"Spring of Life" is a song by Japanese girl group

Perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

from their fourth studio album '' Level3'' (2013). The song was released as the album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

on 11 April 2012. It was written, composed and produced by

Yasutaka Nakata is a Japanese DJ and music producer. He formed the band Capsule in 1997 with vocalist Toshiko Koshijima and himself as composer and record producer when both were 17. The band debuted in 2001 with the song "Sakura". He is known for being the ...

. The song is a

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

track, which features instrumentation from synthesizers and keyboards. "Spring of Life" is the group's first offering after departing from

Tokuma Japan Communications is a publisher in Japan, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The company was established in 1954 by Yasuyoshi Tokuma in Minato, Tokyo. The company’s product portfolio includes music publishing, video game publishing, movies, anime, magazines, m ...

and signing with

Universal Music Japan , often referred to as just Universal Music Japan or UMJ, is a Japanese subsidiary of the Universal Music Group founded in 1990. It is the largest subsidiary for a foreign company in the country regarding music distribution. The company is resp ...

. "Spring of Life" received positive reviews from music critics, whom complimented the song's production and composition. Despite peaking at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, it became the group's third single to top the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100. An album version of the track was re-composed and re-arranged by Nakata for the parent album. Yusuke Tanaka directed the accompanying

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 the single, which shows Perfume as

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

s and dancing with fairy lights around them. Perfume have performed the song in a number of live performances throughout Japan.

Background and composition

Japanese producer and Capsule musician

had written, arranged and composed the song. Nakata has collaborated with all of Perfume's records and songs from 2003 onwards. It was recorded in Tokyo, Japan and was mixed and mastered by Nakata. It is a

song that fuses musical elements of

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

and

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

, and incorporates instrumentation from a drum machine,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and keyboards. This was Nataka's first single to be produced within the label since

Meg Meg is a feminine given name, often a short form of Megatron, Megan, Megumi (Japanese), etc. It may refer to: People *Meg (singer), a Japanese singer *Meg Cabot (born 1967), American author of romantic and paranormal fiction *Meg Burton Cahill ( ...

's single "Passport/Paris" in 2010.

Reception

"Spring of Life" received favorable reviews from most music critics. Writing for ''Land of Rising'', Alex Shenmue favored the “well-done” mix of the album version and felt it was a “clear improvement that you’ll hardly come back to the single version after hearing this new mix.” Patrick St. Michael, writing for ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', said the composition wasn't an “improvement” but commented that it was "simple, catchy pop." ''Selective Hearings writer Nia selected "Spring of Life" as an album stand out, favoring the bridge section of the song. Ian Martin, who had written their extended biography at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, had highlighted the song as an album and career standout. The song only charted in Japan. Reaching number two 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 ...

, it became the group's sixth consecutive single to stall at number two. The following singles " Spending All My Time" and "

Mirai no Museum "Mirai no Museum" (Translation: "Future Museum") is a song by Japanese girl group Perfume from their fourth studio album '' Level 3'' (2013). The song was released as the album's third single on 27 February 2013. It was written, composed and prod ...

" peaked at two, while the fourth single " Magic of Love" reached number three. The track peaked at number one on the Japan

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, making it the group's third single to reach the top spot and their first since their 2009 single "

One Room Disco is the ninth major single by Japanese band Perfume. It was released on March 25, 2009 as a CD-only version and CD+DVD version. The single reached number one on the Oricon weekly chart on April 6. The limited edition CD+DVD version included a form ...

". In April 2012, "Spring of Life" was certified gold by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan 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 pr ...

(RIAJ) in for shipments of 100,000 units in Japan.

Release and promotion

Selected as the

of ''Level3'', the song was distributed digitally at Chaku-Uta on February 29, 2012. Two CD singles were issued; a standalone CD which included the b-side "Communication" and a bonus DVD version. The title track had already been chosen as the CM song for ‘ Kirin Chu-hai Hyouketsu‘. The b-side "Communication" was chosen as the CM song for ‘Kanro Pure Gummy‘ candy. The official

was directed by Japanese director Yusuke Tanaka. The video features Perfume as

robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...

, controlled by an automated-computer to perform human-like interactions such as eating, dancing, smiling and crying. Some verses and the choruses feature the group dancing to the song. It ends with member Nocchi pulling the power-plug from member A-chan's back, shutting down the computer and Perfume. The members stated that they found it interesting to try and imitate the image of themselves as robots and dolls and found the choreography to be the most powerful that they've done so far. Perfume had included the album version of the track to their ''Perfume 4th Tour in DOME: LEVEL3'' tour, which features the members in blue dresses. It was featured on the DVD version of the concert and uploaded on their YouTube channel.

Track listing

Credits and personnel

Details adapted from the liner notes of the "Spring of Life" CD single.

Song credits

Ayano Ōmoto , nicknamed , is a Japanese singer and dancer. She is known as one of the members of the Japanese electropop group Perfume. Biography Ōmoto was born and raised in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and attended Actor's School Hiroshima wit ...

(Nocchi) – vocals *

Yuka Kashino (born 23 December 1988), nicknamed , is a Japanese singer and dancer. She is known as one of the members of the electropop group Perfume. Biography Kashino was born and raised in Hiroshima, Japan, where she attended Actor's School Hiroshima w ...

(Kashiyuka) – vocals *

Ayaka Nishiwaki , nicknamed , is a Japanese singer and dancer. She is known as one of the members of the Japanese electropop group Perfume. Biography Nishiwaki was born and raised in Hiroshima, Japan, where she attended Actor's School Hiroshima with friends a ...

(A-Chan) – vocals *

– producer,

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 ...

, arranger, mixing, mastering.

Visual credits

* Yusuke Tanaka –

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

* Takahiko Kajima – video producer * Kazunali Tajima – camera * Mikiko –

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Perfume (Japanese band) songs Japanese-language songs Songs written by Yasutaka Nakata Billboard Japan Hot 100 number-one singles 2012 singles Song recordings produced by Yasutaka Nakata 2012 songs Universal J singles