JUJU -- Issen（一線）

 

Medical dramas most likely populate television screens all over the world including Japan. In fact, I believe that every television drama season in my old stomping grounds is under orders from far above to have at least one medical drama somewhere across the channels. 

I have to admit though that this currently-running Thursday-night TV Asahi drama titled "Great Gift"（グレイトギフト）has got an interesting twist. Pathologist Tatsuomi Fujimaki, played by former beach hunk Takashi Sorimachi（反町隆史）, is in it deep as he possibly uncovers a huge deadly conspiracy involving the deaths of at least a former Prime Minister of Japan and a high-level and well-connected medical official due to a stealth weapon in the form of a virus. Oooooh!😱

Not surprisingly, the theme song had to be suitably dramatic and thrilling. So I got to hear JUJU's "Issen" (The Line) last week on NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）. At the time I watched her perform on stage, I hadn't known about its connection with "Great Gift" and just thought it as being a typically JUJU-esque song of dynamism and slinkiness. "Issen" was written by Tomoko and Erina Kiser while composed by Shogo Onishi. It was released as a single last month and listening to it a few times, I think it could also easily be used as a theme song for an action-packed anime.

JUJU -- Bet On Me

 

I'm not sure whether it was the pandemic that did it in or it's just reached its natural end, but I still miss the NHK information variety program "Sekai wa Hoshiimono ni Afureteru"（世界はほしいモノにあるふれてる...This World is Filled With Wants） that used to show up on Tuesday nights following "Uta Con"（うたコン）via TV Japan. It used to be a regular weekly program but it switched to occasional specials from May 2021 so I'll take what I can get. The show about Japanese buyers scouring the globe for certain commodities was so gorgeously and glamorously shot that even though I couldn't quite understand some of the talk, I was still able to enjoy the cinematography of the marketplaces in countries such as Morocco and Spain. 

One of the co-hosts of the show is jazz and R&B singer JUJU, and frankly from my vantage point, I usually only see her in her position on "Sekai wa Hoshiimono ni Afureteru" and not as a singer all that much, although she does sing the snazzy show tune-friendly opening theme, "Remember (The Good Times)". However, earlier this year, JUJU provided a theme song for a drama on Fuji-TV called "Stand Up Start"（スタンドUPスタート）, a live-action adaptation of a 2020 business-based manga.

"Bet On Me" was written by singer-songwriter Sachiko Aoyama（蒼山幸子）and composed by Kai Shiono（塩野海）as a fairly high-octane tune with some 1960s go-go jazz flavour. Fans can get their Watusi on for this one and I get some of that feeling of a spy caper movie when I listen to it (the flute definitely helps). The song was released as JUJU's 43rd single in March 2023. 

JUJU -- Remember (The Good Times)

www.nhk.jp

(If any of you at NHK disagree with me putting up the picture, please let me

know and it'll be promptly taken down.)

Recently, I've gotten into watching another NHK program via TV Japan once "Uta Kon"（うたコン）finishes up on Tuesday night. Titled "Sekai wa Hoshiimono ni Afureteru"（世界はほしいモノにあるふれてる...This World is Filled With Wants）, it's a show about Japanese buyers for various shops searching all over the world for unique wares, and it stars singer JUJU and actor/singer Haruma Miura（三浦春馬）. In all honesty, though, my timing hasn't been too good since due to COVID-19, "Sekai wa Hoshiimono ni Afureteru" has had to curtail its main function of showing the buyers traveling the Earth, so we've been watching reruns for the past few weeks. But those reruns themselves have been entertaining in showing some of those products and the lifestyles that they've helped in shaping in those nations such as Italy and Denmark.

The theme song for the show is performed by JUJU and it's called "Remember (The Good Times)". Now, I've been hearing about JUJU for years and have seen her appear on the aforementioned "Uta Kon" a few times here and there, but wasn't aware that she had initially aimed to become a jazz singer. I had assumed that it was always about the R&B through soul and hip-hop with her, though she also sings in those genres.

So I was pleasantly surprised on hearing the full version of "Remember". The theme only gets a very brief appearance on the show, and it's so quiet that I couldn't even identify it as a Big Band swing number. It's just a shade under three minutes but during its short time, it manages to pack in a lot of good ol' jazzy schmaltz. "Remember" is the first track on JUJU's 3rd jazz cover album "Delicious ~ JUJU's Jazz 3rd Dish" released in December 2018, and for whatever bizarre reason, I've also treated the final month of the year with all of that Xmas cheer to be a fine time for jazz. Kiyoshi Matsuo（松尾潔）wrote the lyrics for the song (as well as produce the entire album) with Daisuke Kawaguchi（川口大輔）providing the melody and handling the arrangements. "Delicious" hit No. 11 on Oricon.