is a song recorded by Japanese singer

Shizuka Kudo , known by her maiden name , is a Japanese singer, actress and former idol, born in Hamura, Tokyo, Japan. She was a member of Onyanko Club between May 1986 and September 1987 and went on to have a successful solo career with 11 number-one hits. ...

for her eleventh studio album, ''

Doing Do, DO or D.O. may refer to: Languages * The English verb, ''do'', which may serve as an auxiliary verb; see do-support * ''Do'' (kana), a mora symbol in Japanese writing * Ditto mark People * Đỗ, a Vietnamese surname * Do (surname), include ...

''. It was released through

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

as the album's second and last single on March 21, 1996. The song featured on TV commercials for the Takano Yuri Beauty Clinic. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

, "Melody", served as ending theme to the 1996 AX tanpatsu drama ''Ren'ai Zenya: Ichido Dake''. "Chō" is the second in a consecutive trilogy of singles with titles made up of only one character: "Chō" is preceded by " 7" and followed by " Yū". It is Kudo's last single to be released in

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...

format.

Background

"Chō" was co-written by Kudo, under the pseudonym Aeri,

The Checkers Checkers, or draughts, is a board game. Checkers or chequers may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Checkers (1913 film), ''Checkers'' (1913 film), a 1913 lost American silent film with Gertrude Shipman * Checkers (1919 film), ''Ch ...

's Naoyuki Fujii and Akihisa Matsūra. It is written in the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...

. Kudo's vocals span two octaves; from A₃ to E₅ in modal voice, and A₅ in head voice. During the recording, Kudo suggested a few changes to the melody to Fujii, who chiefly worked on the demo for the track, which were kept on the final cut of the song. "Chō" is the first single on which Kudo is credited for writing the music of the title track. Lyrically, the song describes the fleeting nature of love. The narrator compares it to the short life of a butterfly. The single's coupling song, "Melody", written by Aeri and Hideya Nagazaki, was originally intended to be released as the

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

, but as the song started coming together, it was decided that the showier "Chō" would be made into a single instead.

Chart performance

The single debuted at number 15 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 ...

, selling 32,000 copies in its first week. It spent a total of five weeks in the top 100.

Track listing

Charts

References

{{authority control 1996 songs 1996 singles Songs used as jingles Songs with lyrics by Shizuka Kudo Shizuka Kudo songs Pony Canyon singles