"Week End" | |
---|---|
Promotional single by Gen Hoshino | |
from the album Yellow Dancer | |
Language | Japanese |
Released | December 2, 2015 |
Genre | Dance |
Length | 4:30 |
Label | Speedstar |
Songwriter(s) | Gen Hoshino |
Producer(s) | Gen Hoshino |
Listening video | |
"Week End" on YouTube |
"Week End" (Japanese pronunciation: [ɯiːkɯeꜜɴdo]) is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter and musician Gen Hoshino from his fourth studio album, Yellow Dancer (2015). It is a pop-like dance song that draws influence from black music genres such as R&B and soul for an upbeat sound. Written and produced by Hoshino as the theme song to the television drama Mezamashi Saturday , "Week End" was released ahead of Yellow Dancer via airplay on the Japan FM League on October 20, 2015, and was promoted with a listening video. The song was praised by album reviewers for its exciting sound and was described as representative of Yellow Dancer. "Week End" peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan. It was particularly successful in airplay, ranking on Billboard's year-end radio songs lists for both 2015 and 2016.
In writing "Week End", Hoshino used a mental image of someone waking up on a Saturday morning and finding themself on a dance floor; with a spinning disco ball above their head, the person springs awake and begins to dance. [1] A fan of week ends, he wanted to replicate a Saturday feeling: something that would be felt more physically than words. [2] Hoshino told Musica that he already had a clear picture of the song's soundscape at the beginning of production. Finding it difficult to explain his ideas, he spent much time with the song's engineer, Takahiro Uchida, [3] adjusting different elements. Though the production period was long, Hoshino felt that the songwriting environment – which he described as the best of his career – allowed him to not worry about time constraints and instead focus on what he and the staff team could do. [4] By the completion of Yellow Dancer, he looked at "Week End" as a vital part of the album's identity, in difference to tracks such as " Sun", which he viewed more strongly as individual songs. [5]
"Week End" was announced in an episode of the Fuji Television drama Mezamashi Saturday on September 26, 2015. The song, which at the time was not set for an official release, would be the show's new theme song, starting with the October 3 broadcast. [1] [6] On October 14, Hoshino announced his fourth studio album, Yellow Dancer. [7] Revealing the song as part of the album, "Week End" was sent to the five radio stations associated with the Japan FM League (JFM; consisting of FM North Wave, J-Wave, Zip FM, FM802, and Cross FM) for an early promotional airplay release on October 20. [8] When Yellow Dancer's track listing was unveiled on October 28, "Week End" was shown as the album's second track, placing after " Toki yo" and before "Sun". [9] On November 27, Hoshino released a listen along video for "Week End", featuring part of the song and an explanation to the contents of Yellow Dancer. [10] It was the first such video released for the album, with a similar to the album-ender "Friend Ship" uploaded in June 2016. [11] Yellow Dancer was released by Speedstar Records on December 2, 2015. [12]
"Week End" is 4 minutes and 30 seconds long. [13] The song was written, arranged, and produced by Hoshino, who also provided vocals and handclapping. It features Ryosuke Nagaoka on electric guitar, Hama Okamoto on bass, Hajime Kobayashi on Wurlitzer piano, Noriyasu Kawamura on drums and cowbell, and Eiko Ishibashi on synthesizer and background vocals. An ensemble of nine play violin and viola on the track, and the sound of wind instruments is incorporated via trumpet, trombone, and tenor saxophone. Takahiro Uchida is credited as mastering engineer. [3]
"Week End" is a poppy dance song that incorporates elements of black music genres such as R&B. [14] [15] Takanori Kuroda, covering Yellow Dancer for Cinra , described Hoshino's vocals on the melody to "Week End" as in a unison between his natural voice and the falsetto range, carrying the song through Philadelphia soul-like horn sections. [16] A reviewer for CDJournal found the track's soul and disco arrangement reminiscent to Earth, Wind & Fire's " September", [12] whereas Kulture staff likened the song's groove to Off the Wall-era Michael Jackson. [17] Like Kuroda, the CDJournal reviewer described Hoshino's voice as falsetto, attributing this as a part of the song's "stylish" sound. [12] In the song, Hoshino sings: "Ima o odoru subete no hito ni sasagu" / "Kimi dake no dance o seken no floor ni dete sakebe" ("Dedicated to everyone who's dancing now" / "Take your dance onto the world's floor and shout"). Hirokazu Koike, analyzing Yellow Dancer for Rockin'On Japan, wrote that the line refers to how listeners can create a "chaotic frenzy" by achieving "true freedom". Koike noted that a similar meaning can be found in Hoshino's live performances, where he often asks the audience to dance freely and loosely, rather than wave their hands in a uniform rhythm. [18]
