Seiko Matsuda - Citron

This is the post I've been wanting to do! I've been attempting to get into 80s J-Pop over the past year (which would work out so much more if I had more time), so I wanted to showcase one of the CDs I bought here for other people to discover some older J-Pop too! I'm sure most people who have been into J-Pop for a little while know who Seiko Matsuda is. Which is one of the reasons why I chose her to showcase first on older J-Pop since she's one of the biggest names of that time period. For those who may not of heard of Seiko Matsuda, or may have just heard bits and pieces, she's called "the eternal idol" and for good reasons. She was huge in the 1980s and has continued her singing career to this day. She even tried to break into the US market in the early 1990s. This album probably isn't one of her more well loved albums, but I bought it because the word Citron is awesome xD Probably a bad idea to buy stuff just by the name, but because of her absolutely huge discography, I decided just to jump right in with something that sounded interesting to me. This album was released in 1988 and was entirely produced by the American producer David Foster. He has produced for many American artists like Celine Dion & Michael Jackson. Looking through his writing credits on Wikipedia, I think a song the he produced that most people would recognize would be Toni Braxton's "Un-Break My Heart" which was a hit in the 1990s. Due to the album being written and produced by an American producer, it does sound exactly like American pop music of the late 1980s and early 1990s. This isn't really a bad thing though. Because of this, the album could be very accessible to those who are unfamiliar with Seiko, but knows American 80s music. Granted, I haven't heard much from her beyond this album so this could be very much her style as it is, but that still doesn't change the fact that it's production allows it to be easy to get into for people not interested in J-Pop. For example, I played some of the songs for my mother (who was in her 20s in the 1980s), and she couldn't get over how much the music sounded like she remembered from that era.

Track #1: Blue

The album begins with your pretty conventional 1980s pop album opener. It sounds a lot like something you'd listen to on Whitney Houston's Whitney album. It's a very relaxing midtempo track that sets the flow of the rest of the album. Although I personally like it, if you're not a huge fan of 80s music, then it likely won't make much of an impression as the song tends to stay fairly steady through its entirety without becoming very lively. 4/5.

Track #2: Marrakech

If you're more of an uptempo person, this is the song on the album you should start with. It serves as one of the singles from the album. What I enjoy about this song is that it has a slight Middle Eastern undertone to the music which is pretty cool because Marrakech is a city in Morocco which although not in the Middle East itself, was influenced greatly by it's culture due to the Arabic people controlling the area for many years much like Spain had been. 4/5.

Track #3: Every Little Hurt

I'm never sure what I think when there's a ballad song only 3 songs into an album. What is interesting about this song though is that it features David Foster singing a duet with Seiko. And it's in English. David Foster has a pretty indistinguishable voice from other 80s singers like Phil Collins or the Wham! guy (dang it can't remember the name xD). But then again, most male singers sound very similar to me. The song really does sound like something you would've heard on American radio at the time and shows why it was possible for Seiko to attempt to break into the American market. 3/5.

Track #4: You Can't Find Me

This track is reminiscent of something you'd find on Michael Jackson's Thriller album. In fact, the beat in the beginning reminds me quite a lot of the beat in Thriller the song. This is one of my more favorite upbeat tracks on the album. While I like Marrakech, this just seems to have much more energy and is more dancey. 5/5.

Track #5: Daite...

There's a piece of me that almost wishes she wasn't singing this. Not because I don't like her voice, but the instrumental of this song seems to drown out her voice because it seems more structured for a female singer with a strong & loud voice. More like Pat Benetar or Heart, especially with the power ballad sounds of the song. However, even though her voice isn't necessarily strong enough to make the song as powerful as it could be, it's still a wonderful 80s power ballad. These are the kind of ballads we're missing nowadays. 4/5.

Track #6: We Never Get To It

Another song fully sung in English. In my opinion, this is the most "late 80s" sounding song on the album. It sounds so much like early Mariah Carey upbeat stuff as well as Whitney Houston's 90's material. However, it is much more difficult to understand what she's saying in this song than in Every Little Hurt because of how the music and background singers tend to drown her out. It's catchy, but not one of the better upbeat songs on the album. 3.5/5.

Track #7: Zoku Akai Sweet Pea

No, Hello Project is not the original company to do this track lol. Actually, this is a new version of her incredibly popular single. I personally have never listened to the original and don't even have this version of the song in my library because of it being a remake so I won't really talk about it as I can't really give it a fair write up.

Track #8: No. 1

This is another early 90s feeling track. It's pretty minimalist in terms of actual instruments and instead has a lot of background acapella singing. The background singers remind me so much of this Christian acapella group that my mom used to play on cassette tape back in the early 90s. Although the song is very nostalgic sounding for me, it might not be all that interesting for others because the background singers have a much larger part in the song than Seiko herself. And really, after I listen to this, I remember very little of Seiko, but everything from the acapella hook. 4/5.

Track #9: Shigatsu wa Kaze no Tabibito

This is probably my least favorite non-ballad on the album. It just seems very flat to me and her voice is very unpleasant in this song. By this point in the album, everything that this song offers has been heard before in other (and better) tracks. 3/5.

Track #10: Ringoshu no Hibi

I have to say I really dislike when albums end in a ballad. It'd rather leave an album feeling happy than bored as there are very few ballads that can serve as competent openers or closers. However, this is one of those rare ballads where I feel it works to an extent. The reason I feel it works isn't because of the lyrics or singing, but the stunning piano pieces and the way it is structured like a symphony. It's uniqueness is it's strength. 4/5.

Seiko Matsuda - Citron [Album Playlist] (Doesn't include You Can't Find Me, Zoku Akai Sweet Pea, No. 1, Shigatsu or Ringoshu because they weren't on YouTube.)

As someone who really loves 80s music, I can say I really enjoy this album, even if it does sound like a very dated 80s album. If you aren't very interested in a walk through the stereotypical sounds of the 80s, this probably isn't the album that you should attempt to dive into 80s J-pop with. Especially if you're more of a dance pop lover like I am. Even though there are a lot of uptempo & midtempos on the album, none of the songs are particularly high energy which could leave you a little bored by the end. But if you do love the 80s, this is certainly an easy album to get into. 4/5.