I (Ikimonogakari album)

Last updated
I
I (Ikimonogakari album).jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 24, 2013
Genre Pop, rock
Label Epic
Ikimono-gakari chronology
Barādon
(2012)
I
(2013)
Fun! Fun! Fanfare!
(2014)
Singles from I
  1. "Haru Uta"
    Released: April 25, 2012
  2. "Kaze ga Fuiteiru"
    Released: July 18, 2012
  3. "1 2 3 ~Koi ga Hajimaru~"
    Released: June 5, 2013
  4. "Egao"
    Released: July 10, 2013

I is the sixth studio album by Ikimono-gakari, released in Japan on July 24, 2013. It reached number one in the Oricon weekly charts for the week ending August 5 of that year making it the group's sixth consecutive number-one album. Consequently, Ikimono-gakari became the first mixed group in over seventeen years to achieve six consecutive number one albums on the Oricon weekly chart. [1] [2]

Contents

Release

The album was released in Japan on July 24, 2013 in two editions. The regular edition (ESCL-4091), had for its first pressings an Ikimono card #036 and a raffle ticket for additional prizes which included a T-shirt and a hand fan. [3] The limited edition (ESCL-4089-90) included a DVD featuring a radio interview "イッキーモンキーのiラジオ" Ikkey Monkey's [lower-alpha 1] iRadio, a twelve-sided panorama photo shoot of the Ikimono-gakari members and a special box packaging to display pictures of the three members. [4]

The album contains five previously released tracks; four of which are A-side singles: "Haru Uta", "Kaze ga Fuiteiru", "1 2 3 ~Koi ga Hajimaru~" and "Egao". A fifth track, "Ashita no Sora", was the B-side to "1 2 3 ~Koi ga Hajimaru~". [5]

Though to an extent a reference to the songwriters themselves, the title "I" is largely a reference to the fact that the band had intended the listeners to develop a personal connection with the album and to give the impression that the songs were being sung from the listener's perspective. "I" is also significant for being the most common letter of the alphabet in "Ikimonogakari" and (when pronounced phonetically) sounds not only like ai the Japanese for love but also ai the Japanese for sadness, a reference to the emotions the band hopes convey to the listeners. [6]

Themes

Love is a common theme throughout the album, referenced frequently in "1 2 3 ~Koi ga Hajimaru~", "Koiato", "Nannde" and "Renaishousetsu". Whereas "1 2 3 ~Koi ga Hajimaru~", in keeping with previous singles such as "Kimagure Romantic" and "Natuzora Graffiti", describes the light-hearted and optimistic first love of a teenage girl, [7] the others describe experiences of being broken hearted from various stages of adulthood, a theme which has rarely featured in recent Ikimono-gakari singles. [8] "Ascending to the Capital" is also a common theme throughout later tracks, in particular "Tōkyō" and "Nukumori" where the theme is used as a metaphor to describe the emotions experienced by Yoshioka and Yamashita respectively in leaving their home town in Kanagawa prefecture behind to pursue a recording contract in the Japanese music industry. [8] Various tracks hold individual references to the phonetic reading of the album title "I": "Koiato" references 逢い ai, the Japanese for meeting (often a loved one and often by chance) and "Kaze Koute Hana Yureru" refers to ai the Japanese for indigo. [9]

Tie-ins

Tie-ins to media and commercial products. [4]

Tour

The release of the album was followed by a tour of Japan entitled "いきものがかりの みなさん、こんにつあー!! 2013 ~ I ~" (To all Ikimono-gakari fans, hello tour! 2013 ~I~). In August 2013, during the build up to the tour, Ikimono-gakari released four trailers on their official site which included: interviews with vocalist Kiyoe Yoshioka, leader Yoshiki Mizuno and recording engineer for the album Toshirō Kai; as well as footage from previous tours. [15] [16] [17] A total of twenty-five concerts were held, the first concert being held at Sun Dome Fukui in Fukui on September 1, 2013 and the last in Sun Arena in Mie on December 7, 2013. Concerts were also held at: Yokohama Arena (Yokohama), Sendai Sekisui-Heim Super Arena (Sendai), Osaka-jō Hall (Osaka), Fukuoka Convention Center (Fukuoka), Makomanai Ice Arena (Sapporo), Ehime Budōkan (Ehime), Hiroshima Green Arena (Hiroshima), World Memorial Hall (Kobe), Ecopa Arena (Shizuoka), Nippon Budokan (Tokyo) and Nippon Gaishi Hall (Nagoya). [18] Prior to the tour, it was expected that the tour would attract a total audience of two hundred thousand across the twenty-five concerts. [19]

Track listing

The source for romanized title tracks is Jpopasia.com [20] (Source for track information: Ikimonogakari Official Site [4] ). English translations are unofficial.

No.TitleLyricsMusicArranger(s)Length
1."Egao (笑顔, Smile)"Yoshiki MizunoY. MizunoSeiji Kameda4:58
2."1 2 3 ~Koi ga Hajimaru~ (1 2 3 ~恋がはじまる~, 1 2 3 ~Love Begins~)"Y. MizunoY. MizunoAkimitsu Honma4:57
3."Papapa~ya (ぱぱぱ~や)"Y. MizunoY. MizunoAkimitsu Honma5:08
4."Koi Ato (恋跡, Mark of Love)"Hotaka YamashitaH. YamashitaYuusuke Tanaka, Takashi Kondō4:43
5."Haru Uta (ハルウタ, Song of Spring)"H. YamashitaH. YamashitaRyou Eguchi, Strings arranged by: Ryou Eguchi, Tatsuya Murayama4:53
6."Mai Sanshainn Sutōrī (マイサンシャインストーリー, My Sunshine Story)"H. YamashitaH. YamashitaMasanori Shimada5:25
7."Nannde (なんで, Why?)"Y. MizunoY. MizunoS. Kameda6:04
8."Ashita no Sora (あしたのそら, Tomorrow's Sky)"H. YamashitaH. YamashitaA. Honma4:46
9."Kaze Koute Hana Yureru (風乞うて花揺れる, Ask for the Wind and the Flowers Sway)"H. YamashitaH. YamashitaKōichi Tsutaya5:55
10."MONSTAR"Y. MizunoY. MizunoDaichi Hideyuki Suzuki3:40
11."Renai Shousetsu (恋愛小説, Love Novel)"Y. MizunoY. MizunoS. Kameda5:03
12."Tōkyō (東京, Tokyo)"Kiyoe YoshiokaK. YoshiokaK. Tsutaya4:23
13."Kaze ga Fuiteiru (風が吹いている, The Wind is Blowing)"Y. MizunoY. MizunoS. Kameda7:43
14."Nukumori (ぬくもり, Warmth)"H. YamashitaH. YamashitaM. Shimada5:41
Total length:73:24

Release history

CountryDateFormatLabel
JapanJuly 24, 2013digital download [21] Epic Records Japan
CD (ESCL-4091), 2CD limited edition (ESCL-4089-90)

Charts

Chart (2013)Peak
positions
Sales
Japan Billboard Top Albums [22] 1112,082 [23]
Japan Oricon Weekly Albums Chart [23] 1

Notes

  1. "Ikkey Monkey" is the mascot of Ikimonogakari

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References

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