"Super Music Maker" (capitalized as SUPER MUSIC MAKER) is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist and songwriter

Ami Suzuki is a Japanese recording artist, DJ, and actress from Zama, Kanagawa, Japan. Following her late 90s fame as a popular teen idol, Suzuki went on to become known for her self-penned lyrics and music production. In 2000, Suzuki entered a legal bat ...

, for her sixth studio album ''

Dolce Dolce may refer to: Places *Dolcè, a municipality in Italy *Dolce (Plzeň-South District), a municipality and village in the Czech Republic *Dolce, a village and part of Jesenice (Příbram District) in the Czech Republic People * Dolce (sur ...

'' (2008) and a re-recorded version for her seventh album ''

Supreme Show ''Supreme Show'' is the seventh studio album by Japanese singer Ami Suzuki. Avex Trax distributed it in CD and DVD formats on November 12, 2008. It was released ten months after her previous studio album, '' Dolce'', and was promoted to commemorate ...

'' (2008). Featuring Japanese record producer and Capsule member

Yasutaka Nakata is a Japanese music producer and DJ. He formed the group capsule (band), capsule in 1997 with vocalist Toshiko Koshijima and himself as composer and record producer. The group debuted in 2001 with the song "Sakura". He is known for being the ...

, the song was released as the lead single and double

a-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

single with " Free Free" from ''Dolce'' on August 22, 2007 through

Avex Trax is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group. History Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from othe ...

. Nakata had written, produced and arranged both tracks and is her first single to be handled by Nakata following later singles from her album ''

'' (2008). Backed by

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s and keyboards, "Free Free" incorporates a new genre called "Eropop" with influences of electronic dance, house and disco music. The lyrical interpretation was based on the theme of

erotica Erotica is art, literature or photography that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erot ...

and freedom. Critical response to "Super Music Maker" was positive; some critics praised the song's composition and highlighted it as a career stand out track. Charting together with "Free Free", the physical single reached number thirty-two on the Japanese

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard Single (music), singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track down ...

and stayed in there for four weeks. It sold over 10,000 units in Japan, her highest sales rank since 2006 and her last single to reach the limit. To promote "Super Music Maker", she hosted a release party event at

Tower Records Tower Records is an international retail franchising, franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when ...

in Shibuya.

Background and release

"Super Music Maker" was written, produced, composed and arranged by Japanese musician and Capsule member

and is his first featuring single with Suzuki under the alias "Ami Suzuki joins Yasutaka Nakata"; It is her debut single to be handled by Nakata, and was followed by her June 2008 single "

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

" and September 2008 single "

Can't Stop the Disco "Can't Stop the Disco" (stylized as "can't stop the DISCO") is a song recorded by Japanese recording artist Ami Suzuki for her seventh studio album, ''Supreme Show'' (2008). It was written and produced by Japanese producer and Capsule (band), Cap ...

". It was recorded in early-2007 by Nakata at Avex Studio,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and was co-distributed by Nakata's label

Contemode Contemode, stylized in all lowercase, was a Japanese record label founded by Yasutaka Nakata in 2003. The label was based in Shibuya, Tokyo and specialized in a variety of music styles including electropop, Shibuya-kei, lounge, dance, and hardc ...

, owned by Avex and

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

in Japan. After the release of her album ''

Connetta ''Connetta'' is the fifth studio album by Japanese singer and actress Ami Suzuki, released by the Avex Trax label. It is the first album released from the "Join" project of Suzuki, that consisted of collaborations with different artists and diffe ...

'' in 2007, Suzuki visited various night clubs in Japan to perform; her staff, who were present at the time of her performances, noticed her engagement to club music and tried to find a producer who had a background of electronic dance music and eventually contacted Nakata; He accepted an offer to produce two tracks for the album. Regarding the production, she commented that "I want to put out a whole new view of the world". With Suzuki's vocals being processed with

autotune Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by the American company Antares Audio Technologies. It uses a proprietary device to measure and correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles from the vocoder ...

and

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

post-production work, "Super Music Maker" is a "funky" dance and disco song. "Super Music Maker" is recorded in both

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and features the English lyrics "Super music maker". While composing the track, knowing the single was to be influenced by Erotica, Nakata fused pop music with the theme and made "Eropop".

Release

"Super Music Maker" was released as a double

single with " Free Free" as a

digital download Digital download may refer to: *Downloading, the processing of copying data to a computer from an external source *Digital distribution, a method of downloading software or audio-visual media as opposed to buying it at a traditional point of sale * ...

and a physical release on August 22, 2007 by Avex, as the lead single by Suzuki's sixth studio album ''

'' (2007). It released in three formats; a stand-alone

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...

