"Almost every year, I'm working at Christmastime," mourns Kaori Asada. "If I'm not working, I'll have a big Christmas party with friends and family. But in the last 10 years, I haven't had that kind of Christmas party, ha ha. Still, I like Christmas."
What Asada, better known as Kyoto-born J-pop singer Bonnie Pink, likes even more is Christmas songs. Since her first single, the Christmas-themed "Orange," was released in 1995, Asada has harbored desires to make an album of tinsel-tinged tunes.
Her wish is fulfilled this week with the release of "Chain," a minialbum stuffed with a song of the same name and four cover songs. (When asked when her Hanukkah album is due, she replies, "I don't know! Is it different?")
"When I wrote 'Chain,' it was not Christmastime; it was May or June," admits the 35-year-old singer. "I visualized the image of Christmas and I wrote down some words — like candle, snow, white, gingerbread — and the story came out naturally. I thought maybe you need a happy-sad Christmas song, so I tried to write a story where this girl is spending Christmas all alone but hoping that somebody will come join her at Christmas."
The result is a tearjerker in the tradition of yuletide movie staple "It's a Wonderful Life" or the Ernest Tubb classic "Blue Christmas." A piano-led ballad swells and spills among sweeping strings, while Asada emotes her little heart out to uplifting effect.
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