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Miki Matsubara

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In this Japanese name, the surname is Matsubara.

Miki Matsubara
松原 みき
Born(1959-11-28)November 28, 1959[1]
Kishiwada, Osaka, Japan[1]
DiedAugust 24, 2004(2004-08-24) (aged 44)[1]
Sakai, Osaka, Japan
Other namesSuzie Matsubara (スージー・松原)
Occupation(s)Singer, composer, lyricist
Height1.58 m (5 ft 2 in)
SpouseMasaki Honjo (???-2004)
Musical career
GenresJapanese pop, city pop, Jazz
Instrument(s)Vocals, piano, keyboards
Years active1979 – 2001[1]
LabelsPony Canyon

Miki Matsubara (松原 みき, Matsubara Miki) (November 28, 1959 – October 7, 2004) was a Japanese composer, lyricist, and singer from Nishi-ku, Sakai, Osaka, Japan.

Early life

Matsubara was born November 28, 1959 in Kishiwada, Osaka[2][circular reference] in Japan. She grew up in Hiraoka Town, Nishi-ku, Sakai, Osaka, where she spent her childhood.

She grew up in a family of four, including a father, a mother and a younger sister. Her father was a board member of a hospital[3] and her mother was a jazz singer who had sung with the Japanese jazz band and comedy group Crazy Cats. Matsubara started learning the piano at the age of three and later became familiar with jazz. As a child, she went to Sakai city's Hiraoka Elementary School and then in 1972, entered Poole Gakuin Junior High School. Around this time Matsubara became interested in rock music and joined the rock band "Kurei". In 1975 she started in Poole Gakuin High School and became active as a keyboard player of the band "Yoshinoya Band". They would play songs at a live house called Takutaku located in Kyoto. Matsubara was described as an excellent student and was expected by many around her to attend college, but at that time she had already made plans to pursue her dream of becoming a singer.[4] In 1977, when she was still in high school, Matsubara went to Tokyo alone at the age of 17 to make her debut as a singer. The Japanese pianist Yuzuru Sera [ja] found her playing music and singing in various places in Kantō such as in the live music venue Birdland located in Roppongi, Tokyo.[5]

Career

Matsubara started her career in 1979 and is known from hit songs such as her debut and immediate breakthrough "Mayonaka no Door (真夜中のドア) / Stay with me" which has been covered by numerous artists,[6][7][8][9] including Akina Nakamori.[10] The song was ranked 28th on the Oricon Chart,[11] and according to that chart sold 104,000 copies and 300,000 copies announced by Canyon records. Some of her other known songs were "Neat na gogo san-ji (ニートな午後3時)" and "The Winner" among others.

After the release of the song "Neat na gogo san-ji" Matsubara became a well-known singer during that time. She was offered by many to perform in college festivals, concerts and so on. The song even gained a feature in a commercial of the famous Japanese multinational personal care company Shiseido, only less than two years after her debut.[12]

Miki Matsubara received a number of best new artist awards.[1] Amidst her career, she formed her own band called Dr. Woo.[13] Matsubara also had some international work with Motown jazz fusion group Dr. Strut in Los Angeles (becoming a backing band in the album recordings for "Cupid" and "Myself"), Tokyo and Osaka (Hall concerts), later releasing a jazz cover album entitled "BLUE EYES". In that album she covered some famous jazz songs like "Love for sale", she also covered the soft rock song "You've Got A Friend" originally written and sung by Carole King.[14]

Her vocal range was that of a mezzo-soprano.

During her music career she released 8 singles, and 12 albums. Despite her work being mainly domestic, outside of Japan she was also known for her work as an anime singer and songwriter, singing the opening and ending songs to anime such as Dirty Pair: Project Eden, although recently with the popularization of city pop her other work has gained overseas fans as well.[15] While singing theme songs for the anime Gu Gu Ganmo, she performed under the name Suzie Matsubara (スージー・松原). Matsubara's song "THE WINNER" was used as the opening for the Gundam OVA-series Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory.

From the 1990s forwards she especially worked on anime soundtracks and music for commercials.[16][1] Matsubara composed songs for a couple of anime, some of her most known musical compositions were for the anime series Gundam. Matsubara composed songs for several singers, like Hitomi Mieno,[17] but her most notable works were likely with the singer and actress Mariko Kouda, whom Matsubara composed multiple songs to. Kouda's song "Ame no chi special (雨のちスペシャル)", which Matsubara composed, was featured in the five-minute music television and radio series Minna no Uta as a music video in 1997. It attracted a lot of attention and ranked 28th place in the Oricon chart. The song was repeatedly rebroadcast until 2004.[18]

