Seishun no Matataki

"Seishun no Matataki" (青春の瞬き, "Flicker of Youth") (also known by its French title "Le Moment"[1]) is a song by Japanese entertainer Chiaki Kuriyama, written by Ringo Sheena. It was released as the B-side to her fifth single "Tsukiyo no Shōzō" on November 23, 2011.

"Seishun no Matataki"
Song by Chiaki Kuriyama
from the album Circus Deluxe Edition
Released2011
Recorded2011
Genre
Length4:30
LabelDefstar Records
Songwriter(s)Ringo Sheena
Producer(s)Ringo Sheena

Background and development

In March 2011, Kuriyama released "Oishii Kisetsu" / "Ketteiteki Sanpunkan", a double A-side single where both songs were produced by Ringo Sheena and performed by Tokyo Jihen.[2] This was followed two weeks later by Circus, Kuriyama's debut album.[3] Eight months later, Kuriyama collaborated with Sheena and Tokyo Jihen a second time on the single "Tsukiyo no Shōzō", which was eventually compiled on a deluxe edition of Circus that was released in January 2012.

Writing and production
Ringo Sheena was inspired to write the song by Chiaki Kuriyama, the original performer.

"Seishun no Matataki" was recorded is sessions after the release of her debut album Circus, during which Kuriyama felt more confident as a singer.[4] The songs were recorded with Sheena in the studio, with her band Tokyo Jihen performing the band instruments.[5][6] Kuriyama first heard "Seishun no Matataki" before lyrics had been created for it, but was overwhelmed by its honest beauty.[4] Kuriyama did not like singing ballads, and had troubles trying to put emotion into her singing.[7] Because of this, Sheena asked her to sing the song "emotionless, like a robot."[4][7] Sheena was inspired by Kuriyama when writing the song, and wrote it about Kuriyama growing up from a girl into a woman.[8]

Kuriyama felt that adding "Tsukiyo no Shōzō" and "Seishun no Matataki" to Circus gave the album more balance.[4]

Critical reception

Kazuhiro "Scao" Ikeda of EMTG praised the song as "soft and tender" with a "comfortable groove". He felt the song showed off the "bewitching and sweet parts" of Kuriyama's vocals was impressive.[9]

Ringo Sheena version
"Seishun no Matataki"
Promotional single by Ringo Sheena
from the album Gyakuyunyū: Kōwankyoku
ReleasedMay 14, 2014
Recorded2013
GenrePop
Length5:19
LabelEMI Records Japan
Songwriter(s)
  • Ringo Sheena
  • Robbie Clark
Producer(s)
  • Keiichi Tomita

In 2014, writer Ringo Sheena released her own version of the song as the leading track for her album of self-covers, Gyakuyunyū: Kōwankyoku.[10]

Background and development

During Tokyo Jihen's farewell tour held in February 2012, Bon Voyage, the band performed "Seishun no Matataki" live.[11] This performance was broadcast on music video channels to promote the DVD release of Bon Voyage.[12]

For Gyakuyunyū: Kōwankyoku, Sheena chose songs she had given to other musicians to record. Of the four songs she had written for Kuriyama, Sheena chose "Seishun no Matataki" and the song "Ketteiteki Sanpunkan."[10] Sheena chose to collaborate with a different artist on each song, and for "Seishun no Matataki" decided to work with producer Keiichi Tomita, also known as Tomita Lab. Sheena first learnt about Tomita through his work with Japanese band Kirinji, who Sheena listened to in the late 1990s.[8] Sheena had worked together with Tomita on his 2013 album Joyous, performing vocals on the three songs "Yasashii Tetsugaku", "Tokai no Yoru, Watashi no Machi" and "Kono Yo wa Fushigi." The song "Yasashii Tetsugaku" was later featured as the first track on Sheena's album Ukina (2013), which compiled collaborations she had done in the past.

The Sheena version of the song features additional lyrics in English at the final parts of the song. These additional lyrics were written by Robbie Clark.[8] Sheena had collaborated with Clark in the past, when he wrote the lyrics to "Stem (Daimyō Asobi-hen)" and "La salle de bain" (2003), as well as several songs from Tokyo Jihen's Variety sessions in 2007: "Fukushū", "Kaban no Nakami" and "Karada."

On May 14, "Seishun no Matataki" was released on iTunes, when Gyakuyunyū: Kōwankyoku was made available to pre-order, along with the songs "Private" and "Amagasa."[13]

Promotion

Sheena performed the song at her Chotto Shita Reco Hatsu live tour, beginning in May 2014.[14] She also performed the song at Music Station on May 30, 2014.[15]

Music video
Sheena passing another version of herself in the music video.

On May 14, 2014, a music video for the song was released.[16] It was directed by long-time collaborator and current partner of Sheena, Yuichi Kodama.[17][18][19] The official music video description described the video being about "a mysterious world where time and space go back and forth", and stating the theme of the video was "the beauty and impermanence of the present."[16]

The video begins in the carpark from her previous music video "Netsuai Hakkakuchū" (2013), and depicts a metronome with the words "Allegretto", "Allegro", "Vivace" and "le moment" written upon it. A white ribbon is seen blowing onto a road at night, out of the grasp of Sheena. A little girl dressed in black raises her hand 90 degrees, and pours sand onto the ground. Sheena is shown hovering over top of the road as she moves along it. She is then shown reaching for a glass on a table, which moves away from her of its own accord and smashes on the ground. Sheena is shown walking along the same road as before, but passes the version of herself hovering. The little girl starts to perform gestures, which Sheena mimics. Sheena begins to perform actions of her own, which causes time to speed up and reverse. Additional scenes show Sheena walking through a hey field, and brief flashes of different global landscapes.

