黑膠電影院

自從大媒人石原裕次郎在一九八七年因病去世後，聖子逐漸擺脫婚姻的束縛，竭力做自己想做的事，歌路與造型也變得成熟大膽，詞意間還透露不倫之戀等限制級用語，再再強調她的新成人時代。

一九八八年她找來美國名製作人大衛佛斯特（David Forster），打造日文專輯《Citron》，當時已經有了推出英文專輯的打算，在忙完該輯的宣傳工作後，聖子花費不少時間在紐約重新學習發聲、咬字及舞蹈，為日後做準備。隔年年初，近藤真彥也恰巧到紐約，兩個異鄉人在紐約巧遇，在紐約曼哈頓相約用餐，一時天雷勾動地火，最後更入房激情密會，這一切全被日本八卦周刊《Friday》拍到，這還不打緊，相傳聖子還打電話給明菜炫耀，讓明菜氣極自殺，釀成轟動一時的醜聞。

聖子因此獲封「超級惡女」，連帶也影響她一九八九年唯一單曲《Precious Heart》，首度未能一進榜便拿下冠軍，屈居小室哲哉冠軍單曲之後。但聖子並不在乎，仍專心在美籌備英文專輯，而且所屬的哥倫比亞美國總公司對她相當禮遇，找來「街頭頑童」製作人墨利斯史塔（Maurice Starr）、葛洛麗亞伊斯特芬與夫婿（Gloria & Emilio Estefan）及瑪丹娜（Madonna）製作人Jellybean擔綱製作，還邀得當紅炸子雞「街頭頑童」的成員之一唐尼威柏格（Donnie Wahlberg，馬克威柏格的哥哥），與她合唱首支單曲《The Right Combination》。

一九九○年五月，「街頭頑童」才剛以大熱曲《Step By Step》勇奪美國告示牌單曲榜冠軍，聲勢如日中天，第二首單曲《Tonight》在七月底推出的前兩周，唱片公司先推出了聖子與唐尼合唱的《The Right Combination》，力捧用意明顯，可惜只拿下單曲榜第五十四名，但對首次進軍美國的聖子來說，已是難能可貴的好成績。

不過，此時小道消息卻流傳，聖子仍獲得街頭頑童成員合唱支持，也免不了「獻身」感恩，但她或許不是「雨露均霑」，因此鬧得頑童成員反目，險些拆夥，但也因彼此關係交惡，一直到四年後才又推出專輯，但已時不我予，最終仍是解散。

聖子少了「街頭頑童」跨刀後，改走「日本瑪丹娜」路線，第二支單曲《Who’s That Boy》，明顯是向瑪丹娜《那女孩是誰》（Who’s That Girl）致敬的歌曲，可惜成效不彰，並未能再打入告示牌前一百名；歐洲版單曲《All The Way to Heaven》反應也是普通。但特別的是，大概麥可波頓（Michael Bolton）此時也在美國非常走紅，聖子再度將他為她首張英文專輯寫的《Try Gettin’ Over You》，略為修改了編曲，再度重唱。同時聽兩種版本，可以比較出聖子的英文進步程度，但我還是偏愛原來的版本。

平心而論，聖子這張專輯的咬字、腔調進步很多，選曲也很符合當時的偶像音樂，但或許是當時節奏藍調及饒舌曲風漸成主流，像聖子這種充滿偶像氣息與異國風情的歌手，已經逐漸走下坡了。

《The Right Combination》
Two people, together
It was just a dream until you came along
My heart was waiting just for you

Tomorrow, forever
We both heard those promises for far too long
But now you’ve made the words come true

So touch me now
I need to have you close tonight
And show me how
You can make me feel this way

You and me
We are the right combination for love
We’re all we need
It’s just you and me
We make the right combination
Straight from the heart
Love is the key

Can’t keep it a secret
Everything i feel is written on my face
I can’t hide my heart from you

You hold me, it’s a secret
In your arms the world becomes a better place
Now i know what i love can do

So here we go
Exactly where the road will lead us
I don’t know
I just know that you’ll be there

And whenever you call, i’m there
Every stumble and fall, i’ll share
I’ll be yours through it all ’cause i care about you baby
It’s so easy to see, so strong
Now i know you and me belong


《Try Gettin’ Over You》
I talked to a friend of ours
Just late last night
She said you’d been drownin’ in your tears
I know that it might sound stange
Never wanted to cause you pain
But her words were like music to my ears

Maybe we could walk away
And turn our backs on yesterday
Just move on the way most lovers do
But that’s not how this story goes
I’ll tell now ya what heaven knows
If gettin’ over me is hard to do
Well, baby you should try gettin’ over you

The smile on your face was all you let me see
So I couldn’t bear to let you know
While hiding behind my pride
I wanted to die inside
Just lookin’ for signs you’d never show

It seems we’ve played our part too well
To find it in our hearts to tell...one another...
What we’ve both known all along
That since the day we said goodbye
We’ve just been livin’ one big lie
It’s time to face the fact that we were wrong
To think that...maybe we could walk away
And turn our backs on yesterday
Just move on the way most lovers do
’Cause that’s not how this story knows
I’ll tell ya now what heaven knows
If gettin’ over me is hard to do
Well, baby you should try
Maybe you should try
Baby you should try gettin’ over you


1985年版

1990年版