''Friends III'' is the sixth mini-album by the Japanese rock duo
B'z
is a Japanese rock duo consisting of guitarist, composer and producer Takahiro "Tak" Matsumoto and vocalist and lyricist Koshi Inaba,佐伯明『B'z ウルトラクロニクル』ソニー・マガジンズ、2003年。新型光B'zはなぜ ...
. It was released on December 8, 2021.
It's a concept album and is a sequel to their previous mini-album, ''
Friends II
''Friends II'' is the fifth mini-album by the Japanese rock duo B'z, released in 1996. The album sold 1,466,650 copies and reached No. 1 on Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that s ...
'', released in 1996.
The mini-album came in three editions: a standard edition, a first press edition with a DVD featuring a re-recording of their song "Itsuka no Merry Christmas" from their fourth mini-album, ''
Friends
''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...
,'' and a special Live Friends box featuring the standard edition with a glass, which was only available to those who purchased live tickets and was only sold through B'z Club-Gym.
The mini-album debuted at number one on both the
Oricon weekly albums chart and on the ''
Billboard Japan
''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine '' Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence fr ...
'' Hot Albums chart.
Background
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, guitarist
Tak Matsumoto
is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist and main composer of the Rock music, rock duo B'z, the List of best-selling music artists in Japan, best-selling music act in their native Japan by certif ...
went back and forth between Japan and the United States. During a mandatory isolation after returning to Japan, he decided to make one song a day. The songs produced matched up to the style of the past ''Friends'' mini-albums, which led Matsumoto to propose producing a third entry into the series, to which vocalist
Koshi Inaba
is a Japanese singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan. He also has a successful solo career, with six studio albums and ...
agreed.
Track listing
Limited Edition DVD
Charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
2021 EPs
B'z EPs
Japanese-language EPs
2020s Japanese-language albums