I recently discovered the music of Yukiko Okada, a Japanese pop idol who was active between 1984 and 1986. I discovered her music through a video on Japanese lost media by the YouTuber “Sakura Stardust”. Having recently started to explore the idol music of the 1980’s, I decided to look into some information about her, and unfortunately discovered that she passed away in April 1986, aged only 18.
NOTE : Although information surrounding Okada’s passing is readily available online, I will not be discussing or providing links to information about it due to the graphic nature of the descriptions and very graphic images associated with the circumstances.
I have decided to review Okada’s entire discography starting here with her debut album, “Cinderella”, released in 1984.
NOTE : The version of the album I listened to on Spotify contains 12 tracks, and is a re-release version of the original album, and the content may be slightly different from the original 1984 release.
The album opens with the track “Sayonara Natsuyasumi”, an enjoyable track , I enjoy Okada’s voice generally, I find it has a maturity beyond her years, with her being only 16 when this album was released.
As much as there are quite a few songs I rather enjoy on this album, such as “Shiokaze no Love Letter”, “Kaze no Naka no Cafe Terrace”, “Soyokaze wa Peppermint”, and the fantastic “First Date”, I also find there are a few somewhat forgettable tracks here too in my opinion, such as “Oka no Ue no High School” and “Kare wa Hurricane”.
However, I do absolutely love the closing track “Koi no Doubles”, a high energy song to close the album.
Overall, I think Yukiko Okada’s debut album is honestly a bit of a mixed bag, some great highs, but unfortunately a few tracks that I could honestly say I could see as maybe background music.
I give the album a rating of 7/10.
You can listen to the album on Spotify here : https://open.spotify.com/album/5vGoLxgzkuULnYJEzFQBrg?si=3G–4Z_gSgyveudCU78w4w
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