Personal life

Little is known about Miki Matsubara's personal life. She married Masaki Honjo (1953-2007), a backing band drummer for her band. Honjo later became a dentist and died in 2007 at the age of 54.[citation needed]

During Matsubara's years as a student, her eyesight deteriorated due to fatigue from a part-time job. Her eyesight was however fixed with surgery.[19]

Illness and death

At the end of 2000, Matsubara sent an email to those around her, including her company and the members of Dr. Woo, stating that she could not continue her music career and that she would not be reachable after the message went out.[20] She stopped all music activities and disappeared from the spotlight altogether. In 2001, it was revealed that Matsubara's actions were prompted by a late-stage cancer diagnosis she had received at the time, after which she subsequently began treatment. Matsubara spent her final years battling her illness.[20]

After being told by her doctor that she only had three months left to live, Miki Matsubara died on October 7, 2004 at age 44 due to complications from uterine cervix cancer.[21][22] Her death was announced to the public two months later.[20]

Legacy

An increased interest in city pop during the 21st century,[23] particularly the 2010s,[24] contributed to Matsubara gaining global recognition and "Stay with me" (真夜中のドア, "Mayonaka no door") becoming a resurgent hit in the West and other countries in Asia in 2020.[23] Billboard Japan credits Indonesian YouTuber Rainych for the song's initial surge in popularity, after she shared a cover version with her almost 1.3 million subscribers on the platform in October that year.[25] This rediscovery of the song in Indonesia—indicated by an upsurge of streams on digital music platforms Apple Music and Spotify—then spread to other countries worldwide and it continued to gain traction, especially in North America where it became a ""visible hit" on numerous streaming rankings" and "shot to No. 1 on Spotify's viral charts".[25][23] The song became a well-known sound on the multimedia streaming app TikTok, most notably during December 2020—prior to this, it was already somewhat popular in the platform's anime community—where it sparked a trend among users of Japanese descent, who shared videos of themselves playing the song for their mothers and filming their reactions when they recognized the track. One such video garnered over 23 million views and 6 million likes.[23][26] As of February 2021, the sound has been used in over 200,000 videos on the platform.

As a result of this resurgence in popularity, Matsubara’s debut album, Pocket Park, was repressed on vinyl in late 2020.

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album Title Label
1980 Pocket Park See･Saw
Who Are You?
1981 Cupid
1982 Myself
彩
1983 Revue
1984 Blue Eyes (cover album)
Cool Cut
1985 Lady Bounce
1987 Dirty Pair (Original Soundtrack) Victor
1988 WiNK

Compilations

Year Album Title Label
1983 Paradise Beach See･Saw
1986 Super Best Pony
2002 Best Pony Canyon
2011 Golden☆Best
2013 The Premium Best
2014 Light Mellow
2015 Aya
2017 Platinum Best

Singles

Year Song Title Label
1979 "真夜中のドア～Stay With Me" See･Saw
"愛はエネルギー"
1980 "ハロー・トゥデイ～Hello Today"
"あいつのブラウンシューズ"
1981 "ニートな午後3時"
"倖せにボンソワール"
1982 "予言"
1983 "パラダイス ビーチ (ソフィーのテーマ)""
1984 "Knock, Knock, My Heart"
1985 "恋するセゾン　～色恋来い～"
1987 "サファリ アイズ" Victor
"Pas De Deux"[27]
1988 "In the Room"
2020 "THE WINNER" SUNRISE Music
"BACK TO PARADISE”
2021 "Miki Matsubara Night Tempo Presents the Showa Groove" Pony Canyon

Some notable compositions

Year Song Title Artist
1991 "Mou Hitotsu no Sotsugyou" (もう一つの卒業)[28][29] a·chi-a·chi
1991 "WRONG NUMBER" a·chi-a·chi
1992 "MEN OF DESTINY" – Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory MIO
1992 "True Shining" [30] Rumiko Wada
1994 "Good-bye tears"[31] Yumiko Takahashi
1994 "Harmony" Mariko Kouda
1994 "Run ~今日が変わるMagic~" Hitomi Mieno
1994 "誰のせいでもない二人"[32] Mariko Kouda
1995 "Kanjite itai..." Yoko Ichikawa
1995 "Mimikaki wo Shiteiru to" (みみかきをしていると) Mariko Kouda
1995 "Heroine" (ヒ・ロ・イ・ン) Rumi Shishido
1995 "Doll-tachi no Dekuritsu Kinenbi" (Dollたちの独立記念日) Hitomi Mieno
1995 "Ame no Kioku" (雨の記憶) Keiko Yoshinari
1996 "Watashi ga Tenshi Dattara Iinoni" (私が天使だったらいいのに) Mariko Kouda
1997 "Yume wa hitori miru mono janai" (夢はひとりみるものじゃない) Mariko Kouda
1997 "Accel" (アクセル) Mayumi Iizuka

