A lost 2007 Japanese Idol song (Power Age - My Dear Friend)
Nov 23, 2022 17:32:21 GMT
lammyvox and lily05 like this
Post by fishingforpie on Nov 23, 2022 17:32:21 GMT
Hello. Let me familiarize you with a talent agency known as Stardust Promotion. They have managed and formed many popular Idol groups, however for every popular group/soloist, there is about 50 forgotten one offs. One of these is Power Age, which is where my search begins. In early to mid 2021ish, I was looking at Momoiro Clover Z, one of Stardust's more successful groups, member profiles on momoirocloverz.fandom.com. While browsing Momoka's page, I noticed she was in another group named Power Age, I clicked. What did I find there? A list of members and a photo was all that was there. They mentioned they only had one single, Daisuki!! with cat group Musashi's. I soon learned this was not the case. After some looking around in archive.org, I had found they had a total of 3 singles, all of them prior to Momoka joining. My Dear Friend, 約束, and Daisuki!!.
There were also songs prior to this, but very few mentions exist, almost all of these mentions are on archive.org. The one I want to focus on is My Dear Friend. The song is completely lost. According to their 2007/2008 era blogs, their manager's blog specifically: ameblo.jp/p-amanager, It listed some info about it on the left. My Dear Friend was listed as an indie single. I also had found a release date. December 4th, 2007. It also mentioned it being available on Mobage, a defunct cellphone app I know nothing about. Along with the info of who was performing each songs (which can be detailed on the Discogs page below).
I believe they chose sets of members from the group to record songs, not the entire group up until Daisuki!!, where all of the members participate in the song. According to their page on mixi.jp which I simply found with a quick Google search, a bit more info about the availability came to light. Mobage, which I already have mention of, and mf247.jp, an indie label that existed in the mid-2000s that ran a indie music download site. I also found a Mercari listing as of late, which contained My Dear Friend and 約束 (which the latter isn't lost by the way, multiple uploads of it exist.), which I have no idea was endorsed/produced by MF247, who did make some physical compilations, or if it wasn't. You can find info about it here: jp.mercari.com/item/m19076474767 and here: discogs.com/release/23640539-P-APower-Age-約束-My-Dear-Friend. When I first started this search, I also found a past listing of a live performance by the group containing the song on Aucfan, however it's been sold: aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/e140715239/.
約束 was later covered by Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku, a sister group to Momoiro Clover Z. Momoclo themselves have covered Daisuki too. So it is very possible My Dear Friend was covered by another group trained by Stardust Promotion.
If it was, it's possible it could've been covered with some adjustments. For example, Momoiro Clover Z has a song titled My Dear Fellow, which was linked on a Twitter page that mentioned the song if I am not mistaken, However it's somewhat unlikely due to the title not matching which wasn't seen in any of the other covers I mentioned. With the newly found partial clip, this is surely false.
There is also an ameblo blogger who has posted about the song and likely has media containing the song. Their twitter is linked in their ameblo blog. They also posted a blog with a YouTube link to the song (not archived) here: ameblo.jp/ganbaremomoka/entry-11808091572.html. The DVD mentioned here, which contains live performance footage from several of their events, which is bound to contain it, does pop up for sale on Yahoo Auctions for only 100,000 whole yen. It's taken down and relisted a lot, so if you want to see it without me having to constantly update the link, here is the seller on ZenMarket, a proxy shipping service where you can browse Yahoo Auctions on: zenmarket.jp/yahoo.aspx?sellerID=naoonaoo6633 (sort by Price High to Low to find it).
Another thing I need to note is the members listed weren't the only members to have sang the song. The lineup did change from 2007 to their disbandment performance in May 30, 2009. From my research, My Dear Friend was performed throughout 2008 (probably as a full unit, the 8 members (performers of 約束 and My Dear Friend) and Rima Nishizaki who joined late 2007. That lineup would continue until Momoka Ariyasu joined and Erena Abe left in February 2009 where they performed with only 4 out of 9 members (not performing My Dear Friend, not relevant). Then, in April, there was a Star Fest event (Stardust Promotion live events with that branding were held throughout mainly 2009 to 2012ish) Momoka and Sakina performed My Dear Friend together. This was also when the disbandment performance was announced which My Dear Friend was performed as a 10 member unit with Erena Abe returning for some reason. That's all I know for now, and so it does prove that it's likely a version with Momoka in Power Age exists.
