''Sakura'' (サクラ) is the twenty-third 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 ...

, released five months after their previous single '' Green Days/Strings,'' on February 26, 2014. The single performed well on the

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 ...

charts, taking the #3 slot for the weekly ranking, remaining on the charts for two weeks. The single was released as a standard CD edition, along with three limited edition, two of which were CD+DVD combos, each carrying different content. While every edition contained 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 ...

"With U", each edition harbored a bonus track. The CD+DVD editions not only contained differing content on the CD portions, but also harbored different content on the DVDs.

Information

''Sakura'' (サクラ) is the twenty-third single by the

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 ...

and first of 2014. The single charted well 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 #3 spot for the week and remaining on the charts for two consecutive weeks. This became the group's fifth consecutive single to chart in the top five of the

Oricon charts , 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 Nove ...

, beginning with ''Wanna Be With You,'' which was released two years prior in March 2012. The single was released in four editions, a regular CD, two limited edition CD+DVD combo packs, and a limited CD only edition. The standard CD contained the title track, the coupling track "With U" - which was available on every edition - and the corresponding instrumentals. The type A CD+DVD housed the two tracks, the bonus track "Akeneiro Somaru Koro Ni" (茜色染まるころに / ''Around Midnight'') and their corresponding instrumentals, while the DVD portion contained the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Sakura" and the making video. The limited type B CD+DVD harbored the bonus track "Just Do It" (stylized as ''Just do it'') on the CD, while carrying the dance version "Sakura" on the DVD, along with the recording document of the song "With U." The limited CD only version carried the bonus track "Can't Stop Loving You," along with the corresponding instrumental. The lyrics to "Sakura" were written by AnDisM, while the composition and arrangement was performed 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 ...

YUKIYOSHI. AnDisM also wrote and composed the single's coupling tracks "With U", "Akeneiro Somaru Koro Ni" and "Just do it." AnDisM had worked with Lead for their previous song " Green Days," where they wrote both the lyrics and the musical composition.

Packaging

''Sakura'' was released in four editions, three of which were limited editions. Along with the standard CD, the single was given two CD+DVD versions with different bonus tracks on the CD portion and differing content on the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

portions. The limited CD contained one bonus track. The regular edition contained the title track and the coupling track "With U," along with both songs' corresponding instrumentals. The single's cover was also the only one where each member was in a separate frame, while a white border on the bottom housed the title. The type A limited edition harbored both songs, along with the track "Akeneiro Somaru Koro Ni" and the instrumentals. The DVD contained the

for "Sakura" and the video's off-shot. The type B limited editions contained the bonus track "Just do it" coupled with the other tracks. The DVD carried the dance version of "Sakura" and the recording document of "With U." While the type C limited edition did not carry a DVD, it did harbor the bonus track "Can't Stop Loving You."

Track listing

Charts (Japan)

References

External links

Lead Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakura 2014 singles 2014 songs Lead (band) songs Pony Canyon singles Songs in Japanese