Yes, indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Hiroko Mita（三田寛子）. And she is an 80s aidoru that I haven't covered in a few years now, so I have to rectify that situation.
Actually, this is the B-side to her August 1984 8th single "Koi suru Metro" (恋するメトロ...Metro in Love). "Hatachi no Mae de" (Just Before I Turn 20) was written by Yu Kayano（茅野遊）, composed by Kei Ogura（小椋佳）and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）. Seeing Ogura's name in the songwriting list perked up my senses so giving this a listen, I did get that feeling of something lusher and more poignant in the melody as Mita sings about the usual trials and tribulations of love before turning into an age that was once known in Japan as the official one to become an adult.
In another example of Japanese songwriters borrowing riffs from Western artists, I was going to mention that the intro had reminded me of the opening for Phil Collins and Philip Bailey's hit "Easy Lover" which was indeed released also in 1984. However, that song actually didn't come out until later in November. Things that make you go hmmmmm....😐
As for lyricist Kayano, she's really known as singer-songwriter Mebae Miyahara（宮原芽映）and she's up here on the blog with one of her own songs, "Milky Cat", from 1981.
At the end of the 2nd video you post durning the interview with Hiroko Mita it looks like I can see posters for1984's "Footlose" in the back ground.
ReplyDeleteI never caught "Footloose" although I knew it was a big hit along with "Ghostbusters" that year. It's interesting to see considering how often Kevin Bacon has been cast as a villain.
DeleteBy the way your post on Hiroko Mita has turned out to be very timely as there is now very recent news about her showing up.
ReplyDeletehttps://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/34c2f3f2d00cbff4e28a2e525c404734ce1fedee
https://nishispo.nishinippon.co.jp/article/928009
Yeah...kinda too bad though that the news is not particularly happy.
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