Tokimeki Records feat. Hikari -- Blizzard

 

I think I'm talking for a lot of Torontonians here, but I'm ready to call for an early spring as soon as possible, especially after getting one of the wintriest of winters in about a decade. However, I've been a Torontonian long enough to know that we probably have at least one more blizzard on the way before things finally start warming up.

Well, anyways, let us segue to "Blizzard". If that title sounds familiar to you, then you must be a Yuming（ユーミン）fan since the original version by her was part and parcel of her winning 1984 album "No Side". I already wrote about that song back in KKP's inaugural year of 2012, so here is a cover version by the good folks at Tokimeki Records with vocalist Hikari（ひかり）behind the mike.

This cover version was released in January 2022 and though it most likely won't replace the original in fans' minds, it's still a nice Neo-City Pop version of the Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）classic. Sorry for the pun, but it's quite the chill version, and there seem to be so many synthesizers helping out there that I will also place the technopop label onto it as well.

KAGAMI feat. Hikari -- Endless Midnight

 

I know that I introduced the duo KAGAMI just last Friday, but on hearing this other song of theirs in the last few days, I simply couldn't leave it alone. It's just that attractive to me.

Their debut album "Time Machine" was released earlier this year in April, but then I encountered this single that had come out even earlier in February titled "Endless Midnight", and the guest vocalist here is Hikari（ひかり）. Now, if that name sounds familiar to all those into their Neo-City Pop, then it's because she has been often aligned with another artist, Tokimeki Records, in covers and original material such as their "Sweet Escape" from 2022.

Well, "Endless Midnight" may be a fresh new song from 2025 but its arrangement sounds like something from the original City Pop days (and nights) of the 1980s. With Hikari cooing softly into the mike, the arrangement reminds me of Tomoko Aran's（亜蘭知子）"Slow Nights". And overall, KAGAMI may have made another ideal driving song as one is traveling to, through or from the big city around the bewitching hour. 

Tokimeki Records feat. Hikari -- Sweet Escape

 

Back in the spring, I mentioned music unit Tokimeki Records and one of their singers Hikari（ひかり）as they did a lovely cover of the City Pop classic "Mayonaka no Door ~ Stay With Me" （真夜中のドアー）back in 2021. I'm hoping that the original singer, Miki Matsubara（松原みき）, was looking down at them with nodding approval.

Looking at their discography on J-Wiki, Tokimeki Records, Hikari and a lot of the other singers under their umbrella have covered many Japanese pop songs from previous decades. However this time, I would like to highlight an original song that was released by them in August 2022 called "Sweet Escape". A mid-tempo funky tune sung breathily by Hikari and backed up by a rhythm section as if they were supporting good ol' Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）back in the day, it sounds like a really nice drive into Tokyo on one of the major expressways. An escape for a night of fun in the metropolis is sweet, indeed.

Tokimeki Records feat. Hikari -- Mayonaka no Door ~ Stay With Me （真夜中のドアー）

 

Yes, I do realize that Urban Contemporary Friday was yesterday but I just can't help but put this one up tonight. After the Blogger technical kerfuffle earlier this afternoon, I think I want to post up something especially fun.

It looks like one of the premium City Pop songs to be absolutely adored and devoured by a lot of people inside and outside of Japan, Miki Matsubara's（松原みき）"Mayonaka no Door"（真夜中のドアー）, aka "Stay With Me", has become the gift that has kept on giving. The list of cover versions on the J-Wiki article for the 1979 hit is beginning to appear like an annual Kohaku Utagassen lineup. A few years ago, I even wrote on Yuko Imai's（今井優子）funk n' groove n' sophisticated pop take on the song which she released as part of her 2016 album "Sweetest Voice", a few years before "Stay With Me" exploded onto the international scene.

A couple of slaps on the head later earlier this month made me realize that Tokimeki Records isn't a recording company. It is the name of a music unit which started up in 2019 that specializes in cover songs originally done by singers from the 1980s and 1990s. The group immediately sprinted out of the gate with their cover of that other City Pop hit "Plastic Love" in August 2019. But then a few years later, in June 2021, Tokimeki Records brought singer Hikari (one of a number of singers who have contributed to the unit's projects) on board to record their version of "Stay With Me". And it's another barn burning banger of a cover with a bit more of a dance club flavour infused into the original arrangement by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）.