"Heart Electric" (ハート・エレキ, Hāto Ereki, also "Heart Ereki"[1]) is the 33rd single by the Japanese idolgirl groupAKB48. It was released in Japan on October 30, 2013.[2][3] The participating members for the title track were given English nicknames.[2][3] The single reached number one on Oricon and Billboard's weekly charts.
Promotion and release
During AKB48's annual rock-paper-scissors tournament held at the Nippon Budokan area on September 18, 2013, AKB48 announced the lineup for "Heart Electric", and the release date of October 30. Haruna Kojima was announced last and come out with a red skirt in contrast to the blue skirts of the other members; this indicated that she was the center of the single. This marks Kojima's first time as a solo center. The group then performed the song and introduced themselves with English nicknames.[2][3]
The single was released in nine editions: four regular, four limited, and a theater edition.[2] The limited editions contain a ticket for a handshake event and a randomly selected sticker of one of the 16 nicknamed girls.[n 1] The regular editions are the same as the limited editions except that they contain one of 48 photos instead of the handshake ticket.[n 2] The Type-K edition has a DVD documentary about the graduation of Sayaka Akimoto.[n 3]
Musical style, writing, composition
The song was done by RoopSounds, who had previously done "Skirt, Hirari". The music is described as being like a marching band. During the performance, Kojima does a roll-call of some of the participants, each of whom has an English nickname. This was explained as being according to band protocols.[3]
Music video
The music video for Heart Electric was directed by Shusuke Kaneko who is known for the Heisei Gamera trilogy, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, and the live-action film adaptation of Death Note. The video premiered at the group's handshake event at the Osaka Dome. It is described as girls competing for individuality in a band called "The G. Fingers". Kojima, who plays Michelle, said that "there were a lot of scenes we shot for the music video, and remembering all the nicknames for the band members was really difficult."[4]
Note: Moe Aigasa and Ami Yumoto were chosen from a special audition among the 13th, 14th, and 15th generation members in Team 4 and Kenkyuusei, as documented in the Type-4 DVD. They auditioned for Sayaka Akimoto and Tomomi Itano, 2 Team K members who were graduating from AKB48 in 2013. Finally, The winner was announced with Aigasa picked by Akimoto and Yumoto picked by Itano.
Original Japanese lyrics: Yasushi Akimoto Chinese lyrics: Shanghai Xingsiba Composer: Manabu Marutani Yoshimasa Inoue Kota Ogawa Jyunryu Yusuke Itagaki
"Heart Electric" (Chinese: 心电感应; pinyin: Xīndiàn gǎnyìng) was redone in Mandarin for AKB48's sister group in China, SNH48, as the group's fourth single. It was available for ordering on March 12 in the SNH48 official online store.[13]
^"2013年のCDシングル年間ランキング" [2013 CD Single Yearly Ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. 2012. Archived from the original on December 26, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