As of November 23rd, 2022, u/x___aft has found the lyrics for the song from web.archive.org/web/20080529052113/http://www.mf247.jp:80/?gr2_id=00000000000000000000000580850013 along with the people behind the song. It was written by elli and composed and arranged by 津田直士 (Naoshi Tsuda). Here are those lyrics that were found:
遠い未来へ出かけよう 希望という帆をあげよう
何でも出来る 信じてるよ
'Cause of my dear friend
night 枕を並べて話したよね
night 朝まで恋とか夢のことを
変わる街 変わる空
変わらぬ眼差しで
遠い未来へ出かけよう 希望という帆をあげよう
何でも出来る 信じてる
＜どんなに遠くても＞
未来へ出かけよう くじけそうになった時は
私を呼んで どこへも行くよ
'Cause of my dear friend
why パパにもママにも言えない事
why 素直に言えるの 君だけだよ
歪む夢 欠けた恋
涙をバネにして
果てぬ世界を 見に行こう 窓を開け風を入れよう
どこへも行ける 感じてる
＜どんなに遠くても＞
世界を見に行こう 出会った人に話したい
勇気をくれた大切な人
'Cause of my dear friend
あの頃のようにもう一度枕を並べて話そう
朝の光が窓照らすまで
そして
ふたり未来へ出かけよう 夢のその先で笑おう
何でも出来る 信じてる
＜どんなに遠くても＞
未来へ出かけよう くじけそうになった時は
私を呼んで どこへも行くよ
'Cause of my dear friend
Also with the help of xaft again, he had found an ameblo commenter who had quoted the lyrics back in 2014. He found the user and they responded with a video with a partial clip of the song. I have taken the opportunity to re-upload it with an English title to make it easier to find: www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-BqT6TQR7s
Oh yeah, and here are all of my attempted contacts.
Stardust Promotion (label) - response about the group being disbanded.
michitiomo (producer of 約束) - no response
Mai Yukawa (member) - liked comment, no response
Naoshi Tsuda (producer of My Dear Friend) - no response
Anyone is welcome to dig and find more about this song, or the group in general. Feel free to reach out to me about any efforts and further information on the group. I may have missed something on this post, I am not quite sure. Sorry for rambling, and I hope anyone who sees this has a lovely day!
There were also songs prior to this, but very few mentions exist, almost all of these mentions are on archive.org. The one I want to focus on is My Dear Friend. The song is completely lost. According to their 2007/2008 era blogs, their manager's blog specifically: ameblo.jp/p-amanager, It listed some info about it on the left. My Dear Friend was listed as an indie single. I also had found a release date. December 4th, 2007. It also mentioned it being available on Mobage, a defunct cellphone app I know nothing about. Along with the info of who was performing each songs (which can be detailed on the Discogs page below).
I believe they chose sets of members from the group to record songs, not the entire group up until Daisuki!!, where all of the members participate in the song. According to their page on mixi.jp which I simply found with a quick Google search, a bit more info about the availability came to light. Mobage, which I already have mention of, and mf247.jp, an indie label that existed in the mid-2000s that ran a indie music download site. I also found a Mercari listing as of late, which contained My Dear Friend and 約束 (which the latter isn't lost by the way, multiple uploads of it exist.), which I have no idea was endorsed/produced by MF247, who did make some physical compilations, or if it wasn't. You can find info about it here: jp.mercari.com/item/m19076474767 and here: discogs.com/release/23640539-P-APower-Age-約束-My-Dear-Friend. When I first started this search, I also found a past listing of a live performance by the group containing the song on Aucfan, however it's been sold: aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/e140715239/.
約束 was later covered by Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku, a sister group to Momoiro Clover Z. Momoclo themselves have covered Daisuki too. So it is very possible My Dear Friend was covered by another group trained by Stardust Promotion.
If it was, it's possible it could've been covered with some adjustments. For example, Momoiro Clover Z has a song titled My Dear Fellow, which was linked on a Twitter page that mentioned the song if I am not mistaken, However it's somewhat unlikely due to the title not matching which wasn't seen in any of the other covers I mentioned. With the newly found partial clip, this is surely false.
There is also an ameblo blogger who has posted about the song and likely has media containing the song. Their twitter is linked in their ameblo blog. They also posted a blog with a YouTube link to the song (not archived) here: ameblo.jp/ganbaremomoka/entry-11808091572.html. The DVD mentioned here, which contains live performance footage from several of their events, which is bound to contain it, does pop up for sale on Yahoo Auctions for only 100,000 whole yen. It's taken down and relisted a lot, so if you want to see it without me having to constantly update the link, here is the seller on ZenMarket, a proxy shipping service where you can browse Yahoo Auctions on: zenmarket.jp/yahoo.aspx?sellerID=naoonaoo6633 (sort by Price High to Low to find it).
Another thing I need to note is the members listed weren't the only members to have sang the song. The lineup did change from 2007 to their disbandment performance in May 30, 2009. From my research, My Dear Friend was performed throughout 2008 (probably as a full unit, the 8 members (performers of 約束 and My Dear Friend) and Rima Nishizaki who joined late 2007. That lineup would continue until Momoka Ariyasu joined and Erena Abe left in February 2009 where they performed with only 4 out of 9 members (not performing My Dear Friend, not relevant). Then, in April, there was a Star Fest event (Stardust Promotion live events with that branding were held throughout mainly 2009 to 2012ish) Momoka and Sakina performed My Dear Friend together. This was also when the disbandment performance was announced which My Dear Friend was performed as a 10 member unit with Erena Abe returning for some reason. That's all I know for now, and so it does prove that it's likely a version with Momoka in Power Age exists.
As of November 23rd, 2022, u/x___aft has found the lyrics for the song from web.archive.org/web/20080529052113/http://www.mf247.jp:80/?gr2_id=00000000000000000000000580850013 along with the people behind the song. It was written by elli and composed and arranged by 津田直士 (Naoshi Tsuda). Here are those lyrics that were found:
遠い未来へ出かけよう 希望という帆をあげよう
何でも出来る 信じてるよ
'Cause of my dear friend
night 枕を並べて話したよね
night 朝まで恋とか夢のことを
変わる街 変わる空
変わらぬ眼差しで
遠い未来へ出かけよう 希望という帆をあげよう
何でも出来る 信じてる
＜どんなに遠くても＞
未来へ出かけよう くじけそうになった時は
私を呼んで どこへも行くよ
'Cause of my dear friend
why パパにもママにも言えない事
why 素直に言えるの 君だけだよ
歪む夢 欠けた恋
涙をバネにして
果てぬ世界を 見に行こう 窓を開け風を入れよう
どこへも行ける 感じてる
＜どんなに遠くても＞
世界を見に行こう 出会った人に話したい
勇気をくれた大切な人
'Cause of my dear friend
あの頃のようにもう一度枕を並べて話そう
朝の光が窓照らすまで
そして
ふたり未来へ出かけよう 夢のその先で笑おう
何でも出来る 信じてる
＜どんなに遠くても＞
未来へ出かけよう くじけそうになった時は
私を呼んで どこへも行くよ
'Cause of my dear friend
Also with the help of xaft again, he had found an ameblo commenter who had quoted the lyrics back in 2014. He found the user and they responded with a video with a partial clip of the song. I have taken the opportunity to re-upload it with an English title to make it easier to find: www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-BqT6TQR7s
Oh yeah, and here are all of my attempted contacts.
Stardust Promotion (label) - response about the group being disbanded.
michitiomo (producer of 約束) - no response
Mai Yukawa (member) - liked comment, no response
Naoshi Tsuda (producer of My Dear Friend) - no response
Anyone is welcome to dig and find more about this song, or the group in general. Feel free to reach out to me about any efforts and further information on the group. I may have missed something on this post, I am not quite sure. Sorry for rambling, and I hope anyone who sees this has a lovely day!
