In the lack of any really interesting news, I thought I might spice it up with some quizzes. As to whether this will continue, let’s see how this goes first. I will try to keep it "linked to Akina" and maybe through this, we might learn some trivia about Akina herself in the process too.
Quiz:
坂本隆一who wrote "Everlasting Love" for Akina in 1994, collaborated with "huge" pop singer A to write a bubbly pop song in the mid 80s for an upcoming pop singer B. The marketing strategy worked resulting in it being the biggest hit of pop singer B, but unfortunately, also became the last single that she released. Personally, it was the best song of pop singer B’s career, but I would never have imagined that 坂本隆一 could write a song like this.
Name Pop singers A, B and the single?
Clue: Pop singer A has always been linked to Akina throughout most parts of her career and Pop singer B in an eerie way. Have Fun!
i have absolutely no idea. a singer with only one single???
and oh, i forgot to say, i love EVERLASTING LOVE. even tho i know that’s a very unpopular single amongst fans.
i was born in the 80s, so there’s no way i could figure out who that one-singled singer is
. ‘everlasting love’ is okay, but it was a bad idea to pick it as the first single of hers in mca. personally i like ‘not crazy to me’ more.
The Pop Singer A: Maybe Taeko Onuki
Singer A : Matsuda Seiko (松田聖子）
Singer B : Okada Yukiko （岡田有希子）
Yep, Eugin is correct! The song in question is くちびるNetwork.
Ahhh … It takes a true Seiko fan to know that. ;-P
Seiko did write the lyrics and 坂本隆一 the music. The song rocketed to No. 1 on the week 3rd Feb 1986 and only stayed at the pole position for 1 week because Akina’s "Desire" took over it the next. It was the 36th best selling single of 1986 with 231,450 copies sold.
Yukiko did commit suicide by plunging off a building and ironically, the rumour was that she was involved with 神田正輝, Seiko’s husband at that time. It became her last single because her record company refused to release 花のイマージュ on 14th May. I believe it was out of respect for her death.
I just realised that they did release an album cut on 4th December in 2002, "Believe In You（2002 Strings Version)" but I don’t know why.
竹内まりや wrote many songs for Yukiko, including her debut single, which was one of her better songs and in her album "Quiet Life", there is a lyric in the song 「ロンサム・シーズン」that says "Dedicade for memory of Yukiko Okada"
Lastly, my favourite single of 堀ちえみ – 「素敵な休日」, was apparently meant for Yukiko as well. As for Yukiko’s link to Akina, it is rumoured that Yukiko’s soul appeared once during Akina’s Yoru Hit performance of "Gypsy Queen".
Well, that was pretty successful. Maybe we can have more of that?
wah, Eugin so li hai! hahaha.
Ray, i agree it’s a weak choice for a single mainly for it’s lack of mass appeal qualities and it’s too drawl-y to create any impact for live performances. but it’s a solid adult contemporary song and very timeless. i love how it brings out the lower range of her vocals.
Danny – I like this single as well although I agreed that it was not a good TOP Chart style.
I think at that period, Akina was in progress of transforming to more artistic style. She sang duet with some jazz band and more upscale style. Unfortunately, it did not sell well and TK started to dominate all the market.