"Week End" was received positively from critics, who praised its energetic sound. Writers for Liveland and Rockin'On called the song representative of Yellow Dancer. [19] [20] Naho Sadahiro of Tower Plus praised "Week End" as a song that makes one want to dance the moment it starts playing, writing that it would seemingly even make standing at a stoplight during a cold work day fun. [21] In an article covering Hoshino and Sakanaction's Ichiro Yamaguchi's impact on J-pop in a series of articles overviewing the genre, a writer for Real Sound felt that "Week End" has the "charm of vibrantly updating the history of Japanese pop", describing the song's overall feel as "sparkly". [22] Similarly to Tower Plus, an album reviewer at Liveland felt that listening to "Week End" would make many listeners unconciously want to dance, highlighting the song's string instrumentation and bass line as particularly memorable. [19] A reviewer of the song for CDJournal praised Hoshino's vocals, opining that, while he illustrates a fun and exciting weekend, his singing is not overly flashy, helping the voice keep a good feeling. [12]
Prior to the release of Yellow Dancer, "Week End" reached number one on J-Wave's Tokio Hot 100. [10] The song debuted at number 93 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart dated October 28, 2015. It rose to number 48, 43, and 29 in the following weeks; upon the release of Yellow Dancer, the song reached its best position on the chart during the week of December 16, when it took number 21. [23] Publishing their year-end charts for 2015, Billboard Japan ranked "Week End" as the 82nd most-aired song of the year. [24] "Week End" saw further airplay success in its second year, ranking as the 47th most-played song on Billboard's year-end list for 2016. [25] In November 2017, "Week End" was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for 100,000 digital sales. [26]
External video | |
---|---|
"Week End" (Live at Osaka Jo Hall 2016) – from Yellow Voyage |
Hoshino gave a debut performance of "Week End" on November 27, 2015, when he appeared as a guest on the music television program Music Station. [27] Hoshino performed the song on the Yellow Voyage concert tour, the headlining tour for Yellow Dancer. The performance of the song at the Osaka-jō Hall, where it and "Toki yo" were the final songs before the encore, saw Hoshino moving from one end of the stage to the other as he and his backup dancers "teased the audience into movement, as if turning the venue into a dancefloor", according to an article from Rockin'On. [20] A report by Natalie.mu of the Osaka performance wrote that "Toki yo" and "Week End" created a happy atmosphere before Hoshino departed the stage. [28] Teppei Kishida, in a different article for Rockin'On, described the song's performance at the Nippon Budokan as "disco time", where the stage was enveloped in "pop magic" from the distinct movements of the attractive but elegant dancers, backed by soft lightning to focus the audience on the quality of the music. [29] In promotion of the tour's video release, Live Tour: Yellow Voyage (2016), the Osaka performance of "Week End" was uploaded to Hoshino's YouTube channel. [20]
Hoshino featured "Week End" as the last song before encore on Yellow Pacific in 2017, a two-day concert. [30] He performed the song in the following Continues (2017) and Live in Japan with Mark Ronson (2018) concerts – as the final song on the latter [31] [32] – and featured it on the setlists for both the domestic and world tour promoting his fifth album Pop Virus (2018). A performance of the song at the Tokyo Dome saw Hoshino dancing across the catwalk as he insitgated a sing-along with the audience. [33] During the world tour's stop at Yokohama Arena, Hoshino sang "Week End" alongside Mark Ronson on guitar. [34] Hoshino performed "Week End" and "Pop Virus" at the 2019 Space Shower Music Awards after receiving the awards for Artist of the Year, People's Choice, Album of the Year, and Best Pop Artist, the most awards taken by an artist in the ceremony's history. [35] For festival and other appearances, Hoshino has performed "Week End" at the Metropolitan Rock Festival, [36] Viva La Rock, [37] Rock in Japan, [38] and Victor Rock Festival in 2016; [39] at the online Soundwave concert, broadcast via Fortnite, in 2022; [40] and at the Summer Sonic Festival in 2023. [41]
Credits adapted from Apple Music. [3]
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Japan ( RIAJ) [26] | Gold | 100,000* |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
"Week End" | |
---|---|
Promotional single by Gen Hoshino | |
from the album Yellow Dancer | |
Language | Japanese |
Released | December 2, 2015 |
Genre | Dance |
Length | 4:30 |
Label | Speedstar |
Songwriter(s) | Gen Hoshino |
Producer(s) | Gen Hoshino |
Listening video | |
"Week End" on YouTube |
"Week End" (Japanese pronunciation: [ɯiːkɯeꜜɴdo]) is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter and musician Gen Hoshino from his fourth studio album, Yellow Dancer (2015). It is a pop-like dance song that draws influence from black music genres such as R&B and soul for an upbeat sound. Written and produced by Hoshino as the theme song to the television drama Mezamashi Saturday , "Week End" was released ahead of Yellow Dancer via airplay on the Japan FM League on October 20, 2015, and was promoted with a listening video. The song was praised by album reviewers for its exciting sound and was described as representative of Yellow Dancer. "Week End" peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan. It was particularly successful in airplay, ranking on Billboard's year-end radio songs lists for both 2015 and 2016.
In writing "Week End", Hoshino used a mental image of someone waking up on a Saturday morning and finding themself on a dance floor; with a spinning disco ball above their head, the person springs awake and begins to dance. [1] A fan of week ends, he wanted to replicate a Saturday feeling: something that would be felt more physically than words. [2] Hoshino told Musica that he already had a clear picture of the song's soundscape at the beginning of production. Finding it difficult to explain his ideas, he spent much time with the song's engineer, Takahiro Uchida, [3] adjusting different elements. Though the production period was long, Hoshino felt that the songwriting environment – which he described as the best of his career – allowed him to not worry about time constraints and instead focus on what he and the staff team could do. [4] By the completion of Yellow Dancer, he looked at "Week End" as a vital part of the album's identity, in difference to tracks such as " Sun", which he viewed more strongly as individual songs. [5]
"Week End" was announced in an episode of the Fuji Television drama Mezamashi Saturday on September 26, 2015. The song, which at the time was not set for an official release, would be the show's new theme song, starting with the October 3 broadcast. [1] [6] On October 14, Hoshino announced his fourth studio album, Yellow Dancer. [7] Revealing the song as part of the album, "Week End" was sent to the five radio stations associated with the Japan FM League (JFM; consisting of FM North Wave, J-Wave, Zip FM, FM802, and Cross FM) for an early promotional airplay release on October 20. [8] When Yellow Dancer's track listing was unveiled on October 28, "Week End" was shown as the album's second track, placing after " Toki yo" and before "Sun". [9] On November 27, Hoshino released a listen along video for "Week End", featuring part of the song and an explanation to the contents of Yellow Dancer. [10] It was the first such video released for the album, with a similar to the album-ender "Friend Ship" uploaded in June 2016. [11] Yellow Dancer was released by Speedstar Records on December 2, 2015. [12]
"Week End" is 4 minutes and 30 seconds long. [13] The song was written, arranged, and produced by Hoshino, who also provided vocals and handclapping. It features Ryosuke Nagaoka on electric guitar, Hama Okamoto on bass, Hajime Kobayashi on Wurlitzer piano, Noriyasu Kawamura on drums and cowbell, and Eiko Ishibashi on synthesizer and background vocals. An ensemble of nine play violin and viola on the track, and the sound of wind instruments is incorporated via trumpet, trombone, and tenor saxophone. Takahiro Uchida is credited as mastering engineer. [3]
"Week End" is a poppy dance song that incorporates elements of black music genres such as R&B. [14] [15] Takanori Kuroda, covering Yellow Dancer for Cinra , described Hoshino's vocals on the melody to "Week End" as in a unison between his natural voice and the falsetto range, carrying the song through Philadelphia soul-like horn sections. [16] A reviewer for CDJournal found the track's soul and disco arrangement reminiscent to Earth, Wind & Fire's " September", [12] whereas Kulture staff likened the song's groove to Off the Wall-era Michael Jackson. [17] Like Kuroda, the CDJournal reviewer described Hoshino's voice as falsetto, attributing this as a part of the song's "stylish" sound. [12] In the song, Hoshino sings: "Ima o odoru subete no hito ni sasagu" / "Kimi dake no dance o seken no floor ni dete sakebe" ("Dedicated to everyone who's dancing now" / "Take your dance onto the world's floor and shout"). Hirokazu Koike, analyzing Yellow Dancer for Rockin'On Japan, wrote that the line refers to how listeners can create a "chaotic frenzy" by achieving "true freedom". Koike noted that a similar meaning can be found in Hoshino's live performances, where he often asks the audience to dance freely and loosely, rather than wave their hands in a uniform rhythm. [18]
"Week End" was received positively from critics, who praised its energetic sound. Writers for Liveland and Rockin'On called the song representative of Yellow Dancer. [19] [20] Naho Sadahiro of Tower Plus praised "Week End" as a song that makes one want to dance the moment it starts playing, writing that it would seemingly even make standing at a stoplight during a cold work day fun. [21] In an article covering Hoshino and Sakanaction's Ichiro Yamaguchi's impact on J-pop in a series of articles overviewing the genre, a writer for Real Sound felt that "Week End" has the "charm of vibrantly updating the history of Japanese pop", describing the song's overall feel as "sparkly". [22] Similarly to Tower Plus, an album reviewer at Liveland felt that listening to "Week End" would make many listeners unconciously want to dance, highlighting the song's string instrumentation and bass line as particularly memorable. [19] A reviewer of the song for CDJournal praised Hoshino's vocals, opining that, while he illustrates a fun and exciting weekend, his singing is not overly flashy, helping the voice keep a good feeling. [12]
Prior to the release of Yellow Dancer, "Week End" reached number one on J-Wave's Tokio Hot 100. [10] The song debuted at number 93 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart dated October 28, 2015. It rose to number 48, 43, and 29 in the following weeks; upon the release of Yellow Dancer, the song reached its best position on the chart during the week of December 16, when it took number 21. [23] Publishing their year-end charts for 2015, Billboard Japan ranked "Week End" as the 82nd most-aired song of the year. [24] "Week End" saw further airplay success in its second year, ranking as the 47th most-played song on Billboard's year-end list for 2016. [25] In November 2017, "Week End" was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for 100,000 digital sales. [26]
External video | |
---|---|
"Week End" (Live at Osaka Jo Hall 2016) – from Yellow Voyage |
Hoshino gave a debut performance of "Week End" on November 27, 2015, when he appeared as a guest on the music television program Music Station. [27] Hoshino performed the song on the Yellow Voyage concert tour, the headlining tour for Yellow Dancer. The performance of the song at the Osaka-jō Hall, where it and "Toki yo" were the final songs before the encore, saw Hoshino moving from one end of the stage to the other as he and his backup dancers "teased the audience into movement, as if turning the venue into a dancefloor", according to an article from Rockin'On. [20] A report by Natalie.mu of the Osaka performance wrote that "Toki yo" and "Week End" created a happy atmosphere before Hoshino departed the stage. [28] Teppei Kishida, in a different article for Rockin'On, described the song's performance at the Nippon Budokan as "disco time", where the stage was enveloped in "pop magic" from the distinct movements of the attractive but elegant dancers, backed by soft lightning to focus the audience on the quality of the music. [29] In promotion of the tour's video release, Live Tour: Yellow Voyage (2016), the Osaka performance of "Week End" was uploaded to Hoshino's YouTube channel. [20]
Hoshino featured "Week End" as the last song before encore on Yellow Pacific in 2017, a two-day concert. [30] He performed the song in the following Continues (2017) and Live in Japan with Mark Ronson (2018) concerts – as the final song on the latter [31] [32] – and featured it on the setlists for both the domestic and world tour promoting his fifth album Pop Virus (2018). A performance of the song at the Tokyo Dome saw Hoshino dancing across the catwalk as he insitgated a sing-along with the audience. [33] During the world tour's stop at Yokohama Arena, Hoshino sang "Week End" alongside Mark Ronson on guitar. [34] Hoshino performed "Week End" and "Pop Virus" at the 2019 Space Shower Music Awards after receiving the awards for Artist of the Year, People's Choice, Album of the Year, and Best Pop Artist, the most awards taken by an artist in the ceremony's history. [35] For festival and other appearances, Hoshino has performed "Week End" at the Metropolitan Rock Festival, [36] Viva La Rock, [37] Rock in Japan, [38] and Victor Rock Festival in 2016; [39] at the online Soundwave concert, broadcast via Fortnite, in 2022; [40] and at the Summer Sonic Festival in 2023. [41]
Credits adapted from Apple Music. [3]
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Japan ( RIAJ) [26] | Gold | 100,000* |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |