Two weeks into the new year and we have to say sayonara to our okane.

Arashi will be releasing their first single for 2016, Fukkatsu LOVE (literally: Revive Love) on February 24. The music will be composed by Yamashita Tatsuro and written by Takeuchi Mariya. It will be used by NTT Docomo as a theme for a commercial.

Now, I’m not really a fan of singles and would rather wait for the album release. But I love Yamashita Tatsuro’s music since I discovered it through Jun’s movie, Hidamari no Kanojo. He’s famous among drama fans for composing Ride On Time, the theme for Kimura Takuya’s drama, Good Luck.

And what’s more exciting about this project is because Takeuchi Mariya is his wife, so it’s a husband-and-wife team writing a love song for Arashi. Takeuchi-san is also a singer and I was surprised to find some of her music familiar. Her songs are classified as “city pop” and they’re really nice to listen to, perfect for rainy nights or lazy weekends.

Below are some of Takeuchi Mariya’s hits:

EKI

GENKI WO DASHITE

SINGLE AGAIN

*Single Again is the original of a Filipino song whose title I can’t remember.
Edit: The song is Rodel Naval’s Lumayo Ka Man sa Akin; thank you @sugar_n_spice7! Single Again was released in 1989 and Naval’s song was released in 1990. In Naval’s Wikipedia, it is mentioned that the song is adaptation of Takeuchi-san’s song.)

PLASTIC LOVE

Some of Yamashita Tatsuro’s hits:

RIDE ON TIME

CHRISTMAS EVE

*Christmas Eve is a very popular song not only in Japan but internationally; it was the theme song for Aiba’s MIRACLE: Debikuro-kun no Koi to Mahou movie.

LIGHT AND REQUIEM

*This was the theme song for Jun’s Hidamari no Kanojo but I can’t find a better version.

The music of Yamashita-san’s and Takeuchi-san’s create a perfect union they literally make beautiful music together. I can’t wait to listen to the song they will compose for Arashi!

I’m happy that Arashi–through their music–is educating their fans on other Japanese musicians, who may not be familiar to the present generation but are considered pillars of the Japanese music industry. There were Hotei Tomoyasu and other traditional musicians for Japonism, and now Yamashita Tatsuro and Takeuchi Mariya. It’s really a privilege for them to be working with these icons and it makes their discography more diverse and evolving.

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