Equinox (stylized in all caps) is the third studio album by Japanese boy band JO1. It includes songs from their previous EP releases, Midnight Sun and Tropical Night. Lapone Entertainment released the album in five editions on September 20, 2023, with "Venus" and "Radiovision" serving as the main promotional singles. It is the group's first release with unit songs and digipack packaging. Notable contributors include Sunwoo of The Boyz, Masami Kakinuma, and members of JO1.
Equinox was preceded by two promotional digital singles: "NEWSmile", the theme of the Japanese morning news show Mezamashi 8, and "Gradation", from the film When the Dawn Breaks, I’ll Be the First to See You [ja], which starred member Ruki Shiroiwa. The album is also backed by an arena tour titled Beyond the Dark from August to October 2023, with an encore performance in Kyocera Dome Osaka in November. The group's first Asian tour is set to begin in four cities in the same month.
The album is JO1's second consecutive number-one album on both the Oricon and Billboard Japan charts. The album marked the first time JO1 to rank atop combined sales, physical sales and download component charts on both publications.
Background and release
On June 29, 2023, JO1 announced that their third album, Equinox, was slated to be released on September 20. The theme of the album was said to be "the moment when light and darkness completely confront each other, we break through the boundary between dreams and reality".[1] It features a total of 16 songs, with eight of them are selected songs from the group's two previous EP singles, while the rest are eight new songs, including "NEWSmile", the theme of the Japanese morning news show Mezamashi 8, and "Gradation", from the film When the Dawn Breaks, I’ll Be the First to See You [ja], which starred member Ruki Shiroiwa.[2]
The album was released into four physical editions, including selected songs from JO1's two previous singles, Midnight Sun and Tropical Night, as well as two promotional singles, "RadioVision" and "Venus". The two limited editions each features 12 tracks and comes with a digipack packaging and a DVD consisting of a variety segment. Both the CD-only normal edition and the fan club edition, which comes with a folder case packaging and a photo book, feature 15 tracks.[1][2]
Promotion
On September 18, 2023, JO1 headlined CDTV Live! Live! Festival 2023 at Tokyo Garden Theater. The group performed seven songs from the album, including "Venus" and "Radiovision".[3] On the album's release day, JO1 appeared on MBC Music's Show Champion, followed by M Countdown the following day. It's the first time the group has commemorated a release day outside Japan, instead of interacting with fans via a YouTube livestream.[4] On September 30, JO1 performed "Venus" at Fuji TV's Music Fair.[5] On October 20, JO1 made their debut on TV Asahi's prime time music program, Music Station, performing a medley of "Venus", "SuperCali", and "Trigger".[6] They were the second non-Johnny & Associates and LDH boy band to perform on the show following public criticism of the former's alleged influence in domestic rival groups' inability to appear on the show emerged.[6][7]
Singles
The album's lead single, Midnight Sun, was released on October 15, 2022,[8] with "SuperCali" as the lead single, whose title is derived from the English compound word "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".[9] The single is JO1's first to sell over 600,000 copies in its release week on the Billboard Japan chart,[10] with "SuperCali" becoming the group's first song to spend two weeks in the top six of the Japan Hot 100.[11][12]
The first promotional single, "NEWSmile", was released as the theme song for the morning news show Mezamashi 8, with music chosen and lyrics written by JO1 members.[2][19] Aside from being published digitally on July 3, the song was sold via QR codes attached to "Charming Daily Goods" (CD Goods) sold at a one-week pop-up store JO1 Mart in Shibuya, Tokyo, beginning on July 24, 2023.[19][20] In an interview with Natalie, Choi Shin-hwa, CEO of Lapone Entertainment, stated that it was a move for the group and company to explore different ways of releasing music.[20] "NEWSmile" debuted at number 58 on the Japan Hot 100.[21] It was performed on Fuji TV's 2023 FNS Music Festival Summer.[22]
"Radiovision" was released on August 7, 2023, as one of the album's two main promotional songs. Having been described as a "funky disco dance song", the song encourages listeners to "enjoy the memories we're currently making together".[23] It debuted in front of an audience at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on the opening day of the Beyond the Dark tour.[24] The Korean version of the song was performed at KCON LA 2023 on August 20, and the music video was released the following day.[25][23]
"Gradation" is the third promotional single from the album and was released on August 31, 2023, as the theme song of the film When the Dawn Breaks, I’ll Be the First to See You [ja], featuring member Ruki Shiroiwa. The song was also performed for the first time at the Aichi show of Beyond the Dark tour on the same day.[26]
The last and second main promotional single, "Venus", was released on September 17, 2023, alongside its music video. Sunwoo of the South Korean boy band The Boyz participated in the production of the song.[27]
To promote Equinox, JO1 embarked on their second arena tour, titled Beyond the Dark.[28] They toured Tokyo, Aichi, Miyagi, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Osaka, with a total of 13 shows from August 5 to October 19, 2023.[29] JO1 debuted "Radiovision" at the first show and added more songs from the album to the setlist as the tour progressed.[24][30] The tour was fully supported by a live band and included exclusive unit performances as well as a camera-approved encore.[24] A two-day encore concert in the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, which would be the group's first dome performance, was also announced at the first show.[28] The dome concert featured unit songs from the album and air balloons for members to greet the audience in high seats.[31] A live stream was available for the first day of the concert via Lemino and StreamPass.[32][33] The four-month domestic tour attracted approximately 200,000 people.[31] The thirty songs performed in Kyocera Dome were released as a digital album on November 6, 2024.[34]
The set list for the October 19 show in Osaka and the November 24 show in Kyocera Dome are the following:[35][36]
JO1 announced their first Asian tour at Lapone Entertainment's first joint concert, Laposta 2023, on May 31, 2023.[37] The group is set to tour Jakarta, Bangkok and Taipei in November, between Beyond the Dark tour and its encore performance in Kyocera Dome, with a Shanghai show closing the tour on December 8.[38][39] JO1 debuted "Eyes On Me" feat. R3hab on the Jakarta show on November 1, 2023.[39] The set list also includes an acoustic version of "Bokura no Kisetsu".[40]
Commercial performance
Equinox debuted at number one on the Oricon Daily Albums Chart with 185,011 copies sold[41] and went on to become the group's second consecutive number-one album on the Oricon Combined Albums and Billboard Japan Hot Albums charts.[42][43] The album marked the first time JO1 to rank atop combined sales, physical sales, and download component charts on both publications,[42][44][45] propelling them to the top of the Billboard Japan Artist 100.[46] The album eventually sold over 263,919 copies by the end of the year and ranked fifteen on Oricon's year-end chart.[47]
^"オリコンランキング情報サービス「you大樹」" [Oricon Ranking Information Service 'You Big Tree' (Annual Combined Albums Ranking 2023)]. Oricon (in Japanese). Retrieved December 19, 2023.
