Seiko Matsuda -- Shapes of Happiness

 

First off, happy belated birthday to the Eternal Aidoru, Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, born on March 10th. A few days ago on Monday, I was alerted by a commenter that in commemoration of her 45th year in show business, Matsuda would be releasing her latest BEST compilation, "Eien no Aidoru, Eien no Seishun, Matsuda Seiko ~ 45th Anniversary Kyuukyoku All-Time Best"（永遠のアイドル、永遠の青春、松田聖子。〜45th Anniversary 究極オールタイムベスト〜...Eternal Aidoru, Eternal Youth, Seiko Matsuda. ~ 45th Anniversary Ultimate All-Time Best）. Yes, quite the mouthful, but it is quite the anniversary and the album is coming out on June 4th. According to the J-Wiki article for the compilation, things are still in flux when it comes to the multi-disc lineup so consider what you see there as not totally etched in stone quite yet.

I haven't even seen the latest single put up on the playlist, so I'm definitely thinking that the album is still getting tweaked. "Shapes of Happiness" just came out on YouTube in the last few days. Written and composed by singer-songwriter Noriyuki Makihara（槇原敬之）, yes I realize that it might be hard calling this an aidoru song when the aidoru herself is a few years away from earning her first old age pension, but hey, Seiko-chan is the Eternal Aidoru after all. Look at that brilliant smile!

"Shapes of Happiness" is a very sunny and upbeat tune by Mackey that even has that hint of disco in there, perhaps to remind folks when Seiko-chan made her debut. Yup, it was that long ago. The lady may have gone through a lot of sadness in the last few years but here's hoping that she is marching forwards and looking upwards.