is the 9th

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

by the Japanese female

idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a devotional image of a deity or saint used during puja ...

group

Momoiro Clover Z is a Japanese idol girl group, commonly abbreviated as MCZ or . The four members of MCZ are known for energetic performances, incorporating elements of ballet, gymnastics, and action movies. MCZ is notable for being the first female group to ho ...

, released in Japan on November 21, 2012. The title track became the group's first song to top the ''

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine '' Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence fr ...

'' Hot 100 chart.

Release

The single was released in two versions: a limited edition and a regular edition. The limited edition comes with a DVD featuring the music video for the title track, but contains fewer songs on the CD in comparison to the regular CD-only edition.

Music

The title track is a theme song of the

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as (NTV) or Nippon TV, is a Japanese television station serving the Kantō region as the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned and operated by the , a sub ...

family drama series '' Akumu-chan'' starring

Keiko Kitagawa is a Japanese actress. She was an exclusive model for the Japanese '' Seventeen'' magazine from late 2003 to mid-2006, and quit modeling when she left the magazine. Her first acting role was Sailor Mars in the Sailor Moon live action show '' Pret ...

. The song is composed and arranged by

Tomoyasu Hotei , also known simply as Hotei ( ), is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, composer, record producer and actor. With a career spanning more than 40 years, Hotei claims record sales of over 40 million copies and has collaborated with artists fr ...

. The regular edition's B-side "Wee-Tee-Wee-Tee" is sung in Japanese and Furbish. It is an advertising song for Furbies. The word ''wee-tee'' means "sing" in the Furbish language, and the title is translated in different Japanese news publications as either "Sing, Sing" or "Let's Sing!".

Cover art and music video

The cover's theme is "good and evil". On the regular edition's cover the Momoiro Clover members are wearing white costumes and on the limited edition's — black, representing two outlooks on the world. The music video for the title track elaborates further on the song's theme. In it, the girls are also wearing two types of clothes, black and white. They change between angel and demon costumes when switch between the voice of their conscience and the whispers of Satan. The video was directed by Hideki Kuroda, who notably shot music videos for such artists as

SMAP was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a six-p ...

and

Southern All Stars , also known by the abbreviations and SAS, are a Japanese rock band formed in Kanagawa in 1974. The band is composed of Keisuke Kuwata (lead vocals and guitars), Yuko Hara (vocals and keyboards), Kazuyuki Sekiguchi (bass), (drums) and (pe ...

. In the making of the video, electroluminescent wire costumes were used. The glowing outfits had radio control systems hidden in them.

Reception

On its debut day, the CD single sold 32,889 copies and placed 3rd in the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

daily ranking. It proceeded to win the 2nd place in the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart, Momoclo's highest to date, selling 73,745 copies in that first week. With digital sales of the song "Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimitachi yo", Momoclo scored their first number 1 in the RecoChoku Daily Chart. The video for "Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimitachi yo" also topped the Recochoku daily ranking, in the video clips category. In the ''

'' Hot 100 chart, which is published weekly, the title track debuted at the first place.

Track listing

Limited edition

Regular edition

Chart performance

Awards

, - , rowspan="2" align="center", 2013 , rowspan="2" align="center", "Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimitachi yo" ,

Space Shower Music Video Awards Space Shower Music Awards (formerly Space Shower Music Video Awards) are an annual set of music awards sponsored by Japanese Space Shower TV. The prizes have been awarded since 1996. Winners in main categories Best Video of the Year Best ...

— Special AwardArtist: Momoiro Clover Z, Music video director: Hideki Kuroda
, , - , MTV Video Music Award Japan for Best Choreography ,

References

External links

CD single profile on the official site of Momoiro Clover Z
{{Authority control 2012 singles Songs in Japanese Momoiro Clover Z songs Japanese television drama theme songs Billboard Japan Hot 100 number-one singles King Records (Japan) singles Songs written by Tomoyasu Hotei 2012 songs