"Innocent World" is the fifth single by Japanese

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

Mr. Children , commonly referred to by their contracted nickname , are a Japanese pop rock band formed in 1989. Consisting of Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, and Hideya Suzuki, they made their major label debut in 1992. They are one ...

, released on June 1, 1994, by

Toy's Factory is a Japanese record label founded in the late 1980s as a subsidiary of the entertainment company VAP, based in Japan. On May 30, 1990, it was established as an independent company. It is an associate member of the Recording Industry Assoc ...

. This was their first single in about seven months since their previous work, " Cross Road," and its release came at a time when their popularity had risen incrementally due to the long-term success of their aforementioned previous single. "Innocent World" served as the

advertising jingle Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically us ...

for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

Japan's " Aquarius Iosis" beverage.

Background and production

The initial tentative title for the song was "innocent blue". The lyrics were intended to be polished into a love song like their third single " Replay," and the opening line of the song was "I'm a little tired".『【es】 Mr.Children in 370 DAYS』

角川書店 , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines s ...

1995年4月1日

Takeshi Kobayashi , is a Japanese keyboardist, lyricist, composer, arranger, and record producer. History Kobayashi started his professional career in the late 1970s. After working in the backing bands for singers such as Yosui Inoue, Misato Watanabe, and Anri, ...

was the one who suggested changing "blue" to "world". Unlike their previous singles, the song has a strong message, incorporating objective satire rather than romantic sentiments. The off-vocals for the song were swiftly completed, but Kobayashi thought that this would be a turning point for Mr. Children, and he decided that the lyrics that

Kazutoshi Sakurai is a Japanese musician. He composes and writes almost all of the songs for his band Mr. Children, in addition to writing lyrics and singing for his solo project group Bank Band. In 2006, Sakurai ranked No. 8 in HMV's "Top 30 Best Japanese Singe ...

had written should be "something that only Sakurai could write, including the clownish parts of him," and "the lyrics should be meaningful only because Kazutoshi Sakurai sings them. What is the meaning of the lyrics?" As a result, the lyrics could not be easily completed. However, on the way home, while driving near Waseda Street on Loop Route 7, the lyrics suddenly came to Sakurai, and he stopped the car and repeatedly took notes, which he then used as the basis for completing the lyrics at home. Sakurai thought, "This is a song for a commercial, and I wonder if I can sing about something so personal." However, the members and Kobayashi both praised the song, and the lyrics were accepted as they were. After completing the vocals, the tie-up was abruptly cancelled due to "political issues". However, the group was not pessimistic,『Mr.Children 道標の歌』水鈴社、2020年11月20日 as they were convinced that the new song would open up a new career for them, and the tie-up was suddenly reactivated about a month later, although the circumstances were unclear. The blue

record sleeve A record sleeve is the outer covering of a vinyl record. Alternative terms are ''dust sleeve'', ''album liner'' and ''liner''. The term is also used to denominate the outermost cardboard covering of a record, i.e. the ''record jacket'' or ''albu ...

for the

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 ...

was chosen because the song's tentative title was "innocent blue". The art director was

Mitsuo Shindō was a Japanese art director, photographer, film director and producer, music video director and calligraphist. Shindō designed over 1000 albums and single cover art for artists including Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Yumi Matsutoya, Pizzicato Five, Mr. ...

Chart performance

"Innocent World" sold 206,030 copies in its first week, becoming their first single to reach No. 1 on the

Oricon Weekly Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard 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 download sales. In ...

. Less than two months later, its sales surpassed 1 million copies and became the best performing single in Japan of 1994, while also being certified Million by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include prom ...

. The success of this single also created a great synergistic effect, as it brought their previous works back on the chart. In the end, "Innocent World" sold 1,935,830 copies, making it the third highest-selling single by Mr.Children, after the 6th single "

Tomorrow never knows "Tomorrow Never Knows" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released in August 1966 as the final track on their album ''Revolver'', although it was the firs ...

" and the 10th single "

Namonaki Uta "" is the tenth single by Mr. Children, released by Toy's Factory on February 5, 1996. The cover of the single is Kazutoshi Sakurai's face whose tongue was written "no name". "Namonaki Uta" was used as the theme song of Japanese television drama ...

". On the annual karaoke chart, it was ranked No. 1 for two consecutive years in 1994 and 1995. On May 10, 2018, the song was made available on various

streaming services A streaming media service (also simply called a streaming service) is an online platform that allows users to watch or listen to content, such as film, movies, Television show, TV shows, music, or podcasts, over the internet. Instead of downloadi ...

; in June 2021, it surpassed 30 million streams and was certified Silver; in July 2022, it surpassed 50 million streams and was certified Gold.

Awards

"Innocent World" won a myriad of accolades including the "Grand Prix" (analogous to

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...

from the

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

) at the

36th Japan Record Awards The 36th Japan Record Awards were held on December 31, 1994, and were broadcast live on TBS. Award winners *Japan Record Award: **Takeshi Kobayashi (producer), Kazutoshi Sakurai (Songwriter and Composer) & Mr. Children for " Innocent World" * ...

, however the members were absent from the award ceremony due to shooting the music video for "Tomorrow never knows" in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, which was very unorthodox at the time. When the group won the Grand Prix again in 2004 for their 26th single "

Sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...

", all the members attended the ceremony. "Innocent World" also won "Best 5 Single Award" at the 9th Annual

Japan Gold Disc Awards The is an award presented by the Record music Industry Association of Japan in the field of music. The Japan Gold Disc Awards have multiple Grand Prix categories, including: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year (download and ...

, and the "Silver Award" at the 13th Annual

JASRAC Awards The is a music awards established in 1982, presented by the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC), which is given to songwriters, composers and music publishers who have generated the highest revenue in royal ...

Track listing

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Kenichi Tahara is a Japanese musician. He plays lead guitar in the band Mr. Children. Early life He was born in Fukuoka, and moved to Nakano, Tokyo. He attended Komae Daini Junior High School in the city of Komae, Tokyo, where he met the other future band me ...

– guitar *

Keisuke Nakagawa is a Japanese musician. He plays bass guitar in the band Mr. Children. Early life He attended Komae Daini Junior High School in the city of Komae, Tokyo, where he met the other future band members Kenichi Tahara and Hideya Suzuki is a Japan ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Hideya Suzuki is a Japanese musician. He plays drums in the band Mr. Children. Early life He was born in the ward of Suginami in Tokyo. A fan of Yui Asaka, he auditioned to be her exclusive drummer before joining a Japanese group called THE WALLS that would ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Production

* Producer – Kobayashi Takeshi"Innocent World" single, Toy's Factory (1994) * Arrangement -

and Takeshi Kobayashi

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time chart

Certification and sales

References

{{authority control 1994 singles Oricon Weekly number-one singles Mr. Children songs Songs written by Kazutoshi Sakurai 1994 songs Toy's Factory singles