Basically, Seiko Mazda stopped aging in 1988.

Seiko Matsuda is known as “the eternal idol” in Japan, a title the singer earned while releasing 24 consecutive number-one singles between 1980 and 1988. Though she’d only top the charts one more time after the start of the ‘90s, her music remains the soundtrack of an entire decade in Japan, and the 59-year-old’s back catalog continues to enjoy near-universal respect and admiration today.

For example, here’s an extremely youthful-looking lady covering Matsuda’s “Aoi Sangosho～Blue Lagoon～,” a nostalgic summery song that came out in 1980.

But here’s the twist: while this is a cover of “Aoi Sangosho～Blue Lagoon～,” it’s a self-cover, because that’s none other than Matsuda herself, looking nothing like someone who’s less than a year away from her 60th birthday.

Honestly, we’d have been more likely to assume that the singer was Matsuda’s daughter, Sayaka Kanda, but nope, that’s Matsuda once again belting out her second-ever single, and the last one before the start of her streak of number-ones (“Aoi Sangosho～Blue Lagoon～” peaked at number two). And it’s not just Matsuda’s looks that belie her age, but her vocals too, as her rhythm and pitch remain perfect.

In addition to being a force in 1980s music, Matsuda was one in hairstyling trends as well. Her feathered bangs became known as the “Seiko-chan cut,” and were widely adopted by fashion-conscious teens and women of the Bubble Economy era, and the singer brings it back for one sequence of the new video.

The self-cover video was posted on Thursday, and the singer’s permeance in stylishness and sound has already elicited online reactions such as:

“I totally thought this was someone else imitating Seiko Matsuda, but it’s really her!”
“Totally satisfying video.”
“Just watching her puts me in a better mood.”
“She’s so kawaii!”
“She hasn’t aged a bit since the ‘80s!”

Really, though, it’s all to be expected from the eternal idol.

Sources: YouTube/松田聖子オフィシャルYouTubeチャンネル, Twitter/@YahooNewsTopics
Images: YouTube/松田聖子オフィシャルYouTubeチャンネル
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[ Read in Japanese ]