EriHiro

Speed fans rejoice! Although I wouldn’t really myself since I really am a former Speed fan.

The Okinawan girls disbanded at the height of their career and saved me at least a couple hundred dollars from continuing to buy their albums and singles, some of which I probably wouldn’t even open to listen. Years later, they re-grouped but the loss of their charm was brutally stark and they hardly appear anywhere anymore with their last album released in 2013.

Imai Eriko and Shimabukuro Hiroko though, in recent years grew more active appearing in singing programs like Utage!, hosted by SMAP leader Nakai Masahiro, and several other random variety talk shows, together and individually.

In this era, nobody names their children with the traditional “ko” endings anymore, because it’s deemed old-fashioned. Especially in the entertainment industry, a glittery name might be more desirable. With highly professional singing and dancing skills in girl groups like E-girls, Speed’s dance and lack of vocal quality pales in comparison so a modern name might do them better. It appears now that Eri(ko) and Hiro(ko) decided to strip their ko’s and form a new unit called none-other-than EriHiro.

Eri and Hiro released their first single on Aug 26 titled Stars, which you can listen to on YouTube or on their official website here. Honestly, they still sound the same to me, which I feel is not enough to compete in today’s Japanese music scene.

But if you’re still a fan, they shouldn’t disappoint because if you think about it, EriHiro really is Speedーwithout their background dancers.

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