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Carnation (song)
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Wikipedia article
, also known by its French title 'L'illet' ("The Carnation" in English), is a song by Japanese musician Ringo Sheena. It was released on November 2, 2011, two years after her previous solo single "Ariamaru Tomi" (2009), during a period where she primarily worked with her band Tokyo Jihen. The song was the eponymous theme song for the morning Asadora drama 'Carnation', starring Machiko Ono.
Background and development
In 2009, Sheena released the solo single "Ariamaru Tomi" and the album 'Sanmon Gossip' after mostly focusing on her band, Tokyo Jihen. Since then, Tokyo Jihen released their fourth studio album, 'Sports', the single "Sora ga Natteiru" / "Onna no Ko wa Dare Demo" (2011) and their fifth studio album 'Dai Hakken' (2011).
The project began when Shin Yasui, music supervisor for the film 'Sakuran' that Sheena had worked together with, recommended her for the team working on 'Carnation'.
Writing and production
Originally, Sheena was asked to create an upbeat song for the drama. As the drama was set in Kansai, Sheena decided to similarly give the song a Kansai feel, and created the song "Jinsei wa Omoidri." However, after reading the script and watching the stop-motion sequence Koichiro Tsujikawa created for the opening, she decided an entirely different song with a universal feel would be better suited. This led to the creation of "Carnation."
When she first created the melody, she added a harp backing to the demo. This lead her to ask her frequent collaborator, conductor Neko Saito to work on the song as well. The song was recorded with a 40-person orchestra, led by Saito and concert master Great Eida. Even though she was asked as a soloist to create the theme song, Sheena wanted to include her band Tokyo Jihen in the process. Hence, Sheena invited the members to perform the backing tracks and instruments for the songs on the single. Sheena had wanted the song to be released as a single by the band, however the staff involved with the drama specifically requested the song be under her solo stage name. The lyrics were completed at the very end of the song creating process, after the song arrangement.
The B-side "Jinsei wa Omoidri," as it was a candidate song to be used in the drama, was inspired by fashion designer Ayako Koshino, the subject of 'Carnation'. Sheena wrote the song about the strength of a mother. The other B-side, "Watashi no Aisuru Hito," was a song Sheena had already thought of before working on the single. She added it to the single as she wanted "a different hook" to those of "Carnation" and "Jinsei wa Omoidri." "Watashi no Aisuru Hito" was recorded with a 34-person orchestra, and "Jinsei wa Omoidri" with a team of 11 other than Tokyo Jihen. The B-sides, like "Carnation," were also given French titles by Sheena. "Watashi no Aisuru Hito" became "Mon Amour" ("My Love"), while "Jinsei wa Omoidri" became "Le monde est moi" ("The World Is Mine").
Promotion and release
The song was performed three times on television. The first was at 'Count Down TV' on October 29, followed by 'Music Station' on November 11. At the '62nd NHK Khaku Uta Gassen' on December 31, 2011, Sheena performed "Carnation" in a medley with the Tokyo Jihen song "Onna no Ko wa Dare Demo," along with the other members of Tokyo Jihen.
The song was performed during Tokyo Jihen's 22 date tour 'Discovery', which was held between September and December in 2010. An instrumental of "Carnation" was performed during Tokyo Jihen's 'Bon Voyage' farewell tour in 2012. During Sheena's 'Ttaikai' solo concerts in November 2013, Sheena performed the song again.
Music video
The Yuichi Kodama-directed music video was first released on October 21, 2011. It features a starry night motif, where an orchestra performs the song with Sheena. Her Tokyo Jihen band members also make an appearance in the video.
Critical reception
Reception by critics was positive for "Carnation." Takahashi Tomokita from 'Rockin' On' praised the song for its simple and pure melody. CDJournal reviewers agreed, stating that three aspects, the song's "retro world view," Sheena's "whisper-like mysterious voice" and the "calm strings" came together to create a "beautiful waltz." Haruna Takekawa from Hot Express enjoyed the "magnificent orchestra sound" and Sheena's vocals that had the ability to "change expressions" during the song.
Track listing
Personnel
Personnel details were sourced from "Carnation"'s liner notes booklet.
'Tokyo Jihen'
*Toshiki Hata drums
*Ichiy Izawa guitar, keyboards, chorus
*Seiji Kameda bass
*Ringo Sheena chorus, MIDI, manipulator (#2), songwriting, vocals
*Ukigumo guitar, chorus
'Other performers'
*Kji Akaike contrabass (#2)
*Toshiki Akiyama viola (#1)
*Akio And contrabass (#1)
*Yoshihiro Arita banjo (#3)
*Tomoyuki Asakawa harp (#1)
*Shin'ichi Eguchi cello (#2)
*Midori Eida violin (#1)
*Takahiro Enokido viola (#2)
*Motoko Fujiie violin (#2)
*Otohiko Fujita horn (#1)
*Osamu Fukui fagotto (#1)
*Great Eida concert master (#1, #2)
*Aiko Hosokawa viola (#1)
*Ayako Igarashi violin (#1)
*Shigeki Ippon contrabass (#2)
*Akane Irie violin (#2)
*Naoko Ishibashi violin (#2)
*Kyoko Ishigame violin (#2)
*Masahiro Itadaki violin (#1)
*Tomoki Iwanaga cello (#2)
*Osamu Iyoku violin (#2)
*Ayano Kasahara cello (#2)
*Hiroki Kashiwagi cello (#2)
*Nagisa Kiriyama violin (#1, #2)
*Junko Kitayama horn (#1)
*Hitoshi Konno violin (#2)
*Ayumu Koshikawa violin (#1)
*Yoshihiko Maeda cello (#1)
*Erika Makioka cello (#1)
*Yu Manabe violin (#2)
*Mari Masumoto cello (#2)
*Yuri Matsumoto viola (#1, #2)
*Kioko Miki violin (#1)
*Shko Miki viola (#1)
*Yasuhiro Morimoto violin (#2)
*Mariko Muranaka cello (#1)
*Yoichi Murata trombone (#3)
*Mayo Nagao violin (#1)
*Nobuhiko Nakayama manipulator (#2)
*Yuki Nanjo violin (#1)
*Kji Nishimura trumpet (#3)
*Ayaka Ntomi violin (#2)
*Tatsuo Ogura violin (#1, #2)
*Saori Oka viola (#2)
*Kuniko Okada violin (#1)
*Sh Okumura trombone (#3)
*Sachie numa viola (#2)
*Takayuki Oshikane violin (#1)
*Jun Sait contrabass (#1, #2)
*Neko Saito conductor
*Teruhiko Sait contrabass (#1)
*Kimie Shigematsu clarinet (#1)
*Tomoko Shimaoka viola (#2)
*Yumi Shimazu cello (#1)
*Yuhki Shinozaki cello (#1)
*Koji Shiraishi clarinet (#3)
*Kon Shirasu violin (#1)
*Satoshi Shji oboe (#1)
*Masahiko Sugasaka trumpet (#3)
*Ruka Suzuki viola (#1)
*Tairiku violin (#2)
*Midori Takada percussion (#3)
*Kaori Takahashi violin (#1)
*Hideyo Takakuwa flute (#1, #3)
*Kjir Takizawa violin (#1)
*Hisami Tamaki contrabass (#2)
*Takashi Taninaka contrabass (#1)
*Tomomi Tokunaga violin (#2)
*Masahiko Td violin (#2)
*Mao Tomonoh cello (#1)
*Katsuhiko Toyama viola (#1)
*Chizuko Tsunoda violin (#1)
*Amiko Watabe viola (#2)
*Takuo Yamamoto tenor saxophone (#3)
*Yuya Yanagihara violin (#2)
*Osamu Yoshida alto saxophone (#3)
*Takahiro Yuki cello (#2)
'Technical and production'
*Uni Inoue recording engineer, mixing engineer
*Seiji Itabashi assistant engineer
*Tomohiro Kaji piano tuner
*Toshiyuki Kawahito assistant engineer
*Tadashi Matsumura instrument technician
*Shigeo Miyamoto mastering engineer
*Fumio Miyata musician coordinator
*Hitoshi zeki instrument technician
*Toshimi Nanseki additional engineer
*Hiromitsu Takasu assistant engineer
*Makoto Tanaka instrument technician
*Teru Tokunaga assistant engineer
Chart rankings
Sales and certifications
Release history
References
Category:2011 songs
Category:2011 singles
Category:Japanese-language songs
Category:Ringo Sheena songs
Category:Songs written by Ringo Sheena
Category:Japanese television drama theme songs
Category:Music videos directed by Yuichi Kodama
Category:EMI Music Japan singles
Category:Torch songs
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