Music Monday | Shin Sakiura Feat. AAAMYYY— このまま夢で

It’s Monday y’all~ So it’s time for another Music Monday~ I’m honestly exhausted, so I wanted to do some chill vibes today~ Once again, we’re taking a bit of a break from Korean music, and focusing on a Japanese track today~ Today I’ll be sharing Shin Sakiura’s 「このまま夢で/Kono Mama Yume De」 which features AAAMYYY~

We have covered Shin Sakiura in a past Music Monday post with [「Cruisin’ (Feat. SIRUP)」]. Again, I honestly don’t have that much info on the guy. I just know he’s a producer and makes great beats and tracks. I randomly discovered some of his tracks on my random late night Spotify explorations. I love his tracks and various collabs with other artists. His work falls under various types of Japanese soul, r&b, hip-hop/chill-hop, and funk. So that’s basically all up my alley~ Other than this track and 「Cruisin’ (Feat. SIRUP)」, I also really like his track [「Angels」] with haruno, and [「ほんとは (Feat. Kan Sano)」].

This track also features female singer, songwriter, and producer AAAMYYY (エイミー)(Furuhara Honami, aka “Amy”). I honestly don’t know that much about her either. I actually discovered her through this track. But anyway, apparently she was originally a member of electronic pop groups Go Retro and Eimie. In 2015, she began working with Tempalay, a psychedelic rock band. She became an official member in 2018. However, she did start her solo career in 2017. Apparently she grew in a rural community in Nagano. After high school, she attended Kanda University of International Studies where she spent many hours of the day speaking English. From then, she went to flight attendant school for Air Canada in Vancouver. Amy was the English name she adopted while she was in Canada. She returned to Japan, and then worked as an English conversation teacher in Osaka. But she started creating music when she had returned to Japan at the age of 22. She was inspired by the music influences she heard in Canada, and then she started her electropop band Go Retro in 2013. The band only lasted for a year before it’s dissolution though. In 2014, she formed a group called Eemie with a DJ named Takuma. Their works were exclusively in English. They initially self-released their electro/chillwave music on Bandcamp before their 2015 debut with indie label Maxtreme Records. They even performed at Summer Sonic (huge JP music festival BTW). While she did perform in both groups at the time, Eemie disbanded by 2016. She then had her solo debut as AAAMYYY in 2017 after she became a radio DJ on InterFM’s TokyoScene. Her debut song 「8 PM」 debuted on said show. Her debut EP Weekend EP was then released on cassette that September. Apparently she had recorded the entire thing with her phone and an iOS app. She was made an official member of Tempalay in June 2018. She and Shin Sakiura also released [「Night Running」], the ending theme for the Netflix anime BNA: Brand New Animal, in 2020.

「このまま夢で」(“Kono Mama Yume De”), or “In My Dream”, was released as a single back in February 2020. It’s a chill pop song. It’s very chill, but has a mellow groove to it still. I think AAAMYYY’s vocals compliment the track so incredibly well too. The thing I like about her vocals is that it’s got this very laidback/chill vibe to it~

「このまま夢で」was also included on Shin Sakiura’s album NOTE, which was released in March 2020. The album has a nice variety of sounds and vibes. There are chill, laid-back kind of chill-pop or r&b types of tracks with some features as well. I absolutely love「ほんとは (Feat. Kan Sano)」]. It’s another chill kind of r&b track that goes well with Kan Sano’s soulfully yet relaxed smooth vocals. It’s another chill kind of r&b track that goes well with Kan Sano’s soulfully yet relaxed smooth vocals. 「Slide (Feat. maco marets)」] a chill, but vibe kinda track. Great for a chill summer drive playlist. 「More Life (Feat. Ryohu)」] is a bit more upbeat. It’s like a somewhat chill groove track with Ryohu’s rap, but still more upbeat compared to the tracks with AAAMYY or Kan Sano. Other than the tracks with features, most of the album are beats. I love and can vibe with 「Be] and 「Need You] . But in contrast, 「Walk Into the Night] is more of an EDM track with house music vibes. Y’all know I love [house music] too.

In May 2020, Shin Sakiura and AAAMYYY also released a home session version of「このまま夢で」. It’s stripped down and mostly acoustic sounding with guitar, whistling, snapping, and AAAMYYY’s vocals. There’s also some background noise of a kid or something. Of course, it’s also very chill, but I do like that it’s got different vibes to the original. I love the simplicity and relaxing nature of this one. Of course I would say this version also probably relates to pandemic too. As y’all know, during the beginning of the pandemic, the world was stuck quarantining. In this album art and the video, you see they’re each performing their parts of the song separately in their own homes. But yeah, I absolutely love the original, but this one is probably my favorite. AAAMYYY has such chill and relaxing vocals, and I think it goes so well with the stripped down version that gives it almost a dreamy feeling.

You can find 「このまま夢で」on Spotify, here:

You can find 「このまま夢で」and the rest of Shin Sakiura’s album NOTE on Spotify, here:

You can find the Home Session version of「このまま夢で」 on Spotify, here:

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I don’t really got nothing to say for the video. It’s pretty straight-forward of them performing the song separately. Again, I think part of it was the pandemic and everyone was quarantining and trying to do projects together while social distancing. But I suppose that it can kinda relate to the theme of the song as well. I can’t totally tell though because I couldn’t find translations to share. I only officially took one semester of Japanese and my weeb ass only understands hella basic words and phrases. So I personally can only pick out bits and pieces. Either way, this track is super relaxing to listen to.

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Anyway, that’s it for today’s Music Monday post. Super simple I know. I hope you all enjoyed the track. While I do love my Korean music, I do also enjoy a lot of Japanese tracks as well. I think most people are more familiar with J-Pop and J-Rock, so I think it’s nice to share underrated J-R&B type of tracks too. Let me know if you guys have any recommendations for me, for any genre or language! Cuz I just love music and can vibe with just about anything~ Anyway, I’m off to pass the fuck out so I’m not dying at work tomorrow~ I hope you all have a lovely Monday. Take care, stay safe, and have a wonderful start to your week!

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