Chart rankings
Charts (2014) Peak
position
Japan Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay[20] 61
Japan Billboard Japan Hot 100[21] 41

Release history
Region Date Format Distributing Label
Japan May 14, 2014 (2014-05-14) Digital download EMI Records Japan

References
  1. "栗山千明* – 月夜の肖像 (Identité De La Lune)". Discogs. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  2. "栗山千明、椎名林檎プロデュース、東京事変の演奏による両A面シングルをリリース" [Chiaki Kuriyama releases the Ringo Sheena produced double A side single, featuring Tokyo Jihen performing.]. Rockin' On. January 28, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  3. Tomonori Nagasawa (March 16, 2011). 栗山千明 スペシャル・インタビュー [Chiaki Kuriyama Special Interview] (in Japanese). WeRockCity.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  4. "【インタビュー】シンガーとして成長を続ける栗山千明" [[Interview] Chiaki Kuriyama, growing as a singer.]. Flying Postman. January 20, 2012. Archived from the original on April 15, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  5. Keisuke Tsuchiya (January 11, 2012). "栗山千明の最新作は椎名林檎らが楽曲を提供したアルバムのデラックス盤。動画コメントも！" [Chiaki Kuriyama's new work is a deluxe version of her album featuring offerings from Ringo Sheena and others. Also featuring a video comment!]. EMTG Music. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  6. "栗山千明、自身主演のドラマ曲で林檎＆事変と再タッグ" [Chiaki Kuriyama tagged again on her drama's theme song with Ringo and Jihen]. Natalie. October 4, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  7. "Cover Interview 栗山千明" (in Japanese). Pocoe. Archived from the original on April 15, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  8. Masaki Uchida, Ringo Sheena (May 7, 2014). "Commentary from 椎名林檎" (in Japanese). Kronekodow. Archived from the original on May 9, 2014. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  9. Kazuhiro "Scao" Ikeda (November 28, 2011). "レビュー" (in Japanese). EMTG. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  10. "椎名林檎、初のセルフカバー集『逆輸入 ～港湾局～』リリース＆レコ発ライブ開催発表" [Ringo Sheena, first self-cover album collection Gyakuyunyū: Kōwankyoku release and release party live]. Barks. March 25, 2014. Retrieved April 5, 2014.
  11. "Bon Voyage" (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  12. "青春の瞬き from DVD「Bon Voyage」" (in Japanese). Space Shower. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  13. "セルフカバーアルバム『逆輸入』より先行配信開始、iTunesプレオーダー開始！" [Preceding downloads from self cover album Gyakuyunyū, iTunes preorder start!]. Universal. May 14, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  14. "椎名林檎「逆輸入」レコ発で16周年感謝、宇多田カバーも" [Ringo Sheena 'Gyakuyunyu' release party on her 16th anniversary, an Utada cover too]. Natalie. May 29, 2014. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
  15. "来週「Mステ」にaiko、嵐、AKB48、コブクロ、椎名林檎" [Next week's M-Ste has Aiko, Arashi, AKB48, Kobukuro and Ringo Sheena]. Natalie. May 23, 2014. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
  16. "新作MV「青春の瞬き」（from5.27Album『逆輸入』）が完成！！" [New music video "Seishun no Matataki" (from 5.27 album Gyakuyunyū) released!!]. Universal. May 14, 2014. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
  17. 青春の瞬き (in Japanese). Space Shower. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  18. 椎名林檎認めた！今春に第２子出産していた 女性自身報じる [Ringo Sheena admitted it! Giving birth to her second child last spring (Reported by Josei Jishin)] (in Japanese). Sankei Sports. December 10, 2013. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  19. Sheena, Ringo (2014). 党大会　平成二十五年度神山町大会 [The Party Convention: 2013 Kamiyama Event] (Blu-ray) (in Japanese). Tokyo, Japan: EMI Records Japan. 念願の女の子を授かりまして、現在育児中です。ごめんなさい。 だけど、その時お報告申し上げなかったのは赤ちゃんのリリースと、椎名林檎最新シングルのリリースが、見事にバッティングしており、折角の真っ新な命を図らずも親の商売の宣伝に駆り出す恰好にしてしまうような事態を、危惧したためです。(I was gifted my hearts desire, a little girl, who's currently nursing. I'm very sorry. However, I didn't say anything at the time because the release of my baby, and the release of my new single were amazingly scheduled for the same time. I was worried about having a long-awaited brand new life unexpectedly tangled up with her parents' publicity for work.)
  20. "Adult Contemporary Airplay 2014/06/02". Billboard (in Japanese). May 27, 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  21. "Japan Billboard Hot 100 2014/06/09". Billboard (in Japanese). June 4, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
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