Miki Sawada -- Tengoku kara no Yakusoku（天国からの約束）

 

Commenter Brian Mitchell and I were having a brief discussion on that recent Harumi Miyako（都はるみ）article where singers' works can intertwine two or even more genres. Basically, I guess we are talking about crossover music a la Taylor Swift or Shania Twain. I even indicated that the Queen of Kayo Kyoku, Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, delved into a number of genres although most of her songs were encapsulated within their own genres with a few exceptions such as "Kawa no nagare no youni" (川の流れのように) which seems to have merged a couple of genres in a New Adult Music style.

I also get that impression from the song "Tengoku kara no Yakusoku" (A Promise From Heaven), the 6th single by singer Miki Sawada（沢田美紀）. Released in April 2008, it was a little difficult for me to definitively put my stamp on a single genre for it. I could hear the enka, but there was also folk and so perhaps I could use the hybrid genre of New Adult Music for it. 

Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed by Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）, "Tengoku kara no Yakusoku" is a poignant message by Sawada as the protagonist tells her older brother who has been in heaven for a while that she's managing to do OK in life. The song was actually inspired by an incident involving the sister of the president of Tokuma Japan Communications (Sawada's recording company) who suddenly died during a trip through China.

Sawada's real name is Miyuki Oda（尾田美由紀）who was born and raised in Toyama Prefecture. While working in a company in 1996, she participated as a contestant in NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢） amateur singing contest where she eventually became a champion. She moved to Tokyo the following year to become a professional singer and released her first single in 2004.