Ai Otsuka is a Japanese singer-songwriter from Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan. She is a popular artist on the Avex Trax label and is best known for her 2003 hit " Sakuranbo", which stayed in the Top 200 Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for 103 weeks. A piano player ...

's second single, which was released on December 17, 2003. It is often considered as Otsuka's breakthrough single and was used in 2004 as an ending theme song on the TV show, "," which

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

produces.

Music video

The video for "Sakuranbo" begins by showing Ai in "her" bedroom which is predominantly red and white. A picture hanging on the wall shows a picture of a pair of cherries. Then we see Ai playing with her band in another room, which starts out blue but changes colour later in the song. We see Ai talking on the phone and drawing Love-Chan. Interspersed throughout the PV are bicycle scenes showing Ai with a man her age, two children and an older couple. The video closes on the picture of the two cherries hanging on the wall.

Track list

Sales

Initial week estimate: 6,730
Total estimate: 525,784

Self-cover version

The song was later re-recorded by Otsuka as a self-cover entitled , to commemorate the song’s tenth anniversary and Otsuka’s appearance on the YouTube music program ''

Toyota Wish The is an automobile produced by the Japanese automaker Toyota from 2003 to 2017. It is a compact MPV with standard three-row seating, and was positioned between the Toyota Corolla Spacio, Corolla Spacio and the Toyota Ipsum, Ipsum in Toyota's m ...

presents Hakuroku Uta Gassen'' on December 7, 2013. This version was described as a mature, jazz-infused version of the original 2003 track, featuring a sultry, "sexy" arrangement in a sharp contrast to the original

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

production. The digital cover was also redesigned, inspired by the original single’s artwork. The track was initially released exclusively on the iTunes Store on December 4, 2013, with additional distribution on other platforms starting December 25, 2013. The song was ultimately included as the lead track on Otsuka's EP '' Aio Punch'', released on March 26, 2014. To mark Otsuka's fifteenth anniversary in 2018, Avex released a "Sakuranbo" 7-inch vinyl record on February 14, 2019, featuring both the original track and "Sakuranbo -Cocktail-". This release was sold exclusively at

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 ...

in Japan. On July 24, 2024, a performance video of "Sakuranbo -Cocktail-" recorded in one take premiered on the YouTube channel ''The First Take'' as its 459th episode. The audio version of the performance was subsequently released on digital platforms on August 28, 2024.

References

External links

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2004 CD singles rankings
a
Oricon Style
{{Authority control Ai Otsuka songs 2003 songs 2003 singles Songs written by Ai Otsuka Avex Trax singles Songs about cherry blossom