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Season Sayonara
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Wikipedia article
, stylised in English as "'Season SAYONARA'", is a song by Japanese rock band Tokyo Jihen, led by musician Ringo Sheena. It was one of the promotional songs for the band's fourth album 'Sports', released on February 24, 2010.
Background and development
In 2009, Tokyo Jihen released the single "Ndteki Sanpunkan", which was their first song to feature in commercials for Ezaki Glico's
Watering Kissmint brand of gum. The 'Sports' album was first announced on December 15, 2009. The first promotional song from the album was "Kachi Ikusa", released on January 16, 2010, and used in Watering Kissmint commercials.
Guitarist Ukigumo had previously written songs for the band's 'Variety' album in 2007, most notably the single "OSCA". While vocalist Ringo Sheena typically either composed or wrote lyrics for Tokyo Jihen songs, "Season Sayonara" is an example of a song written entirely by Ukigumo.
Writing and production
The song was one of four compositions written by Ukigumo that appear on 'Sports', including the songs "Fair", "Foul" and "Kimaru". "Season Sayonara" and "Foul" were two songs that were part of Ukigumo's already existing stock of songs, that were not written specifically for the album. These two were songs that vocalist Ringo Sheena had heard in the past, and considered "sporty", fitting the theme of the album. "Season Sayonara" and "Fair" were the first two songs recorded for the album (excluding "Senk Shjo", which was recorded during the 'Variety' sessions) Ukigumo liked Ichiyo Izawa's piano backing for the song, as he had struggled to consider how he himself could back the song on the guitar.
The song is primarily sung in Japanese by vocalist Sheena, with additional background vocals by Ukigumo. Lyrically, the song deals with someone looking back at a failed relationship, while making references to different seasons.
Promotion and release
The song was first released digitally to cellphones on February 8, 2010. This was the same day that "Denpa Tsshin" was released to cellphones, and that the song "Sweet Spot" was released to iTunes. The song was first performed as a part of the set-list for their 'Ultra C' tour in 2010, and also featured on their farewell 'Bon Voyage' tour in 2012.
Critical reception
CDJournal felt the song's "vague sadness" was part of its charm, and described it as an "upper pop" song. Yoshiki Aoyuki of 'Listenmusic' noted the song's "jazzy piano" and 8 beat drums.
Commercial reception
The song began receiving airplay in February 2010, peaking at number 11 and charting for four weeks on 'Billboard's top airplay chart. In the same period, it charted for a single week at adult contemporary radio stations, peaking at number 7. This resulted in the song debuting at number 13 on the Japan Hot 100. "Season Sayonara" was the most successful promotional single from 'Sports', beating "Kachi Ikusa" which had peaked at number 30, and "Denpa Tsshin" and "Sweet Spot", neither of which charted.
Personnel
Personnel details were sourced from 'Sports' liner notes booklet.
*Toshiki Hata drums
*Uni Inoue recording, mixing, manipulation
*Ichiyo Izawa keyboards
*Seiji Kameda bass
*Ringo Sheena vocals
*Miyamoto Shigeo mastering
*Ukigumo guitar
Chart rankings
Release history
References
Category:2010 songs
Category:Japanese-language songs
Category:Songs written by Ryosuke Nagaoka
Category:Tokyo Jihen songs
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