shela - Garden 24 July 2003
One fun aspect of upload an album every day鈥攆un for me, I mean鈥攊s that it gives me an excuse to go back and listen to something I haven鈥檛 heard in years. Such as today鈥檚 album, Garden by shela, whose real name is Megumi Oizumi. In many ways shela epitomizes the late 90鈥檚 J-Pop industry, particularly as it relates to the major label avex trax. In the late 90鈥檚 the was a surge of models/actresses who attempted to start solo pop music careers, and avex trax was more often than not pulling the strings behind the scenes of those endeavors. Especially with producers like Tetsuya Komuro, who I wrote about when I uploaded Sweet 19 Blues by Namie Amuro.Something that helped set shela apart from her peers was the fact she actually had prior experience as a musician. A trained saxophonist, she played this instrument and provided the lead vocals for the band FBI from 1997鈥?999. During this time shela was also doing some fashion modeling. Back in 1993 the then seventeen year-old model Hitomi Furuya began her J-Pop career at avex trax under the direction of Tetsuya Komuro, adopting the moniker 鈥榟itomi鈥? Her major success helped shape the 90鈥檚 into a decade where modeling was a popular, viable way to start one鈥檚 J-Pop career. So that atmosphere in the industry helped shela grab the attention of avex trax. And already being a musician was a nice benefit. It seems bizarre to speak as if musical talent was not the primary factor behind who record companies signed and who they did not, but that鈥檚 just how it was back then. And honestly, has the J-Pop industry changed that much since then? I would have to say no.鈥淩obbyLob, stop rambling and get back to shela.鈥?/i>Right, sorry.So in 1999 shela signed with avex trax and began working with producer Tetsuya Komuro. It is common for Japanese pop artist or band to release two or three singles before an album. But in a span of eighteen months shela released five singles:1. White2. Red3. purple4. orange5. sepiaThe last one came out six days before shela鈥檚 debut album, COLORLESS. Personally I thought it was an ok album, nothing spectacular but certainly not bad; I did think the title was funny considering the singles leading up to it, and the fact that the cover art used all five colors named by the preceding singles. However, most of us overlooked the album because we were all paying attention to another J-Pop artist who signed with avex trax the same year as shela: Ayumi Hamasaki. I think it鈥檚 safe for me to assume you all know who she is. Hamasaki did not release a studio album the same year as COLORLESS 2001, but nonetheless Hamasaki and some other major names were all topping the charts back then. So I can understand how shela鈥檚 debut album came and went unnoticed by most J-Pop fans.Two years later shela released this album, Garden, which to date is her last original studio album. Personally I believe Garden is the better of the two; the music is less of the cookie-cutter mold you find on COLORLESS. Two years later shela would release two compilation albums that covered all of her singles, and then she left avex trax to perform with the band 鈥榮unny-side up鈥? Later shela would take a hiatus from music, but she returned in 2009, signing with the indie label Rosso Records and releasing the single Crystal. However, that comeback was brief. She is technically still signed with the label but shela has not released anything significant since.All of that means shela has a short discography when it comes to studio albums as a solo artist. I thought I owned COLORLESS because I planned to upload both together. But I couldn鈥檛 find it, so I guess I never did buy it. Anyways, as I said before, I believe Garden is the better album.As I always, I hope you enjoy today鈥檚 album, and please feel free to leave any feedback for requests!