What does not chill me makes me stronger (Z.Hera, Baek Ji Young, BoA)

[koganbot]

Z.Hera "Peacock": Dance-pop from a writer who seems to have studied études and preludes, featuring a rookie singer who puts strain in her upper register in a way that's heart-tuggingly passionate, like the best of the '80s. She's got something, as does whoever wrote and produced the song, even if it's getting nowhere on the charts.

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It would help

Comments

[davidfrazer]

To me, the Baek Ji Young song has a 1980s revival/pastiche vibe, and I may be completely wrong but it seems to be not a million miles away from freestyle...

Meanwhile, in tierless nocturnal critter news, Chocolat's comeback will apparently be on the 6th June.

[koganbot]

I agree about the similarity to freestyle except I've been using the word "freestyle" so frequently that I was afraid I was depriving it of all meaning, hence suppressed it here. In fact, I also could have said that the passionate upper strain in Z.Hera's vocals made me think she'd make an excellent freestyle singer herself. Thought of comparing her to Angel Sabater of the Cover Girls, excepting I've been making that comparison all over the place too.

[davidfrazer]

So I wasn't imagining things, then. That's a relief.

On the subject of 1980s pastiche pop, Tommy february6, who arbitrary_greay alluded to in the Japanese freestyle discussion, has released previews of two new songs. Not freestyle, of course, but plenty of eighties flavour.

[koganbot]

Those two Tommy february6 tracks remind me, respectively, of '80s new wave (i.e., the Human League era of New Wave, not the Knack era) and, you know, basic old Europop. I like them.

[davidfrazer]

And now for some real 1980s J-Pop. A user on reddit's /r/jpop section posted The Stress (1989) by Chisato Moritaka.

I'll post the embed code here and see if it works. Anyway, it's a synthpop track with snatches of Middle Eastern style strings and vocals.

Also relevant would be the very Stock Aitken Waterman-ish 17 sai from the same year.

[davidfrazer]

P.S. Before I forget, I found a post about Chisato Moritaka on a blog about vintage Japanese pop. Terms like disco, eurobeat and even freestyle are mentioned. :)