, a CD and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

bundle, and a

. The CD and digital release contains the two singles, an extended edit of "Free Free" and a radio edit of "Super Music Maker". The DVD features a music video of "Free Free", and is registered under

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

Region 2. An exclusive

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

was released in Japan by Japanese distribution label Rhythmic Republic on August 29, releasing extended version of "Free Free" and the original "Super Music Maker". Both songs were co-copyrighted and published through the

Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers The , often referred to as JASRAC, is a Japanese copyright collection society. It was founded in 1939 as a nonprofit organization, and is the largest musical copyright administration society in Japan. Overview JASRAC's main business activity ...

. The cover sleeve was photographed by Japanese director Takashiro Akihisa, who directed the music video for "Free Free". The DVD and CD have to separate covers; the first has Suzuki bending over and the latter with Suzuki kneeling down, all in front of club lights in a pink mini-dress. According to an editor for website ''Sanspo'', they compared the artwork to the covers by Japanese recording artist

Koda Kumi , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer from Kyoto, known for her Urban contemporary, urban and Contemporary R&B, R&B songs. After debuting with the single "Take Back" in December 2000, Koda gained fame in March 2003 when the songs fr ...

and commended the shoot for being "sexy". The sleeve was placed at the back of the jewelcase and an outtake was used as the booklet for the CD.

Reception

"Super Music Maker" received positive reviews from selected music critics and reviews. CDJournal.com was positive towards "Super Music Maker", as they commended the "childish charm" and "super funky" composition of the track. On the Ami Suzuki artist page on the Japanese

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

site, "Free Free/Super Music Maker" was listed as a "masterpiece" collection from Suzuki's discography. An editorial review on the website commended Nakata's collaboration as a "charm" and commended the packaging for her "great sense of fashion". An editorial review on the Japanese

Amazon.co.jp Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

website commended the collaboration and felt the musical approach was "exciting". Japanese online retail store Technique gave the song a positive review, labelling it catchy and dreamy. Charting together as a single, "Free Free/Super Music Maker" entered and peaked at thirty-two on the Japanese

on September 3, 2007 with over 5,900 units sold; It is her highest entry since her 2006 single " Like a Love?" and remained her highest up until her 2008 single "

" at seventeen. Falling outside of the top fifty in its second week, "Free Free" stayed in the top 100 charts for four weeks, her longest charting single since "Like a Love?" with five weeks and eventually tied in with future singles "One" and September 2008 single "

". It was her first top forty single inside of the 2007 era and sold over 10,000 units; this is her highest selling single since "Like a Love?" with 16,000 units and her final single to reach over the 10,000 sale limit. According to her sales profile on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

, "Free Free" and "Super Music Maker" are ranked at number twenty-one respectively.

Promotion and other usage

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was shot for the single. In 2008, while Suzuki was recording her studio album ''Supreme Show'', Nakata re-arranged the composition of "Super Music Maker" and she re-recorded the song as a b-side to her single "

". This version was then featured on ''Supreme Show'' the following year in November 2008. She performed the song in 2008 on her launch event for her single "One".

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Free Free/Super Music Maker". *CD Single and digital download #"Free Free" — 5:08 #"Super Music Maker" — 7:25 #"Free Free" (Extended edit) — 7:34 #"Super Music Maker" (Radio edit) — 5:05 *CD and DVD bundle #"Free Free" — 5:08 #"Super Music Maker" — 7:25 #"Free Free" (Extended edit) — 7:34 #"Super Music Maker" (Radio edit) — 5:05 #"Free Free" (music video) *7" Vinyl #"Free Free" (Extended edit) — 7:34 #"Super Music Maker" — 7:25 *Album version digital download #"Free Free" (Radio edit) — 5:08

Personnel

;Management *Recorded by Nakata at Avex Studio,

*Mixed by Nakata at Avex Studio, Tokyo, Japan *Avex Trax management for Suzuki; Contemode management for Nakata. ;Personnel *Ami Suzuki – vocals, background vocals *Yasutaka Nakata – songwriting, composition, production, arrangement, management *Takashiro Akihisa - music video director Credits adapted from the promotional CD single.

Charts

Release history

Notes

References

External links

"Free Free / Super Music Maker"
at Ami Suzuki's official website, powered by

Japan. {{Ami Suzuki 2007 singles Ami Suzuki songs Songs written by Yasutaka Nakata Song recordings produced by Yasutaka Nakata 2007 songs Avex Trax singles