[Lo-fi & mellow]
No.239 "Pale Blue" by Erika Nishi
Hi. The song we would like to introduce to you today is, "Pale Blue" by "Erika Nishi".
Lo-fi & mellow hip-hop song "Pale Blue" is selected from a pop singer "Erika Nishi"'s 2017 album "Soirée".
"Erika Nishi" is a Pops, and Hip-hop singer active since 2014. But she was initially got attention from music fans for her range of covers of reminiscent old "City-pop" songs.
Recent Japanese pop songs tend to too often, and unevenly go into "Hip-hop" or "transcore" like categories, though it might be inevitable thing in light of public preference.
"Erika Nishi" is also in that stream in a sense, but seems she is still trying to cherish mellow sound.
If you like, please listen to.
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Cover art today
Song data
| Title | Pale Blue |
|---|---|
| Artist | Erika Nishi |
| Album Title | Soirée |
| Catalog Number | POCS-1665 |
| Track No. | 5 |
| Duration | 4:34 |
| Released | 2017 |
| Publisher | Para De Casa |
| Lyricist | Akiko Kido |
| Composer | wakathug(AFRO PARKER) |
| Arranger | ? (to be named) |
About the creators
Akiko Kido Lyricist
"Akiko Kido" is a singer,lyricist, and a former vocalist of a 5-piece hip hop group "CICADA" formed in 2012.
"Kido" has also once collaborated with groups like "Tomita lab" or "Orland".
References
For more details on "Akiko Kido", please have a look at the references linked below.
wakathug(AFRO PARKER) Composer
"wakathug is a composer, and one of the twin MC of a 7-piece hip-hop group "AFRO PARKER" formed in 2011.
References
For more details on "wakathug", please have a look at the references linked below.
? (to be named) Arranger
As far as we have searched, the name of the arranger has not become clear.
So, we will update if we find it.
Song image & Lyrics
Open
Link to the lyrics
Some notes on the lyrics link
Sound impression
Lo-fi & mellow
This songs seems to be a stylish & mellow Lo-fi hip-hop in relaxing speed.
Cool backing chorus
The most of instruments in backing music seem to be created by sequencer and synthesizer. But the electronic piano and solo part of synthesizer seems to be played by human.
A a well-crated backing chorus is quite nice and worth noting.
The main vocalist "Erika Nishi" is also performing the backing chorus by herself, and her effort to add a new twist to the chorus is increasing the stylishness of the song.
Reference
About Google translate
About the artist
Erika NishiReviving City-pops
"Erika Nishi" is a singer, lyricist, radio personality, and a former member of a 4-piece idol group "AeLL." active since 2005.
Since 2013, "Erika Nishi" has started as a solo singer.
"Erika Nishi" was once often referred as a new generation singer of "City-pops", since she was eagerly covering a few of famous light & mellow pops in her early albums.
As a solo singer, "Erika Nishi" debuted in 2015 with a single, "Music wo tomenaide" (Don't stop the music). Since then, 6 singles, and 7 original albums have been released until now.
(Ref: Wikipedia-jp, Erika Nishi)
Early times
According to some references on the internet, "Erika Nishi" was musically active already in her student age.
She liked to play the piano in childhood days, and in middle school, she was a member of school brass band.
And in high school, she belonged to a light music circle, and played the keyboards as a member of her amateur band.
During this high school age, some entertainment agencies had contacted her for scouting, but for some reason, she did not take these offers according to her.
Instead of that, she opened up her own way by entering an audition which met with her interest, and luckily, she was accepted.
Then in 2005, when she was sixteen, "Erika Nishi" took the first step in entertainment business as a character in a reality TV.
After the TV program was over, she had been working as a solo talent until 2010.
But in 2011, "Nishi" was selected as a member, and the leader of a newly formed 4-piece idol group "AeLL.".
Since then, she started a new life as an idol star.
The idol group "AeLL." enjoyed a very good popularity during its 3-years active period. But in general, an idol group is just like a fireworks, and its life-span is not so long.
And in September 2014, the team greeted the final day as an idol group.
And all the members of the group, including "Nishi", started as a solo.
