World Song Contest

The World Song Contest is full of surprises. The 23rd edition, which started in January 2007, confirmed it. After the semi finals, it appeared that the United States of America would be the winner without any possible doubts. Not only the song was a world wide hit at the same time and Christina Aguilera wasn’t what we can call a perfect unknown, but USA received a record of  246 points in the semi’s while Greece, winner of the other heat, received 136 points.

Despite a lot of great songs from several countries, it seemed the games were made. Was it because of Aguilera’s popularity ? She wasn’t the only famous singer of this edition. Alanis Morissette represented Canada and Zucchero was chosen for Italy. Helena Paparizou and Anna Vissi also made a come back, just like former winner, Amaral for Andorra. None of them represented a threat for the USA.

The threat, that’s the word, came from Asia. After the first victory of an African country in WSC .22, Asia had to do something. All continents already had a winner (if we take the America’s as a whole and single continent). Not Asia. It was time to do something after nearly 2 years of contests. If Asia did something this time. We have to notice the 3rd position of Bosnia & Herzegovina. Before that, the country only reached the top 10 in one occasion, with a 7th position. Then we have the 3rd consecutive top 10 position for Algeria and Belgium reached the top 5 for the 8th time, more than any other country. Estonia, which often failed to qualify, finally reached the top 5 for the second time since WSC .03.

So the winner, you probably got it, was an Asian country. Japan easily won with 26 points more than the USA. This might be seen as a short victory. But if you check the results of several previous editions, you’ll notice that the games are usually made by 1 or 2 points. Anyway, the winning song, Destiny ~ Taiyou No Hana ~, performed by Hitomi Shimatani, showed us that you always have surprise in this contest !

Hitomi Shimatani's childhood dream, like many others, was to become a famous singer. At the age of seventeen, when she was still in high school, Shimatani decided to pursue this goal and attended "The Japan Audition 1997" hosted by the music label avex trax. Hitomi was chosen out of around two-hundred thousand other girls who participated and received a recording contract with avex. However, before starting her music career, she wished to finish high school -- to which avex agreed, but with the stipulation that Shimatani attend vocal lessons at the same time. She agreed. After having finished school and feeling ready to her first step as a young singer, in 1999 Hitomi released her first single called "Osaka no onna", an enka song. Although the single received much critical acclaim and even won some awards, it sold rather poorly, causing either Shimatani, avex, or both to decide that "Osaka no onna" was to be both the beginning and the end of Shimatani's enka career. She started to record more songs and in 2000 she released her second single, which was drastically different, stylistically, than her previous with its extremely pop leanings. However, mainstream success didn't come until the release of Shimatani's third single, entitled "papillon", a Japanese version of Janet Jackson's song " Doesn't Really Matter". The single became a hit, eventually selling over 200,000 copies, and valuted Shimatani into the spotlight. Since then, Shimatani has often been compared with the top artists on avex trax. Since then she has released five studio albums, one "best-of" compilation, a special concept album entitled "crossover", a winter mini-album, and twenty-three singles. Shimatani often uses "exotic-sounding" titles for her songs, including such tracks as "Perseus", "Falco", "bella flor" and "La Fiesta". She has also been recognized by anime and videogame fans around the globe for songs like ANGELUS -Anjerasu-, which was used as an opening theme for the Inuyasha anime series, Falco (Faruko) the 1st opening of "The Law of Ueki" or Ueki no Housoku and "Garnet Moon", the main theme from the Playstation 2 video-game "Another Century's Episode". Although dance-pop/techno-pop and Latin-styled music were a staple of much of Shimatani's earlier career, she has recently been working extensively in a sound which many have termed "crossover" (named so after the album on which it first made an appearance) -- a blend of traditional pop sensibilities with heavy orchestral and classical-music infusion. Although the release date is unconfirmed, the title of her next single - to be released in either January or February 2007 - has been confirmed as Dragonfly, with the b-side being bye-bye. An album has been reported for release in early 2007.

official website: http://www.avexnet.or.jp/shimatani/

Lyrics

Mind...itsudatte Find...motometeta
Shine...ai koso ga Believe...shinjitsu to

Kanashii koto ga furi tsuduite mo
Daremo hitori ni nari wa shinai
Inoru you ni sora wo aogeba
Itoshii egao dakishimerareru

JIRENMA no mori wo nuke tachi mukau
Sono omoi eien mo koeru deshou

Ikusen no ai no kotoba yori
Anata ga soko ni iru dakede ii
Daremo kawari wa dekinai kara
Hohoemi ga ashita he no hikari ni naru
Ano sora no taiyou no hou he...

Love...hanarete mo
Pride...shinjiteru

Kagiri no aru deai no naka de
Hiki yose au tsunaideta ito
Kurai yoru mo arashi no asa mo
Anata dake ga shinjitsu datta

TORAUMA no DOA wo ima hiraiteku
Kono hitomi kibou sae utsusu deshou

Ikusen no ai no uta yori mo
Tatta hitori no nukumori ga ii
Itami shiru do ni uketometa
Yasashi sa wo mata ai ni kaete yukeru
Kagayaita kono mune no chikai...

Taiyou no hana ga saku kokoro nara
Itsu no hi ka negai he to todoku deshou

Ikusen no ai no kotoba yori
Anata ga soko ni iru dakede ii
Daremo kawari wa dekinai kara
Hohoemi ga ashita he no hikari ni naru
Ano sora no taiyou no hou he...