After Manami Fujimura won the talent show held by NHK, NHK helped introduce BURNING and Sony Records.
The dark force in the industry, Ikuo Shu, has a close relationship with the state-owned TV station.
However, although Inomata Kosho, one of the judges at that time, accepted her as a disciple, he was not very interested in her.
According to Inomata Kanzaki, Fujimura Manami, who was already 24 years old when she won the show and had been active as a folk singer in the Akita area for many years, has been finalized in all aspects and there is no need to start from the basics.
After her debut failed with luxurious equipment but no splash, there were many more voices of disapproval of her from offices and companies.
BURNING's manager is not only responsible for Fujimura Manami, but now that her career has come to a halt, the manager has simply put her aside. However, Masaru Ikuta, the manager of the record company, supports her as always and works hard for her.
On Saturday, after Masatoshi Sakai informed him of Shinichi Iwahashi's thoughts, Masaru Ikuta left a message on the phone for Manami Fujimura to inform her of the incident.
The next day, Fujimura Manami called him back. Ikuta Masaru told her that Iwahashi-san had met her once before when he went to meet Masato Sakai and wanted to invite her to participate in his planned album.
After only meeting her once, I already had my mind set on her.
Not only Ikuta Masaru was surprised by this incident, Fujimura Manami also felt strange after hearing it.
However, accidents are accidents, and Manami Fujimura did not reject it. Rather, because she could not figure out what the young producer planned to do, curiosity took over. When Masaru Ikuta said that she was going to see Shinichi Iwahashi on Monday night, she also asked Ikuta to
After the victory, be sure to tell her the content of the meeting.
Masaru Ikuta knew that she was a die-hard rock fan. When a band affiliated with Sony Records held a concert in Tokyo, she asked Masaru Ikuta to get tickets for the guest seats because she couldn't buy tickets.
She doesn't stick to trivial matters, and if there is a shortcut, she will take it openly. She occasionally shows cunning but is not philistine, almost innocent.
"Fujimura has a gorgeous appearance and a sweet voice," Sakai Masatoshi and Iwahashi Shinichi said.
He asked Katsu Ikuta to come with him to see Shinichi Iwahashi, with the intention of speaking freely. At this time, he did not hide anything, and talked from the most basic point about the direction of the new career path prepared by the office and the record company for Manami Fujimura.
"Roughly speaking, the content of enka is 'sorrow', 'life', 'nostalgia', and 'festival'." Masatoshi Sakai gave a few rough examples.
Obviously, women like Fujimura Manami are not suitable for singing about life sentiments and harvest festivals.
For enka singers, those traditional themes of singing festivals or hard work are destined to be unsuitable for a woman of her temperament. Sakai Masatoshi knew this and did not even intend to let her try.
He opened up, "I want her to sing a song of resentment, but not about the heaviness of living and dying together, but about the lingering sadness of being destined to fail to achieve the right goal."
Fujimura Manami does not seem like a virtuous wife who warms wine for her husband who returns from fishing and takes care of the housework, but like a wife who wears a kimono, holds an oil-paper umbrella, and walks on the path with a silent man.
A lover who has a bubbly love.
"ah."
When Shinichi Iwahashi heard what Sakai Masatoshi said, his heart moved.
He mentioned it in passing: "Sakai-san once said that enka is about returning to the sweetness from hardship. Therefore, enka singers have rich experience, which is a good thing for them to perform songs."
"That's right." Sakai Masatori nodded.
Iwahashi Shinichi continued, "I heard Sakai-san talk about Fujimura-san's life experience before. At that time, I was thinking about one thing. In the entertainment industry, there is probably no such mysterious and magical beauty. I'm afraid I can't find a singer like this.
Come one."
At least based on his understanding of the enka industry, he had never expected that there would be such a number one person.—At least, there was not one among the currently active enka singers.
If Sakai Masatoshi's production creed of "enka singers having rich life experiences is better", Fuji Ayako's life experience that would make anyone stunned for a moment would be "rare".
"Um..." Sakai Masatoshi didn't answer.
When I heard the current Ikuta Katsu, his expression began to change slightly.
Ikuta Katsuichi knew very well that Fujimura Manami's ex-husband committed suicide because of her. A lot of people on both sides of the record company and the office knew about this matter, but when it was mentioned so bluntly by such an outsider, it still sounded strange to him.
feel offended.
Katsuki Ikuta believed that Fujimura Manami would definitely become popular, so he worked hard to get her on the right track, including coming to meet the young producer to find out what kind of medicine he was selling.
But privately, he had deep sympathy and a faint affection for this charming, innocent woman.
If Fujimura Manami were present, Iwahashi Shinichi would have some scruples, but now, he doesn't know and doesn't care about Ikuta Katsu's thoughts, he speaks his own.
"In Fujimura-san's hometown of Akita, her divorced ex-husband committed suicide for her. When it fell on her, it became a scandal that turned her into a monster in the eyes of others."
"But," he paused and finally spoke his true thoughts, "a witch who makes men willing to die for her. This is also a personal style that only Fujimura-san has and that no one can replace."
Sakai Masato heard what he meant and couldn't help but open his eyes wide.
"This is so cruel."
Listening to this, Ikuta Katsu felt ridiculous. He began to wonder, what on earth is this young producer going to do?
Iwahashi Shinichi heard his protest and looked over.
Tonight, Masatoshi Sakai spoke freely, but the manager had nothing to say. He only listened and occasionally added a sentence or two, hardly expressing his own opinions, leaving Shinichi Iwahashi with the impression that he didn't like chatting very much.
This "cruel" accusation was his first opinion tonight.
However, Iwahashi Shinichi continued, "Anyway, a man committed suicide for Fujimura-san. This is a fact."
"..." Ikuta Katsu didn't answer.
"Because it is true, as long as Fujimura-san has a little bit of fame, the magazine will never let go of this gossip." Iwahashi Shinichi said, "Not only that..."
They will also treat this matter as a curious gossip and exaggerate it.
Therefore, as long as Fujimura Manami wants to be involved in the entertainment industry, she cannot hide this matter.
Not only that, when Iwahashi Shinichi heard Sakai Masatoshi talk about her for the first time, he believed that Fujimura Manami didn't care much about it.
In this era, as long as a star is somewhat famous, even ugly photos of him in kindergarten can be provided to the TV station by enthusiastic people. If Fujimura Manami was really the kind of woman who felt that this matter was shameful, she would not have chosen Tokyo, a bigger city.
stage.
All of Shinichi Iwahashi's ideas were based on Masato Sakai's plan for her route and his speculation on Manami Fujimura's thoughts.
"Fujimura-san's office is BURNING." Ikuta Masaru heard Iwahashi Shinichi's meaning of "concealing it is useless", and the discomfort in his heart faded a little, and he explained: "Shou Fang-san has a strong ability to control the media. By that time,
BURNING will show up."
"I understand the power of BURNING." Shinichi Iwahashi smiled, "But can Wen Chun also shut up?"
Wenchun's power left Ikuta Sheng speechless for a moment.
"Therefore, there is no point in covering it up." Shinichi Iwahashi said, "However, I don't mean to publicize this matter. There is no reason to expose it first without others mentioning it."
"Now, let's talk about the project I want to produce." He changed the topic, "Sakai-san wants Fujimura-san to sing a sad and lingering song of resentment. And my idea is to use 'Fujimura-san is a mysterious and magical beauty.'
Use it as a basis for making songs.”
"She neither deliberately avoids her past nor deliberately promotes her past, but openly exposes her past as a part of her person."
Let this magical beauty cooperate with the fragile handsome man Moritomo Rashi. Even if this cooperation is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, it will not affect her re-debut, but will allow her to start her prepared debut.
For the already-famous singer, this project is an attempt to change her appearance, and for her, it is paving the way for her re-debut.
Not only for her, but also for BOLAN.
Let her, a mysterious and magical beauty, and Moritomo Rashi, a fragile and beautiful man, set off each other to further showcase the charm of BOLAN and enrich the image of BOLAN.
If the cooperation between BOLAN and Fujiaiko is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, not only will it not affect her re-debut, but it will make a good start for her re-debut. And the same is true for BOLAN.
"In other words, Fujimura will not shy away from her 'devil' side in her songs?" Masato Sakai listened with great interest.
However, adding this aspect made the route she wanted to take more three-dimensional.
"There are all kinds of women in enka, including witches."
Iwahashi Shinichi said, "Dabanfang cleverly integrated part of her life into the song as the charm of the song 'Bliss after suffering'. In this way, even if her past is discovered by the media after becoming popular, it will be
It will only serve as the last piece of the puzzle to complete her route."
If she deliberately conceals it, once the past is dug out, her image will completely collapse. But if her true side is used to chart her exit route from the beginning, then the past will be part of her route.
This can also be regarded as a type of "safety air cushion".
"It's really yours." Sakai Masari muttered and picked up the wine glass.
Ikuta Katsu was listening beside him, speechless the whole time. He didn't know what he wanted to say about Iwahashi-san, but he started to say something else about him...
However, Masaru Ikuta wanted to take back the "cruel" accusation at the beginning.
…
We didn’t talk about many things while drinking. At most, we exchanged ideas with each other. Whether we should do this or not, we would have to discuss it with BURNING, Sony, and Manami Fujimura herself before we could make the final decision.
At this point, Shinichi Iwahashi has done everything he can and can only wait for the final response.
Ikuta Masaru promised Fujimura Manami to convey the content of the conversation to her - in fact, it was necessary to convey the entire conversation to her.
Manami Fujimura listened and smiled: "You want me to sing with the band?" She looked at the worried Ikuta Masaru and asked, "What do Ikuta-san think?"
"That's what I wanted to ask." Ikuta Masaru smiled bitterly, "What do you think?"
"Me?" Fujimura Manami was stunned, as if she didn't understand what Ikuta Katsu meant. After a while, she slowly said: "I don't mind being known about my past. If I did, I would live incognito."
"But making the past one's own characteristics and not concealing the past are not the same thing." Ikuta Masaru didn't know why, but compared to someone who didn't care about the past at all, he wanted her to reveal her embarrassment about the past.
Fujimura Manami smiled. When she smiled, she looked even more charming. Ikuta Masaru's eyes lingered on her face, but he didn't want to, what she said next was:
"Ikuta-san doesn't understand me yet."
"Ah." Ikuta Katsu seemed to be hit on the head suddenly by something.
A little confused, a little hurt, and a little angry.
"Takahashi's life belongs to Takahashi." Fujimura Manami said calmly.
Takahashi is her ex-husband's surname. She continued, "If I avoid the past, wouldn't it be like my life being swallowed up by him? If I hide because of Takahashi, then I will be swallowed up with him."
Buried."
It was because of her ex-husband's suicide that she wanted to live a beautiful life. The more people in the world thought it was strange to have a man die for her, the more she wanted to be frank. Fujimura Manami's mentality was somewhat of a competition.
.
However, after listening to Fujimura Manami's words, Ikuta Masaru felt cold in his heart.
She is more ruthless than imagined...
"To be honest, I am a little tempted by Iwahashi-san's proposal." Putting aside his concerns about Fujimura Manami's ideas, Ikuta Masaru re-examined Iwahashi Shinichi's words.
"According to what he said, it is a suitable path."
Ikuta Katsu said, as if to get rid of the coldness just now, he half-joked: "That Iwahashi-san seems to be very good at bringing unpopular singers back to life. If you really listen to him, maybe you can get into that person's favor.
Luck can also make you famous."
"Really?" Fujimura Manami smiled, "Then I'll be looking forward to it."
Masaru Ikuta hopes that Manami Fujimura can become popular. As an agent, he believes that Manami Fujimura has the potential to become popular, and hopes that he can make her famous with his own hands.
"The rest will be left to Ikuta-san," Fujimura Manami said, "I will cooperate."
…
"You turned out to be a famous producer!"
Fuyumi Sakamoto looked at Shinichi Iwahashi sitting opposite him with an incredible expression.
"The same goes for Sakamoto-san. He is already an enka star who cannot be underestimated."
As soon as Iwahashi Shinichi said the words, Sakamoto Fuyumi couldn't help laughing, "Are Iwahashi-san and I going to continue complimenting each other like this?"
"It's not impossible." Iwahashi Shin was half joking and half serious.
The former driver and the bag-carrying girl sat together again after a long time and smiled at each other.