Hiromi Go

Artist: Hiromi Go . 郷 ひろみ

LP: 7" single

Song: "Hadaka-No Venus (Naked Venus)"

[ listen ]

I figured I'd wrap the year up with my favorite of the singles Aki smuggled out of Japan for me after visiting his family in Nagasaki a few weeks ago. Hiromi Go (whose real name is actually 原武 裕美) released "Naked Venus" during a phase of reckless experimentation with his public image—in this case testing the appeal of combining the razzle-dazzle of disco with generous dashes of Perseus and Peter Pan. Hiromi first began working under the guidance of talent agency/teen idol manufacturers Johnny & Associates until eventually taking his career into his own tender-yet-capable hands. In 1999, Hiromi became known as the Japanese answer to Ricky Martin after covering the closeted Puerto Rican's smash hit "Livin' La Vida Loca"—though Hiromi's version is inexplicably titled "Goldfinger 99." (Well, there may be some explanation, but I'm not looking it up.) You can read more about Hiromi Go on Wikipedia here, and go here to visit his official website. Happy New Year!