() is a song by Japanese musician

Ringo Sheena , known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer, songwriter and musician. She is also the founder and lead vocalist of the band Tokyo Jihen. She describes herself as "". She was ranked number 36 in a list of Japan's top 100 musicians compiled ...

. It was the leading promotional song for her fourth album ''

Sanmon Gossip , also known as ''Superficial Gossip'', is the fourth studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Ringo Sheena, released on June 24, 2009 in Japan through EMI Music Japan and Virgin Music. The album debuted at number 1 with 120,446 units sold and i ...

''. It was digitally released on June 1, 2009, a month before the release of the album and at the same time as Sheena's song "Futari Bocchi Jikan".

Background and development

In 2007, Sheena resumed releasing music under her solo name, after working as a member of

Tokyo Jihen , also known as Tokyo Incidents, is a Japanese rock band formed by Ringo Sheena, after leaving her solo career. The band's debut single " Gunjō Biyori" was released in September 2004, and they ended activities in February 2012. The band sold 2. ...

since 2004. She released the soundtrack album ''

Heisei Fūzoku , also known as ''Japanese Manners'', is a studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Ringo Sheena and conductor and violinist Neko Saitō, released on February 21, 2007. The vinyl record version and the DVD "Daiginjou" were released on April 25 ...

'' in February, a project where she collaborated with composer

Neko Saito , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese violinist, conductor, composer and music arranger. Saito is the leader of the Saito Neko Quartet, and is known for his many collaborations with musician Ringo Sheena. Biography Saito began playi ...

to create music for the

Mika Ninagawa is a Japanese photographer and Film director, director, known for her brightly colored photographs of flowers, goldfish, and landscapes. Biography Daughter of acclaimed theatre director Yukio Ninagawa, she first came to prominence in the late 1 ...

-directed film ''

Sakuran , is a Japanese manga series by Moyoco Anno. The manga is about a girl who goes through different names throughout the story and becomes a , or high ranking (courtesan). North American publisher Vertical Inc published it in English in July ...

''. In September of the same year, Tokyo Jihen released their third album, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', a project album featuring members other than vocalist Sheena composing the album's music. After their 2007 ''Spa & Treatment'' tour, this began a two-year period of inactivity for the band. In November 2008 to celebrate her 10th as a solo musician, Sheena held a series of three concerts at the

Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum spectator capacity is 36,500, making i ...

, ''Sheena Ringo (Nama) Ringo-han '80: Jūshūnen kin'en-sai''. Sheena began developing her fourth solo studio album in 2009. ''Sanmon Gossip'' was a collection of songs she did not think would work for her releases with Tokyo Jihen for stylistic reasons. On May 27, Sheena released a single called " Ariamaru Tomi", which was used as the drama ''

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses ...

s theme song. This song was commercially successful, being certified gold by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include p ...

in three different mediums.

Writing and production

The song was produced by J.A.M: a musical sub-unit

Soil & "Pimp" Sessions Soil & "Pimp" Sessions (stylised as SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS) is a Japanese club jazz sextet who formed in Tokyo, Japan, in 2001. They are known for their energetic live performances, having coined the term "death jazz" to describe their music. Histo ...

, composed of Jōsei on piano, Goldman Akita on wood bass and Midorin on drums. Sheena had worked with Soil & "Pimp" Sessions in several projects in the past, most notably the "

Karisome Otome is a song written by Japanese singer Ringo Sheena and has several versions. Background The song was first released as a digital single on November 11, 2006, , performed by Ringo Sheena and Soil & "Pimp" Sessions and sung in Japanese. This ver ...

" single in 2006, as well as on "Mayakashi Yasaotoko", a song also featured on ''Sanmon Gossip''.

Promotion and release

On July 1, 2009, Sheena performed the song during her second special on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

's music program ''Songs''. Four years later, the song was performed during Sheena's ''Tōtaikai'' concerts in November 2013. Two recordings from these concerts were released of the song: the November 25 performance was featured on the ''Holiday Jazz on 25th November, 2013'' live CD attached to the ''Tōtaikai'' video album, and the performance on November 26 was released on the DVD proper. "Shun" was covered by R&B musician

Daichi Miura is a Japanese singer, songwriter, dancer, and choreographer. He also directs his own concerts. He belongs to Rising Production and has a record contract with Avex. He is from Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. He has an official fan club called "Daichi ...

on his tour ''Daichi Miura Live Tour 2010: Gravity'' on November 20, 2009.

Music video

A music video was created for the song, and was first released on June 8, 2009. It was directed by Yutaka Kimura and cameraman Shoji Uchida, who were the creative team who worked on "nude visual" concept for the " Ariamaru Tomi" and ''Sanmon Gossip'' artworks. It features Sheena dressed in only a tan-coloured sheet, as images are projected into her skin. The video was compiled on her music video collection ''Seiteki Healing: Sono Yon'', which was released on DVD on August 26, 2009.

Critical reception

CDJournal reviewers were positive about the song, calling it a "first rate love song". They noted the song as being a "soft ballad with a simple arrangement", and praised J.A.M's "jazzy arrangement" as being "pleasant".

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from ''Sanmon Gossips liner notes booklet. *Michiko Abe – violin *Goldman Akita – wood bass *Toshiki Akiyama – viola *Kazuki Chiba – contrabass *Great Eida – concert master *Midori Eida – violin *Motoko Fujiie – violin *Toshiki Fujisawa – cello *Akane Irie – violin *Jōsei – piano *Eriko Kawano – viola *Chieko Kinbara – violin *Nagisa Kiriyama – violin *Ayumu Koshikawa – violin *Yutaka Kozawa – cello *Jō Kuwata – violin *Yoshihiko Maeda – cello *Haruki Matsuba – cello *Midorin – drums *Kioko Miki – violin *Tatsuo Ogura – violin *Naoko Okisawa – cello *Takayuki Oshikane – violin *Jun Saitō – contrabass *

– conductor *Teruhiko Saitō – contrabass *Ringo Sheena – vocals, songwriting *Masaaki Shigematsu – cello *Tomoko Shimaoka – viola *Kon Shirasu – violin *Ruka Suzuki – viola *Mayu Takashima – viola *Kōjirō Takizawa – violin *Takashi Taninaka – contrabass *Manami Tokutaka – viola *Chizuko Tsunoda – violin *Haruko Yano – violin

Chart rankings

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shun (song) 2009 songs Japanese-language songs Songs written by Ringo Sheena Ringo Sheena songs