is a song by Mao Abe. It was released as the main promotional track from her debut album, ''

Free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

'', in January 2009. ''Free'' is an upbeat pop rock song. In the lyrics, the protagonist expresses her feelings about how free she feels, and how she 'isn't the good girl she was yesterday.'

Release, promotion

The song had three tie-ups: it was used as the music countdown show

CDTV The CDTV (from Commodore Dynamic Total Vision, later treated as a backronym for Compact Disc Television) is a home multimedia entertainment and video game console – convertible into a full-fledged personal computer by the addition of optional ...

January 2009 opening theme song (though it did not chart in the CDTV top 100), the music show Mashup! Musico's January ending theme song and the Glico Pocky commercial for special air on music video channel

Space Shower is a Japanese music television channel operated by Space Shower Networks, Inc. The company is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The channel launched at 6:00 on December 1, 1989. The idea behind establishing Space Shower TV was to create a special ...

. The song was released to radio stations in late 2008. However, the song gained its most popularity in late January. Then, it reached #1 on the combined physical sales/airplay-based ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' chart

Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...

Music video

The music video was shot by director

Masaki Ohkita Masaki may refer to: Name * Masaki (given name), a unisex Japanese given name * Masaki (surname), a Japanese surname Places * Masaki, Ehime, a town located in Iyo District, Japan * Masaki Art Museum, a museum in Tadaoka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan th ...

, and shot in one day on November 22, 2008. The video begins showing Abe drawing spirals and patterns in the air with her finger (such as stars, or the song's name), before dawn at the Port of Kobe. Later, Abe performs the song with her band against the

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

skyline. These two scenes are interspersed with shots of Abe singing the song in front of a wall of Marshall amplifiers. As of April 20, 2010 the music video for ''Free'' has been viewed over 1,010,000 times on popular video-sharing website YouTube.

Personnel

*Mao Abe - acoustic guitar, songwriter *Teppei Kawasaki - bass *N.O.B.U!!! - background vocals *Noriyuki Kisou - recording, mixing *Yūichi Komori - arranger *Tsuyoshi Miyagawa - drums *Junko Sugawara - electric guitar

Chart rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Free (Mao Abe Song) Mao Abe songs 2008 singles Billboard Japan Hot 100 number-one singles Japanese-language songs 2008 songs Pony Canyon singles