Flashback Friday: Iconiq - Bye now! | Harpo, who dis bald headed woman!?

I can't even remember how I came across Iconiq. But her bald headed ass intrigued me, because she went against the grain of every J-Pop artist in existence by having no hair. This alone made me check out the music. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement.

The first song I'd heard by Iconiq was her lead single "I'm lovin' you" which featured Atushi of EXILE; the only member of that overblown, over-membered group who can sing, and the only one I can just about tolerate. It was a good song. Which then lead me to "Bye now!".

During this period I was very quickly becoming a Namie Amuro fan. So "Bye now!" came at a great time, because it sounded a lot like something she would do or had already done by that point. The comparison at the time being the sound, which was understandable given that "Bye now!" was produced by T-Kura and written by his wife Michico who become notable collaborators of Namie's and were responsible for songs such as "Can't eat, can't sleep, I'm sick", "Funky town", "Hello", "Wild", "Copy that" and more besides.

In an odd turn of events Namie Amuro released a video last year for her song "In two" which shared a similar aesthetic to Iconiq's 2010 release.

Once Iconiq grew her hair out she pretty much faded from relevance. A complete shame because the music that she'd delivered in the short time she was around was really strong. She had nailed a style and an image that whilst not new, was incredibly polished, honed, and for me personally, gave me a level of consistency that the usual Avex suspects were failing to give me at that point.

Iconiq delivered. But the universe would soon recall her career and how she's just an full time Instagram user. So basically, she's one of us now.

To say she left a legacy might be strong, given that her debut album didn't push a great deal of units and her follow-up EP was dead on arrival. But "Bye now!" remains in the top tier of my favourite J-Pop / J-R&B bops. And Iconiq may be lost, but she's far from forgotten.

Random J-Pop album reviews: Change myself | Light ahead