AI -- Okuribito（おくりびと）

 

Happy Monday! As I've mentioned in the past, I generally don't watch the Oscars anymore for a number of reasons, and as for last night's reason, I was out with friends for a nice if pricey Korean BBQ dinner (just wish the restaurant would accept credit cards). I've heard that there really wasn't anything cringe about this year's ceremony as there has been in the past (such as the slap heard around the world) and the big shocker was that Jimmy Kimmel and company were able to finish the program before 11 PM Eastern Daylight Time! I actually had to check things to make sure that there hadn't been some sort of terrorist attack.

I had heard beforehand that there were three Japanese movies that were in contention for Oscars, and I'm glad to hear that two of them won. Many congratulations to "Godzilla Minus One" for Best Visual Effects and "The Boy and the Heron" for Best Animated Feature. The amazing thing is though I haven't been one who watches a lot of Oscar movies, I managed to catch four such flicks in 2023: the above two, "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer". 

I wondered about putting something up to begin this week's round of KKP entries to commemorate the Oscar victories but I had already contributed articles regarding "Godzilla Minus One" and "The Boy and the Heron" back in December. Didn't want to quit quite yet so after breaking a brain cell or two, I realized that the movie "Okuribito"（Departures） had won for Best Foreign Picture back at the 2009 Oscars.

Never thought that I would see two former cute teenage singers from Japan show up on Hollywood's biggest staged event but it did happen. 

I figured that any major Japanese motion picture would have some sort of song attached to it, and sure enough, Japanese-American R&B singer AI provided one. "Okuribito" is a tenderhearted creation written by AI and composed/arranged by Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）. It's certainly a different tune for AI since "Okuribito" has a heartfelt orchestra backing up a hushed and solemn delivery by the singer. There's even some prominence given to the cellos which happened to be the instrument of profession for Masahiro Motoki's（本木雅弘）main character before transitioning to become a ritual mortician. It's a perfect fit for the tone of the story. "Okuribito" was the coupling song to AI's 18th single "So Special -Version AI-" from September 2008. 

Of course, there were a few highlights in last night's ceremonies. After his antics, John Cena has been compared here in Japan to one other local comedian with a similar shtick.

Kaela Kimura feat. AI -- MAGNETIC

 

Last night's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was quite good. It was one of the occasional kakudai（拡大）, or extended, specials at 75 minutes with the overall theme of spring. The show had a good variety of singers including the first-time appearance, if I'm indeed correct, of pop singer-songwriter Kaela Kimura（木村カエラ）.

Kimura first performed her wedding-reception favourite, "Butterfly", and then she returned to do a rather happily eclectic number called "MAGNETIC" with a couple of dancers dressed like conventional U-shaped magnets. Then I saw the above video for which I realized that she hadn't been alone when she recorded this track for an album of the same name which had been released in December 2022. 

One thing about Kimura is that she can create tunes which are so catchy that everyone aged 5 to 99 can get in on the fun. For the little tykes, her voice and lyrics are the thing while for the older folks, it's the beats. I think that was the case for her 2020 "ZIG ZAG" with rapper BIM, and "MAGNETIC" is her collaboration with R&B singer AI. Her cute-as-all-heck sing-songy vocals are paired with AI's rap in the middle. Not surprisingly, both performers were responsible for the lyrics while Mito（ミト）, the bandmaster for Clammbon（クラムボン）, took care of music and arrangement. 

Kimura also did a First Take performance of "MAGNETIC" a couple of months ago.

AI -- Story

I heard "Story" by AI a lot a decade ago through the original music video on TV. Up to the release of her 12th single in May 2005, I had never heard of the singer but when this ballad made its presence known, I was struck by the power and message of it. Written by AI (Ai Carina Uemura) and composed by 2SOUL, there is a certain power ballad-of-the-80s feeling to the arrangements that reminded me of Bryan Adams' "Heaven".

AI's genre is usually R&B but "Story" is a pop ballad about not leaving what can be done today until it's too late. However, it has always been the melody that attracted me about it. I've only seen AI once on TV...I think it was on the late "HEY! HEY! HEY! Music Champ" where she was jovially chumming around with the boys from Downtown and teaching a bit of the local English to them when she was attending high school in Los Angeles. But as amiable as she is, I think everyone wanted to listen to the voice. "Story" was AI's first Top 10 hit, peaking at No. 8 and becoming the 43rd-ranked song of 2005. Plus, she got her invitation to sing the song on the Kohaku Utagassen.

Almost a decade after its release, AI's English-language version of "Story" became the ending theme for the movie "Big Hero 6" in Japan. It was no "The Incredibles" but it was enjoyable and I'm sure Baymax was a huge hit with the kiddies. Of course, over there the Japanese title was indeed "Baymax".