Yuuto Tatsumi -- Lonely Generation（ロンリー・ジェネレーション）

By Ashish 100 via Wikimedia Commons

It's been several years since I posted a Yuuto Tatsumi（辰巳ゆうと）song onto KKP and he's done some evolving over the years at least from what I've included in his file on the blog. I started with his 2nd single from March 2019, "Otoko no Junjou"（おとこの純情）which was a straight-up enka and then followed up with his 3rd single, the more Mood Kayo "Sentimental Heart"（センチメンタル・ハート）, a March 2020 release.

Well, six years have whizzed by and the young lad has become a man with a change in hair colour, to boot. Tatsumi appeared recently on NHK's "Hayauta" with his latest from March 2026, his 10th single "Lonely Generation", and to be honest, I'm having the Dickens of a time trying to categorize this one. Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）, who usually composes Junretsu's（純烈）songs, took care of this one. 

As a brief aside, when I was looking through the KKP Miyuki file, I noticed that I had completely forgotten to add the music genre to Junretsu's "Futari dake no Himitsu"（二人だけの秘密）, probably because I couldn't really nail down an ultimate genre; in the end, I put it down to pop (of the kayo kyoku style).

I was having the same slight dilemma with "Lonely Generation" which was arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）and written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）. With those veteran guys behind it, there is something old-fashioned if very jazzy about this one. It's definitely not enka anymore although it may be a mix of some Neo-Mood Kayo and jazz/rock fusion. So, why not give it the New Adult Music tag although I've also thrown in the pop tag here, too, because it can perhaps fulfill the Neo-kayo kyoku feeling.

As the title states, the song is about isolated young folks struggling to make connections while not admitting to the loneliness. I would usually think Shibuya would be the setting for this sort of song, but the music makes me think more Akasaka and Roppongi. Maybe young Yuuto is making like an employee of the month at a host club there.

Yuuto Tatsumi -- Sentimental Heart（センチメンタル・ハート）

With "Uta Con"（うたコン）partially back as of last week with actual live shows featuring a smaller guest list in front of no studio audience, I got to see enka veteran Yoshimi Tendo（天童よしみ）sing her latest "Hinode Mae"（日の出前）. As well, there was also the new enka/Mood Kayo up-and-comer Yuuto Tatsumi（辰巳ゆうと）croon his latest. I first wrote about him about a year when he had appeared on an "Uta Con" episode back then.

(short version)

Tatsumi looks more like a member of a Johnny's Entertainment band but he's got the chops for the traditional genres. His latest is "Sentimental Heart", his 3rd single which came out in March 2020 and peaked at No. 15 on Oricon. The intro reminds me of the start of another Mood Kayo classic "Moshikashite, Part II"（もしかして・パート2）by Sachiko Kobayashi and Katsuhiko Miki（小林幸子・美樹克彦）, so you can imagine that I got all those nostalgic karaoke memories from listening to this new song of the genre.

Written by Rei Sakishima（咲島レイ）and composed by YORI, I gather that the songwriters wanted to pursue a fairly passionate tango arrangement with "Sentimental Heart". Looking forward to a successful career for young Yuuto.

Yuuto Tatsumi -- Otoko no Junjou（おとこの純情）

(short version)

For some years now, I've seen enka singer Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）as being the young prince of the genre, and as the average age of enka singers goes, indeed, the lad is still plenty fresh-faced although he's been going for a slightly more glam rock image recently. Still, Hikawa has passed the age of 40 so I can hardly call him a wunderkind of enka anymore.

Perhaps that label may be placed on the above fellow. I don't have much information on Osaka-born Yuuto Tatsumi（辰巳ゆうと）, but I have seen him on the two NHK music shows "Uta Kon"（うたコン）and "Gogo Uta"（ごごウタ）in the past couple of weeks. Apparently, he's just skirting the age of 20 and is currently a university student but he's been on the up-and-up about his enka career. He released his debut single "Shitamachi Junjou"（下町純情...Pure Heart of Downtown）last year, and earlier in March this year, his second single, "Otoko no Junjou" (Pure Heart of a Man), came out.

Written by Kyosuke Kuni（久仁京介）and composed by Koji Tokuhisa（徳久広司）, Tatsumi puts in a lot of brio into "Otoko no Junjou" but his voice still has that certain higher adolescent tone in his delivery which kinda reminds me of Hikawa. As for the song itself, there is also something in the arrangement that also has me reminiscing about "Yokohama Tasogare"（よこはま・たそがれ）, the classic by Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）.

It looks like another prince of enka has entered the court. May he enjoy his reign in the not-too-distant future.