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "松原みき". tower.jp. Tower. June 14, 2019. Retrieved November 30, 2020.
  2. ^ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%BE%E5%8E%9F%E3%81%BF%E3%81%8D. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ "2009/10/7 おもいっきりDON　今日は何の日　『松原みき』の日　＃松原みき - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  4. ^ "2009/10/7 おもいっきりDON　今日は何の日　『松原みき』の日　＃松原みき - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  5. ^ https://middle-edge.jp/articles/I0002408
  6. ^ Pinto, Tom (July 27, 2019). "City Pop Is The 40-Year-Old Genre You've Never Heard Of, Until Today". Study Breaks. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  7. ^ Archila, Danny (December 17, 2017). "Citypop: A Curious Fool's Primer". Yacht Rock. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  8. ^ "【オメガトライブ生んだ林哲司激白　ヒット曲舞台裏】松原みきさんと竹内まりや　予想とは真逆の仕上がりで高評価". Zakzak. September 27, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  9. ^ "松原みき【真夜中のドア】歌詞の意味を徹底解釈！季節が巡ると思い出すのは…？意味深な歌詞を紐解いてみた". otokake.com. Otokake. June 10, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  10. ^ "中森明菜の意外なカバー曲 ＥＸＩＬＥ、ドリカム歌う 新アルバム「歌姫４」". ZAKZAK (in Japanese). Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  11. ^ "松原みきを語る～ファンの声Vol.6". castella.chagasi.com. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  12. ^ "2009/10/7 おもいっきりDON　今日は何の日　『松原みき』の日　＃松原みき - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  13. ^ "2009/10/7 おもいっきりDON　今日は何の日　『松原みき』の日　＃松原みき - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  14. ^ "Miki Matsubara - Blue Eyes". Discogs (in French). Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  15. ^ O, Safiyah (August 23, 2017). "Japanese 'City Pop [シティポップ]': A dreamy trip back to Japans capitalist fantasy of the 1980s". Bearded Gentlemen Music. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  16. ^ Konuma, Junichi. "松原みき（1959–2004）". f.waseda.jp/jkonuma. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  17. ^ "松原みき提供曲/マ行". castella.chagasi.com. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
  18. ^ "松原みき - 真夜中のドア～Stay With Me". oh my God こりゃ　なんだ (in Japanese). Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  19. ^ 「夜明けまでブルースにひたって 松原みき」. Myojo (in Japanese). No. 2. 1980. p. 122.
  20. ^ a b c 今日は何の日　『松原みき』の日 [Today's Highlights in History "Miki Matsubara Day"] (Television broadcast) (in Japanese). Japan: Omoikkri Don!. October 7, 2009. 00:57 minutes in.
  21. ^ ＜訃報＞松原みきさん４４歳＝シンガー・ソングライター [<News of death> Miki Matsubara, 44 = Singer-songwriter]. Mainichi Shimbun. December 14, 2004. Archived from the original on December 14, 2004. Retrieved March 3, 2021 – via Yahoo! Japan News.
  22. ^ 歌手松原みきさん死去／１０月７日にがんのため [Singer Miki Matsubara dies / due to cancer on October 7th]. Shinkoku News. December 14, 2004. Archived from the original on March 3, 2008. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  23. ^ a b c d Zhang, Cat (February 24, 2021). "The Endless Life Cycle of Japanese City Pop". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  24. ^ Arcand, Rob; Goldner, Sam (January 24, 2019). "The Guide to Getting Into City Pop, Tokyo's Lush 80s Nightlife Soundtrack". Vice. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  25. ^ a b Matsunaga, Ryohei (December 21, 2020). "Global Popularity of 1979 City Pop Track 'Mayonaka no Door - Stay With Me' Explained". Billboard Japan. Archived from the original on December 21, 2020. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  26. ^ Chan, Justin (January 8, 2021). "A Japanese Song Has Unpredictably Become A Massive Hit Among TikTokers— And Their Parents". InTheKnow.com. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  27. ^ "miki matsubara pas de deux - Bing video". www.bing.com. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  28. ^ "VIDL-52 | Mou Hitotsu no Sotsugyou / a・chi-a・chi - VGMdb". vgmdb.net. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  29. ^ "もう一つの卒業の歌詞 | a・chi-a・chi". ORICON NEWS. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  30. ^ "VIDL-111 | True Shining / Rumiko Wada - VGMdb". vgmdb.net. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  31. ^ "Good-bye Tears", Wikipedia (in Japanese), March 1, 2021, retrieved March 14, 2021
  32. ^ "Pure (國府田マリ子のアルバム)", Wikipedia (in Japanese), March 1, 2021, retrieved March 18, 2021
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