singer and composed by Kazuya Izumi（和泉一弥）. As for Yuuki, she was born in Tokyo as Hitomi Tsuburaya（円谷 一美）, and if that family name sounds familiar to you, then you must love your tokusatsu TV shows and movies because indeed she is part of the family in control of Tsuburaya Productions, the producer of the "Ultraman" series. I can only speculate that the name change was for Yuuki to be able to stand on her own two feet in terms of her career without needing the Tsuburaya name as a crutch. On the other hand, her sister, singer Yuko Tsuburaya（円谷優子）, kept hers. As well, Yuuki returned to her original name after 1997.

According to her J-Wiki article, Yuuki made her debut in January 1994 and she released 12 singles and 5 albums up to 1999. Upon getting married, she moved to Saudi Arabia and then also lived in Syria and England before returning to Japan and resuming her music career.