Friday, February 26, 2021

Puffy really could cover "Yureru Omoi" by Zard

Yo Yoshida and Rio Suzuki have been doing Pokari Sweat adverts in Japan for a while and honestly they have so much synergy between with each other that I hope they do commercials with each other forever.  They are silly ads and simple.  Then something happened and they started doing the songs for the ads.  Then the songs themselves had a full length MV.  Most are fun and for actors singing come off very well. 

However a couple years ago they covered "Yureru Omoi" by the 90's legend Zard aka Izumi Sakai (who I have covered in a previous blog).  It works amazingly well and Yo Yoshida is of an age that Zard would have hit critical mass when she was younger.  Her excitement singing and going into the chorus is really heartwarming.    




My oldest and I were watching this and her comment was that Puffy would cover this song even better.  She was right, "Yureru Omoi" would be an incredible cover by them.  Especially with Puffy's more lean band line up so vocals would sound something like this but instruments something more like Zard. 

If you have not checked out Zard... well Izumi Sakai was a special vocalist so please do so.  Her positivity and powerful singing were something that resonated in Japan. My kid upon one listening started checking her out because her voice was second to none.

Despite her tragic death in 2007, she remains relevant today.  Concerts with her recorded vocals and live musicians still happen.  A cover band of young women, Sard Underground, carry the musical torch and they bring new life to Izumi Sakai's music.  

Izumi's death still gets me and makes me sad... yet happy because her music was special.  There was so much more she had to give to Japanese music. While she is now long gone, the world is better for her being in it, even if that time was short.

Here is one of the memorial concerts.