"Sunshine Sunshine" is a song by Japanese musical act Superfly. Written for a national radio campaign called Meet the Music, it was released as a double A-side single along with " Beep!!" in March 2011.

Background and development

In March 2010, released '' Wildflower & Cover Songs: Complete Best 'Track 3''', a 2-CD set featuring a four-track single and a full-length

cover album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

of classic rock songs. It was led by the song "

Wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, rather than being intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is any different from the native plant, eve ...

", the theme song for the drama ''

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

'', and also featured "

Tamashii Revolution is a song by Japanese band Superfly. It was used as the theme song of the NHK broadcast of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, played during relay clips and highlight shows. It was released as a digital download in Japan on June 18, 2010, and was later inc ...

", a song used to promote the

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

broadcast of the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

. Both songs were commercially successful, with "Wildflower" becoming certified Platinum for downloads by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan 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 pro ...

, and "Tamashii Revolution" certified platinum twice. This was followed by " Eyes on Me", a ballad single released in December used as the theme song for the

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...

shooting game ''

The 3rd Birthday is a 2010 action role-playing game developed by HexaDrive and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable. It was released in Japan in 2010 and in North America and Europe in 2011. The game is the third entry in the ''Parasite Eve'' vi ...

''. "Sunshine Sunshine" was written for Meet the Music, a radio campaign by

KDDI () is a Japanese telecommunications operator. It was established in 2000 through the merger of , , and . In 2001, it merged with a subsidiary named Au, which was formed through the merger of seven automotive and mobile phone companies from t ...

and FM radio stations across Japan. The song was released to radio in mid January, 2011. The song was written after "Beep!!", after Meet the Music campaign organizers asked Ochi to write something about music. Superfly vocalist Shiho Ochi wrote the song about what music personally meant to her, and wanted to create a song that would allow listeners to relax and unwind.

Promotion and release

The song was released as a single also featuring Superfly's song "Beep!!" as the other A-side. The limited edition version of the single featured an additional DVD, with a performance from the Superfly & The Lemon Bats Special Live "Rock'N'Roll Muncher", a three-date tour in November 2010 commissioned by ''Switch!'' music magazine to celebrate the magazine's 25th anniversary. The Lemon Bats are a group formed by Superfly, featuring

Tatsuya Nakamura is a Japanese musician, drummer and actor. After performing with several prominent punk rock bands, Nakamura rose to fame as drummer of Blankey Jet City from 1987 to 2000. In 1996, he founded his solo project Losalios, where he performs every ...

of Losalios, Kōichi Tsutaya, Kazuhiro Momo of Mo'Some Tonebender, Yoshiyuki Yatsuhashi and Hidekazu Hinata of Straightener. On March 20, a concert featuring Superfly was planned for the Meet the Music campaign. Held at the Namura Hall in

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, the concert was intended to be aired live on

Tokyo FM (abbreviation:TFM) is a radio station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flagship station of the Japan FM Network (JFN). Timeline The station's forerunner, FM Tokai (FM東海, abbreviated FMT), owned by Tokai University, was launched on ...

J-Wave J-Wave is an commercial radio station based in Tokyo, Japan, broadcasting on 81.3 FM from the Tokyo Skytree to the Tokyo area. J-Wave airs mostly music, including J-pop, C-pop, and Western music, covering a wide range of formats. The station i ...

and FM Okinawa. The concert was cancelled, due to the effects of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

that occurred on March 11, a week before the intended date. Due to the earthquake, Ochi uploaded an a cappella version of the song on her official blog on March 17. Later, Ochi wrote and recorded the song " You & Me" in a single day, which was released as a digital downloaded to raise money for the earthquake relief efforts. No music video was created to promote the song.

Critical reception

Tomoki Takahashi of ''

Rockin' On Japan ''Rockin'On Japan'', often stylized in all caps, is a monthly magazine that covers the Japanese music scene and various cultural events in Japan, such as art venues and culinary expos. History The magazine was founded in 1972, and focused on pro ...

'' described the song as "warmly constructed". Compared to "Beep!!", which he felt showed Ochi as a person-willed person, Takahashi described the song as showing off Ochi as a person of emotion. Haruna Takekawa of ''Hot Express'' described the song as "country-style number played with an acoustic tone", and felt that Ochi's "refreshing and comfortable vocals" softly color the song. She noted that both "Sunshine Sunshine" and "Beep!!" were much more simple than her previous songs. ''CDJournal'' reviewers felt that the song's guitars made it into a good,

rock'n'roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African American music such as jazz, rhythm and ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

-style song. They noted the use of the accordion made the song nostalgic and heartwarming, and praised the guitar

arpeggio An arpeggio () is a type of Chord (music), chord in which the Musical note, notes that compose a chord are individually sounded in a progressive rising or descending order. Arpeggios on keyboard instruments may be called rolled chords. Arpe ...

as beautiful and impressive.

Track listings

Personnel

Personnel details were sourced from the liner notes booklet of ''

Mind Travel ''Mind Travel'' is the third studio album by Japanese pop-rock band Superfly, the first studio album from the group fronted by Shiho Ochi in nearly two years. The record features guest musicians from Beat Crusaders, Losalios, and Mo'Some Tonebe ...

''. *Hideki Matsubara – bass *Yukio Nagoshi – electric guitar *Shiho Ochi – lead and background vocals, tambourine *Yutaka Odawara – drums *Yoshiaki Sato – accordion *Kōichi Tsutaya – background vocals *Yoshiyuki Yatsuhashi – acoustic guitar

Chart rankings

Sales

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunshine Sunshine 2011 singles 2011 songs Songs in Japanese Superfly (band) songs Warner Music Group singles Warner Music Japan singles