Hello, J-Canuck here. We have commenter and occasional contributor Fireminer with an article for KKP. Following the video, he'll take over.
Ken Hirai has been awfully quiet for the last few years, with his last album having come out in 2021. It however highlights how long the heartthrob singer has been on the scene. 2025 is in fact the 30th anniversary of his career, and I want to use this occasion to look back at an older entry in his body of work.
Kiss of Life (キス オブ ライフ) was Ken Hirai’s 13th single released on 16th May 2001. It was the fourth and final single of his fourth album Gaining Through Losing. Kiss of Life successfully reached the 2nd place on the weekly Oricon chart and charted for 29 weeks. It was also made the theme song of the drama Love revolution (ラブ・レボリューション).
On first hearing, Kiss of Life is a relatively simple and catchy song. The hook “Every day, every night, wanna kiss, want your lips.” is a bit weak but works though. However, Kiss of Life is also painfully early-2000s. That period when the fusion of R&B and hip-hop has completed its takeover of pop. I can swear that I’ve heard the same beat in a Timbaland song, though for the life of me I can’t remember it. And the music video is very 2000s too. It shows how versatile an empty white room as a set is.
I won’t use the word “elevator music” to describe Kiss of Life. 2000s R&B was all about the texture and mood anyway, and Kiss of Life has a pleasant vibe to it. I think it and the white room set go well together. They are blank canvases perfect for you to project your emotion at the moment.
I don't recall hearing this "kiss of life" before, I think the first song of Ken Hirai's I heard was Hitomi o Tojite which came out a few years later in 2004. I think you are right that "Kiss of life" does sound very early 2000's. Back then I remember hearing Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru, MISIA, morning musume, and KinKi Kids a lot.
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. Yep, those were the days for those singers that you mentioned. Ringo Shiina, SMAP and BoA were also hitting the big time.
DeleteFireminer here. Thank you for posting this article of mine. I think that Hirai's most well-known songs have already been covered on this blog, so I hope other contributors can dig deeper into the well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the contribution, Fireminer. Hopefully, there might be some other contributions by others. I've put up pretty much all that I've known by Hirai, but "Kiss of Life" did spark some recognition when I heard it again for the first time in a while.
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