Keeping on with that "Uta Con"（うたコン）theme tonight of Generation Z finding and embracing their inner kayo kyoku amity that I mentioned in the last article, a new group of guys made their "Uta Con" debut embracing their own concept of bringing Showa Kayo and Showa Pops into the current mainstream. That is indeed the concept of SHOW-WA (and not SHOW-YA which is a female rock band that started in the 1980s).
A group of six young men who are a cooking expert, a former model/actor, a former J-League soccer player, a former member of the vocal group SOLIDEMO and a couple of former company employees, SHOW-WA began life in the middle of 2023 and finally released their first single, "Kimi no Oujisama" (Your Prince), in September 2024. Sounding like a Showa Era SMAP singing something hovering between kayo and Mood Kayo, they may give Junretsu（純烈）a run for the money as a group covering the old-style stuff. I have to give props to the folks behind the music video because of that tribute to that music show "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）.
"Kimi no Oujisama" was written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Comical Micchan（こみかるみっちゃん）who usually handles hip-hop according to his J-Wiki profile. Looks like he's just at home with the kayo kyoku too.
I can only imagine Akimoto thinking about his younger days while writing the song.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine all of us middle-aged guys thinking about our younger days while listening to the song. :)
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