insane plot to this story

Holy shit, you weren’t kidding! I almost forgot to come back and listen to it, but I’m glad I didn’t. Always good to find a new 80s jam.

Here’s my own favorite 80s song about infidelity. It’s in Japanese, but the chorus has a lot of (real, grammatical) English, so you can still sing along! Lyrically it’s very straightforward–talking about sneaking around, taking off the wedding ring, so wrong but feels so right, etc.–but the execution is just so damn good.

The version I’ve linked is sung by the songwriter herself, Mariya Takeuchi. It was originally released in the 80s by Akina Nakamori, but IMO Mariya Takeuchi’s is the definitive edition, with strong, buttery smooth vocals, good acting, and a killer groove (the synth bass is perfection). The arrangement of Akina’s version is serviceable, but the weak whisper-singing and slower tempo just don’t do it for me, and it lacks the strong groove of Mariya’s arrangement (handled by her husband, the legendary Tatsuro Yamashita). Musically, this is straight babymaking music, so it’s a pretty different vibe from the Heart song.