I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
I always liked that sunset filter on my old departed Casio digital camera. It was the first one I ever owned. By the way, the above is a shot of West Shinjuku centering on the Cocoon building.
Anyways, this particular song has had me thinking about a typical Friday night in the hustling and bustling areas of Shinjuku and Shibuya. All those masses of humanity streaming in all directions like wayward amoebae looking for food.
I am talking about singer-songwriter Anna Takeuchi's（竹内アンナ）"ALRIGHT" which was included as a track on her first official single "at ONE" from August 2018. Written and composed by the singer, it's got quite the dreamy intro followed by a fairly fast-paced melody which could signify navigating the crowded streets of Tokyo, en route to a restaurant or bar to meet up with good buddies. The instruments used here enhances that feeling of City Pop and other music from decades past.
According to her J-Wiki discography, there was a pre-debut single released in April of that same year titled "alright" in small letters. Not sure if that is the same song with a dramatically different arrangement.
Before I forget completely, I would like to wish a belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the United States. At this point, most of you have already devoured a good chunk of turkey with all of the trimmings. Perhaps those of you reading this may be doing so through bleary eyes from sleeping some of that digestion off. Keep the stomach open for dessert, though. You can't miss that!
I guess with this article, we've done a round trip between Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro. Well, we're back in Tokyo again via singer-songwriter Anna Takeuchi's（竹内アンナ）"Tokyo Nite" from her January 2019 album"at TWO". It's been around three years since I posted an article about her on the blog so let's welcome her back.
In terms of her discography, this is the earliest I've gone back and "Tokyo Nite" is a fascinating track because it seems to be trying to be a Long Island Iced Tea of genres with the intoxicatingly sweet taste, to boot. It's got the groovy Neo-City Pop, some hip-hop rap, bossa nova and maybe even a touch of ska in the beat. The song comes across as the type of musical background a Tokyo modern of the 21st century would like to have while driving through the megalopolis on a Friday night.
Earlier this year, I got to find out about singer-songwriter Anna Takeuchi（竹内アンナ）who I've seen on a couple of programs including an episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）, and then via YouTube. It was such that I devoted an article to her 2022 album"TICKETS".
I think that this particular song by Takeuchi was something that I found on kinuzure's "Tamaranaku, AOR Kayo"（たまらなく、AOR歌謡...Irresistably, AOR Kayo） website devoted to City Pop and all of those light n' mellow AOR tunes (I also discovered kroi's"Atami" there, too, last month). "Ride on Weekend" hails from the singer's first album"Matousic" from March 2020. Today is J-Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP, and although ultimately, I felt that "Ride on Weekend" was a pop song instead of a City Pop or AOR number, it still has some good groove in its arrangement. Lyrically, it's all about joyfully getting together with that significant other on those precious days off and simply doing the usual weekend stuff.
"Ride on Weekend" was used as the theme song for the dramedy "Arimura Kasumi no Satsukyu"（有村架純の撮休...Kasumi Arimura's Shooting Days Off） on the satellite TV station WOWOW which had its time in Spring 2020. It had an interesting concept, kinda like the late actor/comedian Garry Shandling's"It's Garry Shandling's Show" in the late 1980s; actress Arimura played herself on her days off from a set during filming of some show or movie and finds herself in a number of situations every week with other actors playing folks like her boyfriend and mother.
Enjoy my photo of an Apple Cobbler A La Mode, courtesy of the Hard Rock Café, most likely the branch in Roppongi back in 2009. My apologies on the slight blur...I think my lens was watering at the sight.
From Amazon.jp
Anyways, although I'd initially just wanted to focus on one song by this singer-songwriter Anna Takeuchi（竹内アンナ）, I did discover that there were two songs in the backlog by her, so I naturally opted to cover those two and one more from her 2nd full album"TICKETS" which was released in March 2022. I believe that a commenter had me cottoned onto Takeuchi, so to that person, I will give my thanks. Moreover, because I had for a moment wondered about it as well especially with that family name (as common as "Takeuchi" is), I will let you know that she's not related to Mariya or Tatsuro in any shape or form.
Takeuchi was actually born in Los Angeles but her family moved to Kyoto when she was around 5 years of age, and she began her songwriting path while in junior high school. Performing her original works in various clubs cemented that path onto becoming a singer. Then at the age of 19, she made an appearance at the 2018 edition of the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas and then went on the Japan Nite US tour 2018 through seven other American cities.
Getting onto "TICKETS" itself, here is "Ice Cream." (which is why I put up the photo of the cobbler), her August 2021 digital single, some laidback pop which includes some rap and a bit of some 1970s R&B. According to her J-Wiki profile, Takeuchi, thanks to her parents, got to know the music of The Beatles and Earth Wind & Fire and other types of music from the 70s and 80s. In fact, "September" is one of her touchstones.
Takeuchi began to get more interested in African-American music, although she was also influenced by the Japanese rock band Bump of Chicken and American singer-guitarist John Mayer. I think some of that 1970s soul comes out to the fore with her February 2022 digital single, "Te no Hira Kasanereba"（手のひら重ねれば...If We Put Our Hands Together）, a nice and bouncy song of pining for that wonderful guy.
For the last track for the article, here is "YOU + ME=", a short and fast-paced tune that has Takeuchi making a pitch for why she and a certain guy would make the ideal combination. Some nice catchy delivery and I'm getting very comfortable with her high and breathy voice.
