Aimyon -- Hikarimono（ひかりもの）

 

First off, according to Jisho.org, the term hikarimono has at least a couple of meanings:

1. a luminous body (e.g. shooting star)

2. sliced fish with the silver skin left on (e.g. sardine, horse mackerel, shad, etc. for sushi)

The two different definitions might explain why singer-songwriter Aimyon's（あいみょん）song "Hikarimono" has been labeled on her own YouTube channel as "Raw Like Sushi". A track from her 2nd full album "Shunkanteki Sixth Sense"（瞬間的シックスセンス...Instantaneous Sixth Sense） from February 2019, the J-Wiki writeup on "Hikarimono" describes the tenderhearted ballad as a personal song for Aimyon herself as to how she was able to get through the bad times during her career. Basically, it's to not sweat the small stuff and just plug on ahead. Written and composed by Aimyon, an interview through Ongaku Natalie via J-Wiki revealed that when those strings first introduced "Hikarimono", she was on the verge of tears. 

"Shunkanteki Sixth Sense" also has the track "Marigold"（マリーゴールド）which was the first Aimyon article that I wrote up back in 2018 before her first appearance on NHK's "Kohaku Utagassen". The album hit No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies and ended up as the 19th-ranked album of the year. She'll be making her 4th appearance on the New Year's Eve special in less than a week, although it won't be to perform "Hikarimono".

Aimyon -- Marigold（マリーゴールド）

As expected, last week, the participants in this year's Kohaku Utagassen on NHK were announced, and by my token, it looks like the enka part of the annual show has decreased somewhat more which is kinda too bad. But there are some new faces to see as well in 5 weeks including this young lady named Aimyon（あいみょん）.

Born in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, Aimyon is a singer-songwriter who has listed among her inspirations Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）, Flipper's Guitar（フリッパーズ・ギター）and Ken Hirai（平井堅）, although in an interview for her 5th single on the pop culture news site, Natalie, she has mentioned that she has yet to settle on what her sound is.

That 5th single is "Marigold" from August 2018 and I've been enjoying the song for that very sound which is reminiscent of some of the guitar pop that I used to hear back in the 1990s. It wouldn't be too bad if some of that pop/rock music returned again for another go-round. I had also been wondering where the music video was filmed; as it turns out, it's Shanghai according to the rockin'on.com site. "Marigold" peaked at No. 26 on Oricon. Aimyon has also just released her 6th single in the last week, "Konya Kono Mama"（今夜このまま...Tonight Like This）.

Here's hoping that she does well on New Year's Eve.🍸