世界で一番いいペア曲総選挙【3位～1位】

Overview of the Feature

"The Best Duo Song Election" (世界で一番いいペア曲総選挙) is a special feature tied to TBS Radio's 75th anniversary. More than 500 listeners each cast a single vote for their favourite duo song, and the top results were announced on air. Four guests joined in the studio: Nishitera Kota (西寺孝太), J-Su (Jスー), Gota (ゴータ), and Su (スー). The host summed up the appeal of the format: "Whatever song comes up is interesting—it's guaranteed to be a good one. Because 500-something people each put in one vote, there's a real sense of majority consensus."

Studio Members' Personal Picks

Before the results were revealed, each of the four guests shared their own personal duo-song nominations.

**Gota** chose "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" by Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations, and "It's You" by Stevie Wonder & Dionne Warwick (from the *Woman in Red* soundtrack). He also considered Silk Sonic's "Leave the Door Open," Elton John & Dua Lipa's "Cold Heart," and Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z's "Suit & Tie," saying he "agonized endlessly" over the decision.

**Su** named Amin's (あみん) "Matsu wa" (待つわ) as his "strategic pick," praising the sharpness of lyrics written by a university student that captured the difficulty of being alive in the 1980s. His second choice was Incognito's "Still a Friend of Mine"—a song about remaining friends after a breakup, with an acid-jazz musical sensibility that he placed in his all-time personal top five.

**J-Su**, speaking from a sense of duty as a rapper, selected "Double Trouble (Stoop Rap)" from the film *Wild Style*. He described the scene of two MCs facing each other and generating a groove from nothing but snaps and a cappella as "the smallest unit of hip-hop coolness, concentrated into two MCs," and revealed he still draws lessons from it as one half of Rhymester's two-MC lineup. His second pick was "Never Knew Love Like This Before" by Alexander O'Neal & Cherrelle, a song he first heard in the winter of his senior year of high school that has remained his ideal of adult romance ever since.

**Takagi** (高木さん) offered two choices rooted in personal memory: Ariana Grande & Stevie Wonder's "Faith" from the *Sing* end credits, and "Ai ga Umareta Hi" (愛が生まれた日) by Yoshiaki Ouchi (大内義明) & Keiko Utoku (宇徳敬子)—a song forever tied to the memory of visiting a karaoke room for the first time in fifth grade and watching his parents, who had argued the day before, singing it together in perfect harmony.

#3: Queen & David Bowie "Under Pressure" (22 votes, 1981)

The song is defined by its minimal bass intro that then cascades into euphoria. Listener comments ranged widely: "At first it felt like a letdown, but the more I listened the more I couldn't escape it"; "Hearing it from my parents' CD collection in middle school was the first time I truly felt the power of Western music—I cried"; "The way it was used in the film *After* left a permanent impression." The studio panel read the track as one that only works because two wildly distinctive vocalists—Freddie Mercury and David Bowie—are crossing paths, and noted that its minimal groove anticipates the hip-hop that would follow.

#2: Yosui Inoue & Anzen Chitai (井上陽水＆安全地帯) "Natsu no Owari no Harmony" (夏の終わりのハーモニー) (35 votes, 1986)

Lyrics by Yosui Inoue, music by Koji Tamaki (玉置浩二). The studio erupted in cheers at the announcement, and every panellist agreed it was "a Japanese duo song to be proud of to the world." Listener analysis was precise: "In the chorus Inoue carries the melody while Tamaki's sensual harmonies support him, then from 'Akogare no' in the second verse Tamaki steps to the front—the structural catharsis is perfect." Others were captivated by footage of the two singing together with a single acoustic guitar.

#1: Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (57 votes, 1967)

A song that had already placed #3 in the previous "Best Song Election" (世界で一番いい曲総選挙) dominated the duo category with 57 votes—the runaway winner. Listener tributes spanned generations: "I played this at my own wedding"; "The way it was used in *Guardians of the Galaxy* is simply the best"; "It will be almost 60 years since release next year, and it will still be loved around the world 60 years after that—the day people stop listening to this song is the day humanity ends." The studio panel called it "universally fitting as both a love song and a song of encouragement, for anyone," with one panellist admitting it "matches this show's taste almost embarrassingly well—but it is flawlessly great."