is a song by
Rie Tomosaka, written by rock musician
Ringo Shiina. It was released as her final single before her hiatus, on .
[, accessed through ] The song was used as an ending theme song for the
Nippon Television
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 ...
variety show
Fun.
Rie Tomosaka version
Background
Ringo Shiina had previously worked with Tomosaka on her 1999 album, . She had written the lead single, "
Cappuccino," the B-side to the single and the album track .
Conception
Shiina created a temporary 5 piece band to record the single, and named it .
Along with Tomosaka on vocals and Shiina on piano/back-up vocals,
Hisako Tabuchi of
Number Girl/
Bloodthirsty Butchers featured as the band's guitarist.
The songs on the single were created in the vein of Shiina's ''
Shōso Strip'' album (released three months prior). "Shōjo Robot" and "Ikenai Ko" were written with Tomosaka's image in mind, while "Nippon ni Umarete" was an unused demo from the ''Shōso Strip'' sessions.
Release
The song was a hit for Tomosaka, it being her highest charting single since 1997's "
Naichaisō yo."
It debuted at #12 on the
Oricon singles chart, and stayed in the top 20 for two weeks.
The single was released nine months after the release of her greatest hits collection ''
Rie Tomosaka Best
Rie is a Japanese ( ja, 利恵, りえ, リエ) and Dutch feminine given name. It is also an uncommon masculine short form of Henri and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Japanese given name
Rie can be written using different kanji ...
'', hence was not compiled in it. "Shōjo Robot" features as track #16 of the
Taiwan only greatest hits album ''
Daisuki!'', which was released simultaneously as this single in Taiwan.
All three songs were later compiled onto the 2009 re-release of ''Rie Tomosaka Best'' called ''
Rie Tomosaka Best+3''.
Music video
The music video was shot by director . It depicts Tomosaka performing the song in a room with
wall partitions lit with different colour themes. her back-up band consists of a pianist, a guitarist and a drummer - all played by Ringo Shiina.
The music video has never been released to DVD, as Tomosaka's music video clip collection ''
Rie Tomosaka Clips
Rie is a Japanese ( ja, 利恵, りえ, リエ) and Dutch feminine given name. It is also an uncommon masculine short form of Henri and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Japanese given name
Rie can be written using different kanji ...
'' was released in October 1999 and she has not released a DVD since.
As of January 4, 2010 the music video for "Shōjo Robot" has been viewed over 182,000 times on popular video-sharing website
YouTube.
Track listing
All songs written and produced by Ringo Shiina.
Oricon Album Chart Ranking (Japan)[ (subscription only)]
Release history
Tokyo Jihen version
Originally, Sheena performed live covers of "Shōjo Robot" and "Nippon ni Umarete" at her July 30, 2000 ''
Zazen Xstasy
was a live show performed by Japanese musician Sheena Ringo at the Kaho Theater ( in Iizuka City, Fukuoka. The event took place on July 30, 2000. The event's official name is "".
A video recording of the event was released on DVD by EMI Mus ...
'' concert,
and later "Ikenai Ko" at her ''Gekkō Kuon Taizu'' concert on November 25, 2000.
Later, with her band Tokyo Jihen, they covered "Shōjo Robot" live at their ''"Domestic!" Just Can't Help It.'' tour (April 7, 2005 - May 30, 2005). The track was released as a digital download on , a week before the DVD's release. The song, as well as ''Blackout'' and ''Mirror-ball'', received a promotional live music video, which was aired on music video channels in promotion of the DVD.
Track list
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shojo Robot
Rie Tomosaka songs
Tokyo Jihen songs
Ringo Sheena songs
2000 songs
2000 singles
2006 singles
Songs written by Ringo Sheena