''Atarashii Kisetsu e'' (あたらしい季節へ / ''To the New Season'') is the eighth domestic single by the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese hip-hop group

Lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

. It was released nearly six months after their previous single '' Tenohira wo Taiyou ni/Delighted,'' on April 13, 2005. It charted well on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

, taking the weekly ranking of #6 upon its released. Limited editions of the singles included one of five possible phone charms, a release event participation ticket, a "Lead 2005 Spring Campaign"

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

and a specialized

URL A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), colloquially termed as a web address, is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifie ...

where buyers could download a themed

wallpaper Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so t ...

Information

''Atarashii Kisetsu e'' (あたらしい季節へ / ''To the New Season'') is the eighth single by

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

hip-hop

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

. It became their first release for the year, with their previous single, '' Tenohira wo Taiyou ni/Delighted,'' having been released six months prior in October 2004. It charted in the top ten on the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

s, taking the #6 spot for the weekly ranking and remaining on the charts for one month. The single was released as a standard CD and was given a limited edition. The

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

contained one of five possible phone straps, a ticket to attend their release event, a "Lead 2005 Spring Campaign"

and a

that would take buyers to download a specialized

. "Atarashii Kisetsu e" became the first medium ballad written by

musical composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Kyogo Kawaguchi is a Japanese singer-songwriter. He is currently working with "Chikyukyoudai" ("World Siblings"). His notable works include ''Sakura'' and the album ''Hibi Sansan''. Singles References External links * 1974 births Living people ...

, and for the group overall. While the song was composed and written by Kyogo, the piece was performed by Yoshiaki Mutou, who has worked with soloists

Hitomi Shimatani is a Japanese pop singer signed to the Avex Trax label. Shimatani started her career as an Enka singer with the release of her debut single in 1999, but later decided to get into the dance/ pop style for her music. Shimatani's music has also ...

and Shela. The coupling track, "Freedom No Rule", was composed and performed by Japanese composer Hayabusa. The lyrics were written by Tetsuya Hashinaga, who is best known by his stage name "T2ya", and Koto Wakanade. "Atarashii Kisetsu e" won gold during the

47th Japan Record Awards The 47th Annual Japan Record Awards took place at the New National Theatre in Shibuya, Tokyo, on December 31, 2005, starting at 6:00PM JST. The primary ceremonies were televised in Japan on TBS. Awards winners *Japan Record Award: **Kumi Kod ...

Promotional activities

To help promote the single, the title track "Atarashii Kisetsu e" was used as the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

to the Japanese

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

''SARUDIE'' (サルヂエ), which aired on

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

from April 2004 to January 2007. The song was also used as the ending theme to ''Shonen Champloo'' (少年チャンプル / ''Boy Mix'') throughout the month of March.

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

Lead Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atarashii Kisetsu e 2005 singles 2005 songs Lead (band) songs Pony Canyon singles