SNoW was one of my favorite jpop artists; she has a lovely alto voice, plays guitar, is fluent in English, and was best known for contributing “Sakasama no Chou” and “Nightmare” for the Jigoku Shoujo animes. I loved her sound and although she didn’t write all of her music and lyrics, her English lyrics were poignant and touching; an excerpt from her English b-side “I’m No” on her “Hanabi Made ato Sukoshi” single was my high school senior quote.

Unfortunately, her releases were mostly unsuccessful, and after releasing just one album, in July of 2007 she was dropped by SONY and was not picked up by any other company.

But now it seems like she’s back, now known as YUKIE.

(embedding is not allowed, please play it at the site)

For the special re-release of his “Spirits” album, Soulja – best known for the “Koko ni Iru Yo” and “Soba ni Iru ne” collaborations with Aoyama Thelma – re-recorded “Soba ni Iru ne” with YUKIE – YUKIE, who turns out to be SNoW! I’m completely sick of hearing this song (it’s a good song, but let’s move on already!) but I’m glad to see that SNoW is still active in the music industry, and she does a good job on the song, bringing in a more reserved and soulful feel.

I’m not sure if this collaboration means she is now signed with Universal Music, and is she still officially SNoW or YUKIE now? Still, I’m glad to know she’s still in the industry, and I hope (cross my fingers!) that she’ll be able to release new original material again soon.