is the 16th single by Japanese singer/songwriter

Chisato Moritaka (born 11 April 1969) is a Japanese pop singer who also is notable as a songwriter. She is affiliated with Up-Front Create, a subsidiary of the Up-Front Group.

. The lyrics were written by Moritaka and the music was composed by Hideo Saitō. The single was released by

Warner Music Japan Warner Music Group (WMG) owns, has a joint share, or is associated with the record labels listed here. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records *Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Music Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * A ...

on June 25, 1992.

Background

Moritaka wrote "Watashi ga Obasan ni Natte mo" when she was 20 after being told by male staff of her management that women reach their prime at age 19. The song describes a woman's wish for a man to accept her, regardless of her age. It partially draws inspiration from

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

' "

When I'm Sixty-Four "When I'm Sixty-Four" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and released on the 1967 album '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was one of the first songs McCartney ...

". The song was used as the opening theme of the

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drama series . Moritaka wrote the lyrics for the B-side , based on her experiences commuting to school by bicycle.

Music video

No music video of the song was made at the time the single was released, but in 2001, a re-edit of the song performance from Moritaka's 1993 live video '' Live Rock Alive'' was included as a music video in the DVD ''Chisato Moritaka DVD Collection No. 15'', which was a mail-in order exclusive for those who purchased the first edition release of ''DVD Collection Nos. 1-14''. On June 25, 2022, Warner Music Japan uploaded a remastered version of the music video on

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to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the single.

Chart performance and reception

"Watashi ga Obasan ni Natte mo" peaked at No. 15 on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

's singles chart and sold 228,000 copies, and has since become one of Moritaka's most popular songs. It was also certified Gold by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include prom ...

in December 1992. During the 43rd ''

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

'', when Moritaka was part of the Red team, host

Hikari Ishida (born May 25, 1972) is a Japanese actress. She starred along with Megumi Odaka and Natsuki Ozawa in the TV-series '' Hana no Asuka-gumi!''. She also released several singles and six albums and she had one minor hit with the song "Emerald no Su ...

introduced the song as . In his 2019 article, music journalist and blogger Tomonori Shiba noted that the song symbolized a shift in women's attitudes during the

Heisei The was the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito, when hi ...

era.

Other versions

Moritaka's 2013 live album '' YouTube Public Recording & Live at Yokohama Blitz'' features , with the lyrics of this song performed to the tune of her 1990 song "Aru OL no Seishun ~ A-ko no Baai ~ (Moritaka Connection)". The song was remixed by

tofubeats , known professionally as Tofubeats, is a Japanese singer, record producer, and DJ. Kawai began producing music at the age of 14, under the name "DJ Newtown". He initially distributed his music online through websites such as 2channel and YouTub ...

in the 2014 collaboration album '' Chisato Moritaka with tofubeats: Moritaka Tofu''. In 2015, Moritaka re-recorded the song for a series of

Kosé is a Japanese multinational company that manufactures cosmetics, personal care products, and beauty products. It is headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo. History The company was founded in 1946 by Kozaburo Kobayashi with his son as the principal c ...

cosmetics commercials she starred in. This version, titled was included in her 2017 self-covers DVD album ''Love Vol. 10''. In 2019, she performed a brief

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

version of the song in a commercial promoting

DHC DHC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Dance Hall Crashers, a popular Ska punk band ** "DHC" is the final song on the band's debut album of the same name (1990) * Discovery Health Channel, part of US Discovery TV channel Aviation * de Havilla ...

Queen of Serum anti-aging skin cream.

Track listing

Personnel

* Chisato Moritaka – vocals * Hideo Saitō – all instruments, programming, backing vocals

Charts

Certification

Cover versions

* McKee covered the song in

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

as "Hindi Kaya" on their 1996 self-titled album. * Runa Miyoshida covered the song on her 2008 album ''Ska Flavor #1''. * navy&ivory covered the song on their 2009 album ''Nakeru hodo Suki na Hito''. *

Misono , publicly known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Misono (stylized in lower case), is a Japanese singer-songwriter and TV personality. She was born in Kyoto, Japan, and is the younger sister of singer Koda Kumi. Career In 2000, Misono participa ...

covered the song on her 2010 album '' Cover Album 2''. *

Nozomi Tsuji , known professionally by her birth name (born June 17, 1987) is a Japanese media personality, singer, and blogger. In 2000, she began her career as a singer for Japanese girl band Morning Musume. Tsuji later found success with related groups ...

covered the song on her 2010 album ''Minna Happy! Mama no Uta''. *

Yūko Minaguchi is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator from Bunkyō, Tokyo. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. In 2012, Minaguchi took a nineteen-month-long hiatus from acting in order to study abroad in the United States. This resulted in Sh ...

covered the song for the 2011 ''

LovePlus is a dating sim developed and published by Konami for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was released in Japan in 2009. Several updates and sequels have followed, including one for iOS in 2011. It has not been released outside Japan ...

'' soundtrack. * Mitsu covered the song on their 2012 single "Hatsukoi Capsule" and cover album ''Mitsukari''. *

You Kikkawa is a Japanese singer and actress. Kikkawa achieved early fame portraying Kobeni Hanasaki from ''Kirarin Revolution, Kirarin Revolution Stage 3'' and later debuted as a solo singer with the song, "Kikkake wa You!" Career 2006–2010: Pre-debut, ...

covered the song as the B-side of her 2012 single "Darling and Madonna" and her cover album ''

Vocalist? is a cover album by Japanese singer You Kikkawa. Released through Universal J on November 7, 2012, the album features covers of popular J-pop songs from the 1980s to the 2000s. The album cover features an anime-style caricature of Kikkawa. A limi ...

''. * Saya Asakura covered the song on her 2014 album ''Hōgen Kakumei'', with the lyrics changed to Yamagata-ben. *

Konomi Suzuki is a Japanese singer from Osaka Prefecture who is affiliated with Sony Music and Kadokawa. After winning the Animax All-Japan Anisong Grand Prix in 2011, she made her debut in 2012 with the release of her first single "Choir Jail", which peak ...

covered the song on her 2015 album ''18 -Colorful Gift-''. * Michiru Hoshino covered the song on her 2016 album ''My Favorite Song''. *

Tsubaki Factory is a Japanese Japanese idol, idol group, formed in late April 2015 under the umbrella of Hello! Project. It is currently composed of twelve members. Their sister group was Magnolia Factory. History 2015: Formation On April 29, the group was ...

covered the song as the B-side of their 2016 single "Hitorijime". * Maria Satō of The Dance for Philosophy covered the song as part of the group's "Tiny Bath Concert" video series in 2021.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 1992 singles 1992 songs Songs in Japanese Japanese television drama theme songs Chisato Moritaka songs Songs with lyrics by Chisato Moritaka Songs with music by Hideo Saitō (musician, born 1958) Warner Music Japan singles