I was introduced to the world of j-pop through Pony Canyon artists CoCo and the spin-off solo artist ventures such as Miura Rieko and Senou Azusa.
One of the very first non-Pony Canyon/CoCo related j-pop artist I ever heard was Hirose Kohmi, and what an introduction it was! Performing her earth shattering single “Shiawase Wo Tsukamaetai”, Kohmi immediately floored me by her ferocious take on the song, and I quickly knew that I was going to be buying more of her stuff soon!
As I got more involved with Hirose Kohmi’s songs and performances, I realized that among other things, She was way outta left field, a real eccentric performer, or, as J-pop buyer Dave once said, “She’s Weird”.
Another artist that will appear many times on my Favorite j-pop singles list!