As a solo singer
Back in 2013, "Erika Nishi" launched her first mini album "unJour" as a solo singer "Erika", even she was still an idol star at that time.
What's unique with her first album, "unJour" was that all six songs contained in the album were covers of popular light & mellow tunes of famous artists like "Junk Fujiyama", "Ryūsenkei", or "Taeko Ohnuki".
That approach gave some fresh surprise to music fans, since light & mellow is not a category that recent young female singers love to sing.
In this sense, she presented interesting topics to the fans, and came to be recognized as a unique young singer sings light & mellow.
Seeking for her own
After the activity as an idol group "Aell." ended in 2014, "Nishi" began to focus entirely on solo activity.
As early as in January 2015, "Erika Nishi" launched her second mini album "Prologue".
The album contained six bright light & mellow tunes consisted of three covers and three brand new songs.
So, it was basically on the same line with the first album, and sold reasonably well.
Quickly in August the same year, she released the first single "Music wo tomenaide" (Don't stop the music). And in December, the 3rd mini album (contained 8 songs though...) "LISTEN UP" was launched.
In a way, "LISTEN UP" was a sum of her past light & mellow line, and also an album signalling a new direction of her music.
Club & Dance pop
In September 2016, "Erika Nishi" launched her first remix album. "re:LISTEN UP".
As the title indicates, all 10 songs in the album were mainly chosen from her former album, "LISTEN UP", and "Prologue", but totally rearranged into "House", "Club", and "Hip-hop" taste by asking the arrangement of the songs to leading, and up-and-coming artists in the categories.
Namely, like "Royal Mirrorball", "Gus Bonani", or "Kuniyuki Takahashi".
As a result, "re:LISTEN UP" turned out as a very good "House", "Club", or "Dance pop" type album, and looked like she enjoyed the recording.
Perhaps, it was a solid, and evocative task for her.
LAST SUMMER DRESS & Soirée
After released one more album from former label, "Erika Nishi" moved her management office to new one named "para de casa" in late 2017.
And at the same time, she released a new single "LAST SUMMER DRESS" from new label "para de casa".
As by some interview articles, "Nishi" thought that the hip-hop taste mellow dance pop, "LAST SUMMER DRESS" was clearly portraying the future of her music style, and therefore ideal to use it as a representing song of her new album.
Then, she decided to release this song as a single-cut from her new album to be released later.
And in December 2017, "Erika Nishi" brought out her first full album "Soirée" which we are introducing today.
"Nishi" was talking about her 2017 album "Soirée" in some interviews, saying this was the first album she was conscious about what type of music she was honestly wishing to do.
In other words, she was not really aware of her music until recent. But she came to be more mindful after studied music a bit by herself.
Actually, we think there is a personality behind in the selection of songs in this album.
And that is perhaps her.
Latest albums
"Erika Nishi" released her 2nd full album "Love me" in 2019, and the 3rd full album "flower(s)" in 2021.
Both are perfect Lo-fi & Electro Hip-hop album, and surely seems to be reflecting her music style in each points of time.
Modern, but pretty orthodox hip-hop sound would certainly be appealing to her fans, and music fans in younger generation.
If you like, please listen to.
Recent
"Erika Nishi" is pretty active not just as a singer, but also as MC, and radio personality.
We have heard but she married in 2021, and had a baby recently.
Congratulations.
References
For more details about "Erika Nishi", please have a look at the references linked below.
-
(Ref: www.nishierika.com,
about)🇯🇵
Video clip
Lastly, we would like to introduce a music video of today's song "Pale blue".
Fortunately, the song has been uploaded by "Erika Nishi" as a part of the album "Soirée".
So, please enjoy listening.
In addition to that, we also would like to introduce one of her representing song "Music wo tomenaide" (Don't stop the music, 2015)
This is far more gorgeous and dynamic compared with the recent stripped-off sound of her songs.
These are clearly contrasting, but explaining the transition of her music direction.
If you like, please listen to.
Music Samples
5
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Amazon JP(en)
recochoku.jp
music.apple.com
Japanese Letters
| Song Title | Pale blue |
|---|---|
| Artist | 西恵利香(Erika Nishi) |
| Album Title | Soirée |
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