My Little Lover -- Destiny

Well, giving myself a Gibbs slap on the back of my head tonight. The reason is that it's been over 4 years since I've put up a My Little Lover song on the blog. No excuse for that since when listening to their stuff again after so long, I got those warm and fuzzy feelings once more that I've often gotten with that brand of 90s indies-ish guitar pop from acts like Mr. Children and Spitz. My Little Lover was also part of that sound and I even played "Hello, Again" just now...because it was really like hello again.

Just by chance last night, I came across the music video for "Destiny", My Little Lover's 11th single from May 1998, and that's when the need for the Gibbs slap arrived. This was a video that had a lot of heavy rotation on the music channels back in Japan, and there was that shot at the 0:03 mark of "Destiny" with the svelte vocalist Akko sitting tiredly on her chair wearing that short dress and open shoes which I think is the iconic image of the band. The words and music by keyboardist Takeshi Kobayashi（小林武史）were also instantly familiar, and all I could do was wonder how I could even forget about this one for so long since starting the blog.

In addition to the Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）dance pop and the rise of J-R&B and Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）near the end of the decade, it's also been the wistful sounds of bands like My Little Lover that get the nostalgic sighs emanating out of me. I think the soft whispery voice of Akko and the combination of guitar and strings are perfect here for "Destiny".

The song hit No. 4 on Oricon and later became the 46th-ranked single of 1998, going Double Platinum with over half a million copies sold. "Destiny" was also used as the theme song for the Fuji-TV drama "With Love". Hearing the song again after so long reminded me of another similar sounding mellow ballad, "Overjoyed" by Ramjet Pulley which came out a few years later.

My Little Lover -- Yes ~free flower~

Just read on the Mixi news feed that Akko, the lead vocalist for the band My Little Lover, got re-married to a non-celebrity, so my congratulations go out to the happy couple. And I'm going with the band's 6th single, "Yes ~ free flower" today on the blog.

I remember the music video which went with "Yes". It's too bad that it doesn't seem to exist on Youtube or elsewhere on the Net since I recall the excerpts of it which showed up on the commercial for the single. It looked pretty trippy and eclectic with Akko in heavy eye makeup and a huge fur coat squirming around while she creamily breathed out the words. There was something about the song that reminded me of Fleetwood Mac with that steady groovy rhythm. Also, the lyrics expressed the embrace of those feelings and sensations surrounding the end of a romance.

Released in December 1996, the words and music were by Akko's ex-husband and fellow bandmate, Takeshi Kobayashi（小林武史）. It hit No. 1 (My Little Lover's final No. 1 to date) and went Double Platinum. It is also a track on the band's 2nd album, "Presents" which came out in March 1998 and hit No. 2 on the album charts.

My Little Lover -- ALICE

This is another one of my favourite songs by the band My Little Lover, "Alice". Released in April 1996 as its 4th single, this was another huge hit on the heels of the success of "Hello, Again". Whereas "Hello, Again" sounded a bit more like a ballad, "Alice" was more uptempo and made even more buoyant thanks to AKKO's voice. The lead vocal for My Little Lover was responsible for the lyrics along with Takeshi Kobayashi（小林武史）who also composed it. It was AKKO's first try at writing lyrics for the band.

Listening to it again once again brought back some of those memories from my early days teaching English in Asakusa. There's nothing like a breezy pop song to jog some of those engrams into a positive state, and I think that's what My Little Lover was all about....just keep the fans and listeners in a happy state. There was just one thing about "Alice" that I'd been wondering about. And it's that little garbled phrase she puts out at the intro. Well, it turns out that it was her saying "Watashi ga mori no naka wo susunde ikuto, tokei wa hantai ni mawatteita" （私が森の中を進んでいくと、時計は反対に回っていた...When I went further into the forest, my wristwatch was going backwards) backwards. I kinda wondered if the band had been thinking about the Alice from "Alice In Wonderland" fame when they created the song.

"Alice" peaked at No. 2 and became the 17th-ranked song for 1996, breaking the million barrier. It is also a track on My Little Lover's 3rd album, "New Adventure" which was released in September 1998. It hit No. 1 on the charts.

http://music.163.com/#/song?id=778121

My Little Lover -- Hello, Again

Every time I landed in Japan, I always came across new forms of popular music. In 1981, it was the first of the decade's frilly-and-sweet aidoru boom along with technopop, and in 1989, it was kayo kyoku making way for the diversification into J-Pop. And then in the mid-90s, on the one hand, it was the dance music steamroller driven by Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）, and on the other, was the jangly guitar pop of bands like Mr. Children, Spitz and this unit called My Little Lover.

There were a few songs which best represented my time in Japan in the 90s, and included in that group was My Little Lover's "Hello, Again". Actually, I first heard about the duo of Akiko 'Akko' Akamatsu（赤松亜希子） and Kenji Fujii（藤井謙二） through their debut single, "Man & Woman", a swingy and sprightly tune released in spring 1995 and created by songwriter and producer Takeshi Kobayashi（小林武史）that was a regular inhabitant on the "CDTV" and Oricon charts. I remember it primarily for Akko's delivery of "Ma-an, Woman". It was a cute number but it wasn't quite enough for me to pick up a single or album by them.

Then, Takeshi Kobayashi officially joined My Little Lover as a member, and the trio was complete. There was a second single, "Shiroi Kite"（白いカイト...White Kite) a couple of months later, and then in even less time in August came their third song, "Hello Again....Mukashi Kara Aru Basho"（昔からある場所...A Place That's Been There For Ages）. This was the one that reeled me in, hook line and sinker. There was just something about Akko's soft but resonant voice and the breezy melody that pulled me in. The song and video also had plenty of airplay on "CDTV", so I got to say hello again to "Hello Again" over many weeks.

The song was written and composed by Kobayashi with Fujii co-writing the melody. "Hello Again" was a huge hit; in fact, it's been the band's biggest hit up to now with over 1.73 million discs sold. It hit the No. 1 spot on Oricon and later became the 6th-ranked song of the year.

My Little Lover -